Hidden ScarsUncovering the Mysteries of Fibrotic Disease

Jefferson in Asia Alumni Weekend 2015Hepatitis B Pioneer12 3026

The Bulletinwinter 2016

at Thomas Jefferson University

Jefferson Alumni Bulletin Winter 2016 Volume 65, Number 1

Executive Vice President: Elizabeth A. Dale, EdD

Associate Vice President, Alumni Relations: Cristina A. Geso

Address correspondence to: Editor, Alumni Bulletin Office of Institutional Advancement Thomas Jefferson University 125 S. 9th Street, Suite 700 Philadelphia, PA 19107-4216

215-955-6890 alumni@jefferson.edu Fax: 215-503-5084 Advancement.Jefferson.edu Alumni Relations: 215-955-7750

Senior Director, Communications: Mark P. Turbiville

Editor: Karen L. Brooks

Design: SwivelStudios, Inc.

Bulletin Committee William V. Harrer, MD ’62 Chair James Harrop, MD ’95 Cynthia Hill, MD ’87 Larry Kim, MD ’91 Phillip J. Marone, MD ’57, MS ’07 Joseph Sokolowski, MD ’62

The Jefferson community and supporters are welcome to receive the Alumni Bulletin on a regular basis; please contact the aforemen-tioned address. Postmaster: send address changes to the aforemen-tioned address. ISSN-0021-5821

Copyright© Thomas Jefferson University. All Rights Reserved.

Published continuously since 1922.

f e a t u r e

Japan & Jefferson: Connections Over

Three Centuries14on the cover: JOel ROSenblOOm, mD, PHD, anD XiaOling Jin, mD, PHD, in ROSenblOOm'S lab. PHOTO by Kevin mOnKO.

6 Fibrotic Disease

Forward Momentum in Decades-Long

Quest to Detect & Disrupt Progression

12 Jefferson & Asia

Historic Ties, 21st-Century Collaborations

14 JAPAN & JEFFERSoN

Connections Over Three Centuries

18 ChiNA & JEFFERSoN

Uniting for Research & Training

2 Dean’S coLuMn

4 finDinGSArteries Are Better Than Veins for Liquid Biopsy

5 GivinG MatterSA Message from Elizabeth Dale

22 on caMPuS

26 hie-won hann, MDBreaking the Chain of Hepatitis B Infection

30 aLuMni weekenD 2015

34 Peter v. ScoLeS, MD ’702015 Alumni Achievement Award Winner

38 JeSSica De SabatoStudying at Jefferson, Feeling at Home

40 cLaSS noteS

44 in MeMoriaM

49 bY the nuMberS

6

26

18

38

25

41

Reflections from a Journey to Japan

Having just

returned from a

remarkable first

visit to Japan,

I find that this

Bulletin, showcasing

Jefferson’s deep

connections to Asia, could not be more

timely. The visual of late autumn leaves in

Nara and Kyoto is still fresh in my mind,

capturing Albert Camus’ phrase, “Autumn is

a second spring when every leaf is a flower.”

I return from this fascinating journey

with a number of reflections that touch on

the essence of Jefferson’s international

collaborative ventures.

As dean, I host delegations from other

countries with some frequency. There are,

of course, all the expected pleasantries and

formalities, as my team delicately guides me

through the well-choreographed and audi-

ence-specific process. But the reality is that

such visiting delegations are per force just

a sea of faces, absent context—no real

resonance is possible since there is no overlay

of shared history or personal connection.

How different after one meets these indi-

viduals on their turf, back in their home

country. It may have been but one afternoon

together, or one hour, or even a 10-minute

brush-up in the hallway of a hospital clinic—

and suddenly, on their return visit to

Jefferson, we embrace as friends, bonded

at the hip. To understand the other, one

must slow down, carve out time, and,

importantly, see the other in his or her own

element. As Charles Kuralt put it: “Thanks

to the Interstate Highway System, it is now

possible to travel from coast to coast without

seeing anything.”

A second reflection touches on the

profound impact we at Jefferson have on

those we host. Shortly after arriving in

Tokyo from Kyoto, a visit to the Noguchi

Medical Research Institute was our first

order of business. This was the big inter-

view day, with medical students from all

over Japan vying for coveted Jefferson

training slots. As I entered the seminar hall,

I was struck by the image projected at the

front of the room—a large “Jefferson”

emblazoned on the screen. The speaker, a

trainee who had recently returned from

Jefferson, was describing what the experi-

ence had meant for him. Simply put, there is

nothing like witnessing such a testimonial

to remind me of why I do what I do. For this

visiting trainee, living half a world away,

Jefferson was now an integral part of his

lexicon, likely to add rich color to the rest

of his career.

The Q&As were enlightening, too.

Students repeatedly commented about the

high-level medical knowledge they hoped to

glean while in the U.S. Once I reached the

podium, however, my message was twofold.

First, I suggested that the primary purpose

of crossing the Pacific for a Jefferson expe-

rience was not necessarily to gain factual

knowledge, though some would certainly be

forthcoming. Rather, the true value added

was to witness a contrasting healthcare

culture in play—how physicians relate to

patients, how physicians relate to each

other, how physicians and patients relate to

the systems around them. Not necessarily

better, just different.

This message dovetailed with a subtheme

that had been percolating up from two of

the earlier student presentations: how

impressed they had been by what was to

them a radical difference between Japanese

and American atmospherics in the physician-

patient relationship—in the way rounds are

conducted, in the way the American physi-

cian seems to touch the patient on an

emotional level. I do think I held back from

qualifying that this was not necessarily a

general feature of American medical care,

but rather of Jefferson’s!

Second, in providing yet more rationale

for an overseas experience, I referenced

Stuart Kauffman’s Adjacent Possible.

New ideas are spawned where adjacencies

are fostered—adjacencies of knowledge

domains, pathways for thinking and

perspectives. By trekking across the ocean,

students start to bank their own personal

suite of adjacencies. The creative fruits of

such adjacencies then emerge over career

lifetimes. So it’s not just going somewhere

else to gather some specific content—it’s all

about bumping up against the other, gath-

ering novel concepts to marry with your own.

The trip was, of course, creating new

adjacencies for me, including a Eureka!

moment or two. One example—at the glit-

tering, ultra-modern clinics of the Hasumi

International Research Foundation, I

learned about a novel vaccine for acne—

using peptide immunogens corresponding

to culprit bacteria. How creative! There

were other such flashes of insight, as I

learned about the Japanese Association for

the Development of Community Medicine’s

(JADECOM) innovative approaches for

extending advanced primary care into

Japan’s underserved areas in far-flung

places, or glimpsing how the world-class

immunology lab of Dr. Toshinori Nakayama

t h e D e a n ’ S c o L u M n

2 | W I N T E R 2 0 1 6

at Chiba University is looking to create a

clinical imprint where allergic pathogenesis

meets lung.

Japan is but one of the countries on

which Jefferson has set its sights over the

years. Others include China, Israel, Great

Britain, Portugal and Italy. In these coun-

tries we think multi-institutional—

top-down Jefferson planning to connect

multiple Jefferson physicians and scientists

to multiple partners, with such critical mass

creating its own set of strategic possibilities,

up to the governmental level. Good things

are likely to follow, sometimes hard to

predict. While at first blush, Jefferson’s

selected countries seem disconnected from

each other, interconnectedness uncannily

seems to blossom. Witness the news of

growing R&D and commercial ties between

Japan and China, China and Israel and so

forth. Jefferson, in some instances, can

serve as the catalyst.

There are three essential elements for

success in Jefferson’s multi-institutional alli-

ances. One is having an in-house champion

for each respective country. For Japan, it is

Dr. Takami Sato; for China, Dr. Xin Ma.

These are individuals who have made their

mark as elite faculty at Jefferson, all the

while leveraging their extensive academic

roots and deep personal ties in their home

countries. Meaningful roots translate into

the implicit trust that key thought leaders in

those countries have in them, and by exten-

sion, in Jefferson.

The second element is having forward-

thinking leaders in the partner country. In

Japan, these are exceptional people such as

Dr. Yoshihisa Asano of NMRI, Dr. Michiyasu

Yoshiara of JADECOM, Dr. Fumimaro

Takaku of the Japanese Association of

Medical Sciences and Drs. Toshinori

Nakayama and Hiroshi Shirasawa of Chiba

University, among others. These are individ-

uals who have a core understanding of the

dividends and demands of true partnerships.

One of my sayings: Successful people are

not those who merely know a lot, but more

importantly, those who know exactly what

they don’t know. These Japanese leaders

understand this implicitly, and this is what

makes them such effective overseas cham-

pions for Jefferson—complemented, of

course, by their generosity of both spirit

and resources.

There is a third important element, and

that is having the right leaders at the top of

the Jefferson pyramid. No one is more

emblematic of this than Dr. Joseph Gonnella,

our former dean who championed interna-

tional alliances and cultivated our deep

connections to places like Japan, Italy and

Portugal. And there is Dr. Charles Pohl, who

has ably picked up the mantle for our Japan

alliances as director of our Japan Center.

There is an overarching logic behind

Jefferson’s push on the international front:

programmatic initiatives are key to our

future success, whether in the research or

education realms. At the heart of “program-

matic” is inter-institutional collaboration.

The Jefferson of today is relentless in

looking beyond our walls. Partnering will

allow us to continue to diversify our revenue

sources, but even more importantly, to plant

new seeds and coalesce new ideas that

simply would not have happened other-

wise—autumn leaves morphed into flowers.

International is front and center in this

approach, as we cultivate adjacencies that

bridge continents.

For more about Jefferson’s ties to Japan

as well as to China, see page 12.

Develop interest in life as you see it;

in people, things, literature, music—

the world is so rich, simply throbbing

with rich treasures, beautiful souls and

interesting people. Forget yourself.

—Henry Miller

Mark L. Tykocinski, MD

Provost, Thomas Jefferson University

Anthony F. and Gertrude M. DePalma Dean,

Sidney Kimmel Medical College

Dr. Yoshihisa Asano of NMRI with Drs. Charles Pohl and Mark Tykocinski

S I D N E y K I M M E L M E D I C A L C O L L E G E A T T H O M A S J E F F E R S O N U N I V E R S I T y | 3

arteries are better Than veins for liquid biopsy as the field of liquid biopsies for tracking disease

progression and therapeutic response heats up,

physicians are seeking ways to apply this approach to

patients. Currently, assays for circulating tumor cells

(CTCs)—one type of liquid biopsy—have been approved for

diagnostic purposes in metastatic breast, colorectal or

prostate cancer. In these diseases, the presence of CTCs

in the peripheral blood is associated with decreased

progression-free and overall survival. The major challenge

for this technology is that CTCs are not always found in the

blood of patients with aggressive disease, who would be

expected to have high numbers.

Now, Jefferson researchers investigating uveal

melanoma, which originates in the eye, have shown that

the low numbers could be explained by where the blood

is drawn—from a vein or an artery.

In breast cancer, a high number of CTCs (more than five

cells in 7.5 ml of blood collected from the veins) indicates

aggressive metastatic disease. “If we can validate this

approach for uveal melanoma, we hope to be able to catch

f i n D i n G S

cancer before it develops into metastatic disease,” says

Takami Sato, MD, PhD, the K. Hasumi Professor of Medical

Oncology and lead investigator. “The work by Dr. Mizue

Terai and others at Jefferson gives us hope that CTCs

might be useful for uveal melanoma patients as well. On

the other hand, our research raised a concern that venous

blood specimens, which are tested as the standard practice

for CTC measurement, might not be the best source for

CTC detection.”

CTCs are larger than other blood cells and have different

characteristics, making them detectable in samples. Most

commonly, blood is obtained from a patient’s vein, having

already passed through an intricate sieve of narrow

capillaries throughout the body. When Terai, PhD, and

colleagues compared blood samples taken from uveal

melanoma patients’ veins to those collected from arteries,

they saw a much higher number of CTCs in the latter. In

fact, all of the uveal melanoma patients with multiple liver

metastases had CTCs present in their arterial blood, while

only 53 percent of blood from the veins of those same

patients had CTCs.

Although it is more technically difficult to collect

blood from an artery than a vein, this and other research

suggests that checking arterial blood may be a more

accurate way of assessing the number of CTCs—and

therefore metastatic disease.

4 | W I N T E R 2 0 1 6

arteries are better Than veins for liquid biopsy

In 1824, when London and Paris—two

of the world’s great centers of medical

learning—each had only one medical

school, Dr. George McClellan founded

Philadelphia’s second, Jefferson Medical

College. His approach to education—having

students, under faculty supervision, learn

the art and science of medicine by caring for

patients—was revolutionary. It would later

become the standard of medical education.

Jefferson’s Sidney Kimmel Medical

College has a distinguished history of

pushing boundaries, breaking paradigms

and inventing better ways of training

doctors. Today, our faculty comprises some

of the world’s finest clinicians, most cele-

brated researchers and most innovative

teachers. Above all else, our faculty created

and perpetuates the culture that distin-

guishes our graduates.

Professorships are among the most prized

resources of any academic institution. They

are among the highest honors faculty

members receive—an acknowledgement of

the esteem with which the institution holds

them—and they are a source of funding that

enables our physician-scientists to take on

research and education projects that make

them stand out among their peers, which

makes Jefferson stand out, too. And they

send a clear signal to potential benefactors

that giving to SKMC is a terrific investment

with a big payoff.

Our first endowed professorship, The

Samuel D. Gross Professorship of Surgery,

was established in 1910 with a bequest from

Maria Gross Horowitz, in memory of her

father. Gross, MD 1828, was one of the finest

surgeons of his time, an eminent Jefferson

educator and a prodigious author of medical

texts as well as founder and first president

of the Alumni Association of Jefferson

Medical College. Among the eight holders

of the Gross Professorship is Dr. John

Gibbon, Jr., who performed the world’s first

successful open heart operation at

Jefferson. The current holder is Dr. Charles

How Does an Endowment Work?

Endowments last forever.

They are both a foun-

dation for excellence,

ensuring financial

stability year after year,

and a springboard for the

future, providing vital

resources to do innova-

tive work that otherwise

would have no funding.

“Endowment” refers

to assets that are invested

permanently. Earnings

from those investments

provide a lasting source

of income for Jefferson.

When a donor creates

an endowed fund,

the gift “buys shares”

in Jefferson’s pooled

endowment, which

operates like a mutual

fund. Each year the

Board of Trustees sets a

payout rate, much like

a dividend, for shares.

Payout is the amount

available to be spent

annually for each fund’s

designated purposes.

For more information,

email us at

giving@jefferson.edu.

Yeo, a world-renowned surgeon, scientist

and educator.

Jefferson has 70 professorships, but to

attract the brightest medical minds, we

need more. Jefferson recently received a

$2.5 million gift to create the Ellen and Ron

Caplan Professorship and Directorship of

Integrative Medicine, now held by Dr. Daniel

Monti. The gift was doubled with a match

from the Kimmel Matching Program for

Endowed Professorships, creating the

largest endowed professorship in Jefferson’s

history. Professorships like this open the

door to potential key hires who might create

a luminary program or spark another

medical revolution.

On May 17, Jefferson will host our first

Endowed Professorship Dinner, when

donors and their professorship holders can

sit down together to celebrate the impact of

giving and the achievements of faculty. Our

first professorship donor, Mary Horowitz,

wanted her gift to “be the means of allevi-

ating human suffering and prolonging

human life.” If our dinner guests were to

speak to alumni, I imagine they might say,

“It’s about your alma mater. It’s about new

generations of Jefferson physicians. It’s

about the future of healthcare. It’s about

you. It’s about us all.”

a M e S S a G e f r o M e L i z a b e t h D a L e

Elizabeth Dale, EdD

Executive Vice President for

Institutional Advancement

Endowed ProfessorshipsA Differentiator in Academic Medicine

S I D N E y K I M M E L M E D I C A L C O L L E G E A T T H O M A S J E F F E R S O N U N I V E R S I T y | 5

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Fibrotic diseases can affect

virtually every organ in the body

and account for 45 percent of

deaths in the United States.

the Joan & Joel rosenbloom research center

for fibrotic Diseases, founded in 2013, serves as a hub

for more than a dozen Jefferson clinicians and scientists

seeking to prevent suffering and premature death due

to fibrotic disease.

Story Summary

b Y J e S S i c a S t e i n D i a M o n D

oel Rosenbloom’s life at age 80 encompasses work, love, autonomy and pursuit of his ongoing quest to prevent suffering and premature death due to fibrotic disease.

He exercises for an hour early most weekdays while scanning a favorite

TV show, Squawk Box, for stock tips. Five days a week, Rosenbloom, MD,

PhD, drives to work. As director of the eponymous Joan & Joel Rosenbloom

Research Center for Fibrotic Diseases at Jefferson, Rosenbloom leads a

highly productive hub for collaborative research, papers and grants aimed

at reducing suffering and premature death due to fibrotic disease.

Detect & Disrupt Progression of

Fibrotic Disease

Forward Momentum in Decades-Long Quest to

6 | W I N T E R 2 0 1 6

The Center is a productive fount of research, publications and grants aimed at

defining the precise pathomechanisms of fibrotic disease—dysregulated

tissue growth and scarring that disrupt function in organs such as the heart,

lung, kidney, liver and skin. Long-term goals include developing early diagnostic

tools and better ways to measure and halt fibrotic disease progression.

faculty members across many departments at Jefferson are collabo-

rating to accelerate research involving

fibrosis in different organ systems.

Detect & Disrupt Progression of

Fibrotic Disease

S I D N E y K I M M E L M E D I C A L C O L L E G E A T T H O M A S J E F F E R S O N U N I V E R S I T y | 7

Rosenbloom regularly confers with

colleagues Jouni Uitto, MD, and Sergio

Jimenez, MD, whom he first met in the early

1970s as fellow postdoctoral students.

Today, as chair of dermatology and asso-

ciate director of the Jefferson Institute of

Molecular Medicine, respectively, they’re

among a diverse group of more than a dozen

preeminent clinicians and scientists on

campus who are active in fibrotic disease

research. Together, they strive to under-

stand and unlock the deadly mechanisms

of fibrotic disease; to find early diagnostic

tools and ways to measure its progression;

and to identify existing approved drugs that

might halt, slow and (in a more perfect

world) reverse its ravages.

“A lot of people ask me, ‘What are you

doing? Why aren’t you retired?’” Rosenbloom

says. “I think of (my late wife) Joan and

what she would want me to do. I’m doing

work that I think she would be really

pleased about. This is a group of diseases

for which there is no specific or effective

treatment. These affect a sizeable number

of people and are collectively a source of

major healthcare costs with significant

morbidity and mortality.”

Forty-five percent of U.S. deaths can be

attributed to forms of fibroproliferative

disease that occur when dysregulated tissue

growth and scarring destroy healthy tissue.

Deadly mechanisms of fibrotic disease

FROM LEFT: UITTO, ROSENBLOOM AND

JIMENEz HAVE BEEN FRIENDS AND PEERS

FOR MORE THAN FOUR DECADES.

8 | W I N T E R 2 0 1 6

disrupt function in virtually every organ in

the body, including the heart, lungs, kidney,

liver and skin. “These are cruel, terrible

diseases,” says Rosenbloom. “For instance,

with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, people’s

lungs fill with collagen and then they die;

by the time slowly developing symptoms are

noticeable enough to visit a doctor, the time-

line to death is three to five years. Nobody

knows what to do for these patients because

nobody understands the etiology and

precise pathomechanisms. Defining cause

is part of the spectrum of discovery we’re

leading as we search for common pathways

that would allow us to treat fibrotic disease.”

Rosenbloom founded the Center in 2013

with $500,000 that he and Joan pledged soon

after she was diagnosed with inoperable

lung cancer in 2012. He credits several of his

research breakthroughs to Joan, who

worked as his lab manager—a long-deferred

career change decades after her 1961 accep-

tance to a physics PhD program at Penn was

derailed by parenthood. Quite possibly the

world’s only research entity dedicated to the

group of fibrotic diseases that affect organs

throughout the human body, the Rosenbloom

Center also received start-up funds from

Jefferson; future funding will come from

grants and philanthropy.

“Joel is clearly a guy who loves research,

who enjoys his role as a teacher and the

satisfaction of passing knowledge on to the

next generation of scientists. He gives sage

advice at our weekly joint laboratory meet-

ings,” says Uitto, chair of the Department of

Dermatology and Cutaneous Biology and a

connective tissue molecular biologist who

has more than 800 publications, recently

had his longest-running NIH grant renewed

for years 33 through 38 and has trained 16

departmental chairs.

Creating a short list of the Rosenbloom

Center’s many research collaborations is

challenging because fibrosis—when tissues

lose elasticity and become so stiff and over-

grown as to stifle organ function—occurs in

nearly every tissue and organ in the body. A

few productivity metrics: In August 2015, the

Rosenbloom Center had numerous papers in

the pipeline for publication, was on track for

submitting several interdepartmental grants

by the close of 2015 and had contributed

findings to close to a dozen papers

published in the Center’s first two years.

Post-surgical adhesions are a huge,

understudied problem and a key focus

for collaborative work with Jefferson’s

Department of Surgery. “Billions of dollars

of healthcare costs go to fix the conse-

quences of those adhesions,” says Uitto.

His lab focuses primarily on fibrotic skin

diseases, such as keloids, and wound

healing with a focus on fibrosis and hetero-

topic ossification in severe burns. Uitto

has identified promising leads for a new

treatment for severe burn patients and

anticipates clinical trials within a few years

for specialized diets with potential to reduce

ectopic mineralization. Developed via

collaborations on and off campus, the

treatment builds on Uitto’s efforts to help

patients who suffer from ectopic mineraliza-

tion disorders, a group of genetic conditions

that tragically lead to calcifications of arte-

rial blood vessels that prove fatal as early as

six months after birth.

Jimenez’s laboratory is working to define

and disrupt the role of fibrosis in sclero-

derma, a disease in which close to 50

percent of patients die within five years

from the time of diagnosis due to excessive

amounts of connective tissue and scarring.

Related work on campus includes research

with Jefferson cardiologists on cardiac

fibrosis and myocardial infarction, with

pulmonologists on pulmonary fibrosis and

with nephrologists on mechanisms through

which diabetes triggers kidney fibrosis and

chronic renal disease.

Grappling with mortality and reinvention

of the self are enduring themes in

Rosenbloom’s life. His parents ran a pawn

shop near a military base in Washington,

D.C., during World War II; their customers’

injuries and ailments inspired Rosenbloom

to become a doctor. He also recalls, as

“a singularity,” a particular day in 1947

when he was 12: Rosenbloom grew up with

Yiddish as a second language (“mostly to

argue with my grandmother”) and spent a

day showing a Yiddish-speaking relative

around Washington. A recently arrived

Holocaust survivor, the man had lost

his wife and children to Nazi genocide.

Reflecting on that day and a childhood

in wartime, he says, “This may sound

“This is a group of diseases

for which there is no specific

or effective treatment. These

affect a sizeable number of

people and are collectively

a source of major healthcare

costs with significant

morbidity and mortality.”

S I D N E y K I M M E L M E D I C A L C O L L E G E A T T H O M A S J E F F E R S O N U N I V E R S I T y | 9

corny—but I believe you have an obligation

to do your best when so many people died

so that you can live.”

Fast-forward through undergraduate

years at Harvard and an MD-PhD from the

University of Pennsylvania, where

Rosenbloom taught for 40 years and most

recently directed the Center for Oral Health

Research. He recalls his first attempt at

retirement in the 1990s with wry wit: “That

was a fairly evil experience that drove my

wife crazy and me, too, so I decided to come

here to Jefferson as a professor of unwanted

advice.”

In 2004 his life became a scientific

version of a buddy movie: Rosenbloom

jumped at Uitto’s invitation to run a lab

within the dermatology department and to

work closely with Uitto and Jimenez on

fibrotic disease topics each has grappled

with scientifically ever since the early 1970s

when they met as postdoctoral students.

Rosenbloom worked at Jefferson gratis for

nine years—simply for the joy of meaningful

work and the chance to add to his 350-plus

peer-reviewed scientific publications.

Then, when he established the Rosenbloom

Center, he was required to begrudgingly

accept Jefferson’s minimum salary so the

Center would qualify for grant support.

Powered by abundant curiosity, intelli-

gence, energy and collaboration-inspiring

charisma, the Rosenbloom Center today is a

fount of publications and grant submissions

to obtain funding required to identify and

target the biochemical pathways common to

ROSENBLOOM IN HIS LAB WITH

RESEARCHERS SHUMEI REN, MD, PHD,

AND DEEPIKA KOGANTI, MD.

1 0 | W I N T E R 2 0 1 6

all forms of fibrotic disease. These efforts

focus on overcoming hurdles that include

the complexity and closely intertwined

nature of molecular events that drive

fibrotic disease; how that complexity makes

it likely that more than one drug will be

needed at a time for its successful treat-

ment; the slow and subtle progression of

fibrotic disease, which makes it difficult

to detect symptoms of onset, disease

progression and treatment efficacy; and

the considerable financial and logistical

hurdles associated with getting prospective

new fibrotic disease treatments into the

clinical trials pipeline.

“This is a badly underfunded area,”

says Rosenbloom, estimating that fibrotic

diseases in aggregate account for twice as

many deaths per year as all forms of cancer

combined, yet receive significantly less

research funding. “Greater investment in

fibrotic disease research would have a very

high impact not just on the health of individ-

uals but on the cost of healthcare in the U.S.

These chronic diseases are a serious

economic burden to society and a terrible

fate for the individuals affected. Once a

person gets them, they cannot be cured

because there is currently no effective

treatment.”

As for the love in Rosenbloom’s life, he

has two adult children and five grandchil-

dren plus the new light of his life: Sondra

Johnson, who was likewise widowed after

50-plus years of marriage. A dear friend of

his sister’s, Sondra also happens to be the

first girl he ever dated (he was 16 and she

was 14 at the time).

Together, they enjoy dancing and travel,

and occasionally visit Philadelphia’s aptly

named “Time” whiskey bar. She even joined

him on a science-focused journey to China

in October. There, Rosenbloom met with

Chinese pulmonologists with whom he is

working to identify better treatments for the

estimated 10,000 to 20,000 Chinese coal

miners diagnosed annually with pneumoco-

niosis (black lung disease)—a chronic,

incurable disease that leads to devastating

pulmonary fibrosis and respiratory failure.

For more information about fibrotic diseases research at Jefferson or to

support the Joan & Joel Rosenbloom Research Center, contact Jonathan Agree,

Assistant Vice President for Clinical Programs, at 215-503-6058 or

jonathan.agree@jefferson.edu.

Complexity of the disease’s molecular events

More than one drug required for treatment

Slow progression makes detection difficult

Clinical trials’ financial and logistical snags

Hurdles to Overcome:

S I D N E y K I M M E L M E D I C A L C O L L E G E A T T H O M A S J E F F E R S O N U N I V E R S I T y | 1 1

Jefferson & Asia Historic Ties, 21st-Century Collaborations

Jefferson’s extraordinary relationship with

colleagues, medical schools, research centers

and hospitals in Asia spans dozens of departments

and disciplines. It stretches across 13 time zones,

more than 8,000 miles and nearly 200 years—and

has grown despite harrowing early sea voyages,

17-hour airline flights and the challenges of jet lag.

Ties with Japan and China are especially strong,

involving physicians and researchers as well as

allied health professionals in many fields.

1 2 | W I N T E R 2 0 1 6

Jefferson & Asia Historic Ties, 21st-Century Collaborations

b Y S a r i h a r r a r

Here’s the latest on how these connections and collaborations

are advancing medical education, clinical care and research. >

S I D N E y K I M M E L M E D I C A L C O L L E G E A T T H O M A S J E F F E R S O N U N I V E R S I T y | 1 3

The surgery took place in the man’s home—an old-fashioned setting

that well-to-do 19th-century families preferred to avoid hospital-acquired

infections. yet the procedure had a high-impact factor. Thanks to inhaled

sulfuric ether, a recent breakthrough in anesthesia, the patient felt no pain.

It was “a revelation” that astonished Gross’s Japanese visitors, one historian

noted.

But this long-ago medical exchange had a significance no one could

have predicted. It marked the start of an international partnership between

Jefferson and colleagues in Japan that’s going strong in the 21st century.

Today, dozens of medical students, doctors and a wide range of health

professionals from Japan’s leading hospitals and medical schools travel to

Jefferson’s campus every year to observe, learn and connect with faculty at

SKMC as well as the College of Health Professions. The Japan Center for

Health Professions Education and Research arranges every detail—from

shadowing opportunities to lectures and meetings between colleagues with

shared specialties to time for observing on hospital rounds, in the emer-

gency room and at SKMC-affiliated clinics. There’s even a little sightseeing

(the Liberty Bell and a Phillies home game are popular).

“Medicine is all about relationships,” notes Charles Pohl, MD ’87, senior

associate dean, student affairs and career counseling; associate provost for

student affairs; and director of the Japan Center at Jefferson. “We greatly

gain from our relationships with our patients, colleagues and mentors.

That’s true of our relationship with Japan. It’s long, rich and holds many

benefits for all of us.”

AN ExPERiENCE YoU CAN’T GET FRoM A BookMore than 300 visitors from this Pacific Rim nation have come to the

university on medical exchange programs since the 1980s. Joseph S.

Gonnella, MD, dean emeritus, has long nurtured the exchanges. Gonnella

first visited Japan while working as a U.S. Army doctor at a military base in

Korea in the early 1960s. “I fell in love with the country and Japanese

culture,” he says. “Kyoto is one of the most beautiful cities in the world.”

At Jefferson, he promoted international exchanges focused on research,

education and clinical care with Japan and other nations as a consultant for

Japan & Jefferson: Connections Over Three Centuries

on a June day in 1860, three Japanese physicians—ritsugan Miyazaki, hakugen Murayama

and Domin kawasaki—watched as renowned Jefferson surgeon Samuel D. Gross, MD

1828, removed a troublesome stone from the bladder of a well-heeled Philadelphian.

TOP: yUMI RADI AND CHARLES POHL, MD '87,

WITH JADECOM VISITORS IN SUMMER 2015.

BOTTOM: KENICHIRO HASUMI, MD; JOSEPH

GONNELLA, MD; AND TAKAMI SATO, MD, PHD.

1 4 | W I N T E R 2 0 1 6

the World Health Organization and in his role

as founder and director of the university’s

Center for Research in Medical Education

and Health Care. “I met individuals who

played key roles in medical education and

international exchanges in Japan—including

chemist and philanthropist yoshihisa Asano,

PhD, founder of the Noguchi Medical

Research Institute (NMRI) and president and

CEO of Noguchi Medical Research Corp.

in Tokyo. That relationship continues to

this day.”

NMRI began sending physicians and

medical students to Jefferson in the 1980s;

other Japanese institutions followed suit.

The Japan Association for Development of

Community Medicine (JADECOM)—a major

health system that manages hospitals and

clinics across Japan—sends physicians as

well as nurses, dietitians, occupational and

physical therapists and hospital administra-

tors. Chiba University, Osaka City University,

Kariya Toyota General Hospital and others

also send doctors, nurses and other health

professionals.

In 2012, JADECOM—with the help of

NMRI—provided financial support to

establish the Japan Center, which coordi-

nates the medical exchanges. It provides a

centralized system for organizing trainings

and fostering research. Pohl says the center

will become the springboard for even more

research collaborations in the future: “We

have been exploring shared interests with

Japanese institutions, with the goal of linking

departments there and at Jefferson for rich

scientific investigation.”

iNTERNATioNAL BENEFiTSAmong the early NMRI research fellows to

arrive on Jefferson’s campus was Takami

Sato, MD, PhD, now the K. Hasumi Professor

of Medical Oncology at SKMC and director

of the Metastatic Uveal Melanoma Program

in the Department of Medical Oncology.

An internationally recognized clinician and

researcher specializing in cancer of the eye,

Sato used his 1991 fellowship to focus on

immunotherapy—harnessing the immune

system against cancer. “My fellowship in

Japan was in pediatric oncology,” he says.

“I spent nine years in general practice in rural

Japan and wanted to return to oncology

and to research. I had seen the limits of

existing cancer treatments and wanted to

find something more effective.”

His NMRI fellowship led to a professorship

at Jefferson and a research collaboration

with Kenichiro Hasumi, MD, a cancer

immunotherapy specialist in Japan. Sato

developed a new immunotherapy treatment

(immunoembolization) that targets uveal

melanoma’s spread to the liver. In clinical

trials, immunoembolization has extended

survival time, typically two months for

advanced cases of this cancer, to 12 months

or more. In 2013, Hasumi endowed a

professorship in medical oncology at

SKMC—the first in the U.S. endowed by a

Japanese citizen. Sato is its first recipient.

“Meeting face to face and seeing

firsthand how medicine is practiced here is

an experience you can’t get from a book or

the Internet, or from a visiting lecturer at

home,” he says. “you see the differences in

clinical care and education styles. you make

meaningful personal connections. Doctors

and students interested in future residency

programs in the U.S. can assess their

language skills and become familiar with the

American medical system, too. Training

abroad is becoming an essential part of

medical education.”

‘iT MoVED MY hEART’ Each year in March, the Noguchi Medical

Research Institute sponsors 10 high-achieving

students from Japanese medical schools for

a one-week immersion in the American

healthcare and medical education systems.

“This is a national selection of best candi-

dates from various prestigious medical

schools in Japan and we just choose 10,”

Sato notes. "We hold a workshop in Japan

each winter that’s open to all applicants, to

help them understand what they’ll need for

the program.”

The students face a busy week, coupled

with the jet lag from the 13-hour time

difference. They attend internal medicine

rounds, observe in the emergency room

and learn clinical skills with Joseph Majdan,

MD, director of professional development at

SKMC. In the evenings, small groups spend

several hours at one of the free JeffHOPE

clinics for homeless and underserved

Philadelphians at shelters and rescue

missions across the city. The clinics are

staffed by SKMC students with oversight

from supervising physicians.

“Visiting JeffHOPE always has a big

impact,” notes yumiko (yumi) Radi, opera-

tions manager for the Japan Center. “It’s

eye-opening. In Japan, medical students

begin shadowing physicians in their fifth

year. At SKMC, it starts in the first year. And

in JeffHOPE, first-year and second-year

students are paired with fourth-years to see

patients. Our visitors see their American

counterparts taking such an active role that

it’s very inspiring.”

Others may visit a free clinic at Holy

Redeemer Church and School in Chinatown

with Wayne Bond Lau, MD ’04, an emer-

gency medicine physician and assistant

director of the Japan Center who has been a

volunteer at the clinic since 2007.

It’s an emotional moment. “Dr. Lau’s

lecture moved my heart a lot,” one visiting

student wrote afterward. “I could see how

patients rely on and trust the clinic. It’s

small…but I feel it’s like the origin of

medicine there.”

Noted another: “I’ll never forget this...

Everyone had great passion for helping

people. It reminded me why I decided to

become a doctor.”

AMERiCAN ExPERiENCENMRI also sends several physicians to SKMC

each year for three-week fellowships; each

visitor shadows a resident who shares his or

her specialty. “Students and doctors who

come here from Japan often comment on

how patient-centered the care is,” Sato

notes. “After a case is presented during

rounds, everyone goes to the patient’s

bedside. The family may be present or may

Japan & Jefferson: Connections Over Three Centuries

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1860Three Japanese physicians view a surgery performed by Samuel Gross, MD. They subsequently tour the medical college and give gifts, including medical instruments and books on surgery. The doctors are part of a historic Japanese delegation that sailed to the U.S. to ratify a commercial treaty.

1872Jefferson alumnus John C. Berry, MD, leaves his home in Bath, Maine, to become a physician with the Japanese Mission of the American Board of Boston. Berry worked at the International Hospital in Kobe, helped fight an outbreak of beriberi in the city’s prison and helped establish a nurses’ training school at Doshisha University.

1906Admiral Baron Takagi, Surgeon General of the Imperial Japanese Navy, gives a talk to Jefferson students—noting that Gross’s book The System of Surgery was widely studied in Japan.

1934Jefferson graduate Jo Ono, MD ’28, returns to Japan and becomes one of the first bronchoscopists at St. Luke’s International Hospital in Tokyo. In 1949, Ono helps organize the Japan Bronchoesophago-logical Society.

[At the free Chinatown Clinic]

we could see Dr. Wayne bond

Lau interview patients. I was

impressed by his passionate

attitude toward helping

patients who couldn’t go to the

hospital and also educating

medical students, however busy

he was. I am interested in

working as a doctor in a

developing country, so their way

of seeing patients [offers] a lot

for me to learn from.”

I was impressed with doctors’ attitudes toward their patients.

They always do their job with responsibility and respect…and made

good relationships with patients. I was also impressed with the

relationships between doctors and students. Doctors are likely to

teach students and the students do a great job. It encourages me to

try harder in clinical practice at my university.”

Early Links between Japan and Jefferson: A Timeline

JOSEPH MAJDAN, MD, INSTRUCTS VISITING

STUDENTS FROM CHIBA UNIVERSITy AND

OSAKA CITy UNIVERSITy.

What Japanese Medical Students have to Say About Visiting SkMC

Medical students chosen by the Noguchi Medical Research Institute visit

SKMC each March for a 10-day training program. At the end, they write about

their experiences. Here’s what three had to say after a recent stay:

The training affected my view of my

future as a physician, especially after

shadowing family doctors. Their view

is holistic as they try to pull out what

would be best for the patient beyond

their chief complaint.”

The meetingDr. Berry Admiral Takagi The envoys

1 6 | W I N T E R 2 0 1 6

call in with audio and visuals on an iPad.

It’s one of the many ways having an

international and cross-cultural experience

helps people grow.”

Many physicians hope to return to the

U.S. for residency programs. The Japan

Center is happy to help. “Some of our

medical exchange fellows use the program

to test how ready they are to make the leap

and to see if it’s really right for them,” Pohl

says. “One of my jobs is to help them better

understand the residency application

process in the U.S. and explain what the

experience will be like.”

Fellows who return home rely on their

new SKMC relationships for guidance

afterward, too. “Often, I find myself offering

advice about the right fellowship, the best

place for that particular physician,” Sato

says. “It’s a big-brother relationship.”

The NMRI connection leads to other

beneficial outcomes. “After the earthquake

and tsunami devastated parts of Japan in

2011, more than 30 former NMRI fellows

volunteered to work for a week each at

Onagawa Hospital in Miyagi prefecture,”

says Sato. “The tsunami had destroyed

much of the town and flooded the first floor

of this hospital.

“We slept on the floor. At first, there was

no electricity. We treated many patients with

respiratory and GI infections. Others had

chronic conditions such as diabetes and

heart failure who needed medical care and

medications. Their medical records were

gone, so healthcare practitioners had to

figure out their diagnosis, sometimes

starting with the color of the pills they had

been taking.”

BEYoND MEDiCiNEExchange programs with Japan aren’t just

for physicians. “We pair health professionals

from JADECOM and other institutions with

counterparts throughout the university and

hospital community,” Pohl says.

When four nurses from JADECOM

hospitals and clinics came in June 2015,

they toured the Jefferson College of

Nursing, the emergency department, the

Jefferson Hospital for Neuroscience, the

neonatal intensive care unit and the Patient

Flow Management Center. With help from a

Japanese-speaking nurse, they discussed

shared concerns with Jefferson nurses,

including risk management, patient safety

and peer communication. Two of the guests

presented at a roundtable discussion on

outcomes related to nurse staffing levels

and job satisfaction.

“One of my objectives in participating in

the training is to reduce the job separation

rate in our hospital,” one nurse noted

afterward. “I realized we need to create a

working environment where individual

nurses can work with a sense of meaning

and purpose, and to support their profes-

sional development.”

The Japan Center has also paired

Japanese dietitians with university counter-

parts, and has done the same for physical

and occupational therapists, pharmacists

and recently, administrators who work in

payroll and human resources.

LEADiNG RoLESKMC and the Japan Center are leaders in

medical exchange between the U.S. and

Japan, notes James B. Erdmann, PhD,

director of the Japan Center from 2012

through mid-2014 and retired dean of the

College of Health Professions. “Other

universities have relationships, but no one

else hosts professionals from so many

health fields and from so many institutions,”

he says. “When JADECOM and NMRI joined

us in forming the Japan Center, other

institutions in Japan wanted to get involved,

too. The focus isn’t technology. It’s really

how people learn and work together. Our

team approach and patient-centered care

get a lot of attention. People tell us they go

home with ideas they’re going to use.”

1982The first visiting medical students and physicians from Japan come to Jefferson through the Scholar Exchange Program of the Center for Research in Medical Education and Health Care. “We had the wonderful experience of seeing basic science and clinical medicine for two weeks,” noted Kimitaka Kaga, MD, who led the group.

1991The Noguchi Medical Research Institute establishes the Gonnella-Amano Fund to promote medical exchanges with Japan.

2012The Japan Center is established through the financial support of JADECOM, supplemented by NMRI.

2014Yoshihisa Asano, founder of NMRI and a visiting scholar and faculty member at SKMC, endows $1 million to Japan Center director Charles Pohl, MD ’87, to establish The Asano Program for Collaborative and Compassionate Health Care. “The focus is on delivering compassionate care by interdisciplinary healthcare teams,” Pohl says. “This year’s theme is Social Injustice and Empathy. Through cultural events, panel discussions and lectures we will encourage the growth of empathy.”

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Through innovative collaborations, physicians, educators and research-

ers from SKMC are teaming up with medical experts in the People’s Republic

of China to answer these and other health questions that transcend borders

and time zones. Here are just a few of the many connections SKMC is

making halfway around the globe.

DERMAToLoGY: ThE GENETiC RooTS oF RARE DiSEASESFor one in 50,000 people, the inherited skin disease pseudoxanthoma

elasticum (PXE) leads to a buildup of minerals in the skin, eyes and cardio-

vascular system that can dim vision, boost risk for heart attacks and stroke

and scatter yellow bumps at skin folds. There’s no cure, but early research

suggests identifying the genetics behind the condition could open the way

for cell- and gene-based therapies. The hitch: Mutations vary by ethnic

group.

Now, a collaboration between Jouni Uitto, MD, PhD, chair of the

Department of Dermatology and Cutaneous Biology at SKMC, and Gang

Wang, MD, PhD, chair of the Department of Dermatology at Xijing Hospital

at China’s Fourth Military Medical University, has identified 16 mutations

among Chinese women and men with PXE. The work, published in 2015 in

the Journal of Investigative Dermatology, can help with genetic counseling,

pregnancy planning in families with PXE and development of future

treatments, the researchers say.

“Here in the U.S., we’re testing different allele-specific treatments on a

pre-clinical level, looking at gene replacement and cellular therapies to stop

PXE,” Uitto says. “It’s important to understand the mutations in different

populations, so that one day therapy can be personalized.”

In 2013, the first Center of Excellence on PXE Research and Clinical

Care in China opened at Fourth Military Medical University through the

efforts of Uitto and Wang, with funding from the patient advocacy group

PXE International and the Milstein Medical Asian American Partnership

Foundation.

There, joint research using high-throughput sequencing to rapidly

identify mutations “has significance beyond PXE,” Uitto says. “It’s a model

for collaboration in studying the genetics of a wide variety of rare diseases

China & Jefferson: Uniting for Research & Training

what can obstructive sleep apnea teach us about preventing heart disease? can traditional

chinese medicine yield the drugs of the future? how can busy physicians get help with

ultrasound scans? and could a skin disease that affects just one in 50,000 people hold the

key to solving the riddles of hundreds of rare diseases?

TOP: ADAM DICKER, MD, PHD, CHAIR OF

RADIATION ONCOLOGy, HAS FORGED CLOSE

RELATIONSHIPS WITH PEERS IN CHINA.

BOTTOM: SKMC DEAN MARK TyKOCINSKI,

MD, AND EMERGENCy MEDICINE CHAIR TED

CHRISTOPHER, MD, VISIT A SIMULATION CENTER

AT THE WEST CHINA SCHOOL OF MEDICINE.

1 8 | W I N T E R 2 0 1 6

China & Jefferson: Uniting for Research & Training

that affect 26 million Americans and up to

150 million Chinese.”

Meanwhile, Uitto and colleagues are also

working with partners at Beijing Children’s

Hospital to uncover the genes driving

another group of devastating inherited

diseases, called epidermolysis bullosa,

that leave skin fragile and blistered.

CARDioVASCULAR DiSEASE RE-SEARCh: ThE TRANSLATioNAL APPRoAChIn China, one in five adults has cardiovas-

cular disease. Heart attack, stroke and

related conditions are responsible for 20

percent of deaths—a number expected to

rise to 30 percent in the next 15 years,

according to the World Health Organization.

As attention focuses on primary prevention,

Xinliang (Xin) Ma, MD, PhD, professor and

director of the Cardiovascular Research

Program in SKMC’s Department of

Emergency Medicine, has expanded his

work looking at heart failure and ischemic

damage to cardiac muscle tissue across

many time zones.

Ma, who received his PhD from Fourth

Military Medical University in 1988 and

came to Jefferson in 1989, began collabo-

rating with colleagues in China in 1998.

“A group from the university came to the

U.S. to talk with Chinese researchers. They

flew from San Francisco to New york, then

took a Greyhound bus to Philadelphia to

meet me,” Ma recalls. “I’m an emotional guy

and that really moved me.”

More than 20 researchers have trained in

his lab and returned to Fourth Military

Medical University in China. “They’ve

contributed immensely to my research,”

he says. “Most are clinicians and have been

able to do exciting translational research at

home—taking findings from their work with

patients and tracing them back to make new

discoveries about cardiovascular disease.

This is the new direction in translational

medicine, rather than working all the time

from the test tube up to humans.”

Since 2010, Ma has worked with heart

researchers at Capital Medical University in

Beijing, including Changsheng Ma, MD,

chair of the university’s cardiology

department. The relationship went in an

unexpected direction. “The head of the

university’s hospital is an ear, nose and

throat specialist who also wanted to

collaborate,” Ma says. “We decided to focus

on obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), which

greatly increases risk for heart disease. We

have seven investigators, 30 PhD students

and a whole team looking at the connection

in many ways. I’m looking for clinical

problems that I can use to generate useful

scientific questions, then take them back

and do basic science.”

One example: Ma and the team are on

the lookout for people with extreme OSA

who do not have cardiovascular disease.

“We can then look for genetic mutations

that are protective,” he explains. “That could

lead to new treatments down the road.”

ULTRASoUND Every day, the ultrasound department at

West China Hospital of Sichuan University

is remarkably productive: 25 doctors scan

more than 1,000 patients. Despite this

throughput, there is a backlog. yan Luo, MD,

director of the ultrasound department, is

working with Jefferson to create new

systems to care for her patients.

“In China, physicians perform almost all

ultrasounds. They’re highly trained to do the

scanning of every patient, and then read

and dictate reports by themselves…But

that’s beginning to change,” says Ji-Bin Liu,

MD, professor of radiology at SKMC and

director of the China-America Ultrasound

Scholar Training Program. The Jefferson

Ultrasound and Radiology Education

Institute (JUREI), its China-America

Ultrasound Scholar Training Program and

the Department of Radiologic Sciences are

collaborating with Sichuan University to

hone a new health profession: sonography.

The universities are also working

together to create a unique curriculum for

Chinese students, with the ultimate goal to

certify and credential the new sonographer

profession through the American Registry

for Diagnostic Medical Sonography. The

Chinese sonographer program will also

send some of its top students to Jefferson

for advanced study.

Education has begun in both countries.

In 2014 and 2015, Liu and colleagues

Laurence Needleman, MD; Flemming

Forsberg, PhD; John Eisenbrey, PhD; and

Levon Nazarian, MD, taught at Sichuan

University symposia and other sites in China.

In summer 2015, Jefferson’s Traci Fox, EdD,

attended the international exchange teacher

program at West China Medical School to

teach immersion courses in the principles

and instrumentation of medical ultrasound

and hemodynamics. Sonographers and

physicians from West China Medical School

and Hospital have also come to Jefferson

for study.

The relationship between Jefferson

Ultrasound and China began in the 1980s.

More than 300 Chinese ultrasound physi-

cians have visited Jefferson in the past 20

years. In 2013, supported by Vijay Rao, MD,

the David C. Levin Professor and Chair of

the Department of Radiology, the China-

America Ultrasound Scholar Training

Program was established between the

Beijing Medical Ultrasound Association and

JUREI to promote medical ultrasound

career development for clinicians and

researchers throughout China. Through

JUREI, Jefferson has established ultrasound

education centers at zhongshan Hospital at

Fudan University in Shanghai; Peking Union

Hospital at Peking Union Medical College in

Beijing; Xijing Hospital at Fourth Military

Medical University in Xi’an; and Erdos

Central Hospital at Erdos, Inner Mongolia. In

2015, SKMC partnered with Third Hospital

of Peking University in Beijing to create a

Musculoskeletal Ultrasound Collaboration

Training Center.

“Many physicians from these centers

come to Jefferson for symposia and

fellowships and take back what they’ve

learned to improve clinical care and

research,” notes Liu, a graduate of Bethune

Medical College at Jilin University in

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Rehabilitation Medicine Advancesimportant goals of rehabilitation medicine include treating pain,

healing or minimizing musculoskeletal injuries and addressing loss

of function due to a wide variety of neurologic and musculoskeletal

conditions such as stroke, arthritis and osteoporosis. An international

program in SKMC’s Department of Rehabilitation Medicine that

hosts visitors from the People’s Republic of China and encourages

faculty to travel there to teach and train is doing both—and more.

“Rehabilitation medicine has grown rapidly in China since I first

visited in 1981,” says John Melvin, MD, department chair and the

Jessie b. Michie Professor of Rehabilitation Medicine. “We always

have one or two visitors in our department. And professionals we

have hosted have gone home to take important leadership roles.”

These include Jianan Li, MD, professor and chair of rehabilita-

tion medicine at Nanjing Medical University and current president

of the International Society of Physical and Rehabilitation

Medicine. Li spent six months at Jefferson in 2001, noting at the

time, “I have visited rehabilitation facilities in more than a dozen

countries. There is no doubt that the strength of rehabilitation

traditional chinese medicine (tcM), practiced

for thousands of years, includes complex herbal

formulas deployed against a wide variety of

ailments. Now, researchers from SKMC are teaming

up with colleagues at Zhejiang Traditional Chinese

Medical Hospital (ZTCMH), affiliated with Zhejiang

Chinese Medical University in Hangzhou, China, to

take a deep look at TCM’s most potent active

ingredients.

“First, ZTCMH will send research fellows,

residents and dermatologists to SKMC for training

in dermatology research laboratories and/or

clinics,” says Qiaoli Li, PhD, research associate

professor in SKMC’s Department of Dermatology

and Cutaneous biology. She is leading the project

with Jouni Uitto, MD, PhD, chair of the department.

“Second, with many compounds/molecules

extracted from complex TCM remedies at ZTCMH,

a potential program may be established to test

these compounds at Jefferson in skin and vascular

derived cells in vitro. Active compounds, once

identified, will be tested at Jefferson in pre-clinical

animal models for skin diseases in vivo.”

ZTCMH researchers are particularly interested in

compounds from formulas used to treat oxidative

stress and inflammation in various pathologies.

Ultimately, the project could yield new medicines

drawn from an ancient tradition.

TOP: CRySTAL WATERS, SIMULATION PROGRAM COORDINATOR

AT JEFFERSON, LEADS A DEMONSTRATION FOR VISITORS.

BOTTOM: LI WEIMIN, MD, DEAN OF SICHUAN UNIVERSITy'S

WEST CHINA SCHOOL OF MEDICINE, AND TyKOCINSKI

SIGN AN AGREEMENT FOR AN EIGHT-yEAR PROGRAM

FOR MEDICAL STUDENTS. GRADUATES WILL BE GRANTED

MEDICAL DEGREES FROM BOTH INSTITUTIONS.

2 0 | W I N T E R 2 0 1 6

Changchun, China, who came to Jefferson

as a research fellow in 1987. He also

collaborates with Chinese ultrasound

researchers. “Jefferson also provides training

materials to the centers and many faculty

members have visited to give lectures. I don’t

think there’s another ultrasound education

program like JUREI anywhere in the world.

The group has more than 75 affiliates from

Afghanistan to Honduras to Nigeria and

beyond and is recognized by the World

Health Organization as a Collaborating

Center for Continuing and General

Education in Diagnostic Ultrasound.”

“Improving ultrasound through world-

wide collaborations is an important part of

JUREI’s mission. Face-to-face education

here and in China between faculty and

students encourages deeper ties and better

education. We are also thrilled to lend our

experience to start a new model of clinical

ultrasound which incorporates sonogra-

phers,” says Nazarian, professor of radiology

and JUREI director.

RADiATioN oNCoLoGY: RESEARCh hoRizoNSChinese research fellows are exploring

important questions in radiation oncology

for the treatment of cancer with SKMC

investigators. “At any time, we have three to

six physicians and researchers from China

here through our department’s International

Fellowship Program in Radiation Oncology,

Molecular Radiation Biology and Medical

Physics,” says Adam Dicker, MD, PhD, chair

and professor of radiation oncology,

pharmacology and experimental therapeu-

tics. “We’ve forged close relationships with

institutions across China.”

Recent collaborations include:

• An evaluation of robotic surgery guided

by magnetic resonance imaging and of

an image-guided brachytherapy system,

which implants radioactive “seeds”

directly in affected tissues. These are

collaborations between yan yu, PhD,

MBA, vice chair of the Department of

Radiation Oncology and director of the

Division of Medical Physics at SKMC, and

investigators from Tianjin University’s

Center for Advanced Robotics.

• An investigation of novel genetic

mutations driving radiation-resistant

cancers. Work is underway by a

researcher from the Shanghai Cancer

Center at Fudan University in the lab of

Bo Lu, MD, PhD, director of the Division

of Molecular Radiation Biology in

Jefferson’s Department of Radiation

Oncology.

• A comparison of surgery and stereotac-

tic radiotherapy for early non-small cell

lung cancer—one of the most common

forms of cancer in the world. This

multi-center study involves a collabora-

tion between ying Xiao, PhD, professor

of radiation oncology and director of

SKMC’s International Fellowship

Program, and researchers from five

Chinese universities.

• Immunotherapy combinations of

checkpoint inhibitors and DNA-

damaging agents using preclinical

models of lung cancer. The goal is to

have data for the development of the

next generation of lung cancer clinical

trials. This collaboration involves Dicker,

Bo Lu and you Lu of West China School

of Medicine, Sichuan University.

“Our relationships began as personal

contacts as Chinese-born faculty and

researchers from SKMC gave lectures and

did trainings in China through the years.

This has grown into very strong collabora-

tions,” Dicker says. Recently, Jefferson’s

Department of Radiation Oncology

sponsored the Shanghai Cancer Center at

Fudan University—one of China’s largest

cancer centers—as an affiliate member of

the Radiation Therapy Oncology Group

(RTOG), a key clinical research component

of the American College of Radiology. The

RTOG (now known as NRG Oncology) is

part of the National Clinical Trials Network,

an international research cooperative

funded by the National Cancer Institute that

aims to increase survival and improve the

quality of life for cancer patients.

In one notable Philadelphia-Shanghai

collaboration, physicists from SKMC and

Fudan University demonstrated that a

semi-automatic review process for person-

alized radiation treatment plans shortened

patient wait times and reduced the risk of

human error. “The tools developed from the

study will benefit Chinese radiation

oncology departments where a large

number of patients are being cared for,” said

zhen zhang, MD, PhD, chairman of radiation

oncology at Fudan University Shanghai

Cancer Center, when the work was

published in the journal Physics in Medicine

and Biology in 2013.

medicine in the Jefferson Health System is one of the very best in

the world.” Li said he was especially impressed by outcomes thanks

to early intervention after injuries and with multidisciplinary teams

delivering care.

In 2008, Li lead a team of rehabilitation medicine professionals

who responded after a devastating earthquake in Sichuan. They set

up facilities to treat those injured, including many with spinal cord

injuries. Researchers followed survivors’ progress, and the group’s

experiences have shaped the way rehab medicine providers

respond to disasters around the world.

“The Chinese government is now in the process of setting

up about 30 rehabilitation centers around the country, and

experts in the field are doing something groundbreaking,”

Melvin adds. “They’re developing a national system for

measuring outcomes. The reason we all go into rehab medicine

is to help people. Good measuring tools will let us see how

well our efforts are working and what needs to be changed.”

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AMA TAPS SkMC To hELP TRANSFoRM MEDiCAL EDUCATioNSKMC has been chosen to join the American

Medical Association “Accelerating Change

in Medical Education Consortium”—an elite

group of schools collaborating to reshape

medical education nationwide.

The AMA established the consortium with

11 founding institutions that conceptualized

programs and curriculum models on which

the newly added schools will build. More

than 100 schools applied to join the

consortium in 2015; SKMC is one of just

20 selected and will receive $75,000 over

three years to advance the AMA’s innovative

work to transform undergraduate medical

education so it better aligns with the

healthcare system of the 21st century.

Steven K. Herrine, MD, vice dean of

academic affairs, and Tony Frisby, PhD,

director of the Center for Teaching and

Learning, spearheaded SKMC’s proposal.

BRENT hoNoRED BY ioMRobert L. Brent, MD,

PhD, a distinguished

professor of pediatric

radiology and

pathology at Jefferson

and at A.I. duPont Hospital

for Children, received the Gustav O. Lienhard

Award from the Institute of Medicine (IOM)

in October 2015. Established in 1986, this

award is presented annually by the IOM in

honor of Gustav O. Lienhard, chairman of

the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation

Board of Trustees from 1971 to 1986. The

award—a medal and $40,000—recognizes

individuals for outstanding achievement in

improving healthcare services in the United

States. A renowned teratologist, Brent has

counseled thousands of pregnant women

and their families over the past 55 years.

CohEN iS ABPM PRESiDENT-ELECT

Mitchell Cohen, MD,

has been named

president-elect of

the American Board

of Pain Medicine

(ABPM), the oldest

credentialing body for subspecialty

certification in pain medicine. The ABPM is

associated with the American Academy of

Pain Medicine, the largest physician entity

in organized pain medicine. Cohen is an

associate professor in the Department of

Psychiatry & Human Behavior who special-

izes in chronic pain.

Following a visit to campus in March 2015, the Liaison Committee on

Medical Education (LCME) granted Sidney Kimmel Medical College

accreditation for an eight-year term. This means the LCME has

confirmed that SKMC’s educational programs fully prepare graduates

for their next stage of training and for entry into the field of medicine.

This achievement is the culmination of many months of hard work

on behalf of SKMC’s academic leadership, faculty, staff and students.

Numerous individuals and offices institution-wide contributed to the

LCME self-study materials and on-site visit; the Jefferson community

wishes to thank everyone who contributed to this effort.

The next full survey visit will take place in academic year 2022-2023.

SKMC Receives LCME Accreditation

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SkCC FACULTY RECEiVE PCF ChALLENGE AWARDSSeveral faculty members at the Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center at Jefferson

were named 2015 Prostate Cancer Foundation Challenge Award recipients.

PCF Challenge Awards are given annually to an elite few teams of cross-

disciplinary prostate cancer investigators and cover the direct costs of their

research. These grants support “first in field” studies using novel techniques

for which no prior funding exists. Leaders of $1 million funded projects

include Karen Knudsen, PhD, director of the Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center

and chair of the Department of Cancer Biology; Adam Dicker, MD, PhD,

chair of the Department of Radiation Oncology; and William Kevin Kelly,

DO, director of the Division of Solid Tumor Oncology and leader of the

Biology of Prostate Cancer Program.

Karen Knudsen, PhD Adam Dicker, MD, PhD William Kevin Kelly, DO

JEFFERSoN GERiATRiCS RECoGNizEDThe National Committee for Quality Assurance has

recognized Jefferson’s Geriatrics Division as a Level 3

Patient-Centered Medical Home (PCMH)—the highest level

of recognition offered. A patient-centered medical home is

a model that replaces episodic care with personalized,

coordinated care; each patient has an ongoing relationship

with a single physician who leads a team at a single location

that provides for the patient’s healthcare needs. Brooke

Salzman, MD ’01, geriatric fellowship program director and

medical director of Jefferson Geriatrics, led the team that

pursued recertification. The practice was first certified as a

Level 3 PCMH three years ago.

EMERGENCY, FAMiLY MEDiCiNE FACULTY RECEiVE $1M AWARDJefferson faculty seeking to increase patients’ input on their personal

priorities when receiving medical care have received a three-year, $1 million

funding award from the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute to

study the value of “concept mapping.” Frequently, interviews and focus

groups are used to engage patients, but these methods are time consuming

and leave data analysis up to professional researchers. Commonly used in

non-healthcare settings, concept mapping is a group process through

which participants brainstorm, organize and analyze their ideas to take a

more active role in sharing their healthcare preferences and desires. Led by

principal investigator Kristin Rising, MD, assistant professor of emergency

medicine, and co-principal investigator Marianna Lanoue, PhD, assistant

professor of family and community medicine, the newly funded Jefferson

study will focus on patients with diabetes mellitus.

▲

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o n c a M P u S

PiPELiNE PRoGRAM REAChES MiNoRiTY STUDENTSA network of institutions that includes SKMC has received a five-year grant

from the U.S. Department of Health and Social Services Office of Minority

Health to develop a healthcare professions pipeline program that focuses

on minority students in the State of Delaware. A collaboration between

the Delaware Technical Institute, Nemours/Alfred I. duPont Hospital for

Children and SKMC, STEM-UP Delaware! will infuse STEM (science,

technology, engineering and mathematics) and healthcare learning into

schools with high numbers of minority and other underrepresented

students. The program will create a workforce pipeline of minority job

candidates for healthcare positions throughout the Delaware Valley.

Bernard Lopez, MD, SKMC’s associate dean for diversity and community

engagement, represents Jefferson on the program’s advisory board.

▲ JEFFERSoN hoSTS 89Th ANNUAL hALSTED SoCiETY MEETiNGFrom Sept. 16-19, 2015, the Department of Surgery hosted the 89th Annual Meeting of the

Halsted Society—named after William Stewart Halsted, MD, the first professor of surgery at

Johns Hopkins. Jefferson surgeons Nicholas Cavarocchi, MD; Stephen Dunn, MD; Ernest

(Gary) Rosato, MD ’99; Jordan Winter, MD; and Charles J. yeo, MD, the Samuel D. Gross

Professor and Chair of Surgery, are members of the society. With 160 people, the 2015

meeting boasted the highest attendance to date.

The four-day event kicked off with a welcome from SKMC Dean Mark Tykocinski, MD,

and yeo, followed by a more than a dozen faculty presentations. Highlights included a

reception at the College of Physicians and Mütter Museum featuring New York Times

bestselling author Cristin O'Keefe Aptowicz, who gave a captivating talk about Thomas Dent

Mütter, MD, Jefferson’s third chair of surgery. A black-tie reception was held at the Hyatt at

the Bellevue Hotel, where Kathleen Squires, MD, the W. Paul and Ida H. Havens Professor of

Infectious Diseases at Jefferson, gave a talk about Legionnaires' disease, which acquired its

name in 1976 when an outbreak of pneumonia occurred among attendees of the American

Legion convention at the hotel.

ThAkUR NAMED DiSTiNGUiShED iNVESTiGAToRMadhukar (Mathew)

Thakur, PhD, professor

of radiology, was honored

as a Distinguished Investigator of the

Academy of Radiology Research at the 101st

Scientific Assembly and Annual Meeting of

the Radiological Society of North America

in November 2015. Distinguished

Investigator Awards acknowledge achieve-

ment in academic imaging research. Thakur

is director of Jefferson’s radiopharmaceu-

tical research and molecular imaging

laboratories and focuses on developing

radiopharmaceuticals to be used as

diagnosis and therapeutic agents.

SAMhSA GRANT To FUND SUBSTANCE ABUSE TRAiNiNGThe Substance Abuse

and Mental Health

Services Administration

has awarded Jefferson a

three-year, $325,000 grant

to initiate a program called Jeff Curricular

Enhancement-Substance Abuse Training

(CE-SAT). CE-SAT will provide training to all

medical, physician assistant and pharmacy

students at Jefferson during the 2015-2018

academic years so they are better prepared

to serve and communicate with patients

who have or are at risk for substance abuse

issues. Skills related to screening, interven-

tion, referral and treatment will enhance

existing course content. James Plumb, MD

’74, vice chair of community medicine and

director of the Center for Urban Health, is

leading the development and implementa-

tion of the new curriculum.

RiVLiN hoNoRED BY hAND SURGERY FoUNDATioNMichael Rivlin, MD,

a hand and wrist

surgeon at the

Rothman Institute at

Jefferson, received the

American Foundation for Surgery of the

Hand’s 2015 J. Leonard Goldner Pioneer

Award for earning its most meritorious grant

of the year. The grant will support Rivlin’s

study of fibrosis in injured peripheral nerves.

2 4 | W I N T E R 2 0 1 6

SkMC BUiLDS RELATioNShiPS iN RWANDAIn 2005, medical students and faculty from Jefferson’s

Department of Family and Community Medicine started the

Rwanda Health and Healing Project, a community-oriented

health project in two rural Rwandan villages. The program

includes a partnership with the Rwanda Village Concept

Project (RVCP), a Rwandan medical student-driven public

health and community development organization. Two

years later, Jefferson faculty and members of JeffHEALTH—

a student-run organization aiming to help Africa link to

improved health resources—developed an exchange

program to bring RVCP medical students to Jefferson.

Every year, Jefferson selects two to three Rwandan

students for two-month rotations focused on primary care,

community health and public health. Since 2007, 24

Rwandan students have completed this exchange program.

This past September, Christopher Raab, MD, medical

director of international medicine for Nemours—Jefferson’s

pediatrics partner—took residents and fellows to the

Remera-Rakoma District Hospital near Kigali, Rwanda,

where Jefferson has cultivated clinical exchange and

capacity-building programs. Raab and his group led

hospital staff through Helping Babies Breathe, a clinical

education program that outlines how to respond if a

newborn isn’t breathing. Raab hopes to return to Rwanda

next year and will send residents to conduct additional

trainings in the meantime.

Pediatric emergency medicine fellow Kim Fugok, DO, and neonatal medicine fellow Elizabeth O’Donnell, MD, train Rwandan physi-cians and anesthetists in pediatric intubation.

Pictured with Ellen Plumb, MD ’10, and James Plumb, MD ’74, are the Rwandan students who came to Jefferson in 2015: Providence Akingeneye, Peace Kakibibi and Benedicte Ndayishimiye.

S I D N E y K I M M E L M E D I C A L C O L L E G E A T T H O M A S J E F F E R S O N U N I V E R S I T y | 2 5

o n c a M P u S

Breaking the Chain of Hepatitis B Infection

Hie-Won Hann, MD

f a c u L t Y P r o f i L eP

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2 6 | W I N T E R 2 0 1 6

SETTiNG RESEARCh RooTS

Hann is best known for her work on hepatitis B, but her

initial interest was cancer biology. One of only two women

in her class at the elite Seoul National University Medical

School, she fulfilled a dream to train at Harvard, where she

completed a residency and fellowship at Dana Farber

Cancer Institute. She moved to Philadelphia when her

husband, Richard Suhung Hann, MD—an immunologist and

classmate from medical school—got a fellowship at St.

Christopher’s Hospital for Children.

Unable to find an oncology position in the area, Hann

explored research opportunities and in 1971 joined the lab

of Baruch Blumberg, MD, PhD, at the Institute for Cancer

Research, one of two institutions that ultimately merged to

create Fox Chase Cancer Center. Blumberg was renowned for

discovering the hepatitis B virus and subsequently devising

the first vaccine (he would go on to win a Nobel Prize).

Hann’s early studies involved the correlation between

iron and cancer. One of her most significant discoveries

involved the childhood cancer neuroblastoma; she showed

that serum ferritin levels (which correlate to the amount of

iron stored in someone’s body) were increased in these

patients and were also their prognostic indicator. She also

produced the first clear animal documentation of the rela-

tionship between excessive iron and cancer growth.

Published in Cancer Research, this work was featured in

the National Institutes of Health Research Resources

Reporter as one of the most significant papers of 1989.

When the hepatitis B vaccine Blumberg developed was

introduced to the market in the early 1980s, the manufac-

turer donated an abundance to Fox Chase. Hann and her

colleague W. Thomas London, MD, devised a campaign to

visit local Asian immigrants to identify carriers and unin-

fected people who would benefit from vaccination.

fter a healthy childhood in Korea, a young man moved

to the United States, built a career, got married and

raised two children. Suddenly, at age 52, he developed

excruciating back pain. An ultrasound revealed a large

tumor. Although he’d had no prior symptoms, liver cancer

had been progressing in his body for years.

Hie-Won Hann, MD, begins many of her presentations

with stories like this. A revered leader in liver disease

management, Hann champions awareness surrounding

hepatitis B, the virus that causes approximately 80 percent

of all liver cancers. For unknown reasons, three-quarters of

the 400 million people infected worldwide are from Asian

nations—so Hann has focused her work on these populations.

“The virus ruminates for decades without symptoms,

because the liver has no nerves. If a patient has symptoms,

the cancer has spread,” says Hann, director of the Liver

Disease Prevention Center at Jefferson. “People listen better

to stories than statistics, so I tell them about my cases …

then they agree to get screened.”

Most people with hepatitis B were infected during child-

birth; an infant born to a carrier has more than a 90 percent

chance of acquiring the virus. A simple blood test can detect

surface antigens (a marker for infection) long before liver

cirrhosis or cancer develops, and early intervention saves

lives. But early intervention is only possible if people at risk

know why and how to get tested. That’s where Hann comes in.

By pioneering extensive educational, screening and treat-

ment programs, Hann has helped change the course of

hepatitis B around the world. She has played a key role in

identifying carriers, testing antiviral agents aimed at curing

them and promoting vaccination for uninfected individuals.

The two ambitious goals that have consumed her for nearly

40 years—preventing death from liver cancer through

early detection of the hepatitis B virus and preventing

infection from occurring in the first place—have resulted

in unprecedented success in overcoming a stealth menace

to public health.

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f a c u L t Y P r o f i L e

“Since I am from Korea, it was easy to approach Koreans,

so I started with my church,” Hann says. “There was resis-

tance—hepatitis has a stigma—and it took time to persuade

them.”

But their program proved a success. Word spread, and

invitations to other churches—Korean as well as Japanese,

Chinese and Taiwanese—poured in. Supported by a National

Institutes of Health grant, Hann and London screened and

vaccinated thousands of immigrants across the Philadelphia

region. Hann’s husband, whom she calls her “most important

coworker,” drove her from church to church and helped to

educate participants and obtain blood specimens.

“Many Koreans were clustered in other areas: New

Jersey, New York, Washington, Virginia, Maryland,” Hann

says. “But our grant limited us to the Delaware Valley, so w

e couldn’t go any farther.”

Until she got a call from Jefferson.

No MoRE BoUNDARiES

In 1988, Dean Joseph Gonnella, MD, and Department of

Medicine Chairman Willis Maddrey, MD, recruited Hann

as founding leader of Jefferson’s Liver Disease Prevention

Center. With geographic restrictions lifted—and her

husband at the wheel—she expanded her reach along the

East Coast and traveled as far as California to speak to

church congregations. Over two decades, they screened

more than 30,000 Asian Americans for hepatitis B. Many

of those identified as carriers became Hann’s patients,

whom she continually monitored for tumors.

“People come to see me from far away, because I treat

patients like family,” she says. “Unfortunately, for many

years, if someone had even the smallest tumor resected,

cancer would come back since the virus lived on in the

remaining liver.”

Until the early 1990s, aside from surgery, Hann had

little to offer patients in terms of treatment. Her team

tried to suppress the virus with injectable interferons, but

they brought severe side effects and inconsistent results.

“I was desperate to stop disease progression and became

an ambassador for antiviral therapy,” she says.

2 8 | W I N T E R 2 0 1 6

The first antiviral drug for hepatitis B, lamivudine, was

launched in 1998—starting what Hann calls “a new era.”

She worked on the initial lamivudine trial, the results of

which were published in a landmark study in the New

England Journal of Medicine. Since then, she has

conducted more than two dozen clinical trials evaluating

all five currently available antiviral agents.

“Oral antiviral therapies have few adverse effects, and

with them we can suppress replication of the virus in the

liver, normalize liver function and even reverse cirrhosis

or prevent or delay the development of cancer,” she says.

By showing that antiviral drugs can deter tumors, Hann

and her peers have offered an essential alternative to liver

transplantation for patients who develop liver cancer.

A shortage of available donor livers often means a waiting

list of three years or longer for a transplant; many patients

die in the meantime.

The next step for researchers, Hann says, is to find ways

to tackle the latent virus that remains in the livers of all

chronic hepatitis B patients. “We have learned to get rid of

the replicating virus, but the non-replicating virus is still in

the body. It’s like a template, a grandmother or grandfather

virus, sitting inside the liver cell nucleus. That one we

haven’t been able to touch yet, but there is a lot of work

going on in this area,” she says.

PRiDE AND hoPE

As fulfilled as she is by her professional accomplishments,

Hann is equally proud of her family, which includes two

daughters, Christine and Carolyn. Christine, MD, PhD ’00,

is a medical oncologist specializing in small-cell lung cancer

at Johns Hopkins (her husband, neurosurgeon Gary Gallia,

MD, PhD ’00, was a Jefferson classmate and also works at

Johns Hopkins). Carolyn, a University of Chicago Law

graduate, is a consumer protection attorney at the Federal

Trade Commission.

Hann has received many awards, including the

Distinguished Leadership Award from the Hepatitis B

Foundation; the Women in Leadership Award from Women’s

Way; the Korean American Pioneer Award; and one that

perhaps brings her the most pride, the 2003 Distinguished

Daughter of Pennsylvania Award, with which she joined the

likes of notable women including Pearl Buck, Grace Kelly,

Marian Anderson, Mamie Eisenhower, Julie Nixon

Eisenhower and Dorrance Hamilton.

Hann’s impact on controlling the global spread of hepatitis

B is undeniable; as a key opinion leader, she has spoken

across the United States and in Korea, China, Taiwan,

Vietnam, Malaysia, Australia, Panama and more. Since she

began campaigning to raise awareness, distribute vaccines

and introduce antiviral therapies, the infection rate in Asian

and Asian-American populations has decreased significantly.

Many nations now have formal vaccination programs in place

and have seen carrier rates in children drop below 2 percent.

“I am so glad to have seen these results during my lifetime.

They give me hope that hepatitis B could be eradicated,”

Hann says. “I tell all my patients to keep going, keep taking

their medicine—because in five or 10 years, there will likely

be a cure.”

To learn more about Dr. Hann or to support her work

at Jefferson, contact Margaret Fala, Assistant Vice

President, Department of Medicine, at 215-955-7556

or margaret.fala@jefferson.edu.

I was desperate to stop disease

progression and became an

ambassador for antiviral therapy.

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a L u M n i w e e k e n D

In his invitation to Alumni Weekend 2015, Alumni

Association President Joe Majdan, MD, CV ’81, said,

“While some of the buildings and faces have changed,

what has not changed are those ideals, those principles,

that esprit de corps that for the past 191 years have

uniquely defined and sustained us, not only as a

medical college but also as the Jefferson family.” Many

members of this Jefferson family returned to campus

Oct. 16–17 to relive their medical-school memories and

reconnect with old peers and friends.

The weekend included a guided trolley tour of

Philadelphia and 50-Year Society induction for the Class

of 1965 in celebration of their 50th reunion; the annual

luncheon with Dean Mark Tykocinski, MD, during which

the 2015 Alumni Achievement Award was presented

to Peter Scoles, MD ’70; lectures by Simon Gratz Prize

winners Vincenzo berghella, MD '90, Richard Spaide,

MD '81, and Richard Wenzel, MD '65; campus tours; a

reunion dinner gala at the Westin Philadelphia for class

years ending in 0s and 5s; and much more.

Thank you to all who joined us for Alumni Weekend 2015.

We hope to see you next time on Oct. 14–15, 2016!

alumni Wee kend 2015PHOTOS by DaviD lunT

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alumni Wee kend 2015

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1 Gerald Marks, MD '49, and William Renzulli, MD '65. in honor of his 50th reunion, Renzulli gifted his beautiful painting of the College Building exterior to Jefferson. Prints were available for sale during Alumni Weekend and can also be purchased by contacting Renzulli through his website, renzulliart.com. A portion of proceeds will be donated to Jefferson.

2 harry John, MD '65.

3 Jeff Reichel, MD '70, with his wife, Linda.

4 Attendees from the Class of 1965.

5 Attendees from the Class of 1970.

6 Attendees from the Class of 1975.

7 Attendees from the Class of 1980.

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8 Nancy Czarnecki, MD '65.

9 Barbara Frieman, Donna Carr and Marianne Ritchie, Class of 1980.

10 Members of the Class of 1965 were inducted into the 50-Year Society on Saturday morning.

11 Robert Pilewski and Jon Adler, Class of 1965, with their wives, Angie and Miriam.

12 Class of 1985.

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13 Alumni Association President Joe Majdan, MD, CV '81, with Clara Callahan, MD, PEDS '80, the Lillian h. Brent Dean of Students and Admissions.

14 Joseph Breslin, MD '70, with his wife, Gertrude.

15 Dean kinsey, MD '69, presents the Alumni Achievement Award to Peter Scoles, MD '70.

16 Steve Glinka, MD '75, and his wife, Janet Moore, a 1975 graduate of Jefferson's diploma nursing program.

17 Richard Spaide, MD '81, with SkMC Dean Mark Tykocinski, MD. Spaide was one of three winners of the 2015 Simon Gratz Prize. The others were Vincenzo Berghella, MD '90, and Richard Wenzel, MD '65.

18 John hildreth, MD '65, and his wife, Joyce.

19 Vincenzo Berghella, Christine Arenson and Galicano inguito, Class of 1990.

20 Patty and Gregory Lewis, MD '75, with student Declan Bell.

21 Elizabeth Dale, Executive Vice President and Chief Development officer in the Jefferson office of institutional Advancement, with Loretta and Tom Schneider, MD '65.

S I D N E y K I M M E L M E D I C A L C O L L E G E A T T H O M A S J E F F E R S O N U N I V E R S I T y | 3 3

As a young orthopaedic resident, Pete Scoles was

bicycling across Ohio State’s campus one morning

when he saw something terrible: horses rolling around

on the ground in a field filled with gas. He immediately

called the veterinary medicine school to tell them there was

a break in their refrigeration system and their horses were

dying from the escaping ammonia. When the call reached

the dean, who knew a good Philadelphia accent when he

heard one, he grasped quickly that Scoles had never before

strayed far from his East Coast roots.

“In the Midwest we sometimes have a morning phenom-

enon called fog,” he explained to the startled resident.

“Furthermore, horses roll around while they are resting

to keep their weight from crushing their internal organs.”

Finally, he said, he had arranged for Scoles to expand his

horizons by spending one year of his residency in veterinary

surgery.

Peter V. Scoles, MD ’70, SKMC’s senior associate dean for

curriculum development and research and recipient of the

2015 Alumni Achievement Award, relishes telling this story

on himself. A consummately skilled surgeon who has

repaired thousands of spines, a change agent who has

affected the shape of medicine nationally, he remains aware

that he shares the human condition, that he can be wrong,

even ridiculous, and inadequate by his own exacting

standards.

These standards, combined with his realistic and

compassionate view of medicine, have won him admiration

from peers and patients alike. Scoles takes exception, for

instance, to the brand of surgery that promises a golden

future to patients in all states of health. “Nonsense,” says

Scoles. “Most operations won’t get rid of pain entirely, but

they can give you a way to live your life, to keep your job

and your family.” His advice to patients speaks to his own

goal: “Just strive to be human.”

Doing the right thingScoles’ standards have consistently meant doing what he

sees as the right thing, whatever the cost. You can see it in

his early decision to enlist in the U.S. Navy at the height of

the Vietnam War. “I had a deferment,” he says with typical

Scoles reasoning. “My friends from high school did not. That

didn’t seem right.”

You can see it in his determination to pursue a medical

career that would allow him to teach, a path he had chosen

in high school. That meant training in the wilds of the

Midwest, then the location of the best residency programs

oriented toward academic medicine. He could not have

predicted that his time at Ohio State would include a year

he loved operating in the veterinary hospital.

And you can see it in his decision years later to leave his

dean’s position at Case Western University to join the staff

of the National Board of Medical Examiners to lead major

changes to national assessment programs. He left behind

what he loved most, teaching and working with students,

because, he says, “When you operate, you affect one life

greatly. When you teach, you affect a group of people. But

when you improve regulatory systems, you contribute to

society. Sometimes personal gratification must take a

back seat.”

a family affairThe oldest of five brothers, Scoles says his career in

medicine was predestined. His mother idealized her older

brother, Anthony F. DePalma, MD ’29, a storied chairman

of Jefferson’s orthopaedic surgery department from 1954

to 1970, and would not have accepted any other outcome

for her eldest.

In 1965, Scoles entered a program offered by Penn State

University and Jefferson, which led to a combined BS/MD

degree in five years. While the program requires seven years

to complete today, its earlier incarnation allowed Scoles to

proceed at a pace that suited his intensity.

Strongly influenced by legendary Jefferson surgeons

Thomas Nealon, Jr., MD ’44; Herb Cohn, MD ’55; and Ed

McLaughlin, MD ’56, Scoles initially intended a career in

a L u M n u S P r o f i L e

PETER V. SCOLES, MD ’70, SENIOR ASSOCIATE DEAN FOR

CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT AND RESEARCH AND RECIPIENT

OF THE 2015 ALUMNI ACHIEVEMENT AWARD, AT HOME.

Strive to be human

PH

OT

OS

bY

JIM

GR

AH

AM

.

3 4 | W I N T E R 2 0 1 6

Peter V. Scoles, MD ’702015 Achievement Award Winner

When you operate, you

affect one life greatly.

When you teach, you

affect a group of people.

But when you improve

regulatory systems, you

contribute to society.

Sometimes personal

gratification must

take a back seat.

S I D N E y K I M M E L M E D I C A L C O L L E G E A T T H O M A S J E F F E R S O N U N I V E R S I T y | 3 5

general surgery. The Navy directed Scoles into orthopaedics

because, he says, “Vietnam was in full swing, and they

needed orthopaedists.” The specialty became a family affair;

his brother Paul also became an orthopaedist and he

married orthopaedist Angela Smith, MD. To round out the

picture, Scoles’ god-daughter, Lindsay, also chose orthopae-

dics. “Any resident who treats one of us is to be pitied,”

Scoles says, in recognition of the formidable gauntlet his

family represents.

Moving SkMc forwardScoles’ career came full circle when he returned to SKMC

in 2013. He had given back to his alma mater as a trustee

and remains on the board of the Alumni Association today.

As a dean, he could work from the inside to set curriculum

reform in motion. “Nearly everyone agrees that our current

education of healthcare professionals is inefficient, expen-

sive, duplicative and sometimes mind-numbing,” says Scoles.

“Many places are working to change pieces of the puzzle,

but we are looking at the whole process. We are starting

with truly patient-centered care as the goal and then

working backwards, and that is unique and different.”

Working closely with Steven Herrine, MD ’90, vice dean of

academic affairs/undergraduate medical education, Scoles

put in place the foundations for JeffMD, a new curriculum

named by SKMC students and slated to begin with the Class

of 2021. He has now stepped back from JeffMD so he can

devote more time to working on a still-larger canvas with

Mark Tykocinski, MD, who holds the chair named for Scoles’

uncle and his wife, the Anthony F. and Gertrude M. DePalma

Dean of the Sidney Kimmel Medical College. The two men

will bring together medical schools nationwide to talk about

a more rational approach to the education of a doctor for

tomorrow’s world.

Scoles takes heart from what he sees at SKMC today.

“I see a proud tradition,” he says. “I also see proud graduates

who accept the need for change and who want to see

Jefferson move forward into the next 100 years. Only a

fool would think it is going to be easy. But I see action,

and that is gratifying.” –CAROL THOMSON

To learn more about JeffMD, see By the Numbers

on page 49.

SCOLES AND HIS CAT, RED, SIT WITH THE MICROSCOPE

THAT HIS UNCLE, ANTHONy DEPALMA, MD ’29, GAVE HIM.

BELOW: HE WILL TURN THE HEIRLOOM TOMATOES HE

GROWS INTO A CLASSIC RED SAUCE, MADE TO THE SAME

STANDARDS OF EXCELLENCE HE APPLIES TO ANy ENTERPRISE.

a L u M n u S P r o f i L e

3 6 | W I N T E R 2 0 1 6

Around the world, there are 26 million people listed

on bone marrow donor registries. In fall 2014, Avi

Ruderman, of Tel Aviv, Israel—whose non-Hodgkin’s

lymphoma had not responded to conventional chemo-

therapy—needed just one of them to be a match.

And one was all there was: Molly Allanoff, then a student

in Jefferson’s post-baccalaureate program working to

complete prerequisites for medical school. Allanoff, now in

her first year at SKMC, had signed up to be a bone marrow

donor as soon as she turned 18. Her father’s long-term expe-

rience with lymphoma inspired her; he eventually received a

transplant when she was in college but passed away within

a year.

Ruderman was lucky to find a match for all 10 of the

necessary blood markers, which only happens for 40 percent

of patients in need of a transplant. He wanted to thank his

donor immediately after his procedure in October 2014, but

the registry mandates a one-year survival before sharing

contact information. All he knew was that his donor was a

23-year-old woman. The father of four daughters, Ruderman

considered his donor a fifth.

Allanoff’s donation took eight hours as blood was drawn

from one arm, filtered through a machine and returned to

her body through the other arm. Bone marrow donation

used to involve extraction from the pelvic bone, but today,

physicians often can filter hematopoietic stem cells from the

donor’s blood. Allanoff was back in class the next day and

spent nearly a year wondering who had received her stem

cells.

Then, in September 2015, shortly after Allanoff began

medical school, the registry forwarded her a letter from

Ruderman—although it was not signed. She replied through

the agency, writing that her birthday wish that year had

been that her recipient was healthy. A few weeks later, on

the anniversary of his transplant, Ruderman called. Three

weeks after that, he and his family flew to Philadelphia.

Allanoff, accompanied by her mother and boyfriend, met

them in the lobby of the Rittenhouse Hotel; she and

Ruderman embraced, and family members exchanged tear-

filled stories.

The families have since kept in touch, with Ruderman

inviting Allanoff and her family to his daughter’s wedding

in Israel this June.

“It is my treat, my gift,” he said. “You are family now.”

a ‘fifth Daughter’Student’s Bone Marrow Donation

Saves Stranger’s Life

ALLANOFF AND RUDERMAN IN PHILADELPHIA WITH ALLANOFF'S MOTHER.

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Studying at Jefferson, Feeling at Home

Jessica De Sabato

S t u D e n t P r o f i L e

“To me, medicine has always meant ‘Jefferson,’” she says— with an emphasis on “always,” as she was born at Thomas

Jefferson University Hospital and shares Thomas Jefferson’s birthday, April 13. “Being here feels like home.”

DE SABATo WEARiNG A T-ShiRT DESiGNED BY A JEFFhoPE PATiENT FoR A LoCAL PizzA ShoP.

PHOTO bY KAREN KIRCHHOFF

3 8 | W I N T E R 2 0 1 6

wanted to be a physician since childhood and had developed

an early interest in orthopaedic surgery since her mom had

undergone a series of spinal procedures. “Being in the clinic

made me happy.”

Because resources were tight in her low-income house-

hold, she applied to medical school under “disadvantaged

status” and attends Jefferson with aid via three university

scholarships; the rest of her expenses are covered by loans.

“I’ve never had a lot and have always appreciated help

from anyone in any way,” she says, noting that her limited

means inspired her passion for volunteerism at a young age.

As an undergraduate student, she was part of a group that

visited public schools in West Philadelphia to teach kids

about fitness and cardiovascular health. Between her

science course load and community service, she found time

to learn Russian so she could communicate with relatives of

her husband, a Latvian immigrant she married during her

junior year.

De Sabato can’t really explain how she knew medicine

was the right path, but halfway through her second year

at SKMC, she remains certain that both the financial sacri-

fices and time commitment she has made are worthwhile.

The classes, the lifestyle, her activities with JeffHOPE—

she enjoys them all.

“But my favorite thing about Jefferson is my classmates,”

she says. “There are 260 of us, which might sound big, but

I know almost everyone. Medical school is a bonding

experience. We all help each other, and we all work together.

I already know these are lifelong friends.”

–KAREN L. BROOKS

Every Thursday evening, second-year SKMC student

Jessica De Sabato and six fellow JeffHOPE volunteers

operate a clinic at Our Brothers Place, a long-term

men’s shelter in North Philadelphia. De Sabato, who

oversees triage, views visitors to the clinic as more than

patients. They are her friends.

“I am the first person the guys see—I talk to all of them

and love being able to provide continuous care,” says De

Sabato, who particularly looks forward to her chats with a

resident known for his artwork. She and her peers follow

weekly progress on his comic strip, and when he was invited to

design a T-shirt for a local pizza shop that supports homeless

Philadelphians, “several of us bought the shirts the day they

became available and wore them to clinic. He was so excited.”

The opportunity to touch members of the community in

this way drew De Sabato to Jefferson: “Of the local schools,

Jefferson does the most outreach, and that’s one of my

priorities.” Growing up a few blocks from Methodist

Hospital in South Philly also provided a pull; her family

doctors were all Jefferson doctors.

“To me, medicine has always meant ‘Jefferson,’” she

says—with an emphasis on “always,” as she was born at

Thomas Jefferson University Hospital and shares Thomas

Jefferson’s birthday, April 13. “Being here feels like home.”

The only aspiring physician in her family, De Sabato

earned a full ride to the University of Pennsylvania, where

she studied biology and subsequently worked as a clinical

research coordinator for the Division of Orthopaedic

Surgery at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, managing

more than two dozen research projects at any given time.

“I enrolled patients, took their measurements, inter-

viewed them, things like that,” says De Sabato, who had

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c L a S S n o t e S

unDerGraDuate

’45 raymond c. Grandon stopped seeing patients at the end of 2015 at age 96, but he continues to come into the Harrisburg office in which he’s worked since 1950 to review cases and write them up for medical educa-tion purposes and possibly a book. Grandon and his wife, Doris, initiated Jefferson's annual Dr. Raymond C. Grandon Lecture in Health Policy in 1992 and later established the Dr. Raymond C. and Doris N. Grandon Professorship in Health Policy, held by David Nash, MD, MBA, dean of the College of Population Health. The Grandons live in New Cumberland, Pa.

’49Gerald Marks writes that he is “happy to report an important reduction in my bucket list: I competed in August in the National Grass-Court Tennis Championships, 90s and Above category, for which my partner and I earned a bronze ball third-place award. It should have been silver and could have been gold!” Marks lives in Penn Valley, Pa., and continues to practice with his son John (’89) at Marks Colorectal Surgical Associates at Lankenau Medical Center.

erwin r. Smarr writes that he spent most of winter 2013-2014 relying on the University of North Carolina’s cardiology division because of aortic stenosis. His physician implanted a long stent and he also had surgery to remove a cataract, “so, at 89 I’ve survived all that and can look ahead to the next 100 years.” Smarr lives in Chapel Hill, N.C., and stopped practicing 25 years ago but enjoyed a long career in psychiatry and psychoanalysis in Philadelphia; Savannah, Ga.; and Chapel Hill.

’57Marvin Sackner reports with sadness that his wife of 59 years, Ruth, died unexpect-edly in October 2015. Together, they had recently collaborated on a book, The Art of Typewriting, which was published by Thames & Hudson. The couple co-founded the Ruth and Marvin Sackner Archive of Concrete and Visual Poetry, the world’s largest private collection of “word art” from 20th-century movements including Italian futurism, Russian and Eastern European avant garde, Dada, surrealism, Bauhaus, De Stijl, Ultra, Tabu-Dada, Lettrisme and Ultra-Lettrisme. They amassed more than 75,000 pieces. In 2013, hundreds of items from their collection were put on display

at the Pérez Art Museum Miami in an exhibi-tion called A Human Document: Selections from the Sackner Archive of Concrete and Visual Poetry. Before his retirement, Sackner practiced at Mount Sinai Medical Center of Greater Miami, first as chief of pulmonary medicine and then as director of medical services.

’63elliott heiman is a retired psychiatrist who spent his career at the University of Arizona College of Medicine and now focuses most of his attention on art. During medical school, Heiman participated in free art lessons at the Fleisher Art Memorial, and his love of painting has endured. He has exhibited in various shows, with many of his works depicting life, love and families. Heiman lives in Tucson, Ariz.

’67Scott c. Stein is head of anesthesia at the Rand Eye Institute in Deerfield Beach, Fla. He writes that he is healthy, happy and enjoying life with his wife, Rhonda. They have three sons, one daughter and four grandchildren, two of whom have begun college.

’71Donald a. bergman has been elected presi-dent of the Mount Sinai Alumni Association for a two-year term. Bergman specializes in endocrinology and has been a clinical professor of medicine at Mount Sinai since 2004. He lives in Tenafly, N.J.

augustin J. Schwartz, iii, is in his 41st year of medical oncology/hematology practice in West Palm Beach, Fla., and is a partner with the Florida Cancer Specialists and Research Institute. Schwartz also serves as a member of the medical executive committee and director of the Community Cancer Center of Good Samaritan Medical Center in West Palm Beach.

’72James e. fticsar writes that he has been happily retired for seven years after 31 years of practicing surgery with the U.S. Navy. He lives in Chesapeake, Va.

’74Stanley J. Geyer was recognized with a Lifetime Achievement Award from the College of American Pathologists (CAP) in October 2015. Geyer was honored for his “service and leadership on the Diagnostic

Immunology Resource Committee as a member, vice chair and chair” and for having a “broad, positive impact on the profession of pathology through contributions to the CAP organization over an extended period of time.” He is a pathologist on staff at Indiana Regional Medical Center in Indiana, Pa., and at Punxsutawney Area Hospital in Punxsutawney, Pa. He is also laboratory director at Select Laboratory Partners at Advanced Pain Medicine in Wexford, Pa., and principal of Geyer Pathology Services, LLC.

william J. Gibbons is still in private prac-tice of internal medicine at Holy Redeemer Hospital in Meadowbrook, Pa. He lives in Southampton, Pa.

John Lubicky writes that he is happy to be working alongside three fellow Jefferson graduates in the orthopaedic surgery depart-ment at the West Virginia University School of Medicine in Morgantown, W.Va.: adam klein (’92), Scott Daffner (’01) and ryan Murphy (’09). Lubicky, professor and chief of pediatric orthopaedic surgery, is “the oldest of the bunch and also the oldest member of the department.” Klein is an assistant professor and member of the Division of Adult Reconstruction; his father, Jack (’61), is also an alumnus. Daffner, an associate professor in the Division of Spine Surgery, is a graduate of Jefferson’s orthopaedic surgery residency program, and Murphy is an assistant professor in the Division of Adult Reconstruction who completed WVU’s orthopaedic surgery resi-dency program. Lubicky reports that “West Virginia is a long way from Philadelphia, but the loyalty and affection for our Jefferson education created an immediate bond … I endure frequent ‘elder abuse’ done in good fun by the other three. They insist I was a classmate of Dr. Samuel Gross!”

’75Gregory L. Lewis writes that he is enjoying retirement after practicing gastroenterology in Carlisle, Pa., for 34 years. He and his wife, Patty, a dental hygienist, spend their time traveling and doing volunteer work in their community.

’76ira brenner continues in the private practice of psychiatry in Bala Cynwyd, Pa. Brenner co-sponsored the 10th annual Akhtar-Brenner Lecture in Psychoanalysis at Jefferson. His fifth book, Dark Matters: Exploring the Realm of Psychic Devastation, has received favorable reviews in professional literature. Brenner lives in Philadelphia.

4 0 | W I N T E R 2 0 1 6

c L a S S n o t e S

alumnus and longtime faculty member John r. Prehatny,

MD ’57, died feb. 1, 2014. Prehatny served as a mentor to

many residents and students, but his teaching efforts did

not end when he retired. on the day he died, he taught a

group of medical students gathered around his hospital

bed. here, current faculty member Gregory kane, MD ’87,

remembers the experience.

WHen PaTienT iS PROfeSSOR

Remembering John R. Prehatny, MD ‘57

ters) prior to bringing all 10 of them into the doctor’s room.

We arrived outside of Dr. Prehatny’s room on the

oncology unit. William (the presenting student; not his real

name) went ahead and assessed whether our patient would

accept the 10 students—and me, as professor—for teaching

rounds. We had already embraced the differential diagnosis

at a high level. The students had postulated potential

explanations for the current problem of acute renal failure

complicating chemotherapy for mantle cell lymphoma.

They had included tumor lysis, abdominal compartment

syndrome, acute tubular necrosis, cholesterol emboli, renal

vein thrombosis and sepsis. They had analyzed the urinaly-

sis, urine electrolytes, labs and imaging in wonderful detail.

We waited outside and prepared by washing our hands.

William disappeared into Dr. Prehatny’s room and closed the

door. I reminded the remaining sub-I’s that we would

individually introduce ourselves to break the ice and put our

patient at ease. When five minutes went by without William

emerging, anxiety crept back onto the faces of my students.

They could not imagine what was going on in the room.

Nor could I contemplate what was happening. Remaining

patient, I realized that we would either gain permission or

not—and that either was fine. I used the time to rehearse in

my mind those questions we would ask, the exam findings I

wished to highlight and how I could turn the session into a

teachable moment.

Finally, William emerged with a nervous smile. We could

certainly see Dr. Prehatny for rounds, but his wife and

daughters wished to stay. The room would be crowded, but

I was totally pleased by this request. In we went; William

first, then me and then the rest of the nine students.

Dr. Prehatny's gracious wife and grown daughters were

on the far side of the bed. I went to the near side and took

our patient’s hand in mine as I made my introduction. The

students snaked around the foot of the bed as far as they

could advance. The last just made it in the door, and I softly

encouraged her to close the door to provide some privacy.

The team introduced themselves slowly and deliberately so

the reasons for my sub-interns’ uneasiness were apparent. First, our patient for bedside rounds

was a longtime (but retired) faculty member at our medical

school—a revered former surgeon, now in his 80s. Second,

his medical care was quite complex, with previously

treated metastatic bladder cancer, progressive mantle cell

lymphoma and acute-on-chronic renal failure. Finally, the

patient and his family were contemplating hospice. This

was not a case that makes the typical medical student

comfortable. Even less so was this a case for teaching

rounds with 10 sub-interns gathering in the room to be

“quizzed” by their department chair.

So when I announced that we should go to the bedside

after our preliminary classroom presentation, my students’

countenances revealed their anxiety. I was able to partially

mitigate their concerns by reassuring them that we would

seek our patient’s consent (as is always part of such encoun-

By Gregory C.

Kane, MD '87

Chair, Department of

MedicineThe Jane and

Leonard Korman Professor of Pulmonary

Medicine

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c L a S S n o t e S

’77ronald M. fairman was chosen as president-elect of the Society for Vascular Surgery (SVS) at the organization’s 2015 annual meeting in June. Long active with the SVS, Fairman has served on the executive committee, the board of directors and various councils and committees. He is chief of vascular surgery and endovascular therapy at Penn Medicine, where he also has a dual faculty appointment as the Clyde F. Barker-William Maul Measey Professor in Surgery and a professor of radi-ology. Fairman lives in Ardmore, Pa.

’79Julian L. ambrus, Jr., has been promoted to full professor of internal medicine at the State University of New york at Buffalo and is director of the Systemic Autoimmune Disease Research Center of Western New york. His father, Julian Sr. (MD, PhD ’54), also is a professor of internal medicine at SUNy Buffalo. His mother, clara (MD, PhD ’55), a professor of pediatrics, died in a house fire in 2011 at age 86.

Marc b. Goldberg received the GQ Magazine Gentlemen's Fund 2015 Leader Award on Oct. 22, 2015, in recognition of 25 years of work with Healing the Children New Jersey, which carries out surgical missions for chil-dren in Third World countries. Goldberg has participated in 20 missions as a pediatric anesthesiologist and is currently vice presi-dent of the organization, which also brings children with medical issues too complicated for in-country correction back to the United States. His most recent medical mission trip was to Guayaquil, Ecuador, in January 2016 for advanced treatment of urologic disorders. Goldberg lives in Cinnaminson, N.J., and his U.S. practice is with Rancocas Anesthesiology, serving the Kennedy Health System in New Jersey and Main Line Surgical Center in Bala Cynwyd, Pa.

’83 Jack Sariego has been appointed head breast surgeon and medical director of both the breast health program and periop-erative services for Aria Health in Northeast Philadelphia. Sariego previously served as professor of surgery and associate program director for the surgery residency at Temple University. An active member of the U.S. Air Force Reserve, he holds a number of military titles including general surgeon, flight surgeon and trauma/critical care specialist.

that Dr. Prehatny could acknowledge each in turn. He

nodded as they shared their names and hometowns.

I was now poised to make an impact as bedside teacher.

We began by reviewing the patient's past history, but I very

quickly realized that I was losing control of the rounds.

My initial impulse was to continue the trail of the history, but

I now understood that this was not going to be successful.

“Try to listen more than you speak,” Dr. Prehatny

implored the students, as he began to lead the session,

focusing intently on the sub-interns. “you were given

two ears, but only one mouth.” He paused for impact.

“you’ll learn more that way.” He looked at each student

affectionately. I took a step backward away from the

bedside, no longer in charge of this teaching session.

I surrendered to the professor in the center of the room.

“Remember that challenges are not problems.

They are opportunities.”

“Don’t let them get you down,” he continued as

I retreated further to the orbit of the students.

Dr. Prehatny was just getting started as he continued

to weave tales of medicine, life and philosophy. The

students were spellbound. I was in awe. His wife and

daughters were thrilled to see him for one final session

in the role of medical teacher. This was his element.

When a break finally occurred in the discussion, I asked

Dr. Prehatny if we could examine him. He immediately

obliged. His anasarca made our abdominal palpation

challenging. Despite this, he guided each of the students

firmly but gently, bringing each up to the bedside.

“Put your hands here and feel my spleen.” One by one,

the students came up to the bedside—some with confi-

dence, some with trepidation, some with certain hands and

others less so. All, however, appreciated the splenomegaly

with the gentle guidance of an experienced professor and

surgeon leading his final bedside lesson.

I hoped the session might never end. But when the

doctor seemed to tire, we bade him well and thanked both

him and his family for the incredible privilege. That night

I emailed the students to reinforce Dr. Prehatny’s lessons.

At the end of the next day, William informed the group that

Dr. Prehatny had passed away quietly after electing to forgo

further therapy. William added that his loving family was

at his side.

“Put your hands here and feel my spleen.”

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c L a S S n o t e S

’86 andrew bradbury is medical director at Brigham young University-Idaho. Bradbury and his wife are Cedar Badge advisers for the Boy Scouts of America, and he also serves as scoutmaster for his ward in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The couple lives in Rexburg, Idaho, and has seven children and 10 grandchildren. Their son nicholas (’08) is an interventional radiologist working in Bismarck, N.D.

’88kate Sugarman practices family medicine in Washington, D.C. She has extensive experience treating torture survivors and works in cooperation with Torture Abolition and Survivors Support Coalition International; Advocates for Survivors of Torture and Trauma; and the Program for Survivors of Torture & Severe Trauma at Northern Virginia Family Services. Her expertise in diagnosing and treating post-traumatic stress disorder has focused on minority and immigrant patients, many of whom suffer from physical and mental disorders. She has worked with many Ethiopian refugees who are sprinters and distance runners and accompanied a group of elite runners to the Philadelphia Marathon in November 2015.

’98Paul M. Morrissey has been promoted to Colonel in the U.S. Army. He serves as chief of psychiatry at Fort Drum, N.y., home of the Army’s 10th Mountain Division.

’99heather nesti has been practicing ophthal-mology for 11 years and specializes in glaucoma and cataract surgery. Her husband, Leon (’02), has a new position as director of the hand fellowship at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Md. The couple lives near Annapolis, Md., and has three children.

’01Pallav Mehta is an attending physician in the Division of Hematology/Oncology at MD Anderson Cancer Center at Cooper. He has special expertise in breast cancer and integra-tive oncology and joined the board of Living Beyond Breast Cancer in January 2016. Mehta recently co-authored a book, After Cancer Care, on the topics of exercise, nutrition and stress modification in people with cancer; it was published in August 2015. He lives in Philadelphia.

’05christopher M. Mikson recently joined the legal services organization Mayer Brown in Washington, D.C., as a partner in the litigation and dispute resolution practice. Mikson focuses on regulatory, intellectual property, litigation and legislative matters involving healthcare and the life sciences, and primarily works within the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, medical device and health-care industries. He earned his law degree at Rutgers School of Law-Camden.

anthony Scarpaci recently joined Abington Cancer Care Specialists in Abington, Pa., and specializes in diagnosing and treating all cancers, with a special interest in breast cancer management. Scarpaci completed a fellowship at Jefferson and is board certified in internal medicine and medical oncology/hematology.

’06Peter M. fleischut, a graduate of the combined MD/MBA program, is an asso-ciate professor of anesthesiology at Weill Cornell Medical College and an editorial board member for Academic Medicine. He is also the founding director of the Center for Perioperative Outcomes (CPO) at Weill Cornell Medical College. The CPO encom-passes methodological, statistical and information technology resources within a single center to encompass operational effi-ciencies, quality, compliance and outcomes research. Fleischut lives in New york City.

’07Marisa Gefen has been appointed practice team leader for CityLife Neighborhood Clinics in Philadelphia. Gefen sets clinical standards and protocols for CityLife’s three clinics in addition to seeing patients and leading a primary care team. CityLife is a subsidiary of Ampersand Health, which develops clinics and primary care teams to care for Medicare Advantage, Managed Medicaid and dual-eligible members in large urban communities. Gefen also was recently named to the Board of Directors for Living Beyond Breast Cancer. She and her husband, Jonathan (’97), a general surgeon, live in Wynnewood, Pa.

’08Larysa hud is a specialist in body and women’s imaging and interventional radi-ology and recently joined the Department of Radiology at Mercy Fitzgerald Hospital in Darby, Pa., and Mercy Philadelphia Hospital in West Philadelphia. Hud completed fellowship training in abdominal imaging at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania.

’09adam e. hyatt recently joined Orthopedic Associates of Lancaster as a sports medicine physician. Hyatt has worked with collegiate and pro sports teams including the Philadelphia Flyers, Eagles and Phillies. He also works with student athletes at Saint Joseph’s University and Villanova University. He completed his fellowship training at the Rothman Institute at Jefferson after serving a residency at Rutgers-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School.

PoSt-GraDuate

’61carl M. Mansfield (radiology), a pioneer in early-stage breast cancer treatment and former professor and chairman of the Department of Radiation Oncology and Nuclear Medicine at Jefferson, was selected as a 2015 American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) Gold Medalist. The ASTRO Gold Medal is the highest honor bestowed upon members who have achieved outstanding lifetime contributions in the field of radiation oncology. When he retired in 2002, Mansfield was associate director of the Greenebaum Cancer Center and chairman of the Department of Radiation Oncology at the University of Maryland. He previously held the positions of chairman of the Department of Radiation Oncology at the University of Kansas Medical Center and associate director of the Division of Cancer Treatment, Diagnosis and Treatment Centers Radiation Research Program at the National Cancer Institute.

’73arnold bayer (internal medicine), of Palos Verdes, Calif., has been promoted to distin-guished professor of medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles. He is a senior investi-gator at the L.A. Biomedical Research Institute at Harbor-UCLA in Torrance, Calif., studying the pathogenesis of bacterial endovascular infections in the 20th year of a National Institutes of Health-funded program.

’90Sonny Joseph (psychiatry), a psychiatrist and clinical psychologist, published an article titled “A Dynamic and Psychosocial Analysis of Soccer: Problems and Solutions” in the American Journal of Applied Psychology in May 2015. The article analyzes issues such as fan conflicts, referee errors, low scores, exces-sive fouls and player drama. Joseph lives in Orlando, Fla.

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in MeMoriaM

’43edward Michael (Mike) Greaney, Jr., 96, of Pasadena, Calif., died July 14, 2015. Greaney was a Lieutenant in the U.S. Navy Medical Corps and began his internship at Brooklyn Naval Hospital. After combat training at Camp Lejeune, he was a surgeon for the Third Battalion of the 12th Marine Regiment, Third Marine Division. He participated in the Battle of Iwo Jima. After concluding his military service in 1947, he completed a residency in general surgery at Long Beach Veterans’ Hospital, then started private practice in general and pediatric surgery. He spent the majority of his career at St. Joseph Medical Center in Burbank, Calif., where he became chief of staff in 1962. He was an adjunct clinical professor of surgery at Los Angeles County University of Southern California Medical Center until his retirement in 1989, attaining emeritus status and an honorary life-time membership in the Society of Graduate Surgeons. He was a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons as well as a Governor of the College and served as president of the Southern Californian Chapter of the American College of Surgeons and the USC Professional Staff Association.

Greaney is survived by nine children, Mary Ellen, Kathleen, Michael, Patricia, Gregory, Margaret, Elizabeth, Deirdre and Teresa; 26 grandchildren; and 16 great-grandchildren. He was predeceased by his wife, Mary, and a daughter, Deborah.

’44Srobert c. Dix, Jr., 96, of Milton, Pa., died Dec. 13, 2015. Dix served in the U.S. Army from 1942-1946 and was honorably discharged from the Army Medical Corps as a Captain. During his time in the mili-tary, he was a flight surgeon stationed in Florida, Colorado and Utah; at the Carlyle War College; and in the Pacific arena on Guam. From 1947-1987, he was on staff at the Evangelical Community Hospital. He was a member of the American Medical Association, the Pennsylvania Medical Society, the Lycoming Medical Society and the Union County Medical Society and continued to practice part time until he retired in August of 1988. When general practice (now known as family practice) became an acknowledged medical specialty, Dix sat through two days of rigorous examinations at age 50 and became not only a specialist but also a Diplomate. In 1972, he was made a Charter Fellow of the American Association of Family Practitioners.

His hobbies included tennis, swimming, Penn State football, reading, photography, bird watching, wine-making and stamp collecting.

Dix is survived by his wife of 70 years, Sara; a daughter, Jill; five step-grandchildren, Noelle, Jason, Joshua, Jordan and Jackson; six step-great-grandchildren, Collin, Patrick, Alyssa, Riley, Lily and Hannah; and a nephew, Larry.

’45Martin David reiter, 95, of Rock Hill, S.C., died Sept. 30, 2015. Reiter served during World War II and the Korean War. He was board certified in internal medicine and allergy/immunology and practiced in Wheeling, W.Va., for 45 years in both governmental and private practice roles. He was a clinical instructor for the University of Pittsburgh and West Virginia University Medical School and was on the staff at Ohio Valley Medical Center, where he served as chief of staff, and Wheeling Hospital. He authored a popular medical advice column in the Wheeling Intelligencer. He loved golf, crossword puzzles and travel and visited every continent.

Reiter was married three times and had three children by his first wife, Dolores. His second wife, Myrna, was from Wheeling, and his third wife, Marie Claire, was from Bellaire, Ohio. He is survived by his youngest brother, Kenneth; three children, Jeff, Martia and Debbie; two grandchildren, Chris and Lauren; and three great-granddaughters, Juliana, Alexandra and Mackensie.

’47frederick w. bode, Jr., of Vero Beach, Fla., formerly of Churchill, Pa., died May 12, 2015. Bode was a Captain in the U.S. Army and a veteran of the Korean War and while in Pittsburgh served as a member of the Churchill Volunteer Fire Department. He is survived by five children, Joanne, Ann, Frederick III, Thomas and C. Baxter; 12 grand-children; and six great-grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his wife, Helen; his second wife, Lori; and his sister, Marjorie.

harris G. fister, 92, of Hampden, Maine, died Aug. 5, 2015. Fister, formerly of Maple Shade, N.J., interned at Cooper Hospital. He served as a U.S. Army physician from 1948–1950 and was reactivated during the Korean War. He opened his private practice in Maple Shade in 1950 and also served as physician for the Maple Schools and taught at Cooper Hospital. He is survived by two sons, Jeffrey and Lee; a daughter, Nancy; three grandchildren, Carey, Nicolai and Andrei; and four great-grandchil-dren, Tyler, Parker, Aaron and Cooper. He was predeceased by his wife, Jane.

’48earl Stanton Moyer, 91, of Camp Hill, Pa., died Aug. 4, 2015. Moyer received training at Lankenau Hospital, the Guthrie Clinic, Duke University Hospital and Harrisburg Hospital. He was in the U.S. Army Reserve Corps during World War II and served during the Korean War as a U.S. Navy physician at Quantico, Va., and with the destroyer fleet. He practiced internal medicine in Harrisburg, Pa., for 51 years and was affiliated with Harrisburg Hospital, Holy Spirit Hospital and Health South. For many years he was the medical consultant for the Dauphin County Department of Welfare. He worked with residents and staff for many years at the Dauphin County Home, now Spring Creek Nursing and Rehabilitation Center. Moyer was a member of the American Medical Association, American Society of Internal Medicine, Dauphin County Medical Society, Harrisburg Academy of Medicine, Pennsylvania Medical Society and Pennsylvania Society of Internal Medicine. He enjoyed natural history, flower gardening, golf, tennis, skiing, traveling and ballroom dancing with his wife and liked classical music, opera and old-fashioned jazz.

Moyer is survived by his wife, Pauline (“Pat”); two cousins, Joe and Eugene; and several nieces and nephews.

william benner Shope, 92, of Greensburg, Pa., died Sept. 8, 2015. Shope served in the Korean War in 1950-1951. As a naval officer on loan to the 8th Army, he was a triage physician on the front lines. He worked as pediatrician for more than three decades in the Greensburg area, making house calls at all hours. His family of five boys and two girls lived on a 56-acre farm where they often played sports and did other activities. Shope was the Greensburg Salem School physi-cian from 1955-1988 and was a member of the Greensburg VFW. In his later years, he attended weekly breakfasts with the RODEO, or Retired Old Doctors Eating Out.

Shope is survived by five sons, Edward, James, William, Robert and Timothy; a daughter, Rebecca; 11 grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren. He was preceded in death by a daughter, Amy.

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’49John G. finley, 89, of Warminster, Pa., died July 25, 2015. Finley interned at Nazareth Hospital in Philadelphia and completed a radiology residency there as well as at Cooper Hospital in Camden, N.J. He served in the U.S. Army Medical Corps as a First Lieutenant and chief of radiology on bases in Trieste, Italy, and Bad Kreuznach, Germany. He then worked as an assistant radiologist at Cooper Hospital, followed by positions in the radiology depart-ments of St. Mary Hospital in Philadelphia; Mercer Hospital in Trenton, N.J.; Garden State Community Hospital in Marlton, N.J.; South Amboy Memorial Hospital in South Amboy, N.J.; and Saint Mary Hospital in Langhorne, Pa. Throughout his 48-year career, he developed expertise in all aspects of radiology, including diagnostic ultrasound and nuclear medicine. He remained an emeritus staff member at St. Mary Medical Center after his retirement in 1997.

Finley is survived by his wife of 64 years, Erna; six children, Maureen, Joseph, Janeen, John, Michael and Colleen; seven grand-children, Daniel, Stephen, Theresa, Kimberly, Laura, Amanda and John Michael; and four great-grandchildren.

’52albert Livingston amshel, 90, of Pittsburgh, died Oct. 2, 2015. A U.S. Army Air Corps veteran of World War II, he was a radio operator/gunner in the 381st Bomber Group on B-17s in the European Theater. He later completed five years of surgical residency and established a private practice in colon and rectal surgery. An avid golfer and gin rummy player at Green Oaks Country Club, he also was a tap dancer, telling all that Gene Kelly was his teacher. Amshel is survived by his wife, Ellen; two children, Bruce and Gail; and two grandchildren, Caitlyn and Eli.

’53Jerome abrams, 89, of Edison, N.J., died Nov. 6, 2014. A World War II veteran, he was a long-time ob/gyn in the Plainfields and Fanwood, N.J. He published numerous articles in his field and was an associate editor of the New Jersey Medical Journal and a clinical professor at Rutgers Medical School. Later in his career, he obtained a Master of Public Health degree from Rutgers University. Passionate about opera and history, in the early 1960s he was published in the Metropolitan Opera News. After retirement, he was a frequent lecturer at Rutgers Institute for Lifelong Learning in the fields of history, political science and medi-cine. He is survived by his wife, Rosalyn; two sons, Alan and Joseph; four grandchildren, Harrison, Emilie, Thomas and Jonathan; and a brother, Herbert.

’54charles harris Powell, 85, of Mars Hill, N.C., died Aug. 2, 2015. Powell served in the U.S. Navy as a medical officer at the Naval Hospital, Quantico, Va. He was a family practitioner for more than 40 years, serving western North Carolina and Daytona Beach, Fla. He was a faculty member at Mars Hill College and director of the Madison County Health Department and served on numerous boards and community programs in North Carolina and Florida.

Powell is survived by his wife of 60 years, Johanne; a daughter, Suzanne; a son, Jeffrey; a brother, William; and five grandchildren, Jaclyn, Hannah, Justin, Reid and Layton.

’55owen a. chang, 85, of Pennsauken, N.J., died Aug. 3, 2015. Raised in Jamaica, West Indies, he lived and raised his family in Cinnaminson, N.J., before moving to Moorestown and later Pennsauken. Chang interned at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Camden, N.J., and served as a lieutenant commander in the U.S. Navy Medical Corps from 1957-1959 before opening a solo private family practice in Cinnaminson. He was an active Fourth Degree member of the Knights of Columbus, St. John Neumann Council 1436, Delran. He also sang in the Filipino Choir at St. Charles Borromeo Parish.

Chang is survived by his sons and daugh-ters, John, robert (’83), Owen, Anita, Kathy, Joanne, James and Michael (’97); his grand-children, Jenny, Patrick, Ian, Keri, Thomas, Gabriel, Sarah, Micah, Lucas, Julia, Liza, Connor and Spencer; and many nieces and nephews. He was predeceased by a daughter, Elizabeth Ann.

Morton J. vallow, 89, of Blue Bell, Pa., died Aug. 18, 2015. Vallow served in Europe during World War II, during which his unit fought in the Battle of the Bulge. He loved clas-sical music, the Philadelphia Phillies, tennis and cats. As an ob/gyn, he delivered three generations of Philadelphians. His proudest accomplishments were his three children and his tomatoes. He is survived by his wife, Ingeborg; his children, Kristen, Kara and Erik; his siblings, Ethel and Hebert; and three grandchildren, Noah, Elli and Nathan.

’56Patrick S. Pasquariello, Jr., of Bala Cynwyd, Pa., died Aug. 29, 2015. He served his intern-ship at St. Joseph’s Hospital and his residency at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, where he was chief resident under C. Everett Koop, MD, who later became the U.S. Surgeon General. He remained at CHOP for the rest of his 54-year career and rose to the rank of professor of pediatrics at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in 1990. He held numerous leadership roles at CHOP, including director of the Office of Continuing Medical Education and interim chief of the Division of General Pediatrics. Pasquariello created the Diagnostic and Complex Care Center to aid children with difficult-to-diag-nose problems and served as director of the spina bifida program and as general pediatric consultant for the “22q and you” Center, which cares for children with a chromosome deletion syndrome, and the cranial-facial reconstruction clinic.

Pasquariello is survived by his wife, Mae; three children, Caroline, Patrick III and Ann Agnes; four grandchildren, Patrick IV, Christina, Alexandra and Julia; a sister; and nieces and nephews.

’57bronson J. Mcnierney, 84, of Pompano Beach, Fla., died Oct. 11, 2015. McNierney was a board-certified internist and gastroenterolo-gist. He and his family were longtime residents of Lighthouse Point, Fla., where he based his medical practice on Sample Road, in a building that still bears his name. He practiced at North Broward Hospital from 1969-2008 and served as chief of staff in 1972. Prior to his retirement, he was a weekly volunteer at the Salvation Army in Fort Lauderdale, where he provided medical assistance to those most in need. He was an avid tennis player and enjoyed many games of table tennis and other competitions with family and friends.

McNierney is survived by his wife of 55 years, Jane; three daughters, Pam, Tammy and Marci; six grandchildren, Jonah, Owen, Bronson, Canyon, Addison and Ava; a sister, Clara; and two brothers, William and Jerry. He was predeceased by a brother, Stephen, and a sister, Margaret.

raymond G. tronzo, 87, of West Palm Beach, Fla., died Oct. 15, 2015. Tronzo served in the U.S. Army Air Corps during the Korean Conflict before beginning his career as an orthopaedic surgeon as well as an educator, inventor and author. He served as an associate professor of orthopaedics at the University of Pennsylvania; a clinical professor and later professor emeritus at the University of Miami Medical College; and a private practitioner as staff orthopaedic surgeon at Good Samaritan

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Hospital in West Palm Beach. He pioneered the successful biological total hip replacement system of microporosity for bone growth stabilization in the late 1960s and wrote and edited two editions of Surgery of the Hip Joint. He received numerous recognitions for his achievements in the specialty of hip replacement, including having a lectureship in his name established at the University of Pennsylvania Medical School.

Tronzo loved travel, photography, hunting, boating and golf. He is survived by his wife, Diana; two sons, Craig and Les; two grand-children, Douglas and Victoria; two sisters, Geraldine and Theresa; and several nieces and nephews.

’58vernon f. “Dag” bradley, 83, of Tyrone, Pa., formerly of Altoona, Pa., died Aug. 18, 2015. Bradley served his internship at Allegheny Valley Hospital and his ob/gyn residency at the Cleveland Clinic. He was on the consulting staff of Tyrone Hospital, Van zandt VA Medical Center and Nason Hospital and an active staff member of Mercy and Altoona hospitals. After retiring in 1998, he taught with Altoona Family Physicians at Altoona Hospital, where he was medical director of the outpatient prenatal clinic for 10 years and was named Clinical Teacher of the year by the family practice residency program in 1998 and received a Life Achievement Award from residents in 2003. He also was an assistant professor in the Department of Community Health and Family Practice at Hershey Medical School/Penn State College of Medicine. He was a member of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists of the American Medical Association, Blair County Medical Society, American Association of Gynecologic Laparoscopists and Society of Laparoendoscopic Surgeons and an associate member of the Royal College of Physicians.

Bradley is survived by his wife of 58 years, Phyllis; four children, James, timothy (’86), Patrick and Mary Beth; two granddaughters, Lauren and Brittany; and a sister, Loretta.

’59Murray feingold, 84, of Bourne, Mass., died, July 17, 2015. After interning in Allentown, Pa., Feingold served a residency at New England Deaconess Hospital and a pediatrics resi-dency at Massachusetts General Hospital, and was chief pediatrics resident at Boston City Hospital. A professor for many years at Tufts University School of Medicine and Boston University School of Medicine, he became a pediatrics and genetics pioneer who wrote health columns in the Boston Globe and other newspapers and was featured on radio and TV

broadcasts, from Channel 4’s “Feeling Fine” in the 1970s through his modern-day “Medical Minute” segments on WBz-AM. He created the Feingold Center for Children in Waltham to help families coordinate appointments with the many specialists needed for children with birth defects, intellectual disorders and genetic diseases. Feingold’s vision in the early 1980s, when he was directing the genetic counseling center and the birth defect evaluation service at Tufts New England Medical Center, was that families would be best served by a center that coordinated appointments with top special-ists so a child could see multiple doctors in one day. He eventually created satellite clinics that stretched west to Springfield and north to Maine. He supported his work by creating the Genesis Foundation for Children.

Feingold is survived by his wife, Lorinda; three children, Rachael, Justin and Matthew; two brothers, Edgar and Eugene; a sister, Ruth; and six grandchildren.

elliot zaleznik, 81, of Naples, Fla., died Aug. 9, 2015. zaleznik served in the U.S. Coast Guard, then moved to Huntington Beach, Calif., where he and a partner owned Orange Coast Ob/Gyn for 30 years. During his career he delivered 5,000 babies, including his daughter. He enjoyed reading, classical music and collecting Judaica.

zaleznik is survived by his wife of 58 years, Joyce; four children, Larry, Stephen, Matthew and Ruth; seven grandchildren, Daniel, Hannah, Jason, Meghan, Emma, Ethan and Allen; two great-grandchildren, Mikaela and Alina; his chorkie (Chihuahua-yorkshire terrier), Cassy; a brother, Harry; and a sister, Ida. He was preceded in death by two sisters, Bernice and Libby.

’60Milton L. friedman, 79, of Margate, N.J., formerly of Elkins Park, Pa., died April 17, 2014, in Florida. Friedman practiced family medi-cine in Northeast Philadelphia for more than 40 years. He is survived by his wife, Shirley; a daughter, Joann; a son, Mark (’95); four grandchildren, Jacob, Rachel, Laney and Raina; and a sister, Eleanor, whose husband, Leon Shmokler, graduated from Jefferson in 1951, and son, Mitchell Shmokler, graduated in 1979.

Marvin e. Jaffe, 79, of Sarasota, Fla., and Skillman, N.J., died unexpectedly June 23, 2015. Jaffe served in the U.S. Army Medical Corps and completed a neurology residency at Jefferson. He was a neurologist at the former Philadelphia General Hospital, then a neurologist and clinical associate professor of neurology at Jefferson. An expert in cerebral metabolism and pharmacology as well as the drug development process, Jaffe published

extensively in the field of cerebrovascular diseases. He held numerous management positions at Merck Sharp & Dohme Research Laboratories, including vice president of clinical research and senior vice president of medical affairs, and brought a number of first-in-class drugs, including Sinemet (for Parkinsonism) and Mevacor (for cholesterol), to market. He had an integral role in the Astra-Merck alliance, which resulted in the development of Prilosec. He later served as president of the R.W. Johnson Pharmaceutical Research Institute of the Johnson & Johnson Company from 1988 until his retirement in 1994. After retiring, he was a consultant and board member for several biopharmaceutical and biotech firms. During his career he served as president of the Royal Society of Medicine Foundation and a board member of the Society for Chronic Diseases, among others.

Jaffe is survived by his wife, Susan; three sons, Jonathan (’84), Matthew and Joshua; a daughter, Ondria; a sister, Elaine; and 10 grandchildren. His wife of 56 years, Joan, died in 2013.

’61Philip John Morgan, Jr., 83, of El Cerrito, Calif., died Nov. 23, 2015. Morgan served in the U.S. Army in Europe. He was an emer-gency room physician at Kaiser Permanente in South San Francisco and a longtime volun-teer at the Haight Ashbury Free Clinic. He was an avid backpacking hiker, both near his home and in the Sierra Nevada mountains. A longstanding member of the San Francisco Folk Music Club, he served as treasurer and vice president; he had a beautiful voice and knew a wealth of songs. He is survived by his wife, Margot; her children, Thomas Edward and Mary Louise; his daughters, Maureen and Myvanwy; a grandson, zachery; two sisters, Betsy and Connie; three nieces, Heather, Karen and Megan; and a nephew, Brock.

william h. “bill” wanger, 79, of Alna, Maine, died Dec. 14, 2014. A veteran of the U.S. Navy's nuclear submarine program, he served as physician aboard the U.S.S. Thomas Jefferson. He continued to serve in the Naval Reserves and retired with the rank of Captain. Wanger entered private medical practice in Martinsburg, W.Va., followed by a career in emergency medicine. He served as the school physician at Shepherd College, on the faculty of the West Virginia University School of Medicine, as coordinator of emergency services for the State of West Virginia and as an officer in state medical associations. In Maine, he served as the emergency department director for Rumford Community Hospital and later as a physi-cian at the Department of Veterans Affairs

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hospital in Togus. He also served as school physician at Hebron Academy. He retired to his home in the small town of Alna. He was a licensed pilot, a passionate woodworker and an outdoor enthusiast who loved hiking, climbing, cross-country skiing and snow-shoeing.

Wanger is survived by his wife, Joyce; a brother, Alex; a sister, Mary Martha; six children and stepchildren, Laura, Beth, Tula, Brita, Lara and David (’00); 12 grandchildren, Bret, Sarah, Samantha, Sydney, Richard, Alex, Brandon, Alice, Alex, Katie, Emma and Michael; and three great-grandchildren, Gemma, Sophia and Madison.

thomas a. ward, 80, of Bethlehem, Pa., died Sept. 15, 2015. Ward did his postgraduate training at the U.S. Naval Hospital in Newport, R.I., and served as a flight surgeon after attending the U.S. Naval School of Aviation Medicine in Pensacola, Fla. He completed his orthopaedic surgery residency at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and served as a Lieutenant with the U.S. Navy Medical Corps from 1961–1964. He was a member of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons; Eastern Orthopaedic Association; and Pennsylvania Orthopaedic Association. Ward was a board-certified orthopaedic surgeon in private practice for more than 39 years in Bethlehem. He also worked at Lehigh Valley Orthopaedics and was a consultant for the Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Coatesville, Pa. He was team physician for Lehigh University’s football and wrestling programs and a member of Saucon Valley Country Club, where he was an avid golfer. His guilty pleasures were Porsches, fine food and cigars.

Ward is survived by his wife of 54 years, Dorothy; a son, Michael; four daughters, Kimberly, Kelly, Tracy and Erin; 12 grandchil-dren, Chelsea, Alexander, Nathaniel, Aidan, Sarah, Regina, Nigel, Max, Josephine, Peter, Jakob and Abigail; and a sister, Patricia. He was preceded in death by a sister, Louise.

’62clark Dickson Mckeever, 79, of Houston, Texas, died July 26, 2015. During his second year of orthopaedic residency at Jefferson, McKeever was drafted into the U.S. Air Force and over the next four years completed his residency at Wilford Hall Medical Center at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, achieving the rank of Major.

Upon honorable discharge in 1970, he returned to Houston to join his twin brother, Grant, in starting the McKeever Orthopedic Clinic, and so began his 45-year career in orthopaedic surgery. They were among the original 10 doctors at Memorial City Hospital.

Throughout his career, McKeever worked as an active reserve undercover narcotics detective with the Harris County Sheriff's Department for 17 years; a team doctor for Stratford High School for 20 years; chief of orthopaedic surgery at Memorial City Hospital; an osteoporosis researcher and expert who traveled the world to lecture; and a skilled carpenter and craftsman. Later in his career he took a fellowship in age manage-ment medicine so he could better serve his older patients. He had the opportunity to work alongside his younger brother, John (’65), also an orthopaedic surgeon, in Corpus Christi, Texas, for two years.

In addition to his brothers, McKeever is survived by his wife of 51 years, Pat; two sons, David and Jeff; a daughter, Pam; and three grandchildren, Luca, Kailey and Cade.

rodney L. Sponsler, 77, of Altoona, Pa., died July 27, 2014. Sponsler completed his residency at Children’s Hospital, Pittsburgh. He was a pediatrician with Blair Medical Associates, retiring in 1997, and taught in the residency program at UPMC Altoona from 1997-2014. He was a member of and physi-cian for the March of Dimes and belonged to the Everett Masonic Lodge 524. He was an avid golfer and enjoyed hunting, working in his yard, Penn State football, playing baseball and spending time with family, especially his grandchildren.

Sponsler is survived by his wife, Diane; three daughters, Robyn, Lori and Rebecca; a son, Todd; 13 grandchildren, Brittany, Claire, Brandon, Haley, Ian, Cameron, zane, Brady, Austin, Jessica, Colby, Xavier and Isabel; and a sister, Linda.

’65Joseph Patrick Leddy, 75, of Mantoloking, N.J., died Aug. 15, 2015. A U.S. Air Force veteran, Leddy had a 40-year career in ortho-paedic surgery and education. His surgical internship was at New york Hospital/Cornell Medical Center, and he completed training at New york Orthopaedic Hospital at Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center. He then served a fellowship in hand surgery at USC Medical Center. Leddy retired in 2005 as chairman of the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery at Robert Wood Johnson Hospital. He had served as chief of staff at St. Peters Hospital and chief of the hand surgery service at both hospitals in the past while also maintaining hospital privileges at Princeton Medical Center. He was a Fellow of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgery, American Orthopaedic Association and American Society of Surgery of the Hand. He was a Diplomat of the American Board of Orthopaedic Surgery, a member of the AOA Honor society, former

president and member of the New york Society for Surgery of the Hand, the Irish American Orthopaedic Society, the Stinchfield Orthopaedic Club and a founding member of the Joseph Boyes Hand Surgery Club.

Leddy is survived by his wife of 49 years, Mary Jo; four sons, timothy (’96), Terence, Christopher and Robert; two brothers, Mark and Brian; and four grandchildren, J.P., Grace, Topher and Willy. He was predeceased by a son, Joseph Jr., in 1984.

’67Matthew white, of Gig Harbor, Wash., died Dec. 17, 2014. White served an intern-ship at the Naval Regional Medical Center in Newport, R.I., and a residency at the Naval Regional Medical Center in Jacksonville, Fla. He was a private practicing physician in Pierce County, Wash., for 36 years and was a founding member of the Northwest Physicians Network, established in 1995. As a private practitioner, he also worked with Physician Care NW, Franciscan Health System and the Rainier Health Network. He enjoyed salmon fishing and traveling.

’68Donald G. urban, 72, of Glenolden, Pa., died Nov. 3, 2015. Urban served in the Vietnam War as a Battalion Surgeon, First Marine Division, and later with the U.S. Naval Reserve, reaching the rank of Commander. He was an emer-gency room physician at Harrisburg Hospital before establishing his own family medical practice in Newville, Pa. On the way to the office one morning, he suffered a stroke that required simultaneous heart and brain surgery. He recovered and served as a Naval doctor at Quantico, Va., and eventually a supervisor at the Veterans Administration in Clarksburg, W.Va. He moved to Pennsylvania in 1994.

Urban is survived by his brother, Harry; his sister, Lois; a nephew, Donald; two nieces, Laura and Rebecca; and five great-nieces and great-nephews.

’69John t. DelGiorno, 72, of Somerdale, N.J., died Aug. 20, 2015. After completing a resi-dency in pediatrics at both St. Christopher's and Jefferson, he fulfilled his two-year military commitment with the U.S. Army Medical Corps. In 1975, he formed DelGiorno Pediatrics in Blackwood, N.J., and actively worked until his retirement in February 2015. Over 40 years he treated three generations of patients. Following in his footsteps, his sons

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Joseph (’98) and John (’12) continue the DelGiorno Pediatrics legacy.

DelGiorno is survived by his wife, Mary. In addition to Joseph and John, he is also survived by four other children, thomas (’97), charles (’03), tamara (’05) and Michele; seven grandchildren, Thomas, Jillian, Addison, Leo, Alex, Claudia and Nina; and a brother, Thomas. His son-in-law, Marc fisicaro (’05), and daughter-in-law, Julie Weber DelGiorno, BSN ’97, are also Jefferson graduates.

’75John Michael van Summern, 66, of Pittston, Maine, died Oct. 20, 2015. He had been diagnosed with glioblastoma multiforme, a malignant brain tumor, in September 2013. Van Summern served a family medicine resi-dency at the Maine Dartmouth Family Practice Program and subsequently opened a private practice in Gardiner, Maine, with a peer from Maine Dartmouth. He stayed with the practice for almost 37 years, enjoying the continuity of care from generation to generation and making house calls to his elderly patients. For several years he was the home-game physi-cian for the Gardiner Tiger football team. He was a member of the Kennebec Valley Medical Center Board of Directors and the MaineGeneral Rehab and Nursing Care Board of Directors and chair of family medicine at MaineGeneral in 2002 and again from 2006-2013. From 1979-1986, he and his wife, Maggie, sponsored three Vietnamese refugee families, with whom they became very close. He enjoyed his family’s assortment of pets and spending summer vacations in shore towns in New Jersey and Maine.

In addition to Maggie, his wife of 38 years, van Summern is survived by his daughter, Lucy; his son, Michael; his mother, Matilda; three sisters, Diane, Michele and Suzanne; a nephew, Daniel; two nieces, Kathryn and Adrienne; an uncle, Bob; an aunt, Jane; and several cousins.

’82Garrett Dean kine, 58, of San Francisco, originally of Philadelphia, died Nov. 2, 2014. Following residency and fellowship training in anesthesiology and pain management in Boston, Kine moved to California, where he worked first in Los Angeles as an anesthesiol-ogist, then in San Francisco as a pain specialist with SpineCare Medical Group. He enjoyed astronomy, music, art, photography, science fiction and television. Kine is survived by his mother, Stella, and sister, Cindy.

’06Michael L. zahaczewsky, 38, of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., formerly of Marlton, N.J., died July 18, 2015. zahaczewsky completed his radiology residency at St. Barnabas Medical Center in Livingston, N.J., and served fellowships in neuro-radiology and interven-tional radiology. He then practiced in Fort Lauderdale. He is survived by his parents, Michael and Genevieve; two sisters, Natasha and Melissa; a niece, Maggie; two nephews, Billy and Daniel; and several aunts, uncles and cousins.

PoSt-GraDuate

’58herbert w. Lohmuller, 91, of Bluffton, Ind., died May 27, 2015. A U.S. Army veteran, Lohmuller served as a Captain and Company Commander at Fort Hood in Killeen, Texas, and later at the Arizona Navajo Ordnance Depot. After being discharged in 1956, he worked in private practice as a hematologist and oncologist in Philadelphia. He joined the Caylor-Nickel Clinic in Bluffton in 1968 and spent the next 20 years there, also serving as president of the Wells County Chapter of the American Cancer Society and establishing a free clinic to serve migrant farm workers. He was instrumental in the establishment of the Indiana Tumor Registry. After retiring from medical practice in 1989, he volunteered at the Wells County Public Library.

Lohmuller is survived by his wife, Nora Genevieve; five sons, Bernard, Martin, John, Paul and Joseph; five daughters, Mary, Theresa, Margaret, Catherine and Elizabeth; a brother, Martin; 29 grandchildren; four step-grandchildren; 11 great-grandchildren; and eight step-great-grandchildren.

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balance shifts from a more scientific

focus in Phase 1 to a more clinical

focus in Phase 2. Students will be able

to spend their last year in electives

and clerkships related to a specialty.

More teaching and learning will take

place in small groups that engage

students in problem-solving and

teamwork, while an individual

research project will hone investiga-

tive skills. A humanities component

will build students' empathy and

awareness of the context in which

health and sickness occur. here’s an

overview of the new curriculum.

Scholarly Inquiry & Humanities

Clinical Rotations

Specialty In

terest

Focu

s: F

oundations :

noita

caV

& p

erP

ELMS

U

sht

no

m 2

USMLE P

rep &

Vacatio

n

Curriculum Overview

Fundam

enta

l Science

Advanced Science

Specialty E

lectives

Clerksh

ips

Clinical Skills & Knowledge

1. Fundamentals

2. Host Defense/Blood

3. Cardiovascular

4. Pulmonary

5. GI/Liver

6. Renal/Urology

7. Endocrine

8. Reproductive

9. Musculoskeletal/Integumentary

10. Neuro/Sensory/Psychiatry

11. Synthesis

Foundation Blocks

• Family Medicine

• Internal Medicine

• Neurology

• Ob/Gyn

• Pediatrics

• Psychiatry

• Surgery

• Surgical Specialties

+ 1 month for research

Clinical Rotations

Infection & immunity

Population health& health systems

Clinical skills

Biochemistry

Anatomy Evidence based medicine

Wellness

Professionalism, medical ethics & jurisprudence

Pharmacology & therapeutics

Physiology & pathology

Enter medical school

Curriculum Threads

To educate physicians who will serve, leadand discover.

Phas

e 1:

19.5

month

s

Phase 2: 12 months

Ph

ase 3: 12 mo

nth

s

Resident-ready in 45.5 months

S I D N E y K I M M E L M E D I C A L C O L L E G E A T T H O M A S J E F F E R S O N U N I V E R S I T y | 4 9

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