Winter 2008/2009 - University of Utah - School of Medicine

Illuminations
The Magazine for the University of Utah School of Medicine Alumni and Friends
Editor
Kristin Wann Gorang
Photography
University Medical Graphics
Illuminations
is published by the
University of Utah
School of Medicine
Alumni Relations Office
For editorial information or
corrections, call (801) 585-3818
Send address changes to:
Illuminations
Office of Alumni Relations
540 South Arapeen Drive, Suite 125
Salt Lake City, Utah 84108-1298
kristin.gorang@hsc.utah.edu
School of Medicine
Alumni Relations Staff
Kristin Wann Gorang, Director
Melanie Osterud, Associate Director
Baljit Kaur, Office Assistant
What’s Inside
1 Message from the Dean
2 Alumni President’s Message
3 Penicillin, Miracle Drug
of the Century, Herald of
a New Era
University of Utah School of Medicine Alumni Association
Board of Directors
Mark A. Johnston, M.D. 1990, President
Fred F. Langeland, M.D., 1976, Past President
C. Hilmon Castle, M.D. 1957, House Staff, Vice President
Robert O. Hoffman, M.D., 1981, Secretary
Lewis J. Barton, M.D., 1964
Randall Walter Burt, M.D., 1974
Christine A. Cheng, M.D. 1997, House Staff
Ali K. Choucair, M.D., 1984, House Staff
Dale G. Johnson, M.D., 1956
August ‘Larry’ Jung, M.D., 1961
Ronald M. Larkin, M.D., 1975
Kirk M. Neuberger, M.D., 1963
Ronald J. Ruff, M.D., 1981
Kent M. Samuelson, M.D., 1971
David N. Sundwall, M.D., 1969
Hugh D. Voorhees, M.D., 1972
Catherine J. Wheeler, M.D., 1991 House Staff
H. James Williams, M.D., 1969
Ex-Officio:
Medical Student Representatives: Stephen Warner, Associate VP
Lindsay Wilson, MSIV
of Health Sciences for Development
Ben Johnson, MSIV
and Alumni Relations
Jerry Chidester, MSII
David Bjorkman, Dean, M.D.,
Nick Kroll, MSII
M.S.P.H., 1980
Kristin Wann Gorang, Director
If you would like to submit a story
idea about medicine or know of an
alumnus/a who has had something
remarkable occur in their life, or has
made an outstanding contribution to
medicine/society please submit the
updates on line at http://app.medicine.
utah.edu/SOMAlumni/index.htm by
attaching them to the image link, or
email kristin.gorang@hsc.utah.edu.
6 News Notebook
10 Alumni Weekend 2008
• Awards Ceremony
• Alumni Events
14 Distinguished Awards
15 Student Life
• Twain,Thailand and
Tuberculosis
• White Coat Ceremony
17 Becoming a Ballard Scholar
18 Alumni Board Welcomes
New Members
Bookmark our Web site:
www.medicine.utah.edu/alumni
To opt-out of Illuminations mailings email:
kristin.gorang@hsc.utah.edu
20 Alumni Notebook
• Highlights
• News
25 In Memorium
25 Giving Corner
Dean David Bjorkman, M.D., M.S.P.H., 1980
This would be a first for the medical
school, and is not good news for the
state at a time when Utah already ranks
44th in the nation for physician supply.
We have cut expenditures in every
way that we can, including significant
decreases in funding for our academic
departments. Unfortunately this is
not enough. If we are not able to get
replacement funds for the lost Federal
Medicaid funding, we will not have
enough available monies to pay for
all the faculty time that is required to
teach 102 students per year, compromising
our ability to provide the quality
of education we demand. Tuition
hikes are likely. This creates additional
financial hardship for our students
who already carry excessive debt by the
time of graduation. The average debt
for our graduates is $132,170. While
tuition will increase, our intention is
to keep the tuition rate at the U in the
middle of the pack compared to public
medical schools in the country. We are
doing our best to deal with this fiscal
crisis and I will continue to keep you
abreast of happenings in future communications
from our office.
On a brighter note, our School
of Medicine continues to enjoy a great
demand among prospective students.
This year’s entering class of 102 came
from a pool of 1,336 individuals, 889
men and 447 women. There were 458
applicants from Utah, with 108 from
Message from the Dean
I am beginning to believe that change is one of the few
constants you can count on in today’s world. Last year at this time I
was writing you to share our hopes for expanding our medical school
class by thirty students; today, due to state budget cuts and the impact
of slashes in Federal Medicaid funding we are forced to consider the
possibility of cutting back on the size of our 2009 incoming class.
Idaho and 770 from other states and
countries. Our entering class of 102
students is made up of 81 Utah residents,
nine Idaho students and twelve
students from other states or countries.
Our overall entering average GPA
remains high at 3.65, with an average
MCAT composite of 30. Eight of our
entering students have earned Master’s
degrees and three have Doctorate
degrees. Once again we feel we have a
class of talented and committed people
who are going to make a difference in
medicine in the future.
In This Issue of Illuminations
This year the School of Medicine
Alumni Association inaugurated a
Half-Century Club luncheon at Senior
Vice President of Health Science’s
Lorris Betz’s home. Out of that illustrious
meeting of our 1957 and earlier
alumni came the idea for our lead
article for Illuminations. Speaking with
graduates who started practicing medicine
before the discovery of penicillin
or the polio vaccine reaffirmed the
huge impact of medical discoveries on
world health during the past century.
In this edition of Illuminations George
G. Jackson, M.D. ’47 writes how the
serendipitous discovery of penicillin
changed disease outcome for the
second half of the 20th century.
The fall Alumni and Community
Medical Weekend was memorable,
from the Awards Banquet Thursday
evening, celebrating the class of 1958
and Harmon Eyre, M.D. ’66 and
The Spencer F. Eccles family as the
Distinguished Award recipients, to a
successful football game against UNLV!
The weekend’s Continuing
Medical Education conferenc brought
together an illustrious group of experts
who spoke on health care reform. Their
program is archived for future viewing
on the Alumni Association Web
site at: http://medicine.utah.edu/
alumni/reunions/2008%20CME.
htm The News Notebook section will
update you on recent happenings at the
School of Medicine, and the Alumni
Notebook will catch you up on fellow
graduates’ activities and successes.
I would personally like to thank
all of you for your continued interest
and support of the School of Medicine.
Looking to the future I am confident,
in spite of the financial challenges
ahead of us, we will continue to provide
the quality medical education that
you knew and now cherish.
Best wishes for the New Year,
David J. Bjorkman, M.D., M.S.P.H.
Dean, School of Medicine
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