weillcornellmedicine - WCM Newsroom · Garrett’s résumé includes clerking for Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall and serving as legislative director for Oklahoma Senator

THE MAGAZINE OF WEILL CORNELL MEDICAL COLLEGE AND WEILL CORNELLGRADUATE SCHOOL OFMEDICAL SCIENCES

weillcornellmedicineVOL. 13, NO. 3

Staying PowerFor some alumni,their alma mater isalso their workplace

c1-c1WCMvol13no3_WCM redesign 11_08 11/12/14 2:15 PM Page 1

c2-c4WCMvol13no3_WCM redesign 11_08 11/7/14 9:57 AM Page c2

V O L . 1 3 , N O . 3 1

weillcornellmedicineTHE MAGAZINE OF WEILL CORNELL MEDICALCOLLEGE AND WEILL CORNELLGRADUATE SCHOOL OFMEDICAL SCIENCES

VOL. 13, NO. 3

22 THE HOME TEAMPHOTOGRAPHS BY JOHN ABBOTT

The Medical College faculty boasts dozens of men and women who not only have“MD” and/or “PhD” after their names, but a Weill Cornell class year as well. A signifi-cant number of alumni return to campus after completing their training—while somenever leave, doing their residencies at NYP/Weill Cornell and staying on to becomeprofessors. Many have gone on to spend their careers here, forging decades-long rela-tionships with the institution and with each other. Weill Cornell Medicine offers por-traits of some of them—from venerable veterans to young residents at the beginning oftheir careers.

34 CLOSING THE GAPHEATHER SALERNO

From the Heart-to-Heart program to the student-run Community Clinic, Weill Cornellworks on numerous fronts to provide care to underserved New Yorkers. Faculty and stu-dents have partnered with groups and agencies around the city in an effort to addressthe health inequities that plague socioeconomically disadvantaged residents. “Whensomeone has to take care of a family and worry about paying the bills, health may notbe a priority,” notes Carla Boutin-Foster, MD, MS ’99, director of the ComprehensiveCenter of Excellence in Disparities Research and Community Engagement. “It’s not adeficiency that they have; it’s just reality. People are constantly making tradeoffs when itcomes to their own health, especially when they don’t feel ill.”

FEATURES

Twitter: @WeillCornell

Facebook.com/WeillCornellMedicalCollege

YouTube.com/WCMCnews

34

Cover photos by John Abbott

For address changes and other subscription inquiries,please e-mail us [email protected]

01-02WMCvol13no3toc_WCM redesign 11_08 11/7/14 10:00 AM Page 1

2 W E I L L C O R N E L L M E D I C I N E

3 DEAN’S MESSAGEComments from Dean Glimcher

4 THE CAMPAIGN FOR EDUCATION

6 LIGHT BOXA model mind

8 SCOPEFunding medical education. Plus: Cornell’s new president, Reunion 2014, Cantley andLord elected to IOM, early OR experience, new roles for two faculty leaders, the WhiteCoat Ceremony, and celebrating the Sesquicentennial.

12 TALK OF THE GOWNNew curriculum debuts. Plus: Maternal clot risk, a medical thriller, pioneer in palliativecare, solar-powered cancer test, dermatological mysteries, hair-sparing “cold caps,” andDr. Heimlich publishes a memoir.

40 NOTEBOOKNews of Medical College and Graduate School alumni

47 IN MEMORIAMAlumni remembered

48 POST DOCLights, camera, Code Black

DEPARTMENTS

weillcornellmedicineTHE MAGAZINE OF WEILL CORNELL MEDICALCOLLEGE AND WEILL CORNELL GRADUATE

SCHOOL OF MEDICAL SCIENCES

Printed by The Lane Press, South Burling ton, VT. Copyright © 2014. Rights for republication of all matter are reserved. Printed in U.S.A.

Weill Cornell Medicine is produced by the staff of Cornell Alumni Magazine.

EDITOR

Beth Saulnier

CONTRIBUTING EDITORS

Chris FurstAdele RobinetteSharon Tregaskis

EDITORIAL ASSISTANT

Tanis Furst

ART DIRECTOR

Stefanie Green

ASSISTANT ART DIRECTOR

Lisa Banlaki Frank

ACCOUNTING MANAGER

Barbara Bennett

EDITORIAL AND BUSINESS OFFICES

401 E. State St., Suite 301Ithaca, NY 14850

(607) 272-8530; FAX (607) 272-8532

Published by the Office of External AffairsWeill Cornell Medical College and Weill Cornell Graduate School of

Medical Sciences

WEILL CORNELL SENIOR ADMINISTRATORSLaurie H. Glimcher, MD

The Stephen and Suzanne Weiss Dean, Weill Cornell MedicalCollege; Provost for Medical Affairs,

Cornell University

Larry SchaferVice Provost for External Affairs

WEILL CORNELL EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS AND PUBLIC AFFAIRS

Mason Essif

WEILL CORNELL DIRECTOR OF CREATIVE AND EDITORIAL SERVICES

John Rodgers

WEILL CORNELL SENIOR EDITOR

Jordan Lite

Weill Cornell Medicine (ISSN 1551-4455) is produced four times a year by Cornell Alumni Magazine, 401 E. State St., Suite 301,Ithaca, NY 14850-4400 for Weill Cornell Medical College and Weill Cornell Graduate School of Medical Sciences. Third-classpostage paid at New York, NY, and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Office of External Affairs,1300 York Ave., Box 123, New York, NY 10065.

12

8

01-02WMCvol13no3toc_WCM redesign 11_08 11/7/14 10:00 AM Page 2

V O L . 1 3 , N O . 3 3

150 Reasons—and Many More—to Celebrate WCMCand Cornell

Dean’s Message

Laurie H. Glimcher, MD, Dean of the Medical College

fully aware of the tremendous responsibilitythat we in the medical profession bear. Theirpower is most obviously on display in the dis-coveries and therapeutic breakthroughs theyhave made. And they’ve been widely recognizedand honored for their work saving lives andadvancing the world’s knowledge and under-standing of medicine, while never losing theindividual power to heal.

Our graduates and our current students alsowield their power in ways that are less obviousbut no less profound. Whether as advocates fortheir patients or as learners tackling WeillCornell’s new curriculum, which blends clinicaland scientific education during all four years ofmedical school, they demonstrate their greatnessin countless private moments of caring. Theseinteractions between patients and their physi-cians, whether rich in experience or still in training, demand empathy, compassion, andhum il ity. Often, these moments remain un -known, unheralded, and unseen except by thosefor whom the quality of care matters most.

The power of patient-centered practice is thepower of observation and creativity. Throughouttheir careers, day in and day out—in the labwith colleagues or at the bedside with patientsand their families—our alumni show curiosity,courage, and imagination. They ask questions,seek answers, share ideas, and pursue excellence.Sometimes they fail—and, learning from thosereversals, they have the fortitude, commitment,and resilience to try again.

In these and many other ways, Weill Cornellalumni continue to drive medicine and the bio-medical sciences forward—improving our col-lege, our university, our profession, and ourworld. It’s my hope and my belief that they willcontinue to sustain and strengthen Weill Cornelland Cornell University for the next 150 years.

In September, with the Empire State Buildingshining red and white for the occasion,Cornell University kicked off a series of

events it is hosting around the world to markthe University’s Sesquicentennial. With an after-noon and evening of performances at Jazz atLincoln Center entitled “The Big Idea!,” alumni,

friends, faculty, and staff from Ithaca andNew York City celebrated with a programhighlighting Cornell’s founding ideas:blending sciences and humanities, mak-ing education accessible to a diversegroup of students, and using knowledgeand discoveries to improve the world.

At Weill Cornell, we have been edu-cating physicians and scientists withthose goals in mind since we opened ourdoors in 1898 as one of only a few med-ical schools that admitted women. Today,our students come from around the coun-try and the world already in possession ofan astonishingly diverse range of interestsand personal accomplishments. Now,they undertake a new curriculum thathonors science as the foundation of mod-ern medicine, instills critical thinking andindependent habits of inquiry, and putsthe patient at the center of everythingthey do. Through our new Campaign for

Education, we hope they will leave us preparedto become global leaders in medicine and bio-medical research, working to improve health-care systems around the world.

For more than a century, our alumni—over350 of whom gathered in October for an evolu-tion of medical education-themed reunion—have done just that. The Weill Cornell graduatesin our photo feature have taken Weill Cornell’spatient-centered approach to heart, long beforethat term gained widespread currency, and are

LISA BERG

03-03WCMvol13no3dean_WCM redesign 11_08 11/7/14 10:01 AM Page 3

04-05WCMvol13no3dev_WCM redesign 11_08 11/7/14 10:01 AM Page 4

V O L . 1 3 , N O . 3 5

04-05WCMvol13no3dev_WCM redesign 11_08 11/7/14 10:02 AM Page 5


Light Box

Mind Over Matter

A model of the brain’s white matterbecame a work of art when it went ondisplay at Philadelphia's FranklinInstitute this summer. The piece, meas-uring two-and-a-half feet wide, was thecenterpiece of an exhibit entitled “YourBrain.” It was created through 3-D print-ing from an MRI image by physicistHenning Voss, PhD, the Nancy M. andSamuel C. Fleming Research Scholar inIntercampus Collaborations. AMERICAN PRECISION PROTOTYPING

06-07WCMvol13no3lightbox_WCM redesign 11_08 11/7/14 10:02 AM Page 6

V O L . 1 3 , N O . 2 7

06-07WCMvol13no3lightbox_WCM redesign 11_08 11/7/14 10:03 AM Page 7


ScopeNews Briefs

PETER HUNG

Cornell Names Thirteenth PresidentIn late September, the Board of Trustees approved the appointmentof Elizabeth Garrett, provost and senior vice president for academicaffairs at the University of Southern California (USC), as Cornell’snext president. She will assume the presidency on July 1, 2015,when David Skorton, MD, steps down to become secretary of theSmithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. Garrett is the firstwoman to lead the University; her hiring means that half of theschools in the Ivy League will have female presidents. “I am hon-ored to have been selected as the next leader of this remarkableinstitution,” Garrett says. “Cornell is one of the world’s truly greatuniversities, with a stellar commitment to excellence in teaching,research, scholarship, and creative activity, linked with a deep com-mitment to public engagement. I am excited to join the Cornellcommunity and to work with the faculty, staff, students, and alum-ni to chart the next chapter in its illustrious history.”

Garrett’s résumé includes clerking for Supreme Court JusticeThurgood Marshall and serving as legislative director for OklahomaSenator David Boren. In 2005, President George W. Bush appointedher to the bipartisan Advisory Panel on Federal Tax Reform. From2009 to 2013, she served on the California Fair Political PracticesCommission, the state’s independent political oversight agency.Garrett was appointed to her current position in 2010. As USC’s sec-

A $50 million fundraising campaign aims tosupport and enhance medical education atWeill Cornell. Launched in October, the effortis part of the current Driving Discoveries,Changing Lives campaign. “We at WeillCornell pride ourselves on providing excep-

tional medical education and training to our aspiring physiciansand scientists, and the Campaign for Education will take WeillCornell to the next level of excellence,” says Dean LaurieGlimcher, MD. “The campaign will support our extraordinaryefforts to transform our curriculum and ensure that we shape thebest doctors who are dedicated to improving the lives of patients.”

The campaign will help support Weill Cornell’s new curriculum,which integrates basic science with clinical care and focuses on across-disciplinary, thematic view of medicine. (For an in-depth lookat the curriculum, see page 12.) It will raise money to fund facultyendowments and student scholarships, as well as to supportimprovements to the Weill Education Center, including its mainauditorium, teaching labs, and classrooms. “Weill Cornell has longbeen a driver of excellence in medical education, and the Campaignfor Education will ensure that we remain at the vanguard,” saysSanford Ehrenkranz, a member of the Board of Overseers and cam-paign co-chair. “I can think of no better investment than support-ing our faculty and students.”

New Campaign Supports Medical Education

Class consciousness: The Medical College’s new fundraising effort focuses on enriching the student experience.

08-11WCMvol13no3scope_WCM redesign 11_08 11/7/14 10:03 AM Page 8

V O L . 1 3 , N O . 3 9

TIP OF THE CAP TO. . .

ROBERT BARKER / CORNELL UNIVERSITY PHOTOGRAPHY

ond-ranking officer, she oversees its college of arts and sciences, theKeck School of Medicine, and sixteen other professional schools, inaddition to the divisions of student affairs, research, libraries, andmore. She sits on the USC Health Systems Board that oversees threehospitals and eighteen clinical practices and chairs the KeckMedical Center Oversight Committee. “It’s an exciting time atCornell University as we celebrate our 150th anniversary andreflect on our reputation of championing excellence in education,”says Dean Glimcher. “With Beth joining the Cornell family as itsfirst female president, we have forged a pioneering new chapter in

our history. As a great research university, Cornell has the power tomake a difference in the world, and I am thrilled to see what wecan accomplish.”

Before joining USC, Garrett was a law professor at theUniversity of Chicago, where she also served as deputy dean foracademic affairs. She earned a BA in history with special distinctionfrom the University of Oklahoma and a JD from the University ofVirginia School of Law. Her scholarly interests include the legisla-tive process, the design of democratic institutions, the federal budg-et process, and tax policy. At Cornell, she will be a tenured facultymember in the Law School with a joint appointment in govern-ment. Her husband, Andrei Marmor, DPhil, is a professor of philos-ophy and the Maurice Jones Jr. Professor of Law at USC. He willjoin the Cornell faculty as a full professor with joint appointmentsin the College of Arts and Sciences and the Law School.

Reunion Weekend Draws a CrowdReunion 2014 drew more than 350 alumni back to campus for a fes-tive weekend that included campus tours, a gala dinner dance,remarks from Dean Glimcher, and more. Held in mid-October, theevent was built around the theme of the evolution of medical edu-cation. Alumni had the chance to chat with current students, visitnew facilities like the Belfer Research Building and the Margaret andIan Smith Clinical Skills Center, and get a first-hand look at howmed school has changed since they graduated. The weekend set arecord for overall attendance, with top honors going to the Class of1983, followed by 1964 and 1984. Special achievement awards werepresented to Bruce Gellin, MD ’83, and Rev. Peter Le Jacq, MD ’81.

Current and future: Cornell president-elect Elizabeth Garrett (left)with outgoing president David Skorton, MD

Francis Barany, PhD, professor of microbiology and immunol-ogy, winner of the IFCC Award for Significant Contributions toMolecular Diagnostics from the International Federation ofClinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine.

Tara Bishop, MD ’02, the Nanette Laitman Clinical Scholar inPublic Health–Clinical Evaluation, winner of the Mid-AtlanticSociety of General Internal Medicine Clinician-Investigator Award.

Brian Bosworth, MD, the Anne and Ken Estabrook ClinicalScholar in Gastroenterology, named president of the New YorkSociety for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy.

Pharmacology postdoc Dilek Colak, PhD, named a finalist inlife sciences for the Blavatnik Regional Awards for YoungScientists from the New York Academy of Sciences.

Donald D’Amico, MD, chairman of ophthalmology and theJohn Milton McLean Professor of Ophthalmology, winner of aLifetime Achievement Honor Award from the AmericanAcademy of Ophthalmology.

Joseph Fins, MD ’86, the E. William Davis Jr., MD, Professor ofMedical Ethics, elected to the International NeuroethicsSociety’s board of directors.

Timothy Hla, PhD, professor of pathology and laboratory med-icine and professor of neuroscience in the Feil Family Brain and

Mind Research Institute, winner of an Outstanding Achieve -ment Award from the Eicosanoid Research Foundation.

Ravinder Mamtani, MD, professor of healthcare policy andresearch (education), reappointed to the State Board forProfessional Medical Conduct.

Christopher Mason, PhD, assistant professor of computationalgenomics in the HRH Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Bin AbdulazizAlsaud Institute for Computational Biomedicine, named one ofPopular Science magazine’s “Brilliant Ten.”

Fabrizio Michelassi, MD, chairman of surgery and the LewisAtterbury Stimson Professor of Surgery, elected president of theSociety for Surgery of the Alimentary Tract.

Michael Pesko, PhD, the Walsh McDermott Scholar in PublicHealth, named to Forbes’s “30 Under 30 Who Are Changing TheWorld 2014 in Science & Healthcare.”

Gregory Petsko, DPhil, the Arthur J. Mahon Professor ofNeurology and Neuroscience in the Feil Family Brain and MindResearch Institute and director of the Helen and Robert AppelAlzheimer’s Disease Research Institute, winner of the M. J.Buerger Award from the American Crystallographic Association.

Robbyn Sockolow, MD, associate professor of pediatrics,named a Woman of Distinction in Medicine by the Crohn’s andColitis Foundation of America.


First-Years Don Their White CoatsThe 101 members of the Class of 2018 launched their medicalcareers in August with the traditional donning of white coats inUris Auditorium before a crowd of family and friends. “You are herefor a reason,” Dean Glimcher told them. “We chose you to join theClass of 2018 from more than 6,000 applicants because we believethat you can handle the immense responsibilities of learning howto take care of patients. Always put the patient at the center ofeverything you do.” The newly minted first-years also receivedstethoscopes, provided by the Buster Foundation’s Paul F. Miskovitz,MD ’75, Stethoscope Fund for Medical Students.

The class’s fifty men and fifty-one women hail from twentystates and Canada; 18 percent of them are from demographicgroups underrepresented in medicine. Said Charles Bardes, MD,associate dean of admissions and professor of clinical medicine:“Your white coat indicates your joyful and solemn entrance into anoble, learned, and ancient profession whose purposes, above all,are to relieve suffering and to promote health.” In September, theQatar branch held its own White Coat Ceremony, welcoming theforty-one members of the incoming class.

Sesquicentennial Kicks Off in NYCThe University kicked off its Sesquicentennial celebrations—mark-ing the 150th anniversary of the University’s founding—with aweekend of events in New York City in September. The festivitiesincluded a ceremonial lighting of the Empire State Building andcongratulations from the NASDAQ, which offered kudos on its mas-sive sign in Times Square. The University’s marching band, gleeclub, and mascot (the Big Red Bear) appeared on Rockefeller Plazaoutside the “Today” show studios on a Saturday, the same day thatCornell launched its touring Sesquicentennial show with two per-formances at Jazz at Lincoln Center. Greg Petsko, DPhil, director ofthe Helen and Robert Appel Alzheimer’s Disease Research Instituteand the Arthur J. Mahon Professor of Neuroscience, made anappearance, speaking about his field and commenting on the phe-nomenon of the “Cornell brain.”

1 0 W E I L L C O R N E L L M E D I C I N E

Cantley, Lord Elected to IOMTwo prominent faculty members have beenelected to the Institute of Medicine of theNational Academies, one of the field’s highesthonors. Lewis Cantley, PhD ’75, is theMargaret and Herman Sokol Professor inOncology Research, the Meyer Director of theSandra and Edward Meyer Cancer Center, anda professor of cancer biology in medicine.Catherine Lord, PhD, is the DeWitt SeniorScholar, director of the Center for Autism andthe Developing Brain at NewYork-Presbyterian,and a professor of psychology in psychiatryand of psychology in pediatrics. The two areamong seventy new members and ten foreignassociates elected to the IOM this year. Theannouncement was made at the group’s annu-al meeting in October.

‘PreOp’ Gives Students EarlyExperience in SurgeryA new program is giving first-year students an

up-close look at surgery. Through a preclinical surgical programknown as PreOp, students can participate in procedures in the oper-ating room, helping inspire them to careers in the field. Whileother schools have surgical-exposure programs, PreOp’s structureand extensive skills component make it unique, says co-creatorStefanie Lazow ’16, who founded it with classmate Rachael Venn’16. Ten participants work with ten attendings, rotating to a newmentor each month to experience a variety of subfields throughoutthe year. Students observe surgeries, attend lectures, participate inskills sessions, and often scrub in. “It can be difficult for medicalstudents to figure out what they’re interested in doing,” observesGregory Dakin, MD, associate professor of surgery and PreOp’s fac-ulty adviser. “In addition, surgery has the added complexity ofmanual dexterity that first- and second-year students don’t neces-sarily know they have.”

The program has already influenced students’ career plans.While 44 percent of participants reported being very likely to applyfor a surgical residency at the beginning of PreOp, by the end of theyear that had risen to 78 percent.

New Roles for Hempstead, Storey-JohnsonBarbara Hempstead, MD, PhD, associate dean for faculty develop-ment and diversity and the O. Wayne Isom Professor of Medicine,has been appointed senior associate dean for education, effectiveJanuary 1. She succeeds Carol Storey-Johnson, MD ’77, who hasheld the position since 2001 and has been appointed senior advis-er for medical education. In her new role, Hempstead will manageWeill Cornell’s medical education pedagogy; Storey-Johnson will,among other goals, help develop an infrastructure for evaluatingthe efficacy of the new curriculum and other programs. “We aretrying to propel Weill Cornell to the next level of excellence andcredibility in the world of medical education research,” Storey-Johnson says, “so that, in addition to our recognition for creating anew and novel curriculum, we can also develop the ability to deter-mine and explain why it’s outstanding.”

Perfect fit: Faculty help students into their new uniforms.

WCMC

Lewis Cantley,PhD ’75

Catherine Lord,PhD

WES

T VI

RG

INIA

WES

LEYA

N C

OLL

EGE

JOH

N A

BB

OTT


V O L . 1 3 , N O . 3 1 1

next several years. The risk was greatest inpatients whose surgery did not involve theirheart—suggesting that AF triggered by thebody’s reaction to the physical and emotionalstress of surgery is a sign of higher stroke risk.In that group, 1.5 percent of patients with AFhad a stroke at one year, compared with 0.4percent without AF. “Many physicians view AFresulting from surgery as a temporary condition,and current guidelines don’t make specific rec-ommendations for carefully monitoring thesepatients over time,” says Gialdini. “Our studysuggests that AF after surgery requires carefullong-term follow-up.” The researchers analyzeddata from some 1.7 million patients who werehospitalized for surgery throughout Californiaand found that 1.4 percent were newly diag-nosed with AF afterward. Patients with previousAF or stroke were excluded.

Autism Recovery Possible,Major Study FindsIt’s possible to recover from autism, sayresearchers from Weill Cornell and the Universityof Denver, who followed eighty-five childrenfrom their diagnosis as toddlers until their lateteens. Their study, in the Journal of ChildPsychology and Psychiatry, finds that 9 percentimproved to the point that they no longer metthe diagnostic criteria for autism. Another 28percent retained features of autism spectrumdisorder, such as impaired social functioning,but were doing well in several areas, particularlycognitive and academic functioning. Many inboth groups were enrolled in college. “This rateof improvement is much higher than has beenreported before, and that fact offers some verygood news,” says senior investigator CatherineLord, PhD, the DeWitt Wallace Senior Scholarand founding director of the Center for Autismand the Developing Brain, located on the WhitePlains psychiatric campus.

Anesthesia Side Effects Are Short-TermThe effects of a commonly used anesthetic onmemory and cognition appear to be temporary.The research, done in vitro using a rodentmodel, was conducted in response to concernsthat exposing children and elderly adults to gen-eral anesthesia may increase susceptibility tolong-term cognitive and behavioral deficits suchas learning disabilities. Says Hugh Hemmings Jr.,MD, PhD, chair of anesthesiology and the JosephF. Artusio Jr. Professor of Anesthesiology, one oftwo senior authors on the paper: “It is not clearwhether the residual effects after an operationare due to the surgery itself, or the hospitaliza-tion and attendant trauma, medications, andstress—or a combination of these issues.”Results were published in PLOS ONE.

FROM THE BENCH

Prostate Tumors, in VitroResearch at Weill Cornell and Sloan Kettering, pub-lished in Cell, has shown for the first time that tis-sue from prostate tumors can be grown in the lab,offering new avenues for testing drugs and person-alizing treatment. “This represents a new tool tomove the results of cancer research closer to theeffective treatment of patients,” says co-firstauthor Andrea Sboner, PhD, assistant professor ofpathology and laboratory medicine and of compu-tational genomics in computational biomedicineand a member of Weill Cornell’s Institute forPrecision Medicine. “We can now build biologicalmodels that closely resemble a patient’s tumor andbetter understand the mechanism of cancer pro-gression and resistance in the context of new ther-apeutic agents that are being developed.”

WCMC-Q Finds CalciumSignaling PathwayResearchers at the Qatar branch are exploring therole of calcium in biological processes. Work byRaphael Courjaret, PhD, research associate in phys-iology and biophysics, and Khaled Machaca, PhD,associate dean for research, has shed new light onthe complex role played by calcium ions, whichtransport information to various parts of the cell tofacilitate biochemical processes such as fertiliza-tion, muscle contraction, transmission of nervoussignals, and blood clotting. The research, publishedin Nature Communications, defined a novel path-way, dubbed “mid-range calcium signaling.”

Pua Heads Lung CancerScreening EffortNYP/Weill Cornell has launched a screening pro-gram for those at risk for developing lung cancer.It uses low-dose CT scans to detect cancer in itsearliest stages, significantly increasing the odds ofsurvival. The program, which includes current andformer smokers and those with a close relativediagnosed with the disease, is led by Bradley Pua,MD, assistant professor of radiology. “As these CTscans will show things that do not necessarily rep-resent cancer, joining a comprehensive center forscreening where multidisciplinary teams of physi-cians can meet on a routine basis to discuss andcontinue to refine screening guidelines is impera-tive,” Pua explains. “Accessibility to this team ofphysicians with expertise in every aspect of diag-nosis to treatment will allow for more coordinatedcare, minimizing any screening harms.”

Registries Key to SafetyA report by three health organizations—includingthe Medical Device Epidemiological Network

Science Infrastructure Center at Weill Cornell—strongly endorses registries to address America’slack of a robust system for assessing the safetyand efficacy of medical devices. The report, alsoauthored by the Pew Charitable Trusts and theBlue Cross Blue Shield Association, ponders thepotential of registries to track such devices asimplantable defibrillators, cardiac valves, andjoint replacements. The registries would monitordevices as they move from clinical trials to themarketplace. “We currently have very limitedtools and means to understand how most devicesperform after they enter the healthcare market,”says Art Sedrakyan, PhD, director of the Centerand an associate professor of healthcare policyand research. “We rely on pre-market clinicalstudies or testing and assume that these devicesare good, but past experience proves that’s notthe case since a number of commonly useddevices ultimately fail or do not perform well.”

In Practices, Bigger May Not Be BetterSmaller physician prac-tices may have betterpatient outcomes, reportsa paper in Health Affairs.Principal investigatorLawrence Casalino, MD,PhD, and colleaguesfound that practices thatare smaller or physician-owned—as opposed tolarger or hospital-owned—had lower ratesof hospital admissionsthat could have been avoided with good primarycare. “That’s important, because right now hospi-tals are rapidly employing more and more physi-cians,” says Casalino, the Livingston FarrandProfessor of Public Health. “It’s happening veryfast and changing the landscape of practice, sofinding that hospital-owned physician practicesdid not perform as well should be interesting tophysicians, patients, hospital executives, andpolicymakers.” The findings are surprising, theresearchers say, because large and hospital-owned practices have more resources to hirestaff and create processes to improve care.

A Post-Surgical Warning An irregular heartbeat that patients developafter surgery appears to predict future strokes,according to a study by Hooman Kamel, MD,assistant professor of neurology and neuro-science in the Feil Family Brain and MindResearch Institute, and postdoc Gino Gialdini,MD. The work, published in JAMA, found thatpatients who received a new diagnosis of atrialfibrillation (AF) while hospitalized for surgerywere more likely to suffer a stroke during the

LawrenceCasalino, MD, PhD

ABB

OTT


This August, on their very first day ofschool, the Class of 2018 encounteredsomeone whom medical students ofyears past couldn’t have imagined

meeting so soon: a patient. A real, live patient.It was a first for the class and for Weill Cornell,

marking the introduction of a new curriculum—one that not only seeks to increase student-faculty engagement and to integrate areas oflearning as never before, but puts the patient atthe center of the student experience from dayone. “We’re making a strong effort to breakdown the traditional boundaries between thebasic science and clinical courses, and bridge theartificial divide between the first two years andthe second two years,” says Peter Marzuk, MD,the Gertrude Feil Associate Dean for CurricularAffairs and one of the designers of the new cur-riculum. “We want to make sure that science isthe foundational underpinning of all medicalpractice, and that the two are wed in a long-lasting, inextricable marriage. We want our stu-dents to experience that from the very beginning.”

The curriculum changes come, in part, inresponse to the 2010 report on the state of med-ical education by the Carnegie Foundation forthe Advancement of Teaching—known colloqui-ally as “Flexner II” after the Flexner Report, aseminal document on the subject issued a centu-ry earlier. Weill Cornell’s new curriculum, in theworks since 2010, is centered around threethemes: the scientific basis of medicine; patientcare; and physicianship, defined as professional-ism and clinical skill. “Sir William Osler oncesaid that a good physician treats the disease,while a great physician treats the patient withthe disease,” observes Dean Laurie Glimcher,MD. “As a doctor, you’re not just acting as anagent of health for your patient. You’re also serv-ing as an agent of hope, of compassion, of


humanism in medicine.” Under the new system, the first year is divid-

ed into two segments: Essential Principles ofMedicine—which introduces the three themes—and Health, Illness, and Disease, which continuesto integrate the themes and reviews normal andabnormal biology, organized by organ system.“For example, pharmacology used to be taughtprimarily in one block, and now it will be taughttogether with each organ system,” Glimcherexplains. “So that when you treat a patient withkidney disease during your clinical clerkships,you will then be able to integrate that knowledgewith what you learned about the physiology ofthe kidney and acid electrolyte balance. You’ll beable to see the big picture and ask: ‘What are thedrugs that you would use to treat kidney disease?What do we know about the genomics of renaldisease?’ And all the way along, you will relateeverything back to the patient.”

Students will begin their clinical clerkships inthe spring of their second year, several monthsearlier than they did previously. The latter part ofthe third year and much of the fourth will com-prise an area of concentration chosen by the student, closely mentored by faculty and cul -minat ing in a scholarly project; topics couldrange from global health to an intensive experi-ence in surgery. Says Glimcher: “We’re trying totrain our students to be the leaders of the nextgeneration of academic medicine—to be chairs ofdepartments, luminous physicians and scientists,and contributors to public policy in healthcare.”

One of the curriculum’s many new elements iswhat’s known as the “flipped” or “activated”classroom: an effort to make students even moredynamic partners in their own learning. While thelast curriculum overhaul—introduced in 1996—departed from the traditional lecture-based model infavor of problem-based learning conducted in smallgroups, the new one goes even further. Students willbe expected to learn material from assigned readingsor podcasts and come in prepared to dive in deeplyrather than simply absorb information. “The profes-sor assumes you have baseline knowledge that youtaught yourself before you came in,” says studentoverseer Sophie McKenney, a sixth-year MD-PhDstudent who helped craft the new curriculum.“That’s appealing, because professional studentshave already had to figure out their own learningstyle, and just regurgitating information is frustrat-ing for a lot of people. Now, you can read that chap-ter or watch that video as many times as you needto for the next test.” Faculty, for their part, areencouraged to make their lessons more dynamicthrough multimedia and planned discussions ofissues the material raises. “Faculty are intrigued bythis,” says senior associate dean for education CarolStorey-Johnson, MD ’77, one of the new curricu-lum’s chief architects. “This is a sea change from

Program of Study

Four years in the making,

the new curriculum debuts

Talk of the GownInsights & Viewpoints

12-21WCMvol13no3totg_WCM redesign 11_08 11/7/14 10:04 AM Page 12

V O L . 1 3 , N O . 3 1 3

the way many of them are used to teaching, and it’salso a sea change from the way they learned.”

Training in the clinical arena has also beenreimagined, Storey-Johnson notes. Changesinclude a new requirement that students followassigned patients with chronic disease through-out their med school careers—the program,Longi tudinal Educational Experience AdvancingPatient Partnerships (LEAP), had previously beenoptional—and a shift in how students are trainedto write up patient notes. “Instead of just endingwith the diagnosis and plan, we’ll include a sec-tion that promotes inquiry,” Storey-Johnson says.“ ‘Is the patient safe? What can we do to improveoutcomes? How does basic science apply to thispatient? What would it direct us to do different-ly?’ We’re trying to push the envelope, to getnew doctors to think less rotely and more cre-atively about how to help their patients. Wewant to promote what we’re calling ‘habits ofinquiry,’ which is one of the recommendationsin the Carnegie Foundation report—pushingtrainees to think about the questions that needto be answered in the future. ‘Why does this hap-pen? Why is this patient different from thepatient I saw before with the same diagnosis?’”

Storey-Johnson points out that the new cur-

ROGER TULLY

riculum kicks in even before first-year studentsget to campus: an online multiple-choice test,consisting of about four dozen questions, assess-es knowledge of fundamentals and offers links toliterature in the case of wrong answers. “The ideais that you continue to go through it until youhave a better understanding,” Storey-Johnsonsays. “It’s to get you up to speed and thinkingabout these scientific concepts, so you’ll be pre-pared for day one of medical school.”

Storey-Johnson and her colleagues stress thatmeasuring the curriculum’s efficacy will be vitalgoing forward; while assessment methods arestill being put in place, they’ll include such fac-tors as student-satisfaction surveys, licensingexam scores, and residency placements. But asthe new system gets off the ground, she says,excitement is palpable. “When we presented thisto the faculty council, one of the departmentchairs joked that he wished he could go back tomedical school,” she says. “It brings togethermajor components of medical education thathave been much more disjointed in the past. It’san attempt not only to make the curriculummore relevant, but to make important humanconnections between our students and faculty.”

— Beth Saulnier

School days: Students in Weill Cornell’s new curriculumcan expect more interactionswith patients early in theireducation.

‘Faculty areintrigued bythis. This is a seachange from theway many ofthem are usedto teaching, andit’s a sea changefrom the waythey learned.’


pregnancy. Mothers-to-be, he explains, are more prone to the con-dition because platelets and clotting factors increase during preg-nancy to prevent excessive blood loss during childbirth; blood flowalso slows because the uterus compresses veins, which can lead toclots. Historically, this elevated risk was believed to last for six weeksafter delivery. So, in accordance with current guidelines, doctorsoften give women with the highest risk—those who are older,smoke, or have high blood pressure or a history of clots—preventiveblood thinners during that period of time.

But after reviewing existing studies, Kamel noticed that this riskremained consistently high throughout the six weeks following child-birth, rather than tapering off as time went on. “The risk was highduring the first six weeks, and it seemed to be sustained—so wethought it unlikely that the risk would suddenly go back to normalafter a six-week period,” he says. “The picture past six weeks was a bit


E very year, 1,000 brand-new moms all over the coun-try suddenly collapse or are rushed to emergencyrooms with strokes, heart attacks, and pulmonaryembolisms. The cause: potentially life-threatening

blood clots. “We’ve known for a long time that pregnancy is a peri-od of stress on the body, and the vast number of patients toleratethat stress just fine,” says Hooman Kamel, MD, an assistant profes-sor of neurology and neuroscience in the Department of Neurologyand the Feil Family Brain and Mind Research Institute. “But insome cases, that stress results in complications that can have seriouslong-term effects, such as permanent disability or even death.”

As a neurologist, Kamel doesn’t often take care of young moth-ers. But over the years, he has cared for postpartum patients whohad massive strokes and didn’t survive. Those tragic outcomesprompted his interest in the risk of blood clots during and after

Risk Management

Study rethinks the dangers of blood clots to new mothers

Talk of the Gown

JOHN ABBOTT

Hooman Kamel, MD


V O L . 1 3 , N O . 3 1 5

The Scalpel and the PenMichael Alexiades, MD ’83, authors

a novel with a supernatural twist

foggy, and we wanted to clarify it.” Kameldecided to examine the problem more pre-cisely with his own investigation, fundedby a grant from the National Institute ofNeurological Disorders and Stroke. Workingwith researchers from Weill Cornell andColumbia, he found that the risk for allnew moms persists for at least twelveweeks—twice as long as previously thought.

For the study, published in the NewEngland Journal of Medicine earlier this year,Kamel’s team examined medical data fornearly 1.7 million women in Californiawho gave birth to their first child between2005 and 2010. Using data from more than300 hospitals across the state, they scruti-nized a diverse group of mothers who var-ied in age, race, and socioeconomic status.They found that about twenty-four clot-related ailments—including stroke, heartattack, and venous thromboembolisms(clots in the legs or lungs)—occurred inevery 100,000 of those women in the firstsix weeks after delivery. That translates to arisk about ten times higher than that ofwomen who aren’t pregnant—but, Kamelsays, “that was in line with what we’dexpected from other studies that looked atthis first six-week interval.” In the periodstretching from seven to twelve weeks afterbirth, about six women in 100,000 devel-oped clots, around twice the normal rate.“It was much lower than the first sixweeks,” he says, “but it was still higherthan these patients’ typical risk.” Furtheranalysis indicated that the risk appeared todrop to normal levels at around the fifteen-week mark.

Kamel notes that it’s important to keepthese findings in perspective: about 1,000of the 1.7 million women studied had athrombotic event in the eighteen monthsafter having a child, so the chance of thishappening is quite slim. “This is not a rea-son to panic,” he says. “The vast majorityare going to be fine, but it’s good to knowabout the risk. Women should be awarethat these things could happen, and ifthey do, take the right measures to seekhelp.” Now, study co-author Babak Navi,MD, assistant professor of neurology andneuroscience and director of the StrokeCenter at NYP/Weill Cornell, wonderswhether the women most in danger ofblood clots should take anti-coagulants forthe entire time that the risk is elevated.Says Navi: “I think this finding has verybroad implications for millions of peopleacross the world.”

— Heather Salerno

To make a medical thriller, start with every patient’s worst nightmare. Add a touchof science fiction, a psychotic villain, and an insider’s knowledge of hospital life,and you’ve got Night Harvest, a dark tale penned by Michael Alexiades, MD ’83.An otherwise mild-mannered orthopaedist at Hospital for Special Surgery,

Alexiades is a past president of the Weill Cornell Alumni Association. Specializing in knee andhip replacements, he’s long been known for developing innovative surgical techniques. Butsince Night Harvest hit shelves in 2013, patients, fans, and colleagues alike have been askinghim the same question: When’s the sequel coming out?

The setting for Alexiades’s page-turner is Gotham’s Eastside Medical Center, where fourth-year medical student Demetri Markropolis is on an orthopaedics elec-tive. After a high-profile patient flatlines during routine knee surgery,the body vanishes from the morgue. It’s soon found, sans brain mat-ter—and an autopsy reveals that the patient, the city’s leading dramacritic, was conscious during the craniotomy. As murder and mayhemescalate, Markropolis explores the case with the help of his father, alegendary NYPD detective. Their quest not only leads them to anunsolved mystery from a century ago, but pits them against a myste-rious and malevolent figure who lurks beneath the hospital.

In a scene from the point of view of one of the novel’s victims,Alexiades writes:

He tried to speak to the transporters, but they continued to ignore him asthey rolled along. Why can’t they hear me? Pervis thought. He tried to yelland even grab the transporter’s arm but to no avail—he felt physically andpsychologically paralyzed. He started to feel severe pain in his chest and ribs, as if the pounding was nodream, and his neck was sore. Pervis realized something had gone very wrong.

The two men hit a button on the wall to open a large door. They went through it into a roomthat was practically freezing. The two men transferred him roughly to another stretcher, one that wascold and hard. He labored to shout out or sit up, but the efforts ended at his brainstem. The trans-porters turned and were exiting the room when the Asian one said something to the other, thenturned, walked up to the gurney, and zipped closed what was apparently a black plastic bag sur-rounding Pervis, leaving him in utter darkness. As Pervis heard the two men leave, the door slamshut behind him, and the lock clicking, he recalled that there had been a sign over the room’sentrance: SUBBASEMENT MORGUE. AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY.

A longtime fan of detective novels and thrillers, Alexiades counterbalances the novel’ssupernatural elements with ample doses of verisimilitude, weaving in credible details onorthopaedics, hospital administration, and the life of the MD. “The medical scenes and inter-actions are inspired by my own experience, combined with stories I’ve heard from colleagues,”says Alexiades, an associate professor of orthopaedic surgery. “I take some liberties here andthere, but I made sure the medical procedures were accurate in case I got called on it.”

Night Harvest took three years to write and another to edit, says Alexiades, who performsten to twenty surgeries and sees dozens of patients in a typical week. He chipped away at thebook on weekends and vacations, running drafts by his family, all avid readers. “They gaveme two thumbs up and encouraged me to get an agent,” he says. “But it really just startedout as a fun project. I never intended to publish.” Alexiades also got support from somehigh-profile friends—including Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel, who contributed a blurb for thedust jacket and helped launch the book during a signing at Griffis Faculty Club. Anotherhigh point, Alexiades says, was seeing a stranger on the subway engrossed in his novel.

As for the promised sequel? “I’ve got the story lines and some preliminary chapters downfor the next two books,” he says. “It takes a while to work out all the details.”

— Franklin Crawford



Palliative Pioneer

Neurologist Kathleen Foley, MD ’69, helped transform how doctors manage pain

Talk of the Gown

It’s the most memorable moment from Terms of Endearment—perhaps one of the most famous hospital scenes in the histo-ry of cinema. The main character, played by ShirleyMacLaine, goes to the nurses’ station outside the room whereher daughter is dying of cancer. Politely at first, she asks the

staff to administer the young woman’s pain medication, whichhad been ordered for no earlier than ten o’clock. “It’s after ten—Idon’t see why she has to have this pain,” she says, growingincreasingly agitated as the nurses tell her they’ll get to it whenthey can. “It’s time for her shot. Do you understand? Do some-thing! All she has to do is hold out until ten—and it’s past ten.She’s in pain. My daughter is in pain. Give her the shot! Do youunderstand me?” Driven to the brink of hysteria, she screams:“GIVE MY DAUGHTER THE SHOT!”

The scene, from a movie released in 1983, epitomizes the badold days of pain medicine. In fact, says palliative care expertKathleen Foley, MD ’69, it’s often screened for medical students toillustrate the bygone practice of limiting analgesics, even whenthey were sorely needed. “There were so many patients in signifi-cant pain, and it just wasn’t being treated,” recalls Foley, a profes-sor of neurology, pharmacology, and neuroscience in the FeilFamily Brain and Mind Research Institute. “The standard of carewas that patients would get injectable pain medicine—and if ithad been ordered for four hours and they asked for it at two, thenurses would say, ‘You have to wait.’ This was the culture.”

Three decades later, that culture has been transformed—andFoley is among its prime movers. An attending neurologist in thePain and Palliative Care Service at Sloan Kettering, Foley has ded-icated her career to research, treatment, and policymaking in thefield of pain medicine, particularly in patients with cancer. InMay, she received the Weill Cornell Alumni Association Award ofDistinction—the latest accolade in a career that has included con-ducting seminal studies on pain control, developing guidelines forthe use of opioids in cancer pain, helping establish World HealthOrganization standards for analgesics as essential medicines, andleading the Soros Open Society Foundations Project on Death inAmerica. “She basically invented American palliative care medi-cine,” says Joseph Fins, MD ’86, the E. William Davis Jr., MD ’51,Professor of Medical Ethics. “She has been a role model to gener-ations of students. She’s an exemplary physician, an amazingteacher, a person of the highest standards.”

Fins, chief of the Division of Medical Ethics, has consideredFoley a mentor since the mid-Nineties, when he spent a yearrounding with her at Sloan Kettering as a fellow in the Soros pro-gram, whose goal was nothing less than to transform the cultureof dying in the U.S. Around that time, he visited St. Christopher’sHospice in London and met with Dame Cicely Saunders, MD—the godmother of palliative medicine in the U.K. and a veneratedfigure in palliative care worldwide. Why, he wondered, do

Kathleen Foley, MD ’69

ABBOTT


Americans have such difficulty with death and dying? “She peeredover her cup of tea and said, ‘Do you know Kathy Foley?’ ” herecalls with a chuckle. “ ‘Well, you should ask her.’ What betterpeer review could you get than that?”

A Queens native, Foley followed her MD with a year of researchand a neurology residency at what was then New York Hospital.During a rotation at Sloan Kettering, she worked under neuro-oncology pioneer Jerome Posner, MD; in 1974, he invited her tohelp develop a pain-research program at the cancer center. “Ofcourse I said, ‘I don’t know anything about pain,’” she recalls.“And he said, ‘Well—no one does.’”

In one early study, Foley found that a third of patients receiv-ing active cancer therapy were in moderate to severe pain; of thosewith advanced illness, two-thirds had significant pain that compro-mised quality of life. In pediatric oncology, the same held true. “Itwas a big problem,” she says. “There wasn’t a great deal of sophis-tication in how to use analgesic drugs; there wasn’t a lot of science.Physicians were taught that these drugs would addict you—so theless you took, the better. It also wasn’t clear how to assess pain, todecipher the complexities.” Underscoring all that was a belief thatpain was an inevitable part of illness, especially cancer. “Patientswere viewed as wimps if they couldn’t tolerate it,” she says. “Theywere encouraged to be good patients and not complain. Basically,a conspiracy of silence existed—one that was quite profound, cul-tural, and real.”

Foley was determined to change that. She and her colleagueswere at the vanguard of research on how pain develops during thecourse of disease and treatment. In breast cancer, for example, theydetailed how nerve-injury pain emerges after surgery and how paincan be caused by tumors infiltrating the brachial plexus, a majornerve network that passes under the clavicle. “We wrote chaptersand descriptions to help medical oncologists identify these early,rather than having them progress and become almost impossibleto treat,” she says. “We also were trying to give voice to patients.They weren’t malingerers, wimps, or complainers. They were realpeople who were suffering enormously.” She conducted clinical tri-als of drugs such as oral morphine; she showed that by escalatingdosages, patients could continue to have relief. “Patients would say,‘I don’t want to take it now, because maybe it won’t work when Ireally need it,’” she recalls. “We had to demonstrate that tolerancecould be overcome and pain could be managed. We had to teachour colleagues how to use these drugs, how to dose them, how towrite prescriptions for them.”

The armamentarium expanded with the advent of medicationslike OxyContin—but along with them came concerns about abuse,inappropriate prescriptions, drug-seekers, and crime. “Now, we’rein this extraordinary environment where chronic pain groups andaddiction groups are trying to work together to provide the bestcare for patients, and at the same time prevent abuse,” she says.“The pain patient is becoming a victim in the war on drugs. It’s atough time.” But as colleague Charles Inturrisi, PhD, notes: when itcomes to advocating for patients, Foley is a tough customer. “Shehas fought the good fight against national and local regulationsthat limit the availability of pain-relieving drugs, and she hasworked with a variety of agencies to set up guidelines for painmanagement,” says the pharmacology professor. “She’s someonewho not only frames problems but works out solutions. As a leader,she has vision and integrity. She tells us not what we want tohear—but what we need to hear.”

— Beth Saulnier

V O L . 1 3 , N O . 3 1 7

In the early days of the AIDS epidemic, the deadly skin cancerknown as Kaposi’s sarcoma (KS) was a bellwether of HIVinfection. For many patients during the grim days of theEighties, the cancer’s dark red lesions were among the firstsigns that they’d contracted the virus—and in Africa, that

largely remains true today. “Even before the HIV epidemic, KS wasa common cancer there, more than anywhere in the world,” saysEthel Cesarman, MD, PhD, professor of pathology and laboratorymedicine. “And with the HIV epidemic, it has become even moreof a problem.”

Identifying Kaposi’s sarcoma early is essential to battling bothdiseases in Africa, Cesarman says. But a definitive diagnosis—espe-cially in the initial stages, when small lesions can be confused withother skin conditions—generally requires pathology or DNA analy-sis and expertise, all in short supply in resource-poor regions. “Thefew pathologists in Africa work hard, and they’re good, but there’sjust not enough of them,” says Cesarman, who was on the teamthat identified the virus that causes KS in the mid-Nineties. “What

Bright Idea

Harnessing the sun (and cell phones)

to battle a deadly cancer in Africa

Ethel Cesarman, MD, PhDWCMC


Talk of the Gown


happens is that patients frequently don’tget diagnosed, and when they come to thedoctor the disease is advanced and mortali-ty is high.” So Cesarman’s lab teamed upwith engineers on the Ithaca campus to cre-ate an ingenious solution, one that takesadvantage of two things that are plentifulin Africa: sunshine and cell phones.

Cesarman and her colleagues havedeveloped a device, bright red and roughlythe size of a lunch box, that uses solar ener-gy and an app to screen for the culpritbehind KS, Kaposi’s sarcoma herpes virus. Itanalyzes samples that are taken with a sim-ple, two-millimeter-wide biopsy of a lesion,which can be done by health workers withminimal training. “We wanted a systemthat would be portable, affordable, and rel-atively easy to operate,” she says, “and thatwould not require energy, so it could beused in places that have no electricity orwhere it’s unreliable.” Last February,Cesarman and two Ithaca-based col-

leagues—David Erickson, PhD, professor ofmechanical and aerospace engineering,and doctoral candidate Li Jiang—testedthe system in Kenya and Uganda; they’renow using what they learned in the fieldto improve the device. “It allows you todistinguish KS from other diseases,”Cesarman says of the invention. “For anylittle suspicious lesion, rather than waitingto see if it goes away, or giving a creamand an anti-inflammatory and waitingmonths, it lets you know it’s KS and tostart treating the patient.”

Why is early KS diagnosis so importantin Africa? One reason is its sheer ubiquity;it’s the most common cancer in men inseveral countries there, including Ugandaand Zimbabwe. “In Africa, 50 to 60 per-cent of people are exposed to the Kaposi’ssarcoma herpes virus, but it doesn’t causedisease in all of them, because theimmune system usually recognizes it,”Cesarman explains. “AIDS is one of thefactors that makes it appear, but there areothers we don’t understand.” One esti-mate—which she stresses is likely a seriousundercount—is that some 70,000 sub -equatorial Africans die of KS each year. (KSis generally treated with chemotherapy,radiation, or both—with radiation beingunavailable on much of the continent.)And Cesarman notes that in Africa, KSand HIV remain intertwined, with themajority of HIV patients there also carry-ing the KS virus and vice versa. But ifpatients with even tiny lesions can bediagnosed with KS on the spot using thesolar technology—and then tested forHIV—they can be swiftly put on antiretro-viral drugs that not only keep the HIVunder control, but frequently make thelesions regress. Plus, she points out, mak-ing people aware of their HIV status isvital to prevention efforts.

As Cesarman’s lab continues to investi-gate new methods of treating KS, it’sexploring another use for the solar device:diagnosing Burkitt’s lymphoma, a majorkiller of children in Africa, where morethan 90 percent of cases are related to theEpstein-Barr virus. And the field-friendlydevice could have myriad other applica-tions, she says, from detecting bioterroragents to monitoring epidemics to makingdiagnoses in underserved communities inthe developed world, like Native Americanreservations. “We think,” she says, “that itcan basically be useful to detect any pieceof DNA associated with a disease.”

— Beth Saulnier

‘We wanted a systemthat would beportable, affordable,and relatively easyto operate, and thatwould not requireenergy, so it couldbe used in placesthat have no electricity or whereit’s unreliable.’

Solar powered: Li Jiang, a doctoral candidate on the Ithaca campus, with the KS detectiondevice. Researchers have already tested it in Kenya and Uganda.

JASON KOSKI / UP CORNELL UNIVERSITY


V O L . 1 3 , N O . 3 1 9

ABBOTT

The patient had only a few itchy red patches on herchest and on the back of her hands, but dermatologistJoanna Harp, MD, had a hunch that something sinis-ter was at work. A biopsy only provoked more worry—

and more questions. It confirmed that the patient haddermatomyositis, an autoimmune disease characterized by skininflammation and muscle weakness. But the condition can also bethe manifestation of an internal cancer.

Harp kept looking for clues that could lead to the underlyingproblem. And she found it: a cancer in the patient’s mouth.“Dermatology is still really about the physical exam and using yourskills to come up with a differential diagnosis,” she observes. “Thetests help you, but it’s all triggered by the physical exam.”

In many ways, Harp is a dermatological detective—examiningpatients whose rashes or lesions are indicators of something moreominous, and using her clinical expertise and keen observationalskills to solve medical mysteries. “The skin can be a window intosomething that may be going on internally,” notes Harp, an assis-tant professor of dermatology. “The findings can be very subtle,but when you put it all together, it gives you a diagnosis.”

Harp splits her days between NYP/Weill Cornell’s outpatientclinic and its inpatient unit, where she consults on cases rangingfrom straightforward dermatologic conditions in hospitalized

patients to challenging, potentially life threatening, skin diseases.She has diagnosed lupus, cancer, internal infections, drug sideeffects, and more—all by scrutinizing their manifestations on theskin. “One of the reasons why my job is so fascinating is that it hasso many different aspects,” Harp says, “whether it’s improving apatient’s quality of life by treating their acne, or finding somethinglife-threatening before it hurts someone.”

She recalls one patient in particular—a man whose life mayhave been saved by a tattoo. Little bumps had formed along theoutline of the recently acquired design, leading doctors to think itwas a reaction to the ink. Harp was also leaning toward that diag-nosis, until she asked the patient if he had been experiencing short-ness of breath. When he said yes, she ordered a skin biopsy andchest X-ray and discovered that he had sarcoidosis—a rare, poten-tially life-threatening disease characterized by abnormal collectionsof immune cells that can form as nodules in the skin, lungs, andother organs. The skin trauma from the tattoo provoked a responsefrom the disease, allowing Harp to make an accurate diagnosisbefore his condition became more serious. “Skin is so accessible,”Harp muses. “It can focus where you go with a patient. I like towork with complex diseases and try to figure out what the skin istrying to tell us.”

— Alyssa Sunkin

DermatologyDetective

For Joanna Harp, MD, the skin is the first clue in a medical mystery

Joanna Harp, MD



Heads Up

Cold caps, widely used in Europe, can help

some cancer patients keep their hair

Talk of the Gown

Breast cancer patient Caro -lyn Dempsey was attendinga wellness seminar whenshe looked around andrealized something: of the

twenty or so women in the room, she wasthe only one who had hair. Later, some ofthe other participants asked whether shejust hadn’t started chemotherapy yet. Butno; she was in the midst of it. The reasonshe’d retained her blonde locks, sheexplained, was that she’d undergone a reg-imen of “cold cap” therapy during chemo.“Women were crowding around me, want-ing to know more,” Dempsey recalls.“They were saying, ‘We’ve never heard ofthis—why didn’t anyone tell me this wasan option?’”

The women weren’t alone in their con-fusion. Though widely used in Europe, thehair-sparing technique is little known inthe U.S., among both patients and physi-

didn’t require FDA approval, and they’rethe only ones available in the U.S. outsideof a clinical trial.

A more user-friendly system, a Swedish-made product known as Digni Cap, con-nects a single helmet to a refrigeration unitthat keeps it at a constant temperature of 3or 5 degrees Celsius, depending on thepatient’s hair. Since DigniCap does qualifyas a medical device, it’s currently in the FDAapproval process. A trial assessing its effica-cy in preventing chemotherapy-inducedhair loss among women with early stagebreast cancer has been completed in NewYork City (at Weill Cornell and Beth Israel),California, and North Carolina; results areeagerly awaited. “It’s much more conven-ient,” says principal investigator TessaCigler, MD, assistant professor of clinicalmedicine. “The patients don’t have to wearthe cap as long, it doesn’t get as cold, and itdoesn’t have to be rotated. It’s connected toa machine that does all the work.”

Cigler, who is studying both types ofcaps, notes that no one has stopped usingeither due to hassle or discomfort. “As adoctor, it’s been amazing to see howempowering the cold caps are,” she says.“It allows women to take part of theirtreatment into their own hands. They feelmore in control. They’re also able to pro-tect their privacy; not everyone on thestreet has to know what they’re undergo-ing. We’re impressed at how it’s made adifference in their whole sense of well-being. Anecdotally, women who are ableto keep their hair during chemotherapyappear to be more active and to experiencefewer side effects.”

Dempsey, who participated in theDigniCap trial as Cigler’s patient, notesthat the technology allowed her to shieldher kids—then aged twelve, nine, andsix—from the trauma and fear of seeingtheir mom lose her hair. “If you go to thegrocery store and you’re bald or you havea wig on, it broadcasts to the world thatyou’re sick, even though you might behaving a good day,” she says. “If you’vegot your hair, it helps you continue withyour life as you know it. You look in themirror and see yourself, not your sickness.”

The reasons why cold-cap therapyworks aren’t fully understood, Cigler says.One thought is that the cold causes bloodvessels in the scalp to constrict, limitingthe amount of chemo that can penetratethe hair follicles; another is that it makesthe follicles “arrest” so they’re not asaffected by the drugs, which target rapidly

cians. But it’s gaining traction, as satisfiedpatients like Dempsey—who participatedin a trial of the technology at the WeillCornell Breast Center—spread the word.“It’s astonishing to me how many patientsdon’t even know there’s an option forthem to preserve their hair,” saysDempsey, a New Jersey mother of threewho teaches music and runs a small cus-tom baking business. “It all has to do withpositive attitude and self-image. It makesyou feel so much stronger going out intothe world and fighting your cancer.”

There are two versions of cold cap ther-apy on the market: an analog and a digital,if you will. The “unplugged” system, calledPenguin Cold Caps, uses a series of siliconehelmets—each chilled to -32 Celsius usingdry ice or a special freezer—that areswapped out every half hour before, dur-ing, and after a chemo session. Not classi-fied as medical devices, the Penguin caps

PROVIDED BY CAROLYN DEMPSEY

Cold comfort: Carolyn Dempsey wore the DigniCap during chemotherapy.


Doctor of Invention

In a memoir, Henry Heimlich ’41, MD ’43, recalls his life and career

V O L . 1 3 , N O . 3 2 1

Few physicians can say that they’ve helped save hun-dreds of thousands of lives worldwide. Or that theirname is in the Oxford English Dictionary. Or thatthey’ve been interviewed by Johnny Carson.

But Henry Heimlich ’41, MD ’43, can make allthose claims and more. Best known as the namesake of theHeimlich Maneuver—the technique of abdominal thrusts that fordecades has been the standard intervention for choking victims—the thoracic surgeon is also the inventor of several well-knownmedical devices, including a chest valve for treating collapsed lungthat he developed for the battlefields of Vietnam.

Now ninety-four, Heimlich has released his memoirs—chroni-cling his childhood in suburban New York during the GreatDepression, his personal and professional struggles with anti-Semitism, his wartime medical service in the U.S. Navy, and hiscareer as a surgeon, researcher, and inventor. Entitled Heimlich’sManeuvers: My Seventy Years of Lifesaving Innovation (PrometheusBooks), it garnered praise from Publishers Weekly as “a lively read forthose beginning medical careers and for anyone interested in thelife of a storied man of medicine.”

Reared in New Rochelle—his father was a social worker whooften worked in prisons—Heimlich knew from a young age that hewanted to be a physician. “I was somewhere between seven andnine years old when I realized that when someone in the house gotsick, there was terror—people were running around disturbed,” hesays, speaking by phone from his home in Cincinnati. “But whenthe doctor walked into the house, everybody calmed down andrelaxed, and it was so much better. I think I sensed in that the sig-nificance of being a doctor.”

He majored in premed on the Ithaca campus, where he served asdrum major of the Big Red marching band. At the Medical College,he found himself thrilled by his studies, particularly gross anatomy.“The fascination with the internal body just took me by storm,” herecalls. “It was something that most people would not be exposed toor understand. Seeing and examining a body was so stimulating. Itgave a much greater sense of what it meant to be a doctor.”

— Beth SaulnierChoked up: Henry Heimlich ’41, MD ’43, demonstrates his namesake maneuver on “Tonight Show” host Johnny Carson.

GENE ARIAS/NBC/NBCU PHOTO BANK VIA GETTY IMAGES

dividing cells. (She notes that the caps canonly be used in patients who have solidtumors and who are receiving specificchemotherapy programs; those with bloodcancers, for example, aren’t eligible.) Whyhas the technology been so slow to catchon in America? That’s partly due to thelogistical burden that the individuallyfrozen caps put on patients and providers;there’s also the fact that the caps aren’t yetcovered by insurance, requiring patients topay some $2,000 out of pocket to rentthem for a typical course of chemo. And in

the eyes of some physicians, there may besafety concerns. “There’s a theoretical riskthat if chemotherapy doesn’t penetrate thescalp as well as it otherwise would, thenmaybe it leaves the scalp susceptible tocancer cells growing back in the future,”Cigler says. “But we have data on morethan 1,000 individuals in Europe, andwhen used for solid tumor malignancies,that hasn’t been shown to be a problem.Our group believes it’s a theoretical con-cern, but very minimal, and we haven’tseen any problems among our patients.”

The bottom line, Cigler says, is thatcold-cap therapy is here to stay—and themore women hear about it, the moredemand there will be. She notes thatinsurance companies already pay for can-cer patients’ wigs; with the cost of hair-sparing therapy being roughly the same,it’s entirely possible that it will be coveredeventually. “If you can maintain your hairby doing this fairly simple technique everytime you get chemo,” Dempsey muses,“who would opt for going bald?”

— Beth Saulnier


2 2 W E I L L C O R N E L L M E D I C I N E2 2 W E I L L C O R N E L L M E D I C I N E

22-33WCMvol13no3lifers_WCM redesign 11_08 11/7/14 10:05 AM Page 22

The HomeTeam

VOL. 13 , NO . 3 2 3

Portraits of alumni who’ve devoted their expertise to their alma mater

Photographs by John Abbott

Rees Pritchett, MD ’48, firstcame to Weill Cornell as amedical student in 1944; he

went on to do his residency at what wasthen New York Hospital and to have along and storied career as a physicianand faculty member. This year marksPritchett’s seventieth anniversary oncampus, making him one of the longest-serving Weill Cornellians in history.

Though Pritchett’s tenure is indeed remarkable, he’shardly the only alumnus who returned to campus—ornever left. The faculty boasts dozens of Medical Collegegraduates who have not only done their residencies atNYP/Weill Cornell, but have gone on to spend theircareers here, forging decades-long relationships with theinstitution and with each other.

On the following pages, Weill Cornell Medicine offersportraits of some of those alumni—from venerable veter-ans to young residents at the beginning of their careers.

Curtis Cole, MD ’94Chief information officer; associateprofessor of clinical medicine and ofhealthcare policy and research

Came to Weill Cornell in: 1990

Why have you stayed? Weill Cornellgave me a great opportunity to build afirst-rate electronic medical record sys-tem at a time when other institutionswere much slower to see this future orlacked the resources to do it well.

What’s special about WCMC? It has agreat combination of assets. We aresmall enough and autono mousenough to be manageable, big enoughto have a critical mass of resources,attached to affiliates with good facili-ties and an interesting patient mix,and located in a great city thatattracts diverse, talented, and drivenpeople.

What moments stand out? I’m proudof difficult moments when weexcelled, such as during the blackoutand Hurricane Sandy. [Pathology chair-man] Dan Knowles’s speech at DeanGotto’s farewell dinner, annotatedcompletely by New Yorker cartoons,was also a highlight.

Could you share something about your-self that your colleagues may notknow? I have an apartment inIpanema, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, andam learning Portuguese. Five years ofLatin did not prepare me for all theirverb tenses! It is more complicatedeven than renal physiology.



David Nissan, MD ’12Psychiatry resident


What’s special about WCMC? Thoughmany medical schools have student-runclinics, the Weill Cornell CommunityClinic stands out among them as aresource to deliver comprehensive pri-mary care to a disadvantaged popula-tion. I was honored to be a part of it.

What moments stand out? Graduatingat Carnegie Hall was an incredibleexperience. Match Day was prettyamazing—to be in a room bursting atthe seams with all that positiveenergy.

Could you share something about your-self that your colleagues may notknow? I was born near Death Valley. Ialso have (or used to have) a record ona naval ship-driving simulator at SanDiego. I was “commanded” to pass acruise ship and got two feet away with-out crashing.


V O L . 1 3 , N O . 3 2 5

Susan Pannullo ’83, MD ’87Associate professor of clinical neurological surgery


Why have you stayed? Weill Cornellbecame a place where I could thriveintellectually and academically, where Icould provide superb care to my patientsand have an opportunity to teach andmentor others. I felt it was an excellentplace to practice the art and science ofmedicine in general, and neurosurgery inparticular.

What’s special about WCMC? I see peo-ple that I’ve known since I was a medicalstudent, and that gives me a sense ofcomfort. It’s great to be able to call on acolleague I’ve known for a long time toconsult on a patient, collaborate on aproject, or help in teaching.

What moments stand out? I’ve had allfour of my children at NYP/Weill Cornell,delivered by another alumna (Joan Kent’80, MD '84) whom I knew from medicalschool.



Miles Dinner, MD ’78Director of pediatric anesthesiology;professor of clinical anesthesiology


What’s special about WCMC? Fromthe time I was in medical school,there was an eclectic assortment ofbrilliant people, both as medical stu-dents and faculty. There is a continu-al inflow and outflow of varied andcreatively intelligent students, doc-tors, and staff, like a churning rivergoing through a canyon. In this casethe river is constituted by some ofthe brightest minds from the far cor-ners of the world, nestled into abeautifully situated, architectural mar-vel that is intimately connected toother world-class institutions such asRockefeller and Memorial SloanKettering. That’s hard to duplicate.

Could you share something aboutyourself that your colleagues may notknow? I am a pianist—I have a pianoin my office. I also used to sufferfrom arachibutyrophobia (the fear ofpeanut butter sticking to the palate ofyour mouth). I conquered this throughfocused cognitive behavioral therapyand desensitization with analog foodsof a similar matrix including desiccat-ed guava gel.


V O L . 1 3 , N O . 3 2 7

Tara Bishop, MD ’02The Nanette Laitman Clinical Scholar in Public Health–Clinical Evaluation;assistant professor of healthcare policyand research and of medicine


Why have you stayed? Weill Cornell is astellar academic institution and ispoised to become even stronger in thefuture; its students are top-notch. But Ialso think circumstances shape ourlives. When I was applying for residen-cy, my husband worked in New York Cityand we didn’t want to be apart duringthis busy part of my career. From there,both of our jobs kept us in New York.Now we really feel like New Yorkers—we’ve been here for seventeen years! Ireturned to Weill Cornell from MountSinai in 2010 because I had an oppor-tunity to work with a world-class healthpolicy expert (Larry Casalino, MD, PhD)and I couldn’t pass it up.

Could you share something about yourself that your colleagues may notknow? I am an avid reader. At one pointI was in three book clubs at the sametime. I couldn’t keep up after I hadkids, so now I’m just in one. The firstthing I do when I wake up in the morning (around 5 a.m.) is read fortwenty minutes.



Len Girardi, MD ’89 The O. Wayne Isom Professor of Cardiothoracic Surgery


Why have you stayed? I haveyet to find a better place. I’vehad many opportunities tobecome chair of cardiothoracicsurgery departments, but nonehas attracted me the way thisplace has.

What’s special about WCMC?We have the best doctors inthe country, the best supportstaff from nursing to officestaff, the smartest house offi-cers, and great leadership inthe dean, the hospital adminis-tration, and all of the otherdepartments we interact withon a daily basis. I’ve not seenanother institution with thedepth of excellence WeillCornell boasts. Also, many col-leagues either went to schoolor trained here, and I believethat contributes to the congen-ial atmosphere that allows usto communicate so easily.


V O L . 1 3 , N O . 3 2 9

R.A. Rees Pritchett, MD ’48The Louis and Gertrude FeilProfessor of Clinical Medicine


What’s special about WCMC?Attitude. Everyone, from the staffdown to the students, is coopera-tive, non-aggressive, sharing, andsupportive.

What moments most stand out?In 1998 I was honored with theGreenberg Distinguished ServiceAward.

Could you share something aboutyourself that your colleagues maynot know? I was born inMadisonville, Kentucky. I wasinspired by the family history ofmy grandfather, William JamesPritchett, MD, who was a countrydoctor in the late nineteenth cen-tury and often called on hispatients in a horse-drawn buggy.



Carol Storey-Johnson, MD ’77Senior associate dean for education;associate professor of clinical medicine


Why have you stayed? It has alwaysfelt like a community in which I couldcontribute in my own way. I have won-derful professional colleagues andfriends, so it seems like home.

What’s special about WCMC? It is aplace of excellence, and now, morethan ever, it is involved in novel part-nerships and programs. The facultyhas expanded, and the opportunitiesto advance in your career if you areinterested in medical education aregreater than ever. I am particularlyexcited about the new curriculum andwant to see if it makes a difference inthe way our students feel about theireducational program.

Could you share something about your-self that your colleagues may notknow? I have a high-performance driv-ing certificate from the Skip BarberSchool of Automobile Racing.


V O L . 1 3 , N O . 3 3 1

Sandip Kapur, MD ’90Chief of transplant surgery; the G. TomShires, MD, Faculty Scholar in Surgery


Why have you stayed? I have beenasked this question many times, andmy answer is always the same: WeillCornell feels like home. Many of us inacademic medicine feel the need tojump from one institution to anotherto further our careers, but not me. I feel there is great value in stayinghere and building something meaningful.

What’s special about WCMC? Withouta doubt it is the culture and people.For me the relationships I have builthere, the support I have received fromthe hospital and the medical school,and the universal commitment toachieving the very best has made thisa special place.

What moments stand out? The birthof my twins (Devan and Zoe) here in2003.



Richard Cohen, MD ’75Clinical professor of medicine


What’s special about WCMC? It’s acollegial, academically seriousplace that treats people withrespect. It’s a little gem.

What moments stand out? I wasthe chief resident in medicine whenthe Shah of Iran was at WeillCornell, and I was very involved inthat. I remember flying in a helicop-ter to rescue a baby when I was athird-year student on a rotation inthe NICU; that was cool. I remem-ber [famed infectious diseaseexpert] Ben Kean knocking on myapartment door one Friday nightbecause I had done somethingnotable as a parasitology student,and my wife being impressed.

Could you share something aboutyourself that your colleagues maynot know? I’m afraid of heights.


V O L . 1 3 , N O . 3 3 3

Neal Parikh, MD ’13Neurology resident


Why did you stay for residency?I find the Medical College to be par-ticularly nurturing. The faculty pre-serve an environment that inspirescuriosity and ambition. I love NewYork City, and I love the people inthe hospital—the great diversity ofpatients and employees.

What’s special about WCMC? Themedical college balances patientcare, education, and researchremarkably well, which is great tosee as a trainee.

Could you share something aboutyourself that your colleagues maynot know? I am an ardent environ-mentalist: an unhealthy planet ofhealthy people cannot be.

Hanano Watanabe, MD ’13Pediatrics resident


Why did you stay for residency? It’sa nurturing environment wherediversity is celebrated. There’s atruly comfortable and supportiveculture here.

What’s special about WCMC? It’sthe people.

What moments stand out? Ienjoyed every moment of medicalschool and being in New York City.But if I were to choose, I guessthe first day of orientation is myfavorite because that’s when I metmy now partner! I still recall thatmoment vividly.

Could you share something aboutyourself that your colleagues maynot know? I was born and raisedin Japan, and my mother sent meto an international school so Iwould be bilingual, hoping that Iwould one day become a famousauctioneer. Ironically, I’m trainingto become a pediatrician right nextdoor to Sotheby’s!

22-33WCMvol13no3lifers_WCM redesign 11_08 11/13/14 2:06 PM Page 33


Closing the Gap

34-39WCMvol13no3gap_WCM redesign 11_08 11/7/14 10:08 AM Page 34

VOL . 1 3 , NO . 3 3 5

By Heather SalernoDrawings by Victor Juhasz

Earlier this year, AnaReyes promised her-self that she’d start

living healthier. She knew sheneeded to make some changes;at fifty-one, the mother of threecarried 270 pounds on her five-foot-one frame. So she beganeating more vegetables, drink-ing lots of water, and takinglong power walks—and in fivemonths, she’d shed twentypounds. But Reyes, who lives ina public housing developmentin East Harlem, knows sheshould do more. She doesn’thave a primary care provider,and her high blood pressurehasn’t been monitored regularlysince she was pregnant with heryoungest child, now ten. As forcholesterol, body mass index,or blood sugar? Reyes can’tremember the last time theywere checked.

Through community outreach, studentsand faculty tackle health disparitiesamong poor and minority New Yorkers

That’s why she’s at the Johnson HousesCommunity Center on this Saturday after-noon in May, taking advantage of a freehealth screening conducted by WeillCornell’s Heart-to-Heart program, a studentorganization sponsored by the Clinical andTranslational Science Center (CTSC). Theevent has a party vibe, thanks to a flurry ofred and white balloons and a DJ spinningdance tunes. But the mission is serious:



Referred to an agency that can assist her in find-ing a regular doctor who takes her government-sponsored insurance plan, Reyes vows to seekfollow-up care. “This is the first time I ever heardI was pre-diabetic,” she says with a frown. “Itjust tells me I have to work harder.”

Unfortunately, Reyes’s diagnosis isn’t theexception in her neighborhood—it’s the rule. InEast and Central Harlem, six in ten adults andabout one in four children are overweight orobese. As a result, these largely African Americanand Latino communities have a disproportion-ately higher prevalence of obesity-related illness-es such as diabetes, heart disease, and othermajor ailments. Of the more than 3,000 peoplethat Heart-to-Heart has screened at more than

fifty events throughout New York City since2010—about half of whom have a householdincome of $20,000 a year or less—nearly 60 per-cent are pre-diabetic or diabetic. “We need tomake these individuals aware of their conditionsearly on and convince them to make smalllifestyle changes that can make a big differencein the long term—not just in keeping themhealthy, but in also reducing the healthcarecosts for the nation,” says Jeff Zhu, the CTSC’smanager for community research, relations, andoutreach. Says Julianne Imperato-McGinley, MD,the CTSC’s program director and associate deanfor translational research: “Cardiovascular dis-ease is one of the easiest diseases to prevent. If

staffed by physicians, nurses, and students,Heart-to-Heart aims to curb cardiovascular dis-ease in New York City’s underserved, minority,and ethnic communities. Faculty and clinicians-in-training—including medical and physicianassistant students from Weill Cornell and nurs-ing students from Hunter College—work toidentify people who may already have a chronicdisease, as well as to offer preventive advice tothose on the cusp of dangerous conditions.

On a stage next to the center’s basketballcourt, Reyes moves from station to station assmiling Heart-to-Heart volunteers measure herwaist circumference, check her pulse, and prickher finger to draw blood, which is analyzed inless than seven minutes. She doesn’t react much

when given the straight numbers: total choles-terol of 258 (above normal); glucose level of 111;a BMI of 46.54 percent (considered morbidlyobese). But she’s visibly concerned after sittingdown with Sebhat Erqou, MD, PhD, an instruc-tor in medicine at Weill Cornell, who gentlyexplains that the results put her at a much high-er risk for type 2 diabetes, heart attack, or stroke.“The good thing is that you’re doing all the rightthings, because exercise and weight loss canreverse it in most people,” Erqou tells her. “Yourdoctor in the future may want to put you ondiabetes medication, but you could prevent thatby doing the things we’re talking about. It’s notalarming, but it’s something to watch.”

Carla Boutin-Foster, MD

ABBOTT


ing disparities in New York City.” In 2012, theCTSC produced a successful staged reading of MissEvers’ Boys, a Pulitzer-nominated play about thenotorious Tuskegee syphilis study written byCornell theatre professor David Feldshuh, MD.The event featured a panel—moderated by JosephFins, MD ’86, the E. William Davis Jr., MD,Professor of Medical Ethics and chief of the divi-sion—that addressed the issues the play raises.

For Weill Cornell, combating health dispari-ties is an ongoing commitment that goes backdecades. For example, the Medical College found-ed its Travelers Summer Research Fellow ship pro-gram—designed to help pre-med students fromunder-represented minority groups dive deeperinto issues that affect the underserved—nearly ahalf-century ago. In 2009, an $8 million grantfrom the NIH established the ComprehensiveCenter of Excellence in Dis parities Research andCommunity Engage ment (CEDREC), chargedwith developing community-based initiatives toimprove the health of this hard-to-reach popula-tion by providing general health education.

Normally, says CEDREC’s director, CarlaBoutin-Foster, MD, MS ’99, research is conduct-

VOL . 1 3 , NO . 3 3 7

you can discover it, diagnose it, and interveneearly, you don’t need to go through, say, triple-bypass surgery down the road.”

Heart-to-Heart is one of severalCTSC outreach programs strivingto address the health inequitiesthat plague socioeconomicallydisadvantaged New Yorkers. Since

2009, the Center has provided CommunityInteractive Video Conferencing (CIVIC), whichconnects experts from Weill Cornell and partnerinstitutions with underserved communitiesthroughout New York City and Long Island.Connecting with audiences at faith-based insti-tutions and community centers, it addresses pre-ventive health and other topics in an interactive,town-hall-style format; its latest initiative pro-vides “hands-only” CPR training in conjunctionwith the Ronald O. Perelman Heart Institute.“Com munity engagement is an important func-tion of the CTSC,” Imperato-McGinley notes.“With CIVIC and Heart-to-Heart, we’ve made afirm commitment to being a partner in address-

‘We want tomake surethat we reachpeople wherethey are andnot rely on traditionalhealthcare orresearch settings.’



“When someone has to take care of a family andworry about paying the bills, health may not bea priority,” says Boutin-Foster. “It’s not a defi-ciency that they have; it’s just reality. People areconstantly making tradeoffs when it comes totheir own health, especially when they don’tfeel ill. Hypertension tends to be silent untilsomeone has organ damage; so, for the mostpart, do renal disease, stroke, and heart failurefrom hypertension. So ‘why take a day off fromwork when that’s going to cost part of my salaryor even my job?’ It’s complicated.”

For Boutin-Foster, any effective health inter-vention or research study requires a grassrootseffort, one that embeds itself in the populationbeing served. Therefore, faculty working onCEDREC projects collaborate with partners—including barbershop owners, faith-based organ-izations, and local physicians—who are trustedby the residents of those communities. To recruitparticipants for the Small Changes and LastingEffects (SCALE) project—a five-year, multi-phasetrial to help overweight or obese AfricanAmericans and Latinos lose weight by adoptingtiny shifts in their dietary and exercise habits—researchers sought assistance from prominentchurch leaders, well-established health centers,and PTA associations in Harlem and the SouthBronx. Pastoral support, in particular, was instru-mental in motivating church members to takepart in SCALE, according to Erica Phillips-Caesar,MD, an associate professor of clinical medicineand co-director of CEDREC’s Com munityEngagement Core. In fact, on the day thatPhillips-Caesar and her colleagues introducedthe program at Harlem’s Abyssinian BaptistChurch, the influential Rev. Dr. Calvin Buttsbased his sermon on the issue. “Especially incommunities of color, the church has served as aleader in a number of different realms—whetherit be health, politics, or social issues,” saysPhillips-Caesar. “That’s very powerful in terms ofcreating a community of people who are goingto support this.”

The SCALE team is currently finishing datacollection from the approximately 300 adultswho enrolled in the program. Participants start-ed by making a relatively minor change in theirdiet, such as eating from a smaller plate or notskipping breakfast, along with setting a reason-able goal for daily physical activity. Then a com-munity health worker followed each patient forone year, meeting with them regularly andworking together on strategies to best achievethose objectives. The intent was to have partici-pants lose at least 7 percent of their total bodyweight—but the program had wider goals. Thecommunity health workers were also trained tonavigate unique, unrelated challenges. Whenone woman had difficulty committing to the

ed in academic settings, which many in thesecommunities find off-putting. So the goal ofthese programs is to connect one-on-one withpatients in places where they feel most comfort-able, even if the locations are unconventional.“There are social factors that pose challenges forsome people to access proper care in traditionalhealthcare settings,” says Boutin-Foster. “Wewant to make sure that we reach people wherethey are and not rely on traditional healthcareor research settings.”

Boutin-Foster adds that those social factorsalso contribute to the poor health seen frequent-ly among the groups that the Center serves.Minorities are more likely to live in areas wherefresh produce and other healthy foods arescarce, with few opportunities for safe, afford-able physical activity. Language barriers andtransportation issues block some from visiting aphysician.

Among many African Americans, there isstill a lingering mistrust of medical research thatdates back to the Tuskegee study; Boutin-Fosterpoints to research showing that some minoritiesmay feel that doctors treat them differentlybecause of their race or ethnicity. In addition,routine checkups and treatment for chronic dis-eases often prove too costly for the uninsured.


V O L . 1 3 , N O . 3 3 9

program because she has an autistic child, herworker helped find support services. “The inter-vention is not one-size-fits-all,” says Phillips-Caesar. “Our community health workers do a lotof counseling and outreach on aspects of peo-ple’s lives that have nothing to do with weight.”

Just as the SCALE project relied heavi-ly on churches to spread the word,the HeartSmarts program at thePerelman Institute highlights theimportant role that religion can play

in disease-prevention efforts in underservedcommunities. Created by Naa-Solo Tettey, EdD,the Institute’s cardiovascular health educationand community outreach coordinator, HeartSmarts uses the Bible to teach minority church-goers about the benefits of a healthier lifestyle.“I saw a lot of programs that were faith-based,meaning that they were in the churches butthey weren’t actually utilizing the church cul-ture or the Bible,” says Tettey. “They were justprograms people had created and given to thechurches. So I thought it would be interesting tocombine the science with actual scripture.”

For example, during a lesson about under-standing one’s risk of heart disease, Tetteyquotes from I Corinthians: “Do you not knowthat your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit,who is in you, whom you have received fromGod? You are not your own. . . . Therefore honorGod with your bodies.” She incorporates otherkey passages when talking about the importanceof physical activity, portion control, and optimalheart rates and cholesterol levels.

Since 2012, Tettey has trained about eighty“ambassadors” from the Flatbush Seventh-DayAdventist Church in Brooklyn, the PresbyterianChurch of St. Albans in Queens, and dozens ofother ministries throughout New York City andLong Island. Those representatives then educatefellow congregants who sign up for a ten-weekHeartSmarts course. In the first year alone, morethan half the participants reduced their bloodpressure and waist circumference. The message,however, has spread beyond those who attendclass. “Now, after church services, they’re notserving fried chicken anymore. They’re servingbaked chicken and vegetables,” says Tettey. “Soeven if every person in the church doesn’t takethe class, they’re impacted in some way by hav-ing that ambassador there.”

At CEDREC, Boutin-Foster hopes to securefunding for projects that focus on health dispari-ties among immigrants, especially low-wageworkers in the service industry. The Center is cur-rently fostering partnerships with groups thatsupport day laborers and taxi drivers; it’s alsoteaming up with the New York City office of

Cornell’s Worker Institute and the NationalDomestic Workers Alliance to craft interventionsfor some of the approximately 200,000 domesticworkers in New York City including nannies,housecleaners, and elder-care providers. K. C.Wagner, co-chair of the Equity at Work Initiative,notes that even though domestic workers areresponsible for the well-being of those in thehouseholds where they’re employed, they’re oftenunable to attend to their own health concerns.“That is the irony,” she says. “Because of their roleas workers in an informal economy—some ofwhom are documented, some of whom are not—they don’t have access to healthcare resources.”

Moving forward, Boutin-Foster hopes thatCEDREC will become a training ground for stu-dents interested in studying healthcare disparities.She agrees that larger social policies are needed toaddress the root causes of such disparities, but sheinsists they’re not enough. A policy can’t moti-vate someone to adopt a healthier lifestyle; that’swhy she says physicians-in-training must takepart in hands-on projects that provide patientswith tools that will enable them to become moreactive in their care. Boutin-Foster believes thatmedical centers like Weill Cornell must teachphysicians to be part of the solution, showingthem that well-designed educational and out-reach efforts can translate into positive, real-world changes. “It’s not just something in abook,” she says. “I live in Brooklyn, and I seethese disparities on a daily basis; all I need to dois walk down the block or ride the subway. So forme, it’s personal.” •

Naa-Solo Tettey, EdD

ABBOTT



Dear fellow alumni:Autumn is always an exciting and busy time for the Weill Cornell Medical College

Alumni Association (WCMCAA), and this year is no exception. Kicking off the new academic term, the Association hosted its first annual alumni and

student reception during New Student Orientation Week in August. The reception, jointlysponsored by the WCMCAA and the Weill Cornell Department of Radiology, was a won-

derful opportunity to introduce the next generation of Weill Cornell physicians to thealumni network as we officially welcomed the Class of 2018 to campus.

Our biennial alumni reunion took place on October 10 and 11. Reunion 2014 wasan enormous success, and we had record attendance with more than 350 alumnireturning to campus for the weekend celebration.

This year’s theme, The Evolution of Medical Education, explored the fascinatingways in which new scientific discoveries have altered medical education. The programwas further complemented by Weill Cornell’s newly reformed curriculum, which waslaunched at the beginning of the academic year. Those who joined us enjoyed insti-tutional updates from Dean Laurie Glimcher, MD, and several distinguished facultymembers. We also had the exciting opportunity to hear from fellow alumni and cur-rent students, and to tour the pioneering workplaces where these advances are takingplace.

During Reunion, we honored Bruce Gellin, MD ’83, MPH, and Peter Le Jacq, MD’81, with Special Achievement Awards. This award recognizes alumni who have madeimportant contributions to medicine or related fields, which significantly advancehealthcare and medical science. These two physicians remind us of all the amazingwork Weill Cornell alumni are doing to advance healthcare around the world.

We also honored the recipients of the WCMCAA Honorary Fellowship Award,which is presented to non-alumni who have greatly enhanced and enriched the lifeof the Medical College, its faculty, and students. The 2013 and 2014 recipients includeDean Glimcher; Katherine Hajjar, MD, the Brine Family Professor of Cell andDevelopmental Biology; Roberto Levi, MD, DSc, professor of pharmacology; and

Cornell President David Skorton, MD.As always, thank you for your continued support of the Alumni Association, the

Medical College, and our students. The dedication of our alumni helps make Weill Cornellthe special place that it is.

Best and warmest wishes,

R. Ernest Sosa, MD ’78President, WCMC Alumni [email protected]

NotebookNews of MedicalCollege and GraduateSchool Alumni

R. Ernest Sosa, MD ’78

PROVIDED

40-47WCMvol13no3notebook_WCM redesign 11_08 11/7/14 10:10 AM Page 40

V O L . 1 3 , N O . 3 4 1

1940sBurritt S. Lacy, MD ’44: “As a 1944 grad

of WCMC, I want to praise the staff of WeillCornell Medicine for the quality of their mag-azine. I just read the Reunion issue and amsorry I won’t be there on Oct. 10, since ithappens to be my 95th birthday as well asmy 70th Reunion. If any of my survivingclassmates should remember me after thesedecades (my residency at the MenningerFoundation, then in Topeka, converted meinto a lifetime prisoner of benightedKansas), I send my best to them.”

Gerald H. Klingon, MD ’45: “Watchingthis year-by-year decline in American taste,proving that Jacques Barzun was correct.However, I apply that notion mainly tobaseball.”

Herbert I. McCoy, MD ’45: “I’m still serv-ing as physician to scuba diving groups.”

Robert J. King, MD ’49: “I had my 90thbirthday on May 20, 2014. Still alive andkicking.”

Margaret Swann Norris, MD ’49: “I havebeen retired for 16 years, but still regularlyattend the yearly meetings of the AmericanPsychiatric Association. Five of my six grand-children are adults, but no great-grand-children yet. I manage to keep busy swim-ming, taking lifelong learning classes, anddoing some limited traveling. I am lookingforward to the reunion.”

Edmund T. Welch Jr., MD ’49: “I’m fullyretired from medical practice. My generalhealth is only fair. I hear from Harold Evans,MD ’49, often by e-mail. My e-mail addressis [email protected]. I would welcomehearing from any other ’49ers left standing.”

1950sMartin J. Evans, MD ’50: “The wife and

I took the very comfortable Cornell expressbus from the Medical College to the Ithacacampus in the fall. Visited my brother,Howard, and his wife, Erica, who have justmoved to Kendal at Ithaca. Professor Evanstaught anatomy to countless classes of vet-erinary students before retiring. I refer tohim as ‘the Better Cornellian.’ Standing infront of 1300 York Ave. brought back manyfond memories of the Class of 1950, name-ly, Bartley, Goldberg, Diehl, Robertson,Margarida, Charash, and Parrone.”

Robert C. Hafford, MD ’50: “Lookingforward to our 65th Reunion next year.”

Roy W. Menninger, MD ’51: “On July 1, Ifinally closed the private practice of generaland adolescent psychiatry I had opened afterthe Menninger Clinic left Topeka to become

part of Baylor Medical College in Houstonin 2003. After a quarter-century as presi-dent of the Menninger Foundation, theseten years of practice were a great satisfac-tion and a fitting conclusion to a full pro-fessional life. The attractions of ‘really’retiring were very tangible, but so were thepains and sadness of closing a challengingand stimulating practice, and having tosay farewell to some long-term patients.But the time had come to move on.”

Lowell L. Williams, MD ’51: “Althoughretired from Ohio State University Chil -dren’s Hospital Research Foundation foralmost 20 years, I still enjoy reading sci-ence and research articles in Science andNature as an emeritus professor. Greetingsto any of my class who can still read.”

Richard J. Weishaar, MD ’52: “Mycomments concerning the state of medi-cine today would never be published inany decent newspaper.”

Richard H. James, MD ’53: “Ginnyand I have nine grandchildren and fourgreat-grandchildren. Our oldest son (bornat New York Hospital in 1951) is retiringat age 64 next June. We’ve been married64 years. I practiced for 35 years at theKeene Clinic. One grandson is in medicalschool, one granddaughter is a pediatri-cian, and one granddaughter is an FNP.We’ve added a few to the medical field!”

Harry W. Daniell ’50, MD ’54: “I’mstill enjoying full time solo practice andoffice-based research, but no longer dohospital work as I could not master thecomputerized care system.”

George Dermkisian, MD ’54: “I’m happyto report that Tammy and I are still here.I’m going into my fifteenth year of retire-ment. Wishing all my classmates well.”

William H. Gordon Jr., MD ’54: “I retiredfrom Kaiser Permanente Medical Group. Ilive with my wife, Jean, in Upland, CA,near Claremont College and our son anddaughter. Our daughter is a nurse in LosAngeles, and one son is a federal attorney inRaleigh, NC.”

J. Kenneth Herd, MD ’54: “I met HenryErle’s son, David, at a Gordon ResearchConference in a sumptuous Italian resort inthe mountains east of Pisa. He looks a lotlike Henry when we were all at CUMC.Henry’s charming wife, Joan, died quietly inher sleep from Parkinson’s last year. I missher. Regards to all.”

William E. Morse, MD ’54: “Alive andwell.”

Ralph C. Williams Jr., MD ’54: “I havebeen working three days a week seeingrheumatology patients here in Santa Fe, butdecided to retire in September of 2014. Ispent most of my spare time doing art—watercolors, oils, and pastels—and managedto take an art class here in Santa Fe once aweek, which is great fun because our teacheris really an expert and helps us focus on com-position, color, and overall effect. I’ve had ashow of 20 paintings hanging at the hospitalgallery at UNM Hospital in Albuquerque forthe last two months. Amazingly, three paint-ings have actually sold! We also have veryfine opera here in the summer, which attractshuge audiences in July and August. Right

Welcome back: George Shambaugh, MD ’58, and his wife, Roberta, at Reunion inOctober. The couple came all the way from Atlanta.

WCMC



now there is a performance every day of the weekin the outdoor theater. The opera seats about3,000 people and features many stars from theMet, San Francisco, or Houston, as well as Europe.”

Howard M. Feinstein ’51, MD ’55, PhD ’77:“I have officially retired after 53 years of practice.Roz continues her practice of family and individ-ual counseling. I am devoting more time to writ-ing and enjoying friends and family. It takes alittle while to get used to being part of theleisure class.”

Cedric J. Priebe Jr., MD ’55: “I am recover-ing from medical problems, but still workingpart time for the Dept. of Surgery at Stony BrookUniversity Medical Center.”

Steven Schenker, MD ’55: “I’ve retired asemeritus professor of medicine at the Universityof Texas School of Medicine at San Antonio.Previously I was chief of gastroenterology there. Iwas honored by an endowed professorship in myname. I’m still consulting on some cases andwith the pharmaceutical industry. I’ve been mar-ried to Ann for 30 years. We have 19 grandchil-dren. Lots of travel.”

Ramon R. Joseph, MD ’56: “Retired in sunnyArizona. Doing pro bono work as patient advo-cate helping patients with medicine, ACA, hospi-tal problems, and billings.”

Bruce Boselli, MD ’57: “For several years agroup of Cornell Med graduates from the Class of1957 have had a get-together luncheon in Floridain March. This year the group met on SanibelIsland and had a great time reminiscing. Thosewho attended included Kay Ehlers Gabler andher husband, Jim, Jack Madaras and his wife,Victoria, Gene Renzi and his wife, Joyce, and mywife, Shirlee, and me. If there are others in thesouthwest Florida area at that time next year, wehope they will contact us and join in.”

Donald P. Goldstein, MD ’57: “I retired at theend of May. Staying on in the Dept. of Ob/Gynat Brigham and Women’s Hospital to do editori-al work. After 50 years I thought it was time.”

Bill H. Plauth Jr., MD ’57: “We had breakfastwith Roger, MD ’57, and Judy Ecker on August 22and dinner with them the next evening in SantaFe, NM. What a treat! All else goes well.”

Bernard S. Siegel, MD ’57: “I’m writing books.The latest, The Art of Healing, has 60 drawingsrevealing psychic and somatic truths. I’m alsocounseling cancer patients and teaching survivalbehavior and elements of self-induced healing.”

Howard R. Francis, MD ’58, reported six chil-dren, 29 grandchildren, and three greats.

Larry Grolnick, MD ’58: “I’m still practicing psy-chiatry in White Plains, NY, four days a week. I’mtaking more time off to visit far-flung family, fol-low interests—and, oh yes, visit my physicians.”

James M. Hollister, MD ’58: “Marge and Ijust moved to a condo in Mystic, CT, leaving our

big home and yard of 47 years for a simpler life.”David M. Lowell, MD ’58: “I’ve been retired

for almost four years. I spent 44 years as a pathol-ogist at Waterbury Hospital and Clinic and pro-fessor of pathology at Yale University School ofMedicine, teaching and doing research. Myhealth has been pretty good. I’d love to hearfrom classmates in the area.”

George E. Shambaugh III, MD ’58: “I continueto teach in the general endocrinology clinic as avolunteer. This summer I traveled to Siberia, wheremy son and I explored the environs of Lake Baikaland stayed with a retired park ranger and his wife.We visited Vladivostok, Khabarovsk, Irkutsk, andUlan Ude, then south to Ulan Bator, Mongolia.We traveled as non-tour tourists, and dressed asthe natives. We were greeted with friendshipeverywhere. The Soviet days are evident in theruined factories and collective farms, but the chil-dren in their early twenties do not remember thatera. It was an educational experience that wouldhave made Ben Kean proud. When I returned Iwas able to see the second harvest of my 11.3acres of tart cherries in Old Mission, MI. So muchto do, and time is running against us now. Comeon down to see us in Atlanta. We have plenty ofroom in our current home.”

Paul L. Bleakley, MD ’59: “It’s hard to believeI’ve been retired for 15 years. I enjoy traveling,four children, ten grandchildren, and running.We’ve run in 50 states, ten Canadian provinces,and 25 countries. I occasionally win my agegroup if nobody else is in it. A little bump in theroad with a bypass last year, but all is well now.”

Richard C. Conroy, MD ’59: “My daughtertook me to Wimbledon to celebrate my 80thbirthday. Best wishes to all of my class.”

James E. Shepard, MD ’59: “We had hopedto attend the Alumni Weekend, but unfortunate-ly it coincides with a trip to Sicily. Sally Jean hadbilateral cataracts removed with excellent results;i.e., she didn’t look at me and say, ‘Who are you,old geezer?’ ”

1960sJames L. Moore, MD ’60: “I terminated my

plastic surgery practice in Houston, TX, after 40years and moved to my wife’s home state ofNorth Carolina. It is beautiful and I am contentand happy.”

Alvin Poussaint, MD ’60, was elected to theAmerican Academy of Arts and Sciences, in theMedical Sciences section.

Gene Sanders Jr., MD ’60: “I’m very happy inretirement, as an “Extinguished Professor.” I’mwriting for various journals and lay publications.I’ve become an avid philatelist. I reside in Florida,but summer in Ocean City, MD.”

Peter M. Shutkin, MD ’60: “I’m retiring Sept.1, 2014 after 49 great years in private internal

‘I’m takingmore time offto visit far-flung family,follow interests—and, oh yes,visit my physi-cians.’

Larry Grolnick, MD ’58


V O L . 1 3 , N O . 3 4 3

medicine practice in New Canaan, CT. Stillhealthy enough to spend more time withten grandchildren and enjoy the winter andplay golf in La Quinta, CA.”Robert J. Timberger, MD ’60: “I’m

approaching my 80th birthday, but still goto the gym four to five times a week andtravel with my wife, Marilyn, quite often—mostly river cruises. We’re going on a cruiseto Bermuda in August and September of2015. I still keep up regularly with LewGlasser ’56, MD ’60, who is still workingand writing great papers.”Clay Alexander, MD ’61, published his

third novel, The Wisdom of Seashells, inAugust on Amazon.Carl Becker, MD ’61: “It’s a small world!

Susan and I were on a Harvard-sponsoredcruise on the Elbe River from Prague to Berlin.Another couple (the wife) and her roommatehad double-dated Joel Colker, MD ’61, andme in medical school. I found pictures of usall, including Willy Newmeyer, MD ’61, in abox in my attic on returning home.”Marilyn duVigneaud Brown ’57, MD ’61,

is still working full time as a pediatric gas-troenterologist at the University of RochesterMedical Center. Fifty-three years in medicine!William L. Newmeyer III, MD ’61: “My

wife, Nancy, and I recently spent three daysin Sacramento with classmate Jim Rybkaand his wife, Lu.”Rachel Naomi Remen, MD ’62, was

awarded the Gold Cane 2013 at theUniversity of California School of Medicinefor her innovations in medical education.Her course, The Healer’s Art, originated atUCSF in 1991 and is now taught at 89American medical schools and medicalschools in eight countries abroad. Dr. Remenis a pioneer in relationship-centered medi-cine and relationship-centered medical edu-cation and the author of two New York Timesbest-selling books on narrative medicine:Kitchen Table Wisdom and My Grandfather’sBlessings. She is clinical professor of familyand community medicine at UCSF and livesin Mill Valley, California.Richard C. Zug, MD ’62: “For the past

three years I have been medical director ofWound Healing and Hyperbaric Medicine atCommunity Hospital of Monterey Peninsula,an interesting field for a less demandingpractice, but with exciting advances.”William S. Tyler, MD ’63: “I interned

(when there were still interns) and did myfirst-year residency in internal medicine atBoston City Hospital in the Boston Universitydivision. I was a second-year resident atBoston University Hospital and then spent a

few years learning about hematology andoncology at St. Elizabeth Hospital inBoston with two years in the Air Forceinterspersed. After a short stay in NewJersey, my wife and I moved with ourthree children to Ithaca, as I was born andraised in Tompkins County. I practiced inhem-onc plus internal medicine thereuntil 2003. I’m now living quietly withmy second wife, Kathy, in the Village ofDryden. Our children and grandchildrenare spread from Denver to Manhattan toAtlanta and points between, so we spenda fair amount of time traveling.”Donald Catino, MD ’64: “Just back

from Cairns, Australia, after five monthsof teaching medical practice as directorof rehabilitation at the medical centerthere. Good (socialized) medicine, brightstudents, thankful patients, almost nomalpractice worries; the Great BarrierReef, wet tropical rain forest, mountains,coffee, macadamia nuts, citrus planta-tions, sugar cane everywhere. Our fivekids have given us nine grandchildrennow. Life is good!”Lawrence W. Raymond, MD ’64:

“Looking forward to our 50th Reunionin October.”Jonathan Adler, MD ’65: “I was

named Philanthropist of the Year atWinchester Hospital Medical Staff for2013. I will retire after 43 years of pri-mary care and infectious disease practiceat the end of 2014.”Deborah Pavan Langston, MD ’65:

“Still alive, working full time—but not forlong. I turn 75 in January and will retire atthe end of the academic year, June 2015. Avery hard decision to make, but once madeI feel so much better. I’ll still teach atHarvard part time and have more time withgrandkids, travel photography, at my houseon Martha’s Vineyard, etc. Recent sailingtrips in the Mekong Delta and in Franceshowed me that there is a life after decadesof hard work. But the pièce de résistancewas EHR and ICD-10. I’m outta here!”Irving G. McQuarrie, MD ’65: “I’m

retired and living in Hastings, NE, where Iwrite a finance blog (investtuneretire.com)focused on agriculture.”Ian Happer, MD ’66: “I finally retired for

good on May 1, 2012. In June 2013, my wife,Kiki, and I moved to Chapel Hill, NC, homeof the University of North Carolina and thesite of a continuing care retirement commu-nity called Carolina Meadows. Though welike our new friends and neighbors, we real-ly miss Colorado, where we lived for 43years. Here we are close to family, and wethought we would be familiar with the area,as we met here in college. Of course theNorth Carolina author Thomas Wolfe said itbest: ‘You can’t go home again.’”Paul Schellhammer, MD ’66: “Staying

alive.”Mark M. Sherman, MD ’66: “I remain in

active thoracic surgical practice. Our firstgrandchild, Thompson David Sherman, wasborn July 9, 2014 to Brian Sherman andAshley Bullock.”

Good times: Lew Drusin, MD ’64 (center), and Philip Serlin, MD ’64 (right), catch up withold friends during Reunion Weekend.

WCMC



Inflammatory Arthritis Clinic at Hospital forSpecial Surgery, and continues his profession-al activities in rheumatology as a special con-sultant to the Arthritis Advisory Committeeof the Food & Drug Administration.

Jerry Kreisman, MD ’73: “I’m windingdown a psychiatry practice in the age of thedemise of medicine: doctors are ‘providers,’clerks bequeath ‘medical necessity,’ andquality is a pseudonym for cheap. I’d ratherbe playing golf or just playing with friends.What I remember most is guilt when I wasn’t studying. I’d like to hear from BobYoung, MD ’74, Charlie Levy, MD ’73, andNeil Ravin, MD ’73.”

Dennis J. Lutz, MD ’73: “My wife, Meryl,and I truly regret that we will be unable toattend our 40th Reunion this autumn. I’mrunning a national ob/gyn meeting that sameweekend in Albuquerque. My biographicaldata will be in the class booklet and I hadproposed to see my classmates. I still chairthe ob/gyn department at the University ofNorth Dakota. We’re also busy with threechildren and five grandchildren.”

John F. Romano, MD ’73: “I recentlysold my practice to a larger group and I’mnow a very happy employee working 21hours a week with eight weeks vacation.”

Thomas Anger, MD ’75: “Now semi-retired, I work one and a half days a weekwith one other pediatrician. I am also teach-ing once or twice a month at Lurie Children’sHospital. I’m still singing, playing guitar, andwriting songs, and taking vocal classes at OldTown School of Folk Music. It has been agreat summer for cycling, not so great forsailing. Hey to all my classmates.”

Warrick L. Barrett, MD ’75: “Patricia A.Treadwell, MD ’77, has again earned recog-nition as Indianapolis’s ‘Top Doctor’ fromIndianapolis Monthly. Through her commit-ment to excellence, Pat has become a peren-nial winner of this award.”

Paul A. Church, MD ’75, is semi-retiredfrom his urology practice in Boston. He isactive in medical missionary work in Mexicoand Africa.

Roger W. Geiss, MD ’75: “I continue toenjoy my full time teaching job as chair ofpathology at the University of IllinoisCollege of Medicine in Peoria. However, asmore of my classmates retire, that prospectis looking better and better. On anothernote, I was recently named the recipient ofthe 2014 Michele D. Raible DistinguishedTeaching Award in Undergraduate MedicalEducation, a national honor awarded by theAssociation of Pathology Chairs. Nobodyreceives an award such as this without a lot

weillcornellmedicineis now available digitally.

www.weillcornellmedicine-digital.com

Orlo H. Clark, MD ’67: “The Remarkables:Endocrine Abnormalities in Art is in its secondprinting.”

John L. Marquardt, MD ’67: “Betty andI are living in retirement at the Ocean ReefClub in Key Largo, FL. Our six children and16 grandchildren are a true joy.”

Edward L. Goodman ’64, MD ’68: “Stillworking but no longer in private practice. Iam a hospital epidemiologist at TexasHealth Presbyterian Dallas and core facultyin internal medicine residency at the hospi-tal. My wife and I celebrated the birth ofour seventh grandchild.”

Stuart S. Holden, MD ’68: “After 36 yearsof urology practice at Cedars-Sinai, I havetaken a new position as professor of urologyand associate director of the Institute ofUrologic, Oncology at UCLA. I’m still mar-ried to Toni. We have two sons and fourgrandchildren. I’d love to see any and all inLos Angeles.”

Allen Nimetz, MD ’68: “I’m looking for-ward to a great attendance at our upcomingclass reunion. I’m still practicing full timegeneral with interventional cardiology.”

Ronald Rankin, MD ’68: “Sorry I can’t beat the reunion, but always rememberingmy classmates.”

Michael Schwartz, MD ’69: “I had a ter-rific week this spring. I went to Geneva forthe conference Geneva 2014 Declaration:Person- and People-Centered IntegratedHealth Care for All. Then to New York to co-present the keynote address at the philoso-phy and psychiatry meeting on ClinicalReasoning. I can send either document toanyone who requests.”

1970sKathryn E. McGoldrick, MD ’70: “In

May, I was awarded Honorary Fellowship inthe College of Anaesthetists of Ireland. I alsodelivered the keynote address, which wasthe Sir Ivan Magill Memorial Lecture, at the2014 Irish Congress of Anaesthesia held atthe Dublin Convention Center. In addition,

I was recently appointed an assistantdean for student affairs at New YorkMedical College, where I also serve asprofessor and chair of anesthesiology andanesthesiology program director.”

Arnold W. Cohen, MD ’71: “I’verecently stepped down as chairman andprogram director for the Dept. of Ob/Gynat Einstein Medical Center in Philadelphia.I’m ready to enjoy more time with mywife, Marcia, and our family.”

Robert Appel, MD ’73: “With reunionseason under way, I thought it time togive a long overdue update of my com-ings and goings. After ophthalmology res-idency, I spent over three years travelingand working all over Africa, most notablyas senior medical officer at St. John EyeHospital, part of Baragwanath Hospital, inSoweto, Johannesburg, South Africa. Sincethen I’ve been firmly ensconced in privatepractice on Long Island in Glen Cove andSyosset, NY, also making time to helpteach cataract surgery to the North Shore-LIJ Hospital residents. Along the way, Ialso found time for marriage to my wife,Robin, a photographer and manager of alocal bookstore, and for two children. Ourson, Alex, is a graduate of the Universityof Miami and is now studying percussionperformance at NYU, and our daughter,Nikki, is still at Miami for one more year,shifting her focus from biology to foren-sic anthropology. (Not a doctor in thebunch.) After years of domesticity, mywanderlust has taken hold again, and forthe last few years I’ve managed to go onmany short-term eye missions, includingto Ghana, Honduras, El Salvador, theDominican Republic, Bolivia, Vietnam,and Madagascar. Next up is Ethiopia. Ifanyone knows of a need or has a contactabroad, I’d like to continue to contributemy efforts.”

Allan Gibofsky, MD ’73, was elected amaster of the American College ofRheumatology. He is co-director of the


V O L . 1 3 , N O . 3 4 5

‘Since retire-ment, the charity eyeclinic that Iestablished inRiobamba,Ecuador, hasgrown byleaps andbounds.’

Elwin G. Schwartz, MD ’76

of help along the way, and I fondly remember oursecond-year pathology course at Weill Cornell, aswell as the excellent attendance by the pathologyfaculty at the TGIFs in the Betty Bar. And thanksto all of you, my classmates; I truly think we bothpushed and helped one another to be the bestthat we could be.”

Richard Evan Greenberg, MD ’76: “I have beenat Fox Chase Cancer Center since completing myurology training at NYH/MSKCC and have beenchief of urologic oncology here since 1995. Whatstarted out as a solo endeavor now is a six-persongroup including Rob Uzzo, MD ’91, and DavidChen ’91, MD ’97. I have three marvelous growndaughters, but all plans for retirement were put onhold with the passing of my life partner, Barbara,after 46 years in January 2013. We go on.”

Alan D. Guerci, MD ’76, the president andCEO of Catholic Health Services of Long Island,was named chairman of the board of directors ofthe Nassau-Suffolk Hospital Council, the associa-tion that represents Long Island’s 24 not-for-profitand public hospitals. Previously, he was executivevice president for CHS and president and CEO ofCHS’s St. Francis Hospital, Mercy Medical Center,and St. Joseph’s Hospital. A nationally known car-diologist and researcher, he is also an associateprofessor of clinical medicine at the College ofPhysicians and Surgeons of Columbia University.

Elwin G. Schwartz, MD ’76: “Since retirement,the charity eye clinic that I established inRiobamba, Ecuador, has grown by leaps andbounds. We are now looking to build our ownbuilding with a surgical suite. My family contin-ues to grow with the addition of our fourthgranddaughter. Life could not be sweeter forCheryl and me.”

Nina C. Ramirez, MD ’78: “I’m an adult andpediatric allergist and pediatric pulmonologist.Just completed my second medical mission to theDominican Republic with the University ofMiami. I’m mentoring medical residents. I visitedwith my actor daughter, Natalie, in New YorkCity. I enjoy playing the piano and I’m resurrect-ing my violin. What would I rather be doing?More of what I’m doing, especially teaching andmedical mission work. I remember the fascinatingstories from the jungles of the world with Dr. BenKean—liver flukes and Chagas disease—the third-year medical rotation in neurology with Dr. Plum,and meeting VIP patient Hollywood choreogra-pher Agnes DeMille, who had just suffered a CVA,urology rotation and meeting Prince Pahlavi, andAl Cohen, MD ’78, playing a recorder from eachnostril at the same time. I’m looking forward tolooking back and reminiscing about our Cornellexperience, but most of all I’m grateful for thepriceless education I received from one of the bestschools on the planet. Thank you, Ezra, and cheersto my fellow Cornellians.”

Paul Mayo, MD ’79: “I’m a professor of clini-cal medicine at Hofstra North Shore/LIJ Schoolof Medicine and the academic director of CriticalCare, Division Pulmonary/Critical Medicine atLIJ/NSUH. I work as a full time intensivist, run-ning critical care ultrasonography courses. I amhappily married for 30 years with three terrificsons. One is in medical school, another is apply-ing. The third is doing something related to theInternet, which is beyond me. After hours I bicy-cle on tandem with my wife as stoker. I seeStewart Tepper, MD ’79, on a regular basis. Ifyou have a headache, give him a call. Where isTodd August, MD ’79?”

1980sPatricia E. Boiko, MD ’80, is now retired from

family medicine, but doing locums part time infamily practices and urgent care. She just complet-ed a documentary about a couple who get theirfamily out of debt by winning on game shows—her parents. See www.gameshowdynamos.com.

Carolyn H. Grosvenor, MD ’80: “I’ve becomea medical missionary, much to my surprise. I’vedone short-term trips to Ecuador, Honduras,Haiti, and Nicaragua. This has been a growingexperience for me, stretching me beyond mycomfort zone, and quite rewarding.”

Mark Gudesblatt, MD ’80, is a neurologist.“Unfortunately, I’m working most of the time.After hours I do research and annoy my family.My two daughters, Melanie and Meredith, gradu-ated from Cornell. Son Benjamin is a junior atStevenson College.

Walter E. Donnelly, MD ’82: “Ohio is a sea ofsoy and cornfields at this time of year: beautifulin quite a different way than the manmadesplendor of Manhattan. All three of Karen’s andmy children are currently attending Ohio StateUniversity. Kevin is a third-year medical student,Ryan is starting graduate school in biomedicalengineering, and Erin is a sophomore majoringin biomedical engineering.”

Christopher Marino, MD ’82: “Fran and I areenjoying our first grandchild. Lots of trips toChicago, but what a thrill! Professionally, I amstarting my fifth year as chief of staff at theMemphis V.A. Medical Center. Life is good. Canretirement be better?”

James E. Ramseur Jr., MD ’82: “After graduat-ing from Columbia University in 2013, son JamesIII is now employed there as an undergraduateschool admissions officer. Daughter Samantha hasstarted her senior year at Leeds Business School ather beloved Colorado University at Boulder. Dadmerely dreams of a day without a tuition bill due.”

Barnaby Starr, MD ’82: “I am still holding onas an old-fashioned pediatric practitioner here inBaltimore. I employ a part time pediatrician andtwo part time nurse practitioners in my practice

We want tohear fromyou!Keep intouch withyour classmates.

Send your news to Chris Furst: [email protected] by mail: Weill Cornell Medicine401 East State Street, Ste. 301 Ithaca, NY 14850

ft



and love the heterogeneity of the popula-tion I serve. I miss all my old classmates andwish them all the best!”

John Feigert, MD ’83, is an oncologist/hematologist. He lives in McLean, VA, wherehe and wife Suzanne are raising three won-derful kids. He enjoys playing tennis. Heremembers the Christmas shows at WCMCand would like to hear from classmates—“all of them.”

Christopher E. Gribbin, MD ’84: “Ourdaughter, Caitlin, has joined WCMC’s Classof 2018!”

David Haughton, MD ’84: “I very muchenjoyed putting on my second flash exhibi-tion at Visual Space in Vancouver, BC. I willbe having a second exhibition in Seattle inNovember at Gallery 110.”

Joseph J. Fins, MD ’86: “I’ll be spend-ing the fall of 2014 on sabbatical at YaleUniversity as the Dwight H. Terry visitingscholar in bioethics, visiting professor inthe history of medicine, and senior researchscholar in law.”

Beth Tremer Herrick, MD ’86: “I’m aradiation oncologist at Southcoast Centersfor Cancer Care in Massachusetts. I’m alsoinvolved with cancer genetics counselingand testing as a sub-specialty.”

Walter Klein, MD ’87: “I have been veryfortunate and grateful for so many things: a

wonderful marriage, three smart and suc-cessful daughters, a thriving group prac-tice, rewarding charitable work, andnumerous travel adventures. I miss visit-ing my daughters when they were atCornell in Ithaca, and I secretly hope thatone of them will go back for graduateschool.”

Stephan Mayer, MD ’88: “After 20years at Columbia running their neuro-ICU, earlier this year I was named thefounding director of the Institute forCritical Care Medicine at the Icahn Schoolof Medicine at Mount Sinai. It’s been funde-differentiating from a specialist to amore generalist intensivist. I now runaround to multiple hospitals in the MountSinai Health System and have focused oninfection control and prevention ofchronic critical illness.”

Michael Bernardo ’78, MD ’89, worksas a geriatrician with nursing home, hos-pice, and home-based care patients inNewberry, SC. In April he went with amedical team to Hue, Vietnam, with VetsWith a Mission. He writes, “I rememberBen Kean tossing me one of his Cubancigars during a Tropical Med lecture.”Michael would like to be sitting on thebeach at Hilton Head.

Jeffrey Webber, MD ’89, is an inter-

ventional cardiologist with Frist Cardiologyin Nashville, TN. He is also a bishop in theChurch of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.On a recent trip to Brazil he picked up hisyoungest son from his full time mission.He’d rather be race car driving, relearning toplay the guitar, and working as a ski patrol-man in the Rockies. He remembers mostfrom medical school: “True friends in anamazing city that never sleeps.” He’d like tohear from Maureen Connelly, MD ’89, JeffKrane, MD ’93, and Naren Ramakrishna, MD’95 (his old dissection group).

1990sSharon M. Stoch, MD ’95: “I am current-

ly working as an internist at the SummitMedical Group in Warren, NJ.”

Suzanne Magherini, MD ’98, is the direc-tor of Women’s Clinical Services at Women’sWellness Center. She writes, “I love tennisand snow skiing. I miss the music concerts inManhattan (Lincoln Center especially). Iworked as an ob/gyn hospitalist in Jersey Cityrecently. It was a great experience. I’ve devel-oped an interest in EMR and would like tohelp make programs more computer-friendly.What do I remember most? Anatomy classwas awesome. I’d love to hear from Cynthia,my roommate.”

2000sDoodnauth Hiraman ’96, MD ’00: “It has

been a busy and eventful year. After eightyears as faculty at WCMC, I left to becomechairman of emergency medicine at St.Vincent’s Medical Center in Connecticut. Iam also an associate professor at our newQuinnipiac Medical School. On a personalnote, we welcomed a baby girl, Kelly, to ourbrood of three boys.”

Bradford Hoppe, MD ’03: “I was pro-moted to associate professor in the Dept. ofRadiation Oncology at the University ofFlorida. I moved into a condo on the beach.Sonia and I (and son Marco) are expectingbaby number two.”

Helen Azzam Koenig, MD ’03: “We wel-comed our son, George Joseph Koenig III,into the world on October 18, 2013. Big sis-ter Emma loves her brother to pieces.”

Peter Gar-Jun Chan, MD ’05: “I am cur-rently finishing up a two-year intervention-al cardiology fellowship at Brigham andWomen’s Hospital (which coincidentallyinvolved training under the stepson ofMorton Bogdonoff ’46, MD ’48, one of myWeill Cornell mentors), but the most signif-icant event of my life occurred on April 26,2014, when I married Katherine Hubert, a

Model patient: Reuning alumni meet a teaching mannequin in the Clinical Skills Center.WCMC


V O L . 1 3 , N O . 3 4 7

’43 MD—Herbert F. Hempel of SouthDeerfield, MA, July 24, 2014; retired radiolo-gist; associate radiologist, Calvary Hospital;director of radiology, St. Luke’s Hospital; USArmy veteran; golfer; active in communityaffairs.

’44 MD—Richard C. Karl of Etna, NH,June 24, 2012; chairman of the Dept. ofSurgery, Dartmouth; also worked at Bellevueand North Shore hospitals; US Navy veteran;master gardener; cabinet maker; active incommunity and professional affairs.

’44 MD—Solon Palmer Jr. of Carlsbad,CA, May 28, 2014; worked for the ScrippsClinic and Research Foundation; first chair-man, International Center, UC San Diego;US Army Medical Corps veteran; assistantchief of medical services, Fort Knox; medicaladviser, patient center, La Costa Glen; scubadiver; hunter; fisherman.

’46 MD—George V. Coleman of Provi -dence, RI, June 27, 2014; oncological sur-geon; helped establish the Chad BrownHealth Center; instructor and mentor atBrown Medical School; US Navy veteran;active in professional affairs.

’44, ’46 MD—Stanley E. Smith of Savoy,IL, February 27, 2014; ob/gyn.

’48 MD—Robert J. Molloy of Har wich,MA, September 5, 2014.

’46, ’48 MD—Gregory T. O’Conor ofNatick, MA, August 22, 2012; pathologist;cancer researcher; teacher, director of theDivision of Cancer Cause and Prevention,and associate director of International

InMemoriam

pediatric urologist now practicing at RileyHospital for Children at Indiana University.We met while she was finishing her fellow-ship at Boston Children’s Hospital but aftershe had already accepted her job in Indian -apolis, so we have been long-distance overthe past year. In July I will be moving toIndy to join her, as I have accepted a position on the faculty in the Dept. ofCardiology at Indiana University as an inter-ventional cardiologist.”

Sarah J. Beesley, MD ’09: “I’m now asecond-year fellow in pulmonary criticalcare medicine at the University of Utah inSalt Lake City. Life is great.”

Affairs, National Cancer Institute; med-ical missionary in Uganda; taught atMakerere Medical College in Kampala,Uganda; studied Burkitt lymphoma;implemented the International CancerResearch Databank; chief of surgicalpathology, Loyola University MedicalCenter.

’48 MD—Donald K. Stockdale ofRochester, NY, September 2, 2014; pedia-trician; physician for Eastman Kodak;deputy commissioner, New York StateDept. of Health; deputy director, MonroeCounty Health Dept.; established healthclinics in inner city Rochester; veteran.

’48 MD—Joseph Worrall of Lake -wood, WA, July 13, 2014; ob/gyn; spe-cialist in gynecological microsurgicaltechniques; prenatal sound expert;worked in Alaska at the Fairbanks Clinic;US Army veteran; musician; scuba diver;ham radio operator; boater; woodworker.

’50 MD—William C. Porter of KingsPark, NY, January 2, 2014; physician.

’55 MD—W. Donald Horrigan of Isla La Motte, VT, formerly of Princeton, NJ,July 24, 2014; acting chairman of radiol-ogy, UMDNJ-Rutgers Medical School;director of radiology, Middlesex GeneralHospital (now Robert Wood JohnsonUniversity Hospital); co-founder, Radi-ology Group of New Brunswick; chief ofradiology, Fort Eustis, VA; US Army veteran.

’55 MD—William R. Thompson ofWarwick, RI, January 15, 2014; chair andclinical professor of surgery emeritus,Brown University’s Alpert Medical School;acting surgeon-in-chief, Rhode IslandHospital; US Navy flight surgeon; surgicalstaff member, Rhode Island Hospital andProvidence Lying-In/ Women’s and In -fants Hospital; co-founder, Surgical GroupInc.; author; fly fisherman; active in pro-fessional affairs.

’56 MD—Charles E. Davis of Phoenix,AZ, July 26, 2014; practiced obstetricsand gynecology; taught residents at St.Joseph’s Hospital; served as physician atEllsworth Air Force Base; alto saxophoneplayer; fly fisherman; active in profes-sional and religious affairs.

’52, ’56 MD—John E. Sinning Jr. ofDavenport, IA, August 22, 2014;orthopaedist; president, Iowa QC BloodBank; captain, US Army Medical Corps,

where he established an outpatient clinic forthe Headquarters Military AssistanceAdvisory Group; served on the DavenportSchool Board; active in professional and reli-gious affairs.

’54, ’58 MD—Roland D. Carlson ofNaples, FL, June 6, 2014; ophthalmologist;served at the Cleveland Clinic and in pri-vate practice; flight surgeon; worked onJohn Glenn’s Project Mercury flight; helpedwith the merger of Huron and Hillcrest hos-pitals into Meridia Health Systems; veteran;pilot; golfer; active in community, profes-sional, and alumni affairs.

’59 MD—John R. Macfarlane of Spice -wood, TX, formerly of Artesia, NM, andOgden, UT, June 15, 2014; established a car-diovascular surgery program in Ogden, UT;also practiced in Artesia, NM; chairman ofBlue Cross and Blue Shield of Utah; chair-man, Utah Air Conservation Committee;president, New Mexico chapter, AmericanCollege of Surgeons; bicyclist; active in com-munity, professional, and alumni affairs.

’57, ’61 MD—Sergio E. Betancourt ofNewton, MA, formerly of Pittsburgh, PA,July 31, 2014; general surgeon and specialistin gastric bypass surgery, Allegheny GeneralHospital; veteran; served two tours of dutyin Vietnam as surgeon in the Green Beretunit. Sigma Nu.

’61 MD—J. Terence Sams of Perth,Australia, June 28, 2014; practiced allergymedicine; US Air Force veteran.

’62 MD—Arthur M. Ahearn of George -town, SC, July 25, 2014; orthopaedic sur-geon; chief, Orthopaedic Service, US ArmyDwight D. Eisenhower Medical Center; chiefof the Dept. of Surgery and chief of themedical staff at Georgetown MemorialHospital; chief of medical staff, WaccamawCommunity Hospital; US Army veteran;commander of the South Carolina 251stEvacuation Hospital during OperationDesert Storm.

’65 MD—Paul L. Samuelson of Washing -ton, DC, June 20, 2012.

’68 MD—Michael S. Balis of Scottsdale,AZ, June 12, 2013; neuro-opthalmologist;US Navy veteran; chief medical officeraboard the nuclear submarine USS JohnMarshall; musician; artist.

’83 MD—Eugenia Parnassa Carroll ofCherry Hills Village, CO, January 1, 2014;internist.



Post DocDoc Doc

Emergency physician directs an acclaimed film

about the nation’s busiest ED

It was known as “C-Booth”—the leg-endary trauma bay at Los AngelesCounty Hospital. As one doctor in

the documentary Code Black notes, it wasthe place where “more people have diedand more people have been saved thanin any other square footage in the United States.”

The emergency department at the inner-city public hos-pital is the setting for Code Black, a critically acclaimed filmdirected by Weill Cornell emergency medicine instructorRyan McGarry, MD, while he was a resident there. Themovie has played in some four dozen cities around thecountry, earned festival kudos (including the BestDocumentary nod at the Los Angeles Film Festival), andgarnered rave reviews; it’s set for DVD and streaming releasearound the holidays. “McGarry has created something that feelspersonal, vital, and revelatory, allowing the rest of us behind thecurtain,” said the L.A. Times. The Wall Street Journal called it “aremarkably candid and kinetic documentary about emergency med-icine that could probably only have been made by an ER doctor.”

In Code Black, McGarry chronicles life in a frequently swamped,chronically under-resourced ED where throngs of poor and unin-sured Los Angelenos seek care—sometimes sitting in the cavernouswaiting room for upwards of eighteen hours. (The title refers to theterm denoting that the department is filled to capacity andbeyond.) “A lot of times the patients would ask, ‘Why are you mak-ing the movie? What is it for?’” McGarry notes. “And we would say,‘We think that you deserve better than what you’re receiving, andwe need to document it.’ That’s not to say that their care was bad.But we wanted to say, ‘We can do better.’ ” To ensure the privacy ofthose patients, McGarry and the producers created a double-consent system that he calls unprecedented in documentary film-making. “Every single face that you see in the film gave an on-siterelease,” he says. “We had a trail of med students; wherever thecamera went, literally every person in the frame had to give theirpermission—and if they didn’t, we couldn’t use it. Then we wentthe extra mile: we had a footage-review system, so that anyone whomade the final cut had the chance to watch themselves and eitherdecline or doubly give us permission.”

The film’s main characters are McGarry and his fellow residents,who grapple with the realities of modern healthcare while uphold-ing the ideals that attracted them to medicine in the first place.Most of them, as it happens, had encounters with the healthcaresystem that inspired them to their calling. One has an elderly father

suffering from dementia; another survived a car crash that severe-ly disabled his childhood best friend; McGarry himself battled arare form of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma while in college. “All of thedoctors in the film had a personal reason for wanting to make thesystem better,” McGarry says. “Everybody had the same sense thatthis is meaningful—this is a mission.” Code Black also covers themove from the hospital’s historic Art Deco building to a new,earthquake-resistant facility—a transition that not only meant theend of C-booth but the adoption of modern regulations on patientprivacy and other procedures. Whereas the young doctors hadonce worked shoulder to shoulder in adrenaline-fueled, quasi-battlefield conditions, the film observes, they suddenly foundthemselves spending endless hours at the computer.

These days, McGarry is juggling New York and L.A., physician-ship and fiction. CBS has optioned Code Black as the basis of aweekly TV drama, with the pilot set to shoot in January.McGarry—who has been flying to the West Coast several times amonth to work on the project, while continuing to serve on theWeill Cornell faculty—notes that he’s grateful for the support andflexibility he’s gotten from the Emergency Department and itschief, Neal Flomenbaum, MD. “I always felt that if I had two lives,I’d be a director in one and a doctor in another,” McGarry muses.“Part of my agreement with CBS is that I get to keep practicing. Myresidency was too hard for me to stop now.”

— Beth Saulnier

Trauma team: Ryan McGarry, MD (center), with L.A. CountyHospital colleagues in a scene from Code Black

PROVIDED

48-48WCMvol13no3postdoc_WCM 11/7/14 10:11 AM Page 48


Weill Cornell Medical College and Weill Cornell Graduate School of Medical Sciences1300 York Avenue, Box 144New York, NY 10065

PRSRT STDUS Postage

PAIDPermit 302

Burl., VT. 05401


Documents

weillcornellmedicine - WCM Newsroom · Garrett’s résumé includes clerking for Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall and serving as legislative director for Oklahoma Senator