You Can Get There From Here: Alumni Who Have ... - Cleveland Clinic

You Can Get There From Here:
Alumni Who Have Changed Their Lives
Stormy seas, or sometimes new opportunities over the
horizon, can cause people to make a big change of plans
in their career.
In the last issue of Alumni Connection, we discovered how
H.Wendell Gray, Jr, MD (IM’68, S’72, PL/RS’74), re-tooled
his life and obtained a degree in Tudor Reformation from
Oxford (page 5, “Rugged Winters Don’t Stop Alumni From
Loving Maine.”) Cleveland Clinic training is excellent
preparation for whatever lies ahead for most physicians,
and several other alumni recently shared their stories of
reinventing their careers and letting their dreams take
them down a new road.
If you have a successful tale of navigating through career
change, we’d love to hear from you, too (alumni@ccf.org).
Finding the time to really care
David Scott Madwar, MD (IM’98), wanted to be a guardian
angel to his patients, to be there for all of their needs and
really own their care. But such ideals are not possible in today’s
insurance-driven Internal Medicine practices, where
Victor W. Fazio, MD, with his bust.
Cleveland Clinic Alumni Newsletter
Connection
ALUMNI
continued on page 2
Tribute Project Honors
Victor W. Fazio, MD
Friends and colleagues of Digestive
Disease Institute Chairman Victor W.
Fazio, MD (S’73, CRS’74), honored
him for his career achievements at
the 29 th annual Turnbull Symposium
held in November.
Special tributes included the surprise
announcement of $13 million in
contributions from friends, former
Volume XIX No. 1 | 2009
David Scott Madwar, MD (IM’98), practices Concierge Medicine
in Naples, FL.
patients, trustees, alumni and
colleagues toward a $20 million
project to create the Victor Fazio,
MD Center for IBD and the Victor W.
Fazio, MD Digestive Disease Institute
Surgical Suites. The total now stands
at $15 million.
A bust of Dr. Fazio’s head, which will
be displayed in the new facility, also
was debuted.
continued on page 18

Making Changes (continued)
physicians have about 15 minutes for each patient. There
is little time for adequately diagnosing problems and engaging
the patient to fully participate in the care plan.
So Dr. Madwar decided to follow a different road – he
launched a Concierge Medicine practice in Naples, FL. In
Concierge Medicine, patients pay a flat annual fee, typically
around $5,000 for an adult and $8,000 for a couple,
and in exchange get 24-hour access to a physician who
always has time for them and who will see them in the office
or in the hospital, meet them in the emergency room
or even make a house call if needed. They have his home
and cell phone numbers and are welcome to call any time
they have an urgent need.
They also receive a thorough physical every year and
opportunities to discuss ways to actually improve their
health, not just manage problems.
“There is a disconnect to the 15-minute model,” says Dr.
Madwar. “It doesn’t allow us enough time to get patients
fully on board for what is best for them. We always think
patients respect our opinions and will follow our advice,
but, surprise! They don’t always comply, and that is largely
because we haven’t been able to fully educate them.
“Many physicians will respond by saying that they tried
and it’s the patient’s responsibility to listen,” he continues.
“Concierge Medicine approaches things very differently.
I own their care and I want us both to take the
tremendous amount of time we need to gain knowledge
about their condition and their goals.”
Most Internal Medicine practices have about 4,000 to
5,000 patients; Concierge Medicine practices cap out at
about 300, he explains.
He says that patients are often accustomed to paying only
premiums and co-pays for office visits, tests and prescriptions,
and at first, the notion of paying a physician “retainer”
seems odd. However, he emphasizes that a rushed
doctor will often turn to “care surrogates” such as ordering
tests or referring to a specialist who may order even
more tests, all of which costs more in the long run.
“That is engaging the health system in the wrong way
without necessarily delivering better results,” he says.
“I offer continuity to streamline their care and avoid duplication
of services or tests and reduce hospitalizations.”
There is no charge for anything done in his office – especially
no co-pays that discourage patients from accessing
care in a timely way.
2 | Alumni Connection
“Medicare encourages patients to find a ‘medical home,’
and Concierge Medicine really allows that to happen,” Dr.
Madwar says.
He says this is an appealing practice model for doctors in
primary care, a field that is experiencing declining numbers,
because “no one wants to be a gatekeeper.”
There are about a dozen Concierge Medicine practices in
Naples, and Dr. Madwar finds the community receptive to
the concept. “It is an affluent town with an older population.
It is easier to demonstrate the value of this service
to older people than younger ones who are in excellent
health,” he says.
He started his practice in 2007 and is currently at about
two-thirds of his desired capacity. “It was slow the first year,
but the practice tripled in size the second year,” he says.
About 5 percent of patients per year will leave a Concierge
Medicine practice due to death or relocation, but “few or
none drop out for any other reason,” he says. “Once they
are in, there is no going back.”
Dr. Madwar says his Cleveland Clinic training has been
tremendously helpful in making this transition.
“My mentors did a fantastic job of creating an intimate
environment for patients in an otherwise huge institution,”
he says. He specifically credits Harry Isaacson, MD, and
Richard Lang, MD (GL-1’80, IM’82), for their influence.
Helping others embrace change
Gary L. Saltus, DO, FACOS (TS
‘80), of Columbus, specializes in
helping people make transformational
changes in their lives
through his work as a consultant
at Creative Health Care Management
of Minneapolis.
“I help them find out who they
are and what their purpose is and
what they want to do for the rest
of their lives,” says Dr. Saltus. “It’s
about taking the time to just be
and reflect.”
Gary L. Saltus, DO,
FACOS (TS’80),
helps people make
transformational changes
in their lives.
He teaches the process of change from first-hand experience.
After he spent about 20 successful years as a cardiac
surgeon, medical problems, including open heart surgery
and two neck surgeries, forced him to stop. He had to find a
new path for himself.

His strong interest in organizational development led him
to expand his knowledge of transformational transitioning
by training at the Hudson Institute in Santa Barbara,
CA, and becoming a Certified Executive/Life Coach.
He then trained in both the clinical and organizational
system development sections at the Gestalt Institute of
Cleveland (GIC). He did specialized training in group work
both in Israel GIC as well as in Cleveland. He also completed
the Leadership Development through Emotional
Intelligence Program at Case Western Reserve University’s
Weatherhead School of Management.
Dr. Saltus describes his work today as having two arms.
One is a clinical arm in which he works with weekly support
groups for breast cancer patients and cancer caregivers.
“These patients may be facing a limited time and need
to decide what they want to do with that time.”
His second arm involves working with organizations to
help them develop Relationship-Based Care. This model
of care is being used by many hospitals as they pursue
magnet status.
“I am taking Relationship-Based Care to physicians and
nurses to help them become collegial partners,” he explains.
“First, I work with each group separately, and then
I bring them together for a three-day program, ‘Leading an
Empowered Organization.’”
This program leads to the creation of action plans to
move both groups toward implementing Relationship-
Based Care, and Dr. Saltus follows up with them several
months later.
“My goal is to get them working together on the same
plane, keeping patients and families at the center of what
they do,” he says. “This requires collaborative communication
as we work to fix the system without blaming anyone.
It leads to fewer errors and higher patient satisfaction.
“It is really a changing of the lens,” he adds.
Dr. Saltus says this change is necessary because “the previous
model that once served us no longer does” as external
forces weigh down physicians. “I help them see that
others are on the same journey and that supporting each
other helps them grow and take the journey together as we
come up with a new way to practice medicine.”
He says that the hardest part of his own health problems
and the changes he had to undergo was losing his concept
of immortality. “This was something that happened to
other people, not me,” he says.
“But my journey prepared me to do this work. I don’t have
all the answers for people but I create a space for them to
find their own new beginnings,” Dr. Saltus concludes. “It is
very exciting work.”
Rejoining the Army – at age 65
When Philip Caravella, MD (TRS’71), joined the military
during the Vietnam War, he fully expected he would be sent
to a combat zone. However, he ended up being assigned to
Ft. Lee in Virginia and never went overseas. Although many
people would see that as a stroke of good luck, it always felt
like a bit of unfinished business to Dr. Caravella.
He stayed in the Reserves but
came home and went on to have a
successful Family Medicine practice
in Cleveland Clinic’s Westlake
Family Health Center, and
later the Avon Lake Center, and
raise three children. Although the
itch to return to the military never
left him, the fact that he had had
laser vision correction done by
his brother, Louis Caravella, MD,
retired CEO of Cleveland Clinic’s
Western Region, made him ineligible
for many years.
Philip Caravella,
MD (TRS’71), was
commissioned into the
U.S. Army in a ceremony
at the Westlake Family
Health Center.
Then, at age 64, at a time when comfortable retirement was
in view, he learned that his eye surgery no longer disqualified
him, and he decided to pursue the military again. His
first attempt at entering the Air Force was thwarted when
a recruiter missed an appointment with him, but an Army
recruiting office was right next door, and fate led Dr. Caravella
in.
This time, he had another disqualifying barrier to overcome:
The age cut-off for physicians to enlist was 56. But
the recruiter worked with him, and they lobbied higher
powers in the government. Several months later, Dr. Caravella
was granted an age waiver. He was commissioned on
Nov. 11, 2008 – Veterans Day – in a ceremony held at the
Westlake Family Health Center.
continued on page 4
Alumni Connection | 3

Making Changes (continued)
Dr. Caravella – now LTC Caravella – reported for duty at
Carl R. Darnall Army Medical Center at Fort Hood, Texas,
on Dec. 5.
“I am a faculty member and an educator and a provider in
the Family Medicine program,” he says, calling the Army’s
Family Medicine program comparable to the training offered
anywhere.
He expects to be deployed to the Middle East, most likely
Iraq or Afghanistan, in about a year. “But I knew that going
in, even with the risk involved,” he says. “Many people
don’t understand that, but it’s just unfinished business
that I have.”
Due to his high rank as a lieutenant colonel (most physicians
in the field would be majors or captains), his role in
a combat zone will most likely be setting up and managing
mobile hospital units, although he expects to be involved
in some patient care, as well. Before that can happen
though, he will need to attend several training sessions at
Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio.
Cleveland Clinic Alumni Association
Mission
The Cleveland Clinic Foundation alumni represent a constituency of physicians
and scientists throughout the world who reflect the institution’s commitment to
excellence. The Cleveland Clinic Foundation is committed to continue serving
as a resource to its alumni in their post-residency years by providing access to
information and programmatic support necessary to assure their professional
growth and success. The goal of these efforts is to bolster the bond between the
institution and its alumni and create an atmosphere that encourages a commitment
among alumni to offer support for and to participate in the life of the institution.
I Hope That As Time Goes On
...that those who have received these certificates will, perhaps even more in the
future than in the present, have a feeling that what has been done for them here
in this institution has been of great practical value. We would like you to feel that
the permanent staff and Board of Directors feel a great interest in your welfare and
that we shall follow you as far as possible with our interest and hope that you will
always remember that this is an institution that is a sort of a home, not like your
college to be sure, but perhaps even more of a home to which you may always
return from time to time. We wish you the very best of success.
George Crile, MD, Founder
November 3, 1926, upon conferring the first five certificates
4 | Alumni Connection
Dr. Caravella admits that making the change back to
military life has been a bit of a culture shock. Although his
Vietnam-era experience helped prepare him, much of his
service was spent in “wind-down” mode toward the end of
that war. In contrast, Fort Hood today is very active. There
are about 52,000 soldiers and their dependents there and
people are constantly moving in and out.
But he is settled into his new life and plans to stay awhile.
“As long as I feel like I am making a difference and accomplishing
something, I will extend my commitment.”
He is thankful for his blessings and encourages anyone
who has an urge to try a new path to do something toward
that goal today.
“The Chinese say that a trip of 1,000 miles starts with a
single step. If I hadn’t gone for it, I would never have been
happy. If you have a desire to do something, you can’t just
think about it. You have to do it!” he concludes.
Editor’s note: If you would like to communicate with Drs.
Madwar, Saltus or Caravella, please contact Sandy Stranscak
at alumni@ccf.org or 800.444.3664.

Public Health Job Takes Alumna All Over the World
Sapna Bamrah, MD (ID’06), has been living the jetset
life since completing her Cleveland Clinic training,
traveling the world over. It isn’t as glamorous as it
may sound though: Her trips usually are to remote,
undeveloped locations that are struggling with public
health problems and displaced people
Dr. Bamrah is Lieutenant Commander, U.S. Public Health
Service. She joined the Center for Disease Control in 2006
as an Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) Officer with the
International Emergency and Refugee Health Branch in
the National Center for Environmental Health, an assignment
which led to work with displaced populations in
Kenya, Nepal, Vietnam, Azerbaijan, and Swaziland, and to
a partnership with Division of Tuberculosis Elimination
during a 2007 TB Epi-Aid in Michigan.
Since then, she has completed two years as an Epidemic
Intelligence Officer and has taken a Medical Officer
position with the Division of Tuberculosis Elimination
Outbreak Investigation Team. She recently bought a home
in Atlanta, but she isn’t there much: she travels at least 30
percent of her time, sometimes more.
Dual board-certified, Dr. Bamrah completed her residency
in internal medicine at Case Western Reserve University
before her fellowship in infectious disease at Cleveland
Clinic. With a background in social work before attending
medical school, she has volunteered extensively with
homeless and incarcerated populations. Her family is
deeply involved in medicine and she wanted to tie her
interests to a career in medicine as well, she explains.
Her work requires a depth and breadth of compassion for
the underprivileged that would overwhelm many people.
Her 2008 holiday card came in the form of a belated email,
and instead of including photos of family and cute pets, it
was accompanied by photos of people she has visited and
helped around the world.
She explains that her strong interest in working with tuberculosis
solidified during her residency because TB and
AIDS are problems that disproportionately affect poor and
displaced people.
“My mentors encouraged me to get training in infectious
diseases, and the fellowship at Cleveland Clinic gave me
a great opportunity,” she says. “I didn’t know where my
career was going and I wanted to keep all my doors open
by getting my academic training upfront.”
Sapna Bamrah, MD, sits with one of several children in a
quarantine unit due to MDR TB in Chuuk, Micronesia, in early
2009. In addition to providing medical expertise, Dr. Bamrah and
a colleague also worked to make the children’s lives a little more
pleasant by carrying care packages and providing some games and
DVDs. (Photo by Richard Brostrom, MD, Public Health Controller,
Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Islands.)
Her lifestyle works now because she is single and has no
children, but she does wonder how she can balance work
and family down the road. “That is part of the reason I
took my new job,” she explains. “It requires less travel.”
She now works exclusively on issues surrounding
TB outbreaks.
Dr. Bamrah has learned much about disease outbreaks
over the past two years, giving her an insight into world
health that few U.S. doctors have. “I did not fully understand
what an outbreak investigation team did until I got
there. I did not appreciate the role that physicians can have
in responding to crises in the world, and some American
doctors who focus on clinical medicine have told me they
aren’t sure what we do,” she says.
“A lot of our work is helping governments look at their
public health structure and helping local staff understand
the situation. We look at ways to help build healthcare ca-
continued on page 6
Alumni Connection | 5

Dr. Bamrah (continued)
pacity and best provide support,” she says. “Sometimes we
have to get our hands dirty, but other times, we are mostly
analyzing ways to help their systems work better.
“We never go into an area unless we are asked to by the
Ministry of Health, or the local government,” she adds.
When interviewed in late December, she was heading
home from a trip to Wisconsin to see her family and was
going to be leaving for Micronesia in a few days to work on
an outbreak of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis. Conditions
there are far from ideal: Electricity and phone service
and other amenities are intermittent, at best. In such conditions,
she always tries to focus on her work and find time
to enjoy the locale, which can include taking short side
trips such as hiking or scuba diving.
“We try to have a little fun wherever we go,” she says with
a laugh.
Man Helping Man
Cleveland Clinic has always been proud of its tradition
of volunteerism in our local communities and throughout
the world. We applaud and encourage these acts
of kindness. They speak to our humanity and mission
of social responsibility. In this spirit, Cleveland Clinic
has organized an easily accessible website that lists the
many activities in which staff and alumni have participated,
as well as organizations and areas in need of
volunteer help.
Under the direction of Gary S. Hoffman, MD, MS, we
are eager to expand our reach and embrace alumni into
these noble efforts, as well as to partner with alumni
initiatives that are already in progress.
Please browse the Staff Volunteer Opportunities
website at http://portals.clevelandclinic.org/
Default.aspx?alias=portals.clevelandclinic.org/
staffvolunteeropportunities.
Consider listing your volunteer initiatives or joining
one of those linked at this site. Links are available to
contact organizations in need. If you are unsure about
volunteering, names and email addresses of volunteers
are posted for you to contact them to learn more about
their experiences and answer your questions.
6 | Alumni Connection
Where is Sapna?
Sending email updates about her travels helps keep
Dr. Bamrah in touch with her friends and family back
home. The emails are a mixture of poignant tales of
the suffering she witnesses and humorous observations
about life. Here are just a few excerpts:
Kenya (looking at how post-election violence affects
healthcare delivery)
We have visited 35 healthcare facilities throughout
the three most affected provinces in Kenya and nine
camps for the internally displaced. In Nairobi, things
seem business as usual, back to normal, quiet, calm,
but out in the rural areas, the country has been divided
by tribal lines.
Numerous times, we have asked clinics that care
for patients with chronic illness if they have lost any
patients to follow up. They show us their registries
and say, “If you see a Luo or Luyha name, then those
patients have gone away,” and the same with Kikuyus
and Kisiis in other parts of the country. People are
frightened to return to where they were living or working,
and often have nothing to go back to (or for).
The IDP camps (internally displaced person, as opposed
to refugees) are in relatively bad condition.
No consistent food, no consistent water treatment,
in some places, not enough tents. In particular, we
visited a camp in Ekerenyo recently, and the 1,300
residents had not had clean water for a week, minimal
food, more than 200 people without tents, no mattresses,
no place for kids to go to school and minimal
access to health care without having to pay something
(which is not legal). My team talked to too many
people with healing machete wounds.
It was really difficult to be there, and even more so
knowing I came with empty hands, empty arms,
lacking answers and could make no promises. I left
there with an empty heart, and few tears left. But I
am well aware that being there to document these
problems is literally nothing compared to having to
live through them.
Nepal (nutritional study in Bhutanese refugees )
When we first arrived at the guest house in Damak,
there were four Swedes packing their things and
using the showers. Apparently, because we are U.N.

consultants and they weren’t, we got priority and essentially
they were kicked out for us. When we asked them who
they were, they said Clowns Without Borders! You have all
heard of Doctors Without Borders, well apparently, there
are lots of groups that are “___ without borders.” These
four Swedes are circus performers, acrobats in particular,
and they are doing some training in the refugee camps.
Now, I am a little torn on this. These (Bhutanese) refugees
here have been stuck, country-less, without any real rights
for over 15 years. They have no hope, and the poor kids,
who actually are quite well educated, need activities. Learning
a bit of circus acrobatics is probably good for them.
But hearing this week that the donor source for the food to
feed these 100,000 people will dry up soon, one does have
to pause and consider priorities. Anyway—the performers
are quite talented and nice, despite how odd their mission
may be.
Swaziland
I am here providing technical support to UNICEF for a national
survey on sexual violence in school-aged girls. So far,
it’s been quite an amazing and challenging experience.
Rather than taking a normal allotment of clothes for
the month, I downsized in order to stuff my backpacker’s
guitar into my bag so I could sit outside, overlooking the
Swazi hills and play cheesy campfire songs with my new
friends (euphemism for much-needed music therapy
due to the very depressing subject matter that brings me
to Swaziland).
We are using cluster sampling methodology to select
and survey a representative population of girls ages 13-24
all over Swaziland. We are sampling 48 households in 40
ZIP codes, essentially. We have eight teams of five women
each who will be going to households all over Swazi interviewing
girls using the longest questionnaire in the history
of time. Well, it’s 100+ questions, which truly only takes 20
minutes if there is no history of abuse, and up to an hour
with an extensive history.
The Ministry of Education did a brief school-based survey
and found a significant number of girls (above 30%) experienced
the worst forms of sexual violence (rape, molestation),
hence UNICEF wanted to do a more extensive,
national survey.
Sapna Bamrah, MD, works with children in a camp in Kenya.
It’s been a very interesting few weeks already. I have had
a chance to learn a lot about Swazi’s history and Siswati
culture.
One of the most remarkable things is the stark contrast
in aspects of society. Swazi was a British colony until the
mid 1960s and currently is a strict monarchy (tearing up
the constitution four years after the Brits departed). It
only has 1.1 million people, and it was quite a benefactor
of apartheid-ridden South Africa as businesses fled to the
peaceful hills of Swazi, bringing tremendous economic
growth. Of course, that economic growth did not diffuse
throughout the country, leaving one-third of the population
doing quite well and two-thirds struggling to maintain
maize crops, find clean water, and feed, clothe and school
their children.
This is an outright feudalistic society run by an absolute
(virtual) monarch with the regular practice of polygamy
and the highest HIV prevalence in the world. That translates
into an incredible hole in the population, as a large
percentage of the productive society is vanishing. There
are four to five women for each man and it is expected that
there will be 100,000 orphans by 2010. You can imagine
how this makes the culture of sexual violence against children
that much more frightening.
First, the practice of polygamy is still quite common. It
doesn’t help that the king himself has 13 wives. Childhood
marriage also is still a problem. The growing number of
displaced or orphaned children clearly leaves them vulnerable,
and the fact that girls are raised with this notion that
they will have to share whomever they date or marry leads
to each man having numerous partners at one time. It’s
been remarkable to get to know all of these highly educated,
successful women and realize that they completely buy
into this idea. If you demand monogamy, you end up alone.
Alumni Connection | 7

Co-Founder of Pediatrics at Cleveland Clinic
a Tireless Advocate for Wooster Free Clinic
The need for low-cost or free medical care is reaching alltime
highs as people lose their jobs and accompanying
health insurance.
Wayne County, Ohio, located on the edge of Amish Country
to the southwest of Cleveland, has one free clinic and
its pioneering namesake, Viola Startzman, MD, 94, is as
committed as ever to its mission.
The Viola Startzman Free Clinic (VSFC) provides health
and dental care, medications and laboratory testing at
no charge to low-income (up to 200 percent of the federal
household poverty level) uninsured Wayne County residents.
It operates walk-in clinics three times a week, and
chronic patients such as those with diabetes or hypertension
are seen by appointment at other times. In 2008,
the clinic is expected to have served more than 10,000
patients, an increase from the approximately 9,000 seen
in 2007, Dr. Startzman says.
“The bad economy is absolutely increasing business for us
and other nonprofit organizations,” she says. “Even people
who do have health insurance are sometimes discouraged
from seeking care due to the high co-pays they face.”
Her involvement with the free clinic is far from Dr. Startzman’s
first notable contribution to healthcare. She has a
place in Cleveland Clinic history for the role she played in
the creation of the first Pediatrics Department. She was
practicing pediatrics in Wooster when Robert Mercer, MD,
asked her to help him launch a department in Cleveland.
She joined him in 1952.
As recalled in To Act As a Unit, Cleveland Clinic’s historical
chronicle, the first pediatric outpatient department was
located in two rooms “loaned” by the Department of Urology.
They were just around the corner from the original
cardiac catheterization laboratory of Mason Sones, MD. Dr.
Sones was using his new cardiac visualization technique to
help surgeons perform heart operations on children, with
excellent results. With the formal establishment of the pediatrics
department, 30 of Cleveland Clinic’s 357 hospital
beds were reserved for a pediatric ward.
The book describes Dr. Startzman as a superb clinician
who was admired and respected throughout the community:
“Startzman had been trained as a laboratory technician
before going to medical school, and her understanding
of blood chemistry proved invaluable.”
8 | Alumni Connection
When she decided in 1956
to marry James E. Robertson,
MD, of Wooster, who
had four sons, Dr. Startzman
moved back to Wayne
County. She became director
of the student health
center at the College of
Wooster, from which she
had graduated in 1935 with
a degree in chemistry.
Viola Startzman, MD
She retired in 1979 but
stayed active in the community.
In 1992, Wooster Mayor Clyde Breneman and the
Board of Governors of Wooster Community Hospital asked
her to chair a task force looking at ways to improve local
healthcare. The committee met for about six months and
agreed that a free clinic was needed.
The hospital made a small building on its campus available
for $1 annual rent for 25 years, and Healthcare 2000
Community Clinic opened its doors on Aug. 3, 1995. Many
individuals and organizations came together to support the
clinic with donations of time and money, and more than
200 volunteers still are involved today.
In 2000, the clinic’s name was changed to reflect Dr. Startzman’s
vision of serving lower-income uninsured residents
of Wayne County. Three years later, she purchased and
donated the former Wooster Orthopaedics building, allowing
the Viola Startzman Free Clinic to meet the increasing
demand for its services.
Today she remains an active member of the Board of Trustees,
describing her role as mostly “sticking my nose in
stuff there.”
In addition to her work with the clinic, she also has taken
monthlong trips to Egypt in 1980, 1983 and 1996 to teach
and consult with medical personnel there, and she keeps
busy with the First Presbyterian Church in Wooster, where
she has volunteered in many capacities. In 2002, she was
inducted into the Ohio Women’s Hall of Fame.
“I’m slowing down a bit,” she admits, adding that she
does what she can because “the community has been so
good to me.”

Research Roundup
Deadly Overreaction: Platelet Hyperactivity Might
Affect Coronary Disease – But Can It Be Controlled?
It’s generally not good to overreact, and that’s especially
true for platelets.
Ideally, platelets are activated when there is an acute
wound, and they help to form a clot that blocks damaged
blood vessels and prevents blood loss.
In atherosclerosis, cholesterol deposits accumulate
and form plaques on the inner lining of large and
medium-sized arteries, eventually leading to a rupture
by the plaque.
Unfortunately, platelets perceive such a rupture as a
wound and try to plug it. A person can survive small clots
within the artery, but the chances of survival decreases if
platelets overreact and form large clots that completely
block blood and oxygen supply to the heart or brain tissue.
An activated platelet (left) and a thrombus (clot) in an artery
(right). (Illustrations by David Schumick, Cleveland Clinic Center
for Medical Art and Photography).
This is what happens in hyperlipidemia. When blood
contains too many lipids, platelets tend to overreact.
This condition is called platelet hyperreactivity and is
thought to contribute significantly to death from coronary
artery disease.
But why are platelets hyperreactive in hyperlipidemia, and
can this response be controlled?
Evgeny Podrez, MD, PhD (RES/CE ’99), Molecular Cardiology,
and his colleagues have identified two key components
in the improper reaction of platelets – a protein called
CD36 that is found in the membrane
of platelets and a particular
lipid that is formed in the body in
cases of chronic inflammation such
as atherosclerosis.
“We found that there is an unusual
family of lipids, discovered by us a
few years ago, that accumulate in
hyperlipidemic blood and that these
lipids interact with the platelet
protein CD36 and promote platelet
hyperreactivity,” Dr. Podrez says.
Evgeny Podrez, MD,
PhD
“Another important finding of this study is that even in
blood with a relatively normal lipid level, this particular
group of lipids may still accumulate and promote platelet
hyperreactivity if the blood has a low level of HDL [highdensity
lipoprotein], a lipoprotein particle with strong
anti-inflammatory activity,” he says.
“We have found that blocking CD36 may normalize platelet
function and prevent platelet hyperreactivity. Thus,
CD36 might be the target for new therapies that hopefully
will reduce the risk for life-threatening events. That’s the
research we are undertaking now. In addition, our study
gives one more reason to have less fat in the blood and to
pay attention to low HDL levels,” he continues.
Dr. Podrez was joined by the following researchers: Tatiana
Byzova, PhD (RES/JJ ’99), Juhua Chen, MD, PhD (RES/MC
’04), Yi Ma and Manojkumar Valiyaveettil, PhD (RES/BE
2003), all of Molecular Cardiology; Maria Febbraio, PhD,
Mingjiang Sun, PhD (RES/CE ’04), Paula Finton, Renliang
Zhang, MD, PhD (RES/CE ’01), Roy Silverstein, MD,
Chairman, Cell Biology, and Stanley Hazen, MD, PhD, Cell
Biology and Head of the Section of Preventive Cardiology
and Rehabilitation; Robert G. Salomon, PhD, and Eugenia
Poliakov, PhD, Department of Chemistry, Case Western
Reserve University; and Brian R. Curtis, Blood Center of
Wisconsin (Milwaukee).
The research appeared in Nature Medicine. This work was
supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health
and Cleveland Clinic’s General Clinical Research Center.
Alumni Connection | 9

Graduate Medical Education Keeps Up With the Times
As Cleveland Clinic has restructured itself into patientcentered
institutes, many programs that reach across
departmental lines also have had to restructure.
Graduate Medical Education (GME) is no exception
and recently changed the membership of its Graduate
Medical Education Council to include representation
from all institutes.
This change has been good, says GME Administrator Pat
Chapek, because it makes the council more representative
of all training programs.
Elias I. Traboulsi, MD
10 | Alumni Connection
“Most members are now the
chairperson of their Institute’s
education committees, so they
are already very committed to
education and have the same ultimate
goals in mind,” she says.
Elias I. Traboulsi, MD, Chairman
of GME, recently gave a presentation
to the Alumni Board of Directors
highlighting this and other
changes in the GME program.
He said that application requests increased by 17 percent
in the 2007-08 academic year. The vast majority of
these applications were requested through the Electronic
Residency Application System. There are 1,375 trainees
enrolled in Cleveland Clinic programs, 976 clinical and
399 research. There are 58 programs accredited by the
Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education
(ACGME), in addition to 58 clinical fellowship programs
and 32 other training programs, he said.
Fourteen Internal Reviews were conducted from Sept. 1,
2006, through Aug. 31, 2007: Geriatric Medicine, Neuromuscular
Medicine, Clinical Cardiac Electrophysiology,
Vascular Surgery, Dermatology, Psychiatry, Sleep
Medicine, Cardiovascular Disease, Endocrinology, Sports
Medicine, General Surgery, Pediatric Anesthesiology, Neurology
and Pediatric Hematology/Oncology.
In that same time frame, Residency Review Committee
visits as part of the ACGME process were held in Cytopathology,
Plastic Surgery, Hematopathology, Thoracic Surgery,
Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Medical Microbiology,
Child Neurology, Gynecology/Oncology, Transfusion
Medicine, Dermatopathology and Colorectal Surgery.
The ACGME Institutional Site Visit was held in January
2008 and a four-year approval was granted, with just four
minor citations. Before this, the most recent visit was in
2002.
“It was a lot of work but it was worth it,” says Chapek, who
is well known to many alumni after more than 25 years of
working with residents and fellows.
Dr. Traboulsi noted that Joint Commission standards mandate
that nursing staff have access to information related
to residents’ competence. To address this requirement, a
GMEC task force was formed, which resulted in the development
of a website that links clinical trainees with the
procedures they are able to perform at that graduate level.
Their photograph is included.
Other updates mentioned by Dr. Traboulsi: name/pager
stamps were ordered for all trainees and policies were
formed requiring the use of the stamp for all medical entries
in patient records, and a standardized patient handoff
policy was developed.
Another update he mentioned was that the in-house database
program METS used by the GME office and program
directors/coordinators to administer various aspects of
their programs has been replaced with MedHub, commercial
residency management software.
MedHub facilitates such tasks as scheduling and tracking
activities, communicating with trainees and logging evaluations
of the residents and by the residents.
“It helps keep everyone on track,” he says.
Overall, Dr. Traboulsi, who also heads the Department
of Pediatric Ophthalmology and directs the Center
for Genetic Eye Diseases at Cleveland Clinic’s Cole Eye
Institute, believes that Cleveland Clinic’s GME programs
are doing well.
“We are in good shape. Interest continues to grow. We have
excellent board pass rates and all of our programs are accredited,”
he says.
“We really appreciate our alumni and urge them to come
back to visit and attend conferences and encourage the
medical students they know to consider applying here.”

GME at Cleveland Clinic Florida
The Graduate Medical Education Program at Cleveland
Clinic Florida receives nearly 4,000 applications a year for
its eight ACGME Accredited training programs as well as
its other clinical training programs and research training
programs. It offers a diverse array of programs, with
Internal Medicine being the largest with 30 residents and
it ranks in the 99 th percentile of programs by the American
College of Physicians. The Colorectal Surgery program is
the second largest such program in the United States.
Although the programs share
some resources with Cleveland
Clinic’s main campus, they are
fully accredited as their own
programs, with Cleveland Clinic
Florida being the sponsoring institution.
The Chairman of Graduate
Medical Education and the
Designated Institutional Official
is Eric G. Weiss, MD (CRS’94).
Eric G. Weiss, MD
Training programs offered
include Colorectal Surgery; Colorectal Surgery Research;
Electrodiagnostic Medicine (Fellowship); Internal Medicine;
Minimally Invasive and Bariatric Surgery (Fellowship);
Minimally Invasive and Bariatric Surgery Research
Fellowship; Movement Disorders (Fellowship); Sports
Medicine and Adult Reconstruction (Fellowship); Neurology;
Plastic Surgery; Urogynecology/Reconstructive Pelvic
Surgery (Fellowship); Vascular Neurology (Fellowship);
Voiding Dysfunction and Female Urology (Fellowship);
Orthopaedics Research (Fellowship); Cardiology (Fellowship);
Nephrology (Fellowship); Gastroenterology (Fellowship);
and Geriatrics (Fellowship).
About 150 medical students participate in training each
year, as well as 95 to 120 observers.
The total number of graduates by programs up to June
2008:
Accredited Programs
Colorectal Surgery – 54
Internal Medicine – 84 + 9 chief residents
Neurology – 15
Cardiology – 6
Nephrology – 3
Gastroenterology – 2
Geriatrics - 2
Plastic Surgery – 4
Non Accredited – Advanced Fellowship Programs – 75
Highlights of Cleveland Clinic Florida’s Program include:
1988: Cleveland Clinic Florida opens as the first medical
center in Broward County committed to research and
education as well as patient care. An Institutional Review
Board (IRB) is established to monitor the ethical and scientific
aspects of clinical research projects.
1989: Colorectal surgery residency program established as
first in Florida and first specialty training program of any
kind in Broward County.
1990: First international colorectal surgery symposium
held. It quickly became the largest annual colorectal
course in North America, every year attracting almost
1,000 participants from more than 50 countries.
1991: A. Lorraine & Sigmund Goldblatt Medical Library
opens as first medical library in Broward County available
to the public. Cleveland Clinic Florida begins participation
in cancer research protocols sponsored by the
National Cancer Institute.
1992: Cleveland Clinic Foundation residents begin elective
rotations in Florida. In just four years, the program will
include more than 50 residents in at least 13 specialties.
1993: Cleveland Clinic Florida receives national accreditation
status for continuing medical education courses.
1994: Cleveland Clinic Florida establishes basic science
research program.
1995: Cleveland Clinic Florida internal medicine residency
program begins.
1996: Cleveland Clinic Florida cardiac surgeons pioneer
minimally invasive mitral valve surgery.
1997: Cleveland Clinic Florida chosen as an alternate
training site for students from Ohio State University
School of Medicine.
2001: Cleveland Clinic Florida moves to its new integrated
campus in Weston, including the David G. Jagelman Conference
Center.
2001-2004: Newly accredited residency programs in Internal
Medicine, Neurology, Colorectal Surgery, Cardiology,
Gastroenterology, Plastic Surgery, Geriatrics and Nephrology
get approved by the ACGME.
2004: Cleveland Clinic Florida is ACGME accredited as a
sponsoring institution, the first in Broward County.
Alumni Connection | 11

Appointments
Andrew J. Fishleder,
MD
12 | Alumni Connection
Andrew J. Fishleder, MD (GL-
1’79, LMED’82), previously Chair,
Education Institute, and Executive
Dean, Cleveland Clinic Lerner
College of Medicine, has been
appointed Chief Executive Officer
of Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi, effective
Dec. 1, 2008. Dr. Fishleder
is responsible for the overall operations
at Cleveland Clinic Abu
Dhabi and will be implementing
the systems, procedures, guide-
lines and standards as an extension of Cleveland Clinic’s
model of medicine and clinical capabilities in the Middle
East.
James Young, MD, Chair, Endocrinology
and Metabolism Institute,
become Executive Dean of the
College of Medicine, effective Jan.
1, 2009. Dr. Young will continue
to head the Endocrinology and
Metabolism Institute.
Drs. Young and Fishleder are both
respected physician leaders and
James Young, MD educators in academic medicine.
They bring outstanding vision
and leadership to their new roles and will contribute to
the continued growth and success of the Cleveland Clinic
health system – training the next generation of physicianinvestigators
as well as physicians around the world.
Dr. Fishleder will be back and forth between Abu Dhabi
and Cleveland through May 2009, helping to ensure a
seamless leadership transition at the medical school.
Brian F. Mandell, MD,
PhD, FACR, FACP
Brian F. Mandell, MD, PhD, FACR,
FACP, Vice Chairman of Medicine
for Education and a senior staff
physician in Rheumatology and
Immunologic Diseases, Center
for Vasculitis Care and Research,
will serve as interim Chair of the
Education Institute. Dr. Mandell
joined Cleveland Clinic in 1993.
He earned a doctorate degree in
physiology and biophysics from
Washington University in Saint
Louis and a medical degree from the New York University
School of Medicine. Dr. Mandell is editor-in-chief of the
Cleveland Clinic Journal of Medicine, and is Director of both
the Cleveland Clinic Internal Medicine Residency Program’s
Scholarly Activity Program and the Division of Medicine
Humanities Program. Dr. Mandell has served on and
chaired several national planning and writing committees
and has published more than 100 articles, chapters and
editorials in peer-reviewed publications and textbooks.
Robert R. Lorenz, MD (OTO’02),
Chief Medical Officer of Cleveland
Clinic Abu Dhabi, was
awarded the American Academy
of Otolaryngology Head and
Neck Surgery Honor Award at the
annual meeting in September.
The Academy presents the Honor
Awards to otolaryngologists in
recognition of outstanding ser-
Robert R. Lorenz, MD vice through the presentation of
instructional courses, scientific
papers or participation on a continuing education committee
or faculty. As the Chief Medical Officer of Cleveland
Clinic Abu Dhabi, Dr. Lorenz describes his personal and
professional experience relocating there on his blog:
http://my.clevelandclinic.org/departments/abudhabi/
cmo_blog.aspx
Dr. Lorenz and his alumna wife, Aylin M. Ozdemir-Lorenz,
MD, MBA (RES/CB’99, RES/CA’01), moved to Abu Dhabi
in early September 2008. Previously, he was Head of the
Section of Head and Neck Surgery at Cleveland Clinic
in Cleveland, OH, and his wife was working as a Medical
Science Liaison. “After spending 12 years in Cleveland and
leaving friends, colleagues and a large surgical practice, I
am excited and anxious to make CCAD a humming, busy
hospital of world-renowned medical care,” he says.
Editor’s Note: Visit http://my.clevelandclinic.org/departments/abudhabi/default.aspx
to follow the progress at Cleveland
Clinic Abu Dhabi.
J. Michael Henderson,
MD
J. Michael Henderson, MD, was
appointed Chief Quality Officer in
January 2009. Dr. Henderson has
served as Chairman of the Quality
& Patient Safety Institute since
2006. “Although Mike’s responsibilities
will stay the same, this
new title more accurately reflects
his role and the important contributions
he has made to quality
improvement and patient safety
initiatives,” says Chief of Staff Jo-

seph Hahn, MD. “It also emphasizes our institution’s commitment
to quality.” There is a growing trend in healthcare
organizations nationwide to use Chief Quality Officer as
the formal title for individuals who provide leadership,
direction and oversight to clinical quality, quality performance
improvement and patient safety programs. Dr.
Henderson joined Cleveland Clinic in 1992 and has served
in numerous roles, including Director of the Transplant
Center and Chairman of General Surgery. He maintains his
surgical practice because he believes “quality and safety are
all about our patients.” He has increased Cleveland Clinic’s
visibility in quality at the state and national level as a member
of the Ohio Department of Health Advisory Council for
Hospital Quality Measures and the American College of
Surgeons Advisory Board for the National Surgical Quality
Improvement Program.
Institute Appointments
Daniel F. Martin, MD
Daniel F. Martin, MD, a distinguished
ophthalmologist and
leading researcher in major causes
of age-related vision loss, has
been appointed chairman of the
Cleveland Clinic Cole Eye Institute
effective Dec. 1, 2008. Interim
Chairman Andrew Schachat, MD,
remains with Cole Eye Institute as
Vice Chair of Clinical Affairs.
Dr. Martin comes to Cleveland
from Emory University in Atlanta, where he held an endowed
professorship and was director of the retina service.
He will lead a comprehensive eye institute that handles
150,000 patient visits each year, offering services in ophthalmology
and optometry, in addition to a significant
research program.
“Over the past 15 years, Dr. Martin has established deep
expertise in the treatment of age-related macular degeneration
(AMD) and has become the foremost authority on the
design and execution of clinical research in this area,” says
Joseph Hahn, MD, Cleveland Clinic Chief of Staff.
Dr. Martin is chairman of a 45-site, 1,200-patient clinical
trial comparing the effectiveness of two leading drugs used
in the treatment of AMD. He has served as the study chairman
for six other multi-center randomized trials, including
studies that led to FDA approval of the drug and implantable
drug delivery system that is the standard of care for
treating CMV retinitis in AIDS patients.
Dr. Martin also has served as principal investigator for
more than 25 clinical trials and has significant experience
serving on clinical trial steering committees, as well as data
and safety monitoring boards.
He has published more than 80 peer-reviewed articles and
delivered more than 170 lectures by invitation. He has
received numerous awards, including the 2004 Rosenthal
Award from the Macula Society for outstanding contributions
to the field, a 2007 Honor Award from the American
Society of Retina Specialists and a 2007 Senior Honor
Award from the American Academy of Ophthalmology
Dr. Martin is a graduate of the Johns Hopkins University
School of Medicine. He completed his ophthalmology residency
at Emory University School of Medicine, where he
was chief resident. He completed a fellowship in vitreoretinal
surgery and diseases at Duke University Medical Center
and a fellowship in ocular immunology and uveitis at the
National Institutes of Health.
Dr. Martin replaces Hilel Lewis, MD, who left in January
2008, after 15 years as chairman.
Eric A. Klein, MD
Eric A. Klein, MD (U’86), has been
appointed Chairman of the Glickman
Urological & Kidney Institute.
Dr. Klein has served as interim
Chair since the passing of Andrew
C. Novick, MD (U’77), in October.
Dr. Klein, a 19-year Cleveland
Clinic veteran, will lead one of
the country’s top urological and
kidney programs in the new Glickman
Tower, which was unveiled in
September 2008.
“As a national and international expert in his field, Eric
is well-positioned to further expand the institute’s reputation
for medical and surgical advancements while fostering
an environment of collaboration,” says Joseph Hahn,
MD, Chief of Staff. “Eric brings a wealth of medical and
research experience and expertise to this position, which
will benefit the highly-ranked Glickman Urological & Kidney
Institute.”
Dr. Klein is a leader in the biology and management
of prostate cancer. His clinical area of interest is urologic
oncology, including cancers of the prostate, bladder,
testis and kidney; he also is highly regarded for his surgical
finesse in reconstructive procedures. Throughout his career,
he has been recognized with numerous awards from
continued on page 14
Alumni Connection | 13

Appointments (continued)
organizations like the American Cancer Society,
Washington University in St. Louis, the University of
Pittsburgh School of Medicine and Cleveland Clinic, and
he has been included among the Best Doctors in America
for several years.
Sarah Sinclair, MBA,
RN
14 | Alumni Connection
Sarah Sinclair, MBA, RN, has been
appointed Executive Chief Nursing
Officer of the Cleveland Clinic
health system, effective Feb. 1,
2009. A healthcare executive with
more than 25 years of executive
leadership, she will oversee and
integrate nursing throughout the
enterprise in this newly created
role. Sinclair comes from Memorial
Hermann Health System in
Houston, Texas, where she served
as System Chief Patient Care Officer. “Sarah touts an
impressive history of executive leadership and strategic
planning,” says Joseph Hahn, MD, Chief of Staff. “She has
broad-based experience in multi-hospital systems and
networks and has led numerous community initiatives to
enhance healthcare delivery.” Sinclair was responsible for
patient care, critical care services, organizational effectiveness,
emergency services and other services at Memorial
Hermann, an 11-hospital health system serving the Greater
Houston area. As the first system chief patient care officer
in the hospital system, she led initiatives that resulted in
annual savings of more than $12 million.
Debra Albert, MSN, MBA, RN NEA-BC, who had served as
interim Chief Nursing Officer at Cleveland Clinic’s main
campus since late summer following the departure of CNO
Claire Young, has been named CNO, Main Campus, and
Chair of the Nursing Institute on Main Campus.
Department Appointments
Laurence Kennedy, MD, FRCP, Professor and Chief of the
Division of Endocrinology at the University of Florida, has
been named Chair of the Department of Endocrinology,
Diabetes and Metabolism. Dr. Kennedy attended medical
school at Queen’s University in Northern Ireland and completed
a research fellowship in the Division of Endocrinology
at the University of Florida. Dr. Kennedy was elected as
the inaugural Nordisk Irish Endocrine Society Lecturer, the
highest accolade of the Irish Endocrine Society.
John Hickner, MD,
MSc
John Hickner, MD, MSc, Professor
and Vice Chair of the Department
of Family Medicine at the University
of Chicago’s Department of
Family Medicine, has been named
Chair of the Department of Family
Medicine at Cleveland Clinic. Dr.
Hickner served as director of the
American Academy of Family Physicians
National Research Network
and has a distinguished history of
research journal appointments.
Dr. Hickner attended Indiana University Medical School
and completed his residency at the Medical University of
South Carolina.
Jeremy Rich, MD, has been named
chair of the newly created Department
of Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative
Medicine in the Lerner
Research Institute. Dr. Rich will
build upon Lerner Research Institute’s
adult stem cell research and
regenerative medicine program,
and lead a team of investigators
conducting basic research and its
Jeremy Rich, MD
translation into clinical practice.
The research may one day lead to
the development of adult stem cell treatments for heart disease,
leukemia, diabetes and neurodegenerative diseases.
The new department will be actively involved in the Cleveland
Center for Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine, of
which Dr. Rich will serve as co-director, and the Clevelandbased
National Center for Regenerative Medicine.

Paul DiCorleto, PhD, Chair of Cleveland Clinic’s Lerner
Research Institute, said Third Frontier funding from the
State of Ohio was integral in the establishment of the
department and recruitment of Dr. Rich. Ohio’s first grant
to the Cleveland Center for Stem Cell and Regenerative
Medicine in 2003 supported the construction of Dr. Rich’s
new laboratory space.
As a renowned researcher who investigates cancer stem
cells in brain tumors and novel treatments aimed at slowing
brain tumor growth, Dr. Rich will be recruiting faculty
over the next five years to build a department of about 100
new employees.
Dr. Rich comes from Duke University Medical Center in
Durham, NC, where he was Associate Professor in the
Department of Medicine’s Division of Neurology, Associate
Professor in the Department of Pharmacology and Cancer
Biology and Associate Professor in the Department of Surgery.
He received his medical degree from Duke University
School of Medicine, and had clinical training in neurology
at Johns Hopkins University.
Richard D. Parker, MD, has been
named Chair of the Department of
Orthopaedic Surgery, as of Dec. 10,
2008. Dr. Parker has been a Cleveland
Clinic staff member since
1992 and has held leadership roles
in both the Department of Orthopaedic
Surgery and the Sports
Health Center. He is the head team
physician for the Cleveland Cava-
Richard D. Parker, MD liers and is director of education
for Sports Health. Dr. Parker also
has been a professor of surgery for the Cleveland Clinic
Lerner College of Medicine since 2005. He is well-known
for his expertise in sports medicine and knee surgery.
The Youngstown native completed medical school at Ohio
State University in 1981 and served an orthopedic surgery
residency at Mt. Sinai Medical Center in Cleveland. He
completed a sports medicine fellowship in 1987 before
joining the staff at Mt. Sinai.
Dr. Parker called his new post “a tremendous opportunity
for me to be able help the Cleveland Clinic health system
orthopedists find common ground to build relationships
as well as continue innovative and quality care throughout
the region.”
Feza Remzi, MD,
FACS, FASCRS
Feza Remzi, MD, FACS, FASCRS
(S’96, CRS’97), has been named
Chair of the Department of Colorectal
Surgery. Dr. Remzi was appointed
a staff colorectal surgeon
in 1997 and was awarded the Ed
and Joey Story Endowed Chair in
Colorectal Surgery in 2007. Dr.
Remzi graduated from the Hacettepe
University School of Medicine
in Ankara, Turkey, and completed
his residency at Cleveland Clinic.
Dr. Remzi performed the world’s first single-port laparoscopic
colon resection entirely through a single incision in
the navel in 2007.
Jaroslaw Maciejewski,
MD, PhD
Jaroslaw Maciejewski, MD, PhD,
has been appointed Chair of the
newly created Department of
Translational Hematologic and
Oncologic Research. Dr. Maciejewski,
who has been a staff
member in the Taussig Cancer Institute
for several years, is respected
internationally as an authority
on myelodysplastic syndrome,
pre-leukemic states and molecular
prognostication. He holds in ex-
cess of $10 million in peer-reviewed grants, has published
definitive manuscripts in many highly cited journals, is on
the editorial board of the journal Blood and has mentored
a large cadre of translational researchers. His appointment
represents another opportunity for the Taussig Cancer Institute
to evolve its research agenda and to provide an even
higher level of care and translational research for patients.
Alumni Connection | 15

The MyPractice Community:
Electronic Medical Record System for Private Practice
President Barack Obama has mandated making our
country’s healthcare system safer, more affordable
and more accessible through the use of information
technology.
In particular, he has called for most Americans to have
electronic health records within the next 10 years and for
the development of an Internet-based Nationwide Health
Information Network to connect patients, practitioners
and payers. These initiatives will reduce redundancies
and save administrative time, and could also improve the
safety and quality of care.
On Aug. 8, 2006, the U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services (HHS) published final regulations concerning
the use of electronic prescriptions and electronic
medical records (EMRs). HHS did so in a two-step rulemaking,
creating regulatory exceptions to Stark through
a rulemaking by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid
Services (CMS) and comparable safe harbors to the Anti-
Kickback Statute through a separate rulemaking by the
HHS Office of Inspector General (OIG). This allowed Cleveland
Clinic’s health system to dramatically reduce the cost
of implementing an EMR.
Cleveland Clinic has been implementing an EMR (Epic)
for nine years and has begun offering community physicians
the ability to use it. We call this MyPractice Community.
The program has been in place for about two-anda-half
years. It has been implemented in more than 45
practices consisting of approximately 185 providers, 141
residents and almost 1,000 users in Northeast Ohio.
The MyPractice Community (EMR) medical record
system comprises an integrated suite of software modules
created by Epic ® Systems, a recognized leader in healthcare
information technology systems. (Epic Systems is
certified by the Certification Commission for Healthcare
Information Technology [CCHIC] and ranked number
one in the Ambulatory EMR category of the “KLAS 2007
Year-End Top 20.”) The product of years of refinement,
the MyPractice Community system is a specially designed
expression of the same EMR system used in all Cleveland
Clinic facilities.
16 | Alumni Connection
MyPractice Community allows private practice physicians
access to their entire practice from any Internet connection.
All patient information, test results, orders, progress
notes, medications and treatment plans are available
with just a login name and password. Best of all, because
MyPractice Community is an integrated EMR system, it
can connect all the members of a care team in a single,
efficient environment.
MyPractice Community has been developed specifically
for the private practice physician. It is affordable, efficient
and supported by an experienced team of health information
technology professionals dedicated to delivering
reliable EMR tools.
Advantage
When you think of EMR technology, you probably think
of up-to-date patient charting that is always available and
is never misplaced, illegible and incomplete. And while
accessing messages, documents, lab results and other
orders are the foundation of the MyPractice Community
system’s value, the system’s true power is its integrated
suite of functions, all designed to support the full range of
tasks performed in private practices every day.
Unlike other EMR systems, MyPractice Community comes
pre-populated with patient data. If your patient has ever
been treated anywhere within the Cleveland Clinic system,
the information is already there, giving you the reliable,
accurate records you need to make the best decisions.
Functionality
MyPractice Community leverages the power of health information
technology to align every aspect of a busy practice’s
workflow. Its suite of EMR functionalities includes:
• Patient information integrated with the entire
MyPractice Community users environment
• Outpatient encounter documentation, outpatient
progress notes and inpatient visits
• In-basket electronic results
• Medications
• Problem lists
• Smart Links: data linked to patient and Smart Phrases,
which are commonly used words and phrases
• Smart Text: commonly asked questions and documentation
templates

• Letter templates
• Interfaced dictation
• Remote access with security token
Connectivity
MyPractice Community is pre-loaded with 100+ million
data elements related to approximately 5 million patients,
providing comprehensive patient histories upon which to
build ongoing treatment strategies. Because MyPractice
Community is a secure, HIPAA-compliant system, only
medical professionals actively participating in a patient’s
care can access medical information, creating a true “care
team” environment that focuses on aligning resources.
MyPractice Community also is connected to Cleveland
Clinic Health system laboratories and radiology services
and most major pharmacy outlets. MyPractice Community
is connected to the following transcription companies:
• C-Bay Transcription Services
• Premier Office Technologies, Inc.
• Spheris
Pricing
As reported by independent researchers, initial EMR
technology system costs for private community physician
practices commonly amount to $44,000 or more per physician
(or nurse practitioner) user, with ongoing yearly costs
of about $8,400 per physician. Due to regulatory changes
designed to facilitate the broad adoption of EMR technology
across the U.S., healthcare provider organizations are
now able to provide technology solutions to physicians
in private practice at substantially discounted prices. In
compliance with these new federal regulations, the price of
installing and using MyPractice Community in a practice
is substantially less than many comparable EMR systems
presently available.
If you have considered implementing an EMR system,
please take some time to review MyPractice Community.
Representatives are prepared to review the pricing structure
of the service at the time of a scheduled, in-office system
demonstration, or you may call 216.738.4617 to speak
to a MyPractice Community representative today.
Star Comes to Cleveland
On Thursday, Nov. 20, the day of the local premiere
of his new movie Seven Pounds, actor Will Smith
spent part of the morning with patients and families
at Cleveland Clinic Children’s Hospital. Smith
passed out copies of an assortment of movies and
stuffed animals, and signed autographs. He also
posed for individual photographs with patients and
visited rooms of children who were unable to gather
in the M30 playroom.
In addition, the Will and Jada Smith Family Foundation
presented Children’s Hospital Chairman
Robert Wyllie, MD, with a $5,000 donation.
Alumni Connection | 17

Tribute (continued from page 1)
Dr. Fazio, who holds the Rupert B. Turnbull, MD, Chair in
Colorectal Surgery, is among the highest-regarded colorectal
surgeons in the world. He was named chairman of the
Digestive Disease Institute in January 2008, after chairing
the Department of Colorectal Surgery for 33 years.
His wife, Carolyn, had fun helping the event planners keep
him in the dark until the last minute.
“He saw that the program said ‘Bust Presentation,’ followed
by dinner and then ‘Remarks and Special Tribute.’
I told him the second tribute was just personal video and
speech tributes because a lot of people had more to say. He
didn’t realize what was going on until the announcement
was actually made, then he started scribbling notes on
what he could say. I told him to stop because he couldn’t
really be prepared for such a thing!” Mrs. Fazio recalls. “He
was quite overwhelmed.”
The Laparoscopic Colorectal Surgery Course/Turnbull
Symposium is a four-day educational activity comprising
a two-day Laparoscopic Colorectal Surgery Course and a
two-day Turnbull Symposium presented by the Department
of Colorectal Surgery.
James M. Church, MD (CRS’84), Director of the David G.
Jagelman Inherited Colon Cancer Registries and Head of
the Section of Endoscopy, says he wanted to use this year’s
Turnbull Symposium as an occasion for honoring Dr.
Fazio’s long tenure as Chairman of Colorectal Surgery.
“He has affected the lives of generations upon generations
of fellows who have studied under him, and they, in turn,
went out and trained others, who then trained others,” Dr.
Church says. “His legacy is one of generations of colorectal
surgeons in the U.S. and abroad.”
Pictured at the event, from left, are Jefferson “Jeff” B. Hurley, MD (CRS’99), Dallas, TX; A.
Gerald Frost, MD (S’81, CRS’82), Norristown, PA; Ziad N. Kutayli, MD (SP’03), Columbus, OH;
Ian C. Lavery, MD (CRS’76, CF’77), Staff; Charles “Chuck” C. Gardner, Jr., MD (CRS’82), Fort
Wayne, IN; Kirk A. Ludwig, MD (CRS’96), Milwaukee, WI; Harry L. Reynolds, MD (CRS’96),
Cleveland, OH; and Lynda S. Dougherty, MD (CRS’99), Fairfax, VA.
18 | Alumni Connection
Dr. and Mrs. Fazio with sons Victor and David and daughter
Jane.
“We held a special outreach to invite past fellows to attend.
About 80 came and presented at the meeting,” he
continues. “The Gala Dinner, where we announced the
tribute, was really the highlight of it all.”
Among the many people who rose to speak in honor of Dr.
Fazio were Cleveland Clinic CEO Toby Cosgrove, MD, and
Joseph Hahn, MD, Chief of Staff, Trustee Sam Miller and
Phil Douglas, MD, from Australia.
During his tenure as Chairman, Dr. Fazio maintained
the pre-eminence of Cleveland Clinic’s colorectal surgery
program, expanding it from four surgeons to 18. He
has pioneered numerous surgical techniques, many of
which have changed the course of colorectal surgery as
they have been adopted by surgeons around the globe.
He has published hundreds of papers, book chapters and
presentations, as well as writing and delivering numerous
presentations. He received the Alumni Association’s
Distinguished Alumnus Award in 2005.
His commitment to his patients
remains the most noteworthy
aspect of his career, however.
As a result, he has won much
praise from people who received
help from him when there was
no other help available. His
compassion for patients is a
large part of the reason he was
the first holder of Cleveland
Clinic’s Master Clinician Award
in 1992 and was the first recipient
of the Alfred and Norma
Lerner Humanitarian Award.

Dr. Fazio has been very involved in securing philanthropic
support for his program and his participation
has resulted in the establishment of more endowed
chairs than all but one department at Cleveland Clinic.
This tribute project will formally link his name to the areas
in which he has made such an incredible impact. The
Victor Fazio, MD Center for IBD will, in perpetuity, support
the education of future specialists in irritable bowel
disease through clinical and research fellowships and
the investigation of clinical outcomes as well as basic and
translational research focused on the role of genetics.
In addition, the opening of new facilities on Cleveland
Clinic’s main campus allows the Digestive Disease Institute
to move to operating rooms formerly belonging
to cardiac surgery. Dr. Fazio has wanted to update and
enhance the rooms’ capabilities to allow for a full suite
of operating rooms designed specifically for Digestive
Disease Institute surgeons. The Victor W. Fazio, MD,
Digestive Disease Institute Surgical Suites will include
state-of-the-art equipment to make this dream possible.
Other highlights of the symposium included several
new features:
• Registrant’s Choice: One session was reserved for
speakers and topics chosen by registrants via an
email survey.
• Adventures with Alumni: Two sessions of “Colorectal
Jeopardy” featuring alumni and staff teams attempting
to answer a series of questions based on challenging
cases.
• Fazio’s Favorites: Four 30-minute lectures by the two
guest speakers on topics close to Dr. Fazio’s heart.
• Research Forum: An opportunity to hear about the
groundbreaking research being conducted by the
Digestive Disease Institute at Cleveland Clinic.
• History of the Department of Colorectal Surgery: An
informative lecture by the department’s historian,
James Wu, MD.
• The Turnbull Oration: Given by Dr. Fazio.
To Help: Anyone who wishes to contribute to
the Victor Fazio, MD, Tribute Fund, can contact
Diane Tomer at 216.445.8540 or tomerd@
ccf.org. Her mailing address is 9500 Euclid
Avenue/A30, Cleveland, Ohio 44195.
Event Faculty
Many colorectal surgeons who trained under Dr. Fazio participated in the
events held in his honor.
Christine M. Bartus, MD (CRS’05)
Connecticut Surgical Group
West Hartford, CT
Carol A. Burke, MD (GE’93)
Gastroenterology, Cleveland Clinic
James M. Church, MD, FRACS,
FACS (CRS’84)
Vice-Chairman, Colorectal Surgery,
Cleveland Clinic
Conor Patrick Delaney, MB,
BCh, BAO, MCh, PhD, FRCSI(Gen),
FACS (CRS’00)
University Hospitals of Cleveland
David W. Dietz, MD
(S’95, CRILE’97, S’00, CRS’01)
Colorectal Surgery, Cleveland Clinic
Henry W. Eisenberg, MD (CRS’73)
Cleveland State University Health
Thomas E. Garofalo, MD (CRS’02)
Colorectal Surgery, Cleveland Clinic
Brooke H. Gurland, MD (FCCRS’01)
Colorectal Surgery, Cleveland Clinic
Tracy L. Hull, MD
(CRS’92, CFCRS’93)
Colorectal Surgery, Cleveland Clinic
Ian Trevor Jones, MD
(CRS’85, RES’85)
Royal Melbourne &
Western Hospitals
Parkville, Victoria, Australia
Matthew F. Kalady, MD (CRS’06)
Colorectal Surgery, Cleveland Clinic
Hermann Kessler, MD, PhD
(RESCRS’98)
Professor of Surgery
University of Erlangen-Nürnberg
Erlangen, Germany
P. Ravi Kiran, MD
(RESCRS’02, CRS’07)
Colorectal Surgery, Cleveland Clinic
Ira J. Kodner, MD (CRS’75)
Washington University of St Louis
Frontenac, MO
Ian C. Lavery, MD (CRS’76, CF’77)
Colorectal Surgery, Cleveland Clinic
Patrick Y. H. Lee, MD (CRS’95)
Surgical Specialty Group, PC
Portland, OR
David S. Medich, MD (CRS’94)
Allegheny General Hospital
Pittsburgh, PA
James I. Merlino, MD (CRS’05)
MetroHealth Medical Center
Cleveland, OH
Jeff Milsom, MD
(Former staff, ’90-’98)
Section Chief of Colon and Rectal
Surgery
The Jerome J. DeCosse Professor of
Colon and Rectal Surgery
Weill Medical College of Cornell
University
Joseph M. Payne, MD (CRS’90)
Wilmington Health Associates
Wilmington, NC
John A. Procaccino, MD (CRS’90)
North Shore University Hospital
Manhasset, NY
Feza H. Remzi, MD (S’96, CRS’97)
Colorectal Surgery, Cleveland Clinic
Harry L. Reynolds, MD (CRS’96)
University Hospitals of Cleveland
David E. Stein, MD (CRS’03)
Drexel University College of
Medicine
Merion Station, PA
Scott A. Strong, MD (CRS’92)
Colorectal Surgery, Cleveland Clinic
Wayne B. Tuckson, MD
(RES’88, CRS’89)
Kentuckiana C&R Surgical
Louisville, KY
Jon D. Vogel, MD (CRS’05)
Colorectal Surgery, Cleveland Clinic
M. Jonathan Worsey, MD
(CRS’98)
Advanced Surgical Associates of
San Diego, San Diego, CA
Christopher J. Young, MD
(CRS/A’99)
Royal Prince Alfred Hospital
Medical Center
Newtown, NSW, Australia
Massarat Zutshi, MD (CRS’05)
Colorectal Surgery, Cleveland Clinic
Alumni Connection | 19

Focus on Institutes
The Digestive Disease Institute
The Digestive Disease Institute is one of 16 new clinical institutes
at Cleveland Clinic that were formed by bundling
multiple specialties together based on specific organ and
disease states. The Digestive Disease Institute includes
the liver transplant team, the nutrition support team and
upper gastrointestinal surgery – along with the former Digestive
Disease Center’s departments of colorectal surgery
and gastroenterology and hepatology. The Institute is led
by Victor W. Fazio, MD (S’73, CRS’74).
This close-knit team of healthcare providers draws on
each other’s strengths and experience. As a result of this
integration, they offer patients the most advanced, safest
and proven treatments performed in the most effective
and convenient way. Creation of the Digestive Disease
Institute also offers exciting advantages and unmatched
opportunities for research and physician education.
Digestive Disease Institute outcomes are driven by an
unrelenting pursuit to continuously raise the standards
of patient-centered care. For example, the Institute’s morbidity
and mortality rates are low or lower than national
averages for many digestive diseases, and cure rates for
colorectal cancer are well above the national average.
In addition, innovation, research and patient satisfaction
results have been instrumental in the program being
ranked in 2008 as No. 2 in digestive diseases in the nation
by US News & World Report for the sixth straight year.
20 | Alumni Connection
2007 Digestive Disease
Institute Statistics
Total Patient Visits: 92,493
Total New Patients: 3,899
Admissions: 3,829
Patient Days: 28,179
ALOS: 7.36
Total Endoscopic Procedures: 24,853
Total MIS Cases: 425
Total Inpatient Surgical Cases: 3,689
Capabilities: Digestive Disease Institute Key Specialties
Digestive Disease Institute doctors are among the most
active in the country in utilizing capsule endoscopy, a
technique that has proven invaluable in the evaluation of
patients with occult gastrointestinal bleeding, polyps of
the small intestine, small intestine tumors and inflammatory
bowel disease.
The Center for Swallowing and Esophageal Disorders
maintains the largest non-VA hospital registry in the
United States, following more than 800 patients – nearly
25 percent are women – with Barrett’s esophagus.
The surgeons have extensive experience with relatively
uncommon hepatobiliary procedures including resection
of benign and malignant liver tumors, laparoscopic radiofrequency
ablation for inoperable liver tumors and portal
hypertension surgery.
Due to participation in clinical trials and the excellent outcome
of surgical cases, we receive increasing worldwide
referrals, particularly for complex IBD cases.
Our colorectal surgeons are highly experienced in laparoscopic
procedures, having performed more than 2,100
laparoscopic intestinal resections and currently averaging
eight to 10 cases each week.
About 260 operations are performed annually to treat
Crohn’s disease.
An average of 20 patients a week from around the United
States and other countries are seen at our Pouchitis Clinic
– the first of its kind in the nation.
Our liver transplant program is one of the nation’s largest,
performing 148 liver transplants in 2007.
We performed our first adult intestinal transplantation
in June 2008, becoming one of only a few hospitals in the
country that perform adult intestinal transplants.
The Nutrition Support Team offers comprehensive care
for one of the largest cohorts of home parenteral nutrition
patients in the nation. Enteral nutrition is provided
to patients with functioning GI tract issues, but who also
require a feeding tube.

Letters to the Editor
Dr. Sheldon Grateful for Alumni Award
Words are simply inadequate to express my appreciation
for the honor that the Cleveland Clinic Alumni Board
bestowed upon me with the 2008 Distinguished Alumnus
Award (Cover story, Alumni Connection fall issue). The occasion
was, thanks to the Alumni Relations staff, my wife
and several friends, a complete surprise. I never dreamed
of receiving the Distinguished Alumnus Award, and am
proud and humbled to be included among the list of previous
distinguished recipients.
Dr. Sheldon’s book Pathfinders
of the Heart – The History of
Cardiology at the Cleveland
Clinic, is published by Xlibris
Corp. (www.xlibris.com) and
is available at many local
bookstores and at www.
amazon.com. To purchase an
autographed hardbound or
paperback copy of the book,
contact alumni@ccf.org.
Needless to say, the experience on the evening of Sept.
26 was exhilarating. It was wonderful to see so many old
friends, former fellows and colleagues. It was especially
heartwarming to be able to share the experience with my
sons Scott and John and close friends Bill Proudfit and
Earl Shirey. The venue and the dinner were marvelous and
the planning superb.
I hope this letter may also convey my sincerest thanks to
the members of the Alumni Board and all those in attendance.
I would also especially like to take this opportunity
to publicly acknowledge all those who took the time to call
or send me their personal congratulations.
William C. Sheldon, MD (CD’62)
Winner of the 2008 Distinguished Alumnus Award
First DO Resident Shares His Memories
I see my name mentioned in the Alumni Connection (Fall
2008) as the first DO to train at Cleveland Clinic starting as
a straight medicine intern in July 1970. Paul M. Wolfson,
DO (GL-1’71, IM’72), and I started together, he having just
graduated from Chicago College of Osteopathy and I just
finished a DO internship at Chicago after graduating from
CCO the year before. Penn Skillern, MD, an endocrinologist,
was our champion for training at that level. Previ-
ously, DOs had been trained at the post-fellowship level for
months or a year.
After my fourth year at Cleveland
Clinic, I moved to The Marshfield
Clinic in Wisconsin, where I have
practiced infectious disease for
more than 34 years. This includes
decades as Chairman of Infection
Control at St. Joseph Hospital,
President of the Marshfield Clinic
Research Foundation in 1984 and,
presently, numerous phase II & III
Ray C. Haselby, DO
vaccine studies, a Clinical Professor
of UW Madison Medical School, Department Chair
for 11 years and a current project in collaboration with
Timothy Lyden, PhD, of UW River Falls of growing cancers
on three-dimensional scaffolding. Richard A. Dart, MD
(IM’71, H/N’73), a nephrologist who trained at Cleveland
Clinic, came to Marshfield upon completion of his training
the year before I did and was instrumental in my coming
to The Marshfield Clinic. When I started at Cleveland, he
was my senior resident! Ray A. Van Ommen, MD (IM’51),
and Marty McHenry, MD, were my mentors in ID, along
with Dr. Tom Gavin in microbiology. What impressed me
were patients came in in-extremis, say with meningitis, and
commonly completely recovered.
About 6 years ago, the ID department recruited Rana M.
Nasser, MD (IM’94, ID’96), and her husband, Camille F.
Torbey, MD (GE’95), a GI specialist, both Cleveland Clinic
alumni. Previously, Robert H. Winemiller, MD (IM’65,
H/N’68), and Thomas F. Nikolai, MD (IM’62, END’63), were
long-time Marshfield Clinic doctors who were Cleveland
Clinic-trained. The Marshfield Clinic has had good luck
with Cleveland Clinic-trained physicians.
As for me, the breadth and depth of pathology I encountered
in Cleveland was a real eye-opener and prepared
me well. The similar set-up of a group practice was to
my liking, and the opportunity to practice sophisticated
medicine in a rural setting has kept me here. This includes
seven kids, the planting of 70,000 trees in a hobby farm setting
and a city home in downtown Minneapolis. Cleveland
Clinic and its initiative to take DOs was a seminal event for
me and literally changed my life.
Ray C. Haselby, DO (Gl-1’71, IM’72, ID’74)
Infectious Disease Chairman, Marshfield Clinic
Clinical Professor, University of Wisconsin
Madison School of Medicine, Marshfield, WI
Alumni Connection | 21

Letters (continued)
Osteopathic Physician Thankful to Cleveland Clinic
I was in the Heart Failure/Transplant Fellowship at
Cleveland Clinic from 2005 to 2006 in the Department of
Cardiovascular Medicine. I was fortunate to be mentored
by the best transplant cardiologists and cardiothoracic
surgeons, in my opinion. Being trained through a traditional
osteopathic route from internship, residency
and fellowship, and then coming to Cleveland Clinic for
advanced fellowship training not only broadened my
medical education and knowledge, but also opened vast
opportunities for me in the cardiology field. At first, I was
apprehensive about coming to Cleveland Clinic since
most of the Cardiovascular Medicine fellows had extensive,
renowned pedigrees in their residency, compared to
my own residency.
But because of my excellent and solid osteopathic background,
I quickly overcame my apprehension and was
able to adapt, function and gain respect and confidence
from my preceptors during my fellowship.
I feel that Cleveland Clinic has always recognized the valuable
contributions osteopathic physicians have brought to
Northeast Ohio and the rest of the country. I truly believe
that it is not the DO designation that Cleveland Clinic
recognizes but the individual who stands behind the
degree who has strived to bring recognition, knowledge
and respect for the advancement of our profession. This is
what I believe Cleveland Clinic has always recognized and
has contributed to the many young osteopathic physicians
in training entering its doors.
I feel that my mentors should be recognized for their
efforts and acknowledged for their contributions in
training me and other osteopathic physicians. Kudos to
Randall Starling, MD, David Taylor, MD, Wilson Tang, MD
(CARD’03, C/HFT’04), and the staff of Heart Failure Division
at Cleveland Clinic.
Kenneth P. Dizon, DO (C/HFT’06)
North Phoenix Heart Center, Phoenix, AZ
Dr. Einstein’s Help Still Appreciated
I am writing in response to the recent feature in Alumni
Connection concerning osteopathic physician education at
Cleveland Clinic.
I was a fourth-year medical student when I rotated
through Radiology at Cleveland Clinic in December 1996.
22 | Alumni Connection
I knew at that time that I wanted a career in radiology but
was unclear as to where to go. Radiology was and is a very
competitive specialty, and it is very difficult for DOs to get
opportunities at world-class institutions.
Radiology was in the midst of a transition from a straight
four-year residency to requiring a one-year preliminary
internship. I am from Michigan, and in Michigan, osteopathic
physicians were required to complete an American
Osteopathic Association-approved internship to qualify
for licensure. Cleveland Clinic had, unfortunately, decided
to incorporate the preliminary year for radiology into the
residency, thus making it a five-year radiology residency.
It just so happened that one day as I was working in GI
Radiology, one of the residents asked me what I was going
to do. When I replied that I wanted to do Radiology, I was
asked if I had applied to Cleveland Clinic. I said no because
I would not have been able to get my license in my
home state if I did my internship at Cleveland Clinic. We
both agreed that was a shame, and I actually forgot about
the conversation until David M. Einstein, MD (Gl-1’79,
DR’82), spoke with me a few days later. Dr. Einstein was the
residency program director and had overheard my story
that fateful day. He had checked with some of the other
radiologists and residents that I had worked with, and I
guess I must have passed muster. Dr. Einstein informed me
that the decision to include the internship in the residency
was made for the convenience of the residents, certainly
not to exclude anyone. Apparently I had made a favorable
impression and he really thought I should apply to Cleveland
Clinic and I would be free to do my internship in an
AOA-approved program.
Well, the rest is history. In 2002, I graduated from Cleveland
Clinic after serving as Chief Resident and did an Interventional
Neuroradiology Fellowship at McGill University
in Montreal. I am now an Associate Professor of Radiology
at the University of Vermont.
Cleveland Clinic and Dr. Einstein opened the door of opportunity
for my career, and I could not have a more positive
memory of my training. Thank you.
Grant J. Linnell, DO (DR’02)
Associate Professor, Radiology, University of Vermont
Neurointerventional Radiologist,
Fletcher Allen Health Care, Burlington, VT

Owing His Success To Cleveland Clinic Training
I am delighted to have the Alumni Connection come
to my house. I am much honored to have completed
my Internal Medicine residency at Cleveland Clinic in
1993.
I am currently practicing cardiovascular medicine in
Jacksonville, FL. I am married to Dr. Sonnie Kim-
Ashchi, OB/GYN, an alumna of Case Western Reserve
University. God blessed us with four children, the
most recent being twin boys born in 2006.
I was honored to have been selected as the 2007
Florida Osteopathic Medical Association Physician of
the Year. I was also awarded the 2008 Distinguished
Physician Alumnus of the Year from NOVA South Eastern
College of Osteopathic Medicine.
I owe a large part of my success to my solid training at
Cleveland Clinic and I would like to thank my professors
and mentors, including all my attendings and specifically
Jess R. Young, MD (IM’59), Phillip M. Hall, MD
(IM’68, H/N’69, RES’70), and Martin McHenry, MD.
Thank you, Cleveland Clinic, for all you do for humanity
and its health.
Majdi Ashchi, DO, FACC, FSCAI, FABVM (IM’93)
President, First Coast Cardiovascular Institute, PA
Jacksonville, FL
Meads Family Appreciates Article
On behalf of the family of the late Garner B. Meads,
MD, we would like to thank you for the article in the
recent Alumni Connection (Fall 2008 issue) using some
of Dad’s recollections of training with Tommy Jones,
MD. William Proudfit, MD, himself an amazing physician,
was most kind to quote Dad and add insights of
his own.
As a family, we are most appreciative of Dr. Proudfit’s
efforts, as well as yours. The article reflected the excellent
training these great doctors gave and received at
Cleveland Clinic.
Thank you for the honor of seeing our late father in
print.
Marjorie Meads Spencer for Mrs. Garner B. Meads
and Family
Fiscal Fitness
Support Family and Charity
With a Gift from Your IRA
Good news! We have just learned that the extension of the
IRA rollover provision has passed.
This provision allows an owner of a traditional or Roth IRA
to instruct the IRA manager to distribute directly to a public
charity up to $100,000 without the distribution being included
in taxable income, and that distribution will count
toward the IRA owner’s mandatory withdrawal amount.
This extension has been granted until Dec. 31, 2009.
You qualify for a Charitable IRA Rollover if:
• You are age 70 and a half or older
• The cash distribution is made directly to a qualified
charity
• The distribution is $100,000 or less per year
• Your gift is outright (rollovers to a planned gift, such as a
gift annuity or charitable remainder trust, do not qualify)
If you are required to take minimum distributions from
your IRA, you have two options:
1. Keep the distribution and pay taxes. If you reinvest it, you
are subject to market risk.
2. Roll it over directly to Cleveland Clinic and pay no tax
(your gift will go to support your favorite program or area
within Cleveland Clinic, but since the money in your IRA
has never been taxed, you will not be eligible for a charitable
tax deduction).
Or, take away the market risk and support your family at
the same time! By choosing the first option of taking a distribution
and using the after-tax remainder to make a gift
to Cleveland Clinic, you could establish a charitable gift annuity,
which guarantees you income for life. Plus, you may
benefit from partial tax savings.
Check with your legal or financial advisor or call Cleveland
Clinic’s Office of Institutional Development to see which of
these options is right for you and your family.
For further information, please call 800.223.2273 ext. 41251
or 216.444.1251, or email your questions to giftplanning@
ccf.org.
Alumni Connection | 23

Campus Clips
Corrections
We mistakenly excluded the alumnus brother of Roger
F. Classen, DO, from the cover story, “Osteopathic
Physicians Have Long History at Cleveland Clinic and
the “Calabrese Named to Second Chair” article (page
17): Gregory T. Classen, DO, trained at Cleveland Clinic
in Plastic Surgery, 1981–1982.
Apologies, also, to another DO featured: William S.
“Scott” Sheldon was correctly identified as a DO in the
page one article on his father, “Distinguished Alumnus
Award a Surprise for Sheldon,” but the photo ID (page
15) had the wrong degree.
Jay Alberts, PhD, Biomedical Engineering, was awarded
$310,260 over two years for “Online Motor and Cognitive
Analysis System” by the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s
Research in New York , NY.
C. Martin Harris, MD, Chief Information Officer, was appointed
to the Board of Directors of the American Health
Information Community Successor Inc. The new organization
is being established in cooperation with the U.S. Department
of Health and Human Services and will work for
the creation and use of a secure interoperable nationwide
health information system.
Michael Kattan, PhD, Chair of Quantitative Health Sciences,
recently received the Eugene Saenger Distinguished
Service Award from the Society for Medical Decision Making
and was named as a permanent member to the NIH
Epidemiology of Cancer Study Section. Dr. Kattan also will
be editing the forthcoming Encyclopedia of Medical Decision
Making.
Elliot Philipson, MD, Vice Chairman Obstetrics & Gynecology,
co-edited Handbook of Nutrition and Pregnancy (The
Humana Press, Inc., 2008). The book’s 23 chapters provide
a comprehensive overview of the expectant mother’s nutrition
needs and cover a range of topics including obesity,
diabetes and exercise during pregnancy, weight loss surgery,
special diets and nutrition and maternal survival in
the developing world.
Erick Remer, MD, Imaging Institute, will chair the genitourinary/obstetric/gynecologic
radiology section for the 2009
American Roentgen Ray Society meeting. Dr. Remer has
been a subcommittee member for the past several years.
Roy Silverstein, MD, Chairman of the Department of Cell
Biology in the Lerner Research Institute, was invited by
the National Institutes of Health to co-chair a committee
24 | Alumni Connection
on “Vascular Biology/Pathophysiology” at an October 2008
workshop on “Sickle Cell Disease: Clinical Priorities/Clinical
Trials,” in Bethesda, MD.
Carl V. Tyler, MD, a family and geriatric medicine specialist
at Cleveland Clinic’s Fairview Hospital, was one of seven
inductees to the Charles F. Brush High School (Lyndhurst /
South Euclid, OH) Alumni Association’s “Wall of Achievement.”
The purpose of The Wall of Achievement is: “To
recognize and honor graduates of Charles F. Brush High
School who have displayed outstanding achievement in areas
such as leadership, service of the community, service to
Brush High School, humanitarianism, creativity, courage,
and careers which have benefited others.” Also honored
were the top 30 Brush High School seniors based on grade
point average for six semesters of academic work. Dr.
Tyler received his medical degree from Northeastern Ohio
Universities College of Medicine and, after completing his
internship at the University of California, Irvine, graduated
from the family practice residency at Fairview Hospital in
1976. He also holds a masters degree from Case Western
Reserve University, Cleveland.
Brian Wells, MD, MS, Quantitative Health Sciences, won
the Lee B. Lusted Student Prize for Outstanding Presentation
of Research at the Society for Medical Decision Making
Annual Meeting.
Five Cleveland Clinic physicians have been appointed
to new chairs endowed by Cleveland Clinic supporters.
Endowments of the following chairs support research,
education and innovation that will help further medical
progress and improve patient care. William Bingaman, MD
(NS’96), Section Head of the Epilepsy Center, will hold the
Karen and Richard Shusterman Family Endowed Chair,
which supports research, training and education within
the Epilepsy Center. Daniel Clair, MD, Chairman of Vascular
Surgery, will hold the Len Stuart Distinguished Chair in
Vascular Surgery, which will help enhance and expand innovative
educational opportunities in vascular surgery and
provide training for future cardiovascular surgeons. Tomislav
Mihaljevic, MD, Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery,
will hold the Donna and Ken Lewis Endowed Chair in
Cardiothoracic Surgery, which will provide support for
research, education and patient care. Steven Nissen, MD,
Chairman, Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, will
hold the Lewis and Patricia Dickey Chair in Cardiovascular
Research. Stephen Rao, PhD, Director of the Ralph and
Luci Schey Foundation Center for Advanced Cognitive
Function, will hold the Ralph and Luci Schey Endowed
Chair in Cognitive Function, which supports the development
of strategies for understanding changes in cognitive
brain function caused by neurodegenerative diseases and

traumatic brain injuries.
Three Cleveland Clinic researchers are awarded grants to
fund early clinical studies in Translational Science. The
Case Western Reserve University Clinical and Translational
Science Collaborative (CTSC) has announced the recipients
of its 2008 Pilot Project grants. Three of the seven
recipients chosen from among 30 applicants are Cleveland
Clinic researchers with strong inter-institutional and collaborative
studies:
• W. H. Wilson Tang, MD (CARD’03, C/HFT’04), Cardiovascular
Medicine and Genomic Medicine Institute,
“Understanding Disease Progression in Inherited
Cardiomyopathies: Detection and Longitudinal Monitoring
of Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy in Heterozygous
MYBPC3 Mutation Carriers in the Geauga County Amish
Community.”
• John Kirwan, PhD, Gastroenterology & Hepatology and
Pathobiology, “Insulin Resistance: Detection of Hepatocellular
Lipid Sub-Species by Magnetic Resonance
Spectroscopy.”
• Donna Hansel, MD, PhD, Glickman Urological and
Kidney Institute and Taussig Cancer Institute, “mTOR
Phosphorylation and Associated Upstream PTEN Alterations
in the Prediction of Urothelial Carcinoma Metastases
and Patient Outcomes.”
Cleveland Clinic takes leadership of Speaking of Women’s
Health Foundation. The board of the National Speaking
of Women’s Health Foundation decided to transition its
assets to Cleveland Clinic at the end of 2008 in order to further
the mission and efforts of the organization. Holly L.
Thacker, MD (IM’89), a nationally known leader in Women’s
Health, will incorporate the mission and efforts of the
group as part of Cleveland Clinic’s Center for Specialized
Women’s Health within the Women’s Health Institute.
This new phase for the organization comes after Cleveland
Clinic hosted its seventh sold-out Speaking of Women’s
Health event on Nov. 1, 2008, and its fifth successful Universal
Sisters event on Aug. 23.
As patient acuity increases, hospital seeks training at
Cleveland Clinic. When the complexity and acuity of
patients within the Coronary Intensive Care Unit (CICU)
at New York Methodist Hospital in Brooklyn, NY, began
to increase, the hospital reached out to Cleveland Clinic.
Our reputation, combined with our ability to treat some
of the sickest patients, makes us a top choice not only for
patients but for healthcare professionals seeking advanced
training. Cleveland Clinic arranged an observational experience
for 13 of New York Methodist Hospital’s RNs, with
two RNs visiting Cleveland Clinic for a week at a time to
6th Annual Medical Innovation Summit
held in November
Innovations such as a simple blood test that detects
recurrent cancer earlier and predicts a patient’s prognosis
and a palm-sized device that could help a paraplegic
breathe without a bulky ventilator are among Cleveland
Clinic’s Top 10 Medical Innovations for 2009. The list
was selected by a panel of Cleveland Clinic physicians
and scientists, and was unveiled during the 2008
Medical Innovation Summit that drew more than
1,000 medical and business people to Cleveland in
November. Also attending were representatives from
various countries, including Ireland and Saudi Arabia,
where science, technology and healthcare are growing
economies.They were looking to support partnerships
with American entrepreneurs.
The Top 10 Medical Innovations for 2009
10. Private Sector National Health Information Exchange
9. Doppler-Guided Uterine Artery Occlusion
8. Integration of Diffusion Tensor Imaging (Tractography)
7. LESS and NOTES Applications
6. New Strategies for Creating Vaccines for Avian Flu
5. Percutaneous Mitral Valve Regurgitation Repair
4. Multi-Spectral Imaging Systems
3. Diaphragm Pacing System
2. Warm Organ Perfusion Device
1. Use of Circulating Tumor Cell Technology
“Cleveland Clinic was founded by innovators, and this Top
10 list reflects the continuing passion for innovation of its
scientists and clinicians,” says Christopher Coburn, Executive
Director, Innovations. He adds that the list lets the
public in on the thinking of top physicians working on the
front lines of medicine.
Four major criteria served as the basis for qualifying and
selecting the Top 10 Medical Innovations. Nominated
innovations were required to have significant potential for
short-term clinical impact; have a high probability of success;
be on the market or close to being introduced; and
have sufficient data available to support their nomination.
To whet your interest in the 2009 Medical Innovation
Summit, take a look at this year’s program agenda
and participants at: www.clevelandclinic.org/innovations/
summit/default.htm
Alumni Connection | 25

Campus Clips (continued)
learn more about caring for sicker cardiac patients. Deborah
Klein, MSN, RN, Clinical Nurse Specialist CICU and
Heart Failure ICU, who coordinated the experience, says
the RNs learned more about pulmonary artery catheters,
hemodynamic monitoring, intra-aortic balloon pump
therapy and acute myocardial infarction management. In
addition, the nurses shadowed our CICU RNs and observed
a cardiac catheterization. The CICU nurse manager
from New York Methodist Hospital met with Judy Pearce,
BSN, RN, Nurse Manager CICU and HFICU, to discuss staff
ratios, the importance of ongoing education, professional
development and our shared governance program.
“We take care of very sick patients and expect our nurses
to be knowledgeable and perform advanced skills,” Klein
says. “The visiting RNs were very impressed with our high
level of nurse-physician collaboration and how empowered
nurses are in their practice at Cleveland Clinic.”
Medical students from across the country traveled to
Cleveland Clinic for the Student National Medical Association’s
fall National Leadership Institute, Sept. 19-21,
2008. Co-hosted by Cleveland Clinic, MetroHealth Medical
Center, University Hospitals of Cleveland and Case
Western Reserve University Medical School, the event gave
Student National Medical Association (SNMA) members
an opportunity to gain leadership skills from some of the
best faculty and professional staff at our Northeast Ohio
medical institutions.
SNMA was established in 1964 by medical students from
Howard University School of Medicine and Meharry Medical
College. It is the oldest and largest independent, studentrun
organization that focuses on the needs and concerns of
medical students of color. Its membership includes more
than 7,000 medical students, pre-medical students, residents
and physicians. The weekend consisted of workshops
with several of our world-class physicians. Some Cleveland
Clinic residents also took part in an informal panel discussion
and interacted with SNMA members/leaders to gain
insight, network and develop mentorship relationships.
Cleveland Clinic has received the American Stroke Association’s
Get With The Guidelines SM –Stroke (GWTG–
Stroke) Silver Performance Achievement Award. The award
recognizes Cleveland Clinic’s commitment and success in
implementing a higher standard of stroke care by ensuring
that stroke patients receive treatment according to nationally
accepted standards and recommendations.
“With a stroke, time lost is brain lost, and the GWTG–Stroke
Silver Performance Achievement Award addresses the
important element of time,” says Peter A. Rasmussen, MD
26 | Alumni Connection
(NS/CB’00), Director of Cleveland Clinic’s Cerebrovascular
Center. Cleveland Clinic has developed a comprehensive
system for rapid diagnosis and treatment of stroke patients
admitted to the emergency department. This includes
always being equipped to provide brain imaging scans, having
neurologists available to conduct patient evaluations
and using clot-busting medications when appropriate.
To receive the GWTG-Stroke Silver Performance Achievement
Award, Cleveland Clinic for at least one year consistently
complied with the requirements in the program.
These include aggressive use of medications like tPA, antithrombotics,
anticoagulation therapy, DVT prophylaxis,
cholesterol-reducing drugs and smoking cessation. This
12-month evaluation period is the second in an ongoing
self-evaluation by the hospital to continually reach the 85
percent compliance level needed to sustain this award.
To arrange for a consult or referral to the Cerebrovascular
Center, call our referring physician line at 800.553.5056. For
urgent stroke transfers, call 800.553.5056 and request the
2-CLOT pager (22568) for direct contact with a Cerebrovascular
Center staff member.
Cleveland Clinic Children’s Hospital performs its 100th
pediatric heart transplant. The 100th pediatric heart transplant
patient, 6-year-old Zoe Tanner of Elyria, OH, is recovering
well and spent the December 2008 holidays at home
with her family. Zoe’s heart was attacked by a virus when
she was only 6 weeks old, and she suffered congenital heart
failure in October 2008. Muhammad Mumtaz, MD, Pediatric
and Congenital Heart surgeon, in conjunction with
the Pediatric Cardiology team, performed her surgery on
Dec. 2, 2008. The first pediatric heart transplant at Cleveland
Clinic was performed in 1985. In 2008, 11 pediatric
heart transplants were performed at Cleveland Clinic. It is
estimated that fewer than 10 centers in the world have this
level of pediatric heart transplant experience.
Eric Kodish, MD, Chairman of the Department of Bioethics,
was named Director at Large for the Association of
Bioethics Program Directors, which advances the field of
bioethics by fostering the development and success of bioethics
programs in educational and scientific institutions.
Dr. Kodish, F.J. O’Neill professor and chairman of the
Department of Bioethics and a professor of pediatrics at
the Lerner College of Medicine of Case Western Reserve
University, and alumnus, Anil M. Parikh, MD (P’87), a
private practice psychiatrist in Fairlawn, OH, are two of the
new eight-member Board of Trustees for the Northeastern
Ohio Universities Colleges of Medicine and Pharmacy appointed
by Gov. Ted Strickland on Jan. 9, 2009. Dr. Parikh

teaches psychiatry residents at Akron General Medical
Center. Dr. Kodish, a 1986 graduate of NEOUCOM,
received its Distinguished Alumnus Award in 2001. In the
past, the presidents of the University of Akron, Kent State
and Youngstown State, which founded the medical school
in the 1970s, were on the board. A new board structure was
recommended by a study commission that met last year
to look for ways to improve higher education in Ohio. The
new members begin their terms of service immediately
and will serve for nine years.
M. Bridget Duffy, MD, Chief Experience Officer, received
an award recognizing her vision of patient-centered care
and her initiatives toward changing the delivery of healthcare
in America at Carmella Rose Women’s Health Foundation’s
annual fundraiser.
Gopal Saha, PhD, Director, Nuclear Chemistry and Pharmacy,
was awarded the Vikram Sarabhai Memorial Oration
Award, the most prestigious award of the Society of Nuclear
Medicine (India) offered to an international scientist. The
SNMI granted the award to Dr. Saha at the annual meeting
held in New Delhi in conjunction with ninth Asia Oceania
Congress of Nuclear Medicine and Biology, where he spoke
on “Molecular Imaging: Its Current Status and Future.”
From the Nation’s Capital
Healthcare – Expect Three Phases of Reform
By Dan Nickelson, Retired Director, Government Affairs, Cleveland Clinic
There is no doubt that a major debate over megahealthcare
reform looms. It directly challenges the reactive
politics of healthcare since the Clinton debacle in 1992.
The conventional wisdom has been “take small bites;
don’t try anything too big.”
There are three major phases. The first two are already in
process. The State Children’s Health Program, known as
SCHIP, which has been reauthorized after a series of vetoes
by President Bush, offers broadened coverage for children
in families above the federal poverty level. The second
phase is the recently enacted stimulus legislation which
gives states money to shore up and expand their Medicaid
programs. Last, but not least, there are federal funds
available to help recently laid-off employees buy COBRA, a
continuation of their employer-based policy.
These first two phases are intended to slow the increase
in the numbers of uninsured people due to the failing
economy. They represent an effort to help troubled state
budgets as well. But they are not reform. That debate, the
third phase, comes later this year/first of next.
While this debate will encompass all ranges of the philosophical
spectrum, the result will most likely build on
what exists, not create some new, untried approach. Will
a single-payer system pass? No. Will “market forces” be
emphasized, as they were in the Bush Administration? No.
Will there be more government intervention in healthcare?
Yes. Will it constitute a public takeover of the healthcare
system? No. Will it happen overnight? No.
The initial push will come administratively, based on the
legislative part of the stimulus, emphasizing the electronic
patient record. While this initiative is heralded as improving
quality and reducing costs, skeptics believe that the
impact will not be as great as touted. It is hard to break
long-standing practice patterns, and these information
systems are only as good as the use to which they are put. If
they become just another way of filing patient information,
but are not used to improve the coordination of patient
care, reduce redundant diagnostic tests and catch inadvertent
drug interactions, the result will be marginal. Thus,
while there is much talk about the federal funds being
made available, the more difficult agenda is changing practices
to take advantage of this technology.
We also can anticipate that the initiatives begun in the
Bush Administration to encourage evidence-based practice
and value-based purchasing, and comparative effectiveness
of drugs, devices and various procedures, will continue.
The emphasis on quality reporting and transparency
will increase.
All of this sets the framework for the upcoming debate.
We will get to the specifics of that in the next issue.
You can reach Dan Nickelson at dnickelson921@comcast.net.
Alumni Connection | 27

Calendar
Contact Information
Cleveland, OH
216.297.7330 | 800.238.6750
216.297.7345 (fax)
www.clevelandclinicmeded.com
Weston, FL
954.659.5490 • 866.293.7866
954.659.5491 (fax)
www.clevelandclinicflorida.org
Alumni are entitled to a
substantial discount on CME
sponsored by the Cleveland Clinic
Center for Continuing Education,
Cleveland, OH, and by Continuing
Medical Education of Cleveland
Clinic Florida.
Center for Continuing Education
www.clevelandclinicmeded.com
The Cleveland Clinic Center for
Continuing Education is responsible
for one of the largest and most
diverse CME programs anywhere
in the U.S. Check the webpage for
the latest course announcement
information.
Stay informed of all the
available live and online CME
opportunities by signing up to
our monthly newsflash: www.
clevelandclinicmeded.com/
SignMeUp
28 | Alumni Connection
NOTE: All courses are at the spectacular, state-of-the-art InterContinental Hotel & Bank of America Conference
Center on the Cleveland Clinic campus in Cleveland, OH, unless otherwise noted.
March 2009
19 3 rd Annual Innovations in
Ophthalmology
Ocean Reef Club
Key Largo, FL
28- Comprehensive
4/2 Anesthesiology Review
Cleveland Clinic
April 2009
3 5 th Annual Contemporary
Issues in Pituitary Disease:
Case-based Management
Update
Cleveland Clinic
4 Update on the Management
of Adrenal Diseases and
Lesions
Cleveland Clinic
24 Cardiovascular CT Training
Program
Cleveland Clinic
25 Thoracic Malignancies 2009:
Up for Debate
Cleveland Clinic
22 The 6 th International Human
Peroxidase Meeting
Carolina Inn
Chapel Hill, NC
23 39 th Annual Meeting of the
American Osler Society
Renaissance Hotel,
Cleveland, OH
24 Lung Summit
Cleveland Clinic
27 Diabetes Day 2009:
Complications and
Controversies
Cleveland Clinic
30 Current and Emerging Trials,
Mechanisms, and Agents in
B-Cell-Directed Therapies: A
Multidisciplinary Approach
May 2009
1 May Day
Cleveland Clinic
1 Cancer Survivorship
Cleveland Clinic Beachwood
Campus
8 Cardiology Disease in
Inflammatory Arthritis:
Getting to the Heart of the
Matter
Cleveland Clinic
7-9 Biologic Therapies III –
Focusing on Infections,
Malignancies, Cardiovascular
Disease and Other
Comorbitities in Special
Populations featuring
Managing Complex Cases in
Biological Therapies Mini-
Symposium
Cleveland Clinic
15 Orthopaedic and
Rheumatology Care Quality
Innovation Summit
Cleveland Clinic
15-16 2 nd Annual Advances
in Gynecologic Surgery
Conference
Innovations, Modern
Management and Future
Therapies
Cleveland Clinic
16 Lead Management 2009: HRS
Guidelines and Case Based
Implemtation
Hyatt Rhythm Society Satellite
Boston, MA
29 2 nd Annual Advanced
Management Issues in HIV
Medicine
Cleveland Clinic
29-30 Single Port Laparoscopy ,
NOTES and Endoluminal
Surgery: A Multi-Disciplinary
and Collaborative Summit
Cleveland Clinic
For current information on these as well as on-line CME, medical publications
and to register for free e-mail updates, please visit www.ccfcme.org and
www.clevelandclinicflorida.org/research/cme.
June 2009
3-5 The Treatment of
Cardiovascular Disease:
Legacy and Innovation
See back page of this issue
for information
19 Cardiovascular CT Training
Program
Cleveland Clinic
19 21 st Annual Intensive Review
of Internal Medicine
Cleveland Clinic
19 Annual Research Residents
and Alumni Meeting
Cleveland Clinic
21 Epileptology: Comprehensive
Review and Practical
Exercises
Cleveland Clinic
24 18 th International Cleveland
Clinic Epilepsy Symposium:
Epilepsy Surgery – Improving
Outcomes
Cleveland Clinic
25 Pulmonary Summit
Cleveland Clinic
26 Innovations in Epilepsy
Diagnosis and Treatment
Cleveland Clinic
July 2009
25 Innovations in Optical
Coherence Tomography:
Spectral Domain and Beyond
Ritz-Carlton, Cleveland, OH

Alumni Receptions /
“Mini Reunions” and other
Alumni Events:
The Alumni Association and various
department chairmen are pleased
to sponsor alumni gatherings at the
following major national medical
meetings and other venues. All local
alumni, as well as those attending
the meetings, are cordially invited,
with their spouse/companion. Watch
your mail for more information,
check the Alumni home page at
www.clevelandclinic.org/education/
alumni or contact Alumni Affairs
at 216.444.2487, toll-free,
800.444.3664 or alumni@ccf.org
March 2009
30 American College of
Cardiology
7-9 p.m.
The Peabody Orlando,
Florida II Ballroom
Florida
April 2009
24 American College of
Physicians
6-8 p.m.
Philadelphia Marriott,
Downtown, Franklin 5 Room
Philadelphia
27 American Academy of
Neurology
6:15-8:30 p.m.
Sheraton Seattle Hotel,
Juniper Room
Seattle
28 American Urological
Association
5:30-7:30 p.m.
Palmer House Hilton,
Wilson Room
Chicago
May 2009
4 American Association of
Neurological Surgeons
6:30-8 p.m.
San Diego Marriott Hotel &
Marina, TBA
San Diego
4 American Society of Colon &
Rectal Surgeons
6:30-8:30 p.m.
Westin Diplomat Resort &
Spa, Juniper Room
Hollywood, FL
4 Association for Research in
Vision & Ophthalmology
7:30-9:30 p.m.
Hyatt Regency Pier Sixty-Six,
Crystal Ballrooms 1 & 4
Fort Lauderdale, FL
14 American Association of
Clinical Endocrinologists
7-8 p.m.
Hilton Americas Houston
Houston
June 2009
1 Digestive Disease Week
6-8 p.m.
TBA, Denver, CO
8 American Academy of
Sleep Medicine & the Sleep
Research Society
6-8 p.m.
Dinner ,TBA, Seattle
11 Society for Vascular Surgery
7-9 p.m.
Hyatt Regency, Agate A/B
Rooms
Denver
Extremely Good
Residents
Almost everyone can remember a teacher who held
true passion for his or her subject and brought
out the very best in students. Jerrold Saxton, MD,
is among them. He’s been teaching in Radiation
Oncology at Cleveland Clinic since 1982, and was
named Best Teacher in Radiation Oncology in 2006.
But he won’t take the credit. Dr. Saxton says some of
the biggest factors that keep him motivated are the
bright residents and medical
students Cleveland Clinic
attracts. Imagining himself
as a student today, Dr. Saxton
jokes that he might not be
able to keep up.
“The new advanced exposure
to the field brings the upper
echelon of students to our
program,” he says. “We have Jerrold Saxton, MD
extremely good residents,
with the number of applicants increasing every
year.”
Since his days in medical school, Dr. Saxton, who
was included in the peer-nominated list of “Best
Doctors” in the March 2008 issue of Cleveland Magazine,
has watched the field – and oncology management
and patient management protocols – evolve
and improve. As a specialist in treating head and
neck cancers, he is hopeful for the future of radiation
technology and therapy. He adds that as interest
in cancer treatment, co-development of chemotherapy
and advancement of computer imaging programs
grows, the level of talent also continues to rise – and
it is Cleveland Clinic teachers like Dr. Saxton who
develop this talent.
Editor’s Note: Do you have a recollection of a favor-
ite Cleveland Clinic teacher or mentor? Please share
your comments with us! Whether current staff or long
departed, we’d be interested in hearing about who and
why they top your list of favorite teachers. Your comments
will be kept confidential . . . unless they’re just too
good not to share in Alumni Connection . . . in which
case, we’ll ask your permission prior to publication.
Alumni Connection | 29

Contacts
| 40s |
Charles P. Wofford, MD (IM’38, IM’40), celebrated
his 100 th birthday on Dec. 23, 2008, with his wife,
Minni, in the Colonial Hill Retirement Center in
Johnson City, TN.
| 60s |
Cyrus Moayad, MD (OTOCD’62), of Valparaiso,
IN, was honored by the American Academy of
Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery with the
Distinguished 1887 Member Award, presented
Sept. 19, 2008, by Past President Vito C. Quatela,
MD, at the AAFPRS annual Fall Meeting. The award
is presented to individuals who have gone the extra
mile for the development office. Dr. Moayad, an
Emeritus Member of AAFPRS, continues to have a
passion for the advancement of facial plastic surgery
and has generously remembered the AAFPRS
Foundation in his financial planning. Dr. Moayad
feels that the Academy was instrumental in his
continual learning in both skills and knowledge and
says that establishment of the Academy in 1964
did much to advance the training and practice of
the specialty.
Mehdi Razavi, MD (CD’67), Cleveland Clinic
cardiologist since 1967, was honored Dec. 5,
2008, with an endowed chair in Cardiovascular
Medicine. The Robert and Suzanne Tomsich
Distinguished Chair in Cardiovascular Medicine
was dedicated to Dr. Razavi’s continued
growth, building upon a 40-year legacy of
innovation in the cardiology community. The
endowed chair was established by Robert J.
and Suzanne M. Tomsich to honor Dr. Razavi’s
dedication and remarkable career achievements
in cardiovascular research and patient
care. Additionally, Dr. Razavi is being honored
through an endowed annual lectureship series
supported by a major gift from philanthropist
William A. Rea II. The Mehdi Razavi, MD,
Endowed Lectureship will address important
cardiovascular issues. Nationally renowned
speakers will be featured, including Heart &
Vascular Institute leadership and other prominent
members of Cleveland Clinic’s medical
staff. The annual lectures will be open to Cleveland
Clinic employees and visiting physicians.
30 | Alumni Connection
| 70s |
Tavevatana Keo, MD (GL-1’65, S’69, TS’71),
cardiothoracic surgeon who served at Lakewood
Hospital, was one of six honorees at the fifth
annual “Pillars of
Medicine” award hosted
by Fairview, Lakewood
and Lutheran Hospitals of
the western region of the
Cleveland Clinic health
system. The presentations
took place Dec. 17,
Tavevatana Keo,
MD
2008. These prestigious
awards honored retired
physicians who have
exhibited a lifetime of exemplary commitment to
medicine, our hospitals and communities. A native
of Thailand, and the son of a well-known physician
who served as Thailand’s minister of health, Dr.
Keo attended medical school at The Faculty of
Medicine Siriraj Hospital, Mahidol University in
Bangkok, Thailand, the oldest medical school and
hospital in Thailand. Dr. Keo trained at Cleveland
Clinic with pioneers Drs. Donald Effler, Rene G.
Favaloro (TS’62, TS’65) and Laurence K. Groves
(S’52, TS’53), and began his practice in 1971 at
Lakewood Hospital, where he and his colleagues
were the first to perform open heart surgery
on Cleveland’s west side. Dr. Keo and his wife,
Margaret, have two sons, John and Tim.
Arthur J. McCullough Jr., MD (GL-1’75, IM’77),
Chair, Cleveland Clinic Gastroenterology and
Hepatology, was given “special recognition for
achievements in liver disease” by the American
Association for the Study of Liver Diseases
(AASLD) at the Seventh Annual Liver Update on
Dec. 6, 2008, at Cleveland Clinic’s Administrative
Campus. The current president of AASLD, Dr.
McCullough’s interest is in liver disease, including
fatty liver disease and cirrhosis of the liver.
Yoshinori Mitamura, PhD (RES’76), is now
Professor at Tokai University and Emeritus Professor
of Hokkaido University in Sapporo, Japan. Dr.
Mitamura sent an email saying that although he
left Cleveland 35 years ago, he recalls “fruitful and
wonderful days at Cleveland Clinic” and “fortunately”
has opportunities to visit about every two
years. “The Clinic changed almost completely and
is still changing. I hope I can visit the Clinic again
in the near future,” he wrote.
John J. Mizenko, DO (GE’72), was one of four
physicians from South Pointe Hospital, a Cleveland
Clinic hospital, recognized in its annual “Pillars
of Medicine” award program that honors retired
physicians who have exhibited a lifetime of
exemplary commitment to medicine, their hospitals
and communities. Thomas J. Ebner, DO (END’74),
was recognized posthumously. He passed away
Jan. 14, 2008.
Drogo K. Montague, MD (GL-1’69, S’70, U’73),
Director of Cleveland Clinic Glickman Urological
Institute’s Center for Genitourinary Reconstruction,
was nominated by the Urology residents,
staff, department and institute chairs in Urology
and Education for the Accreditation Council of
Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) Courage to
Teach Award. Dr. Montague was selected by the
ACGME for this award, which recognizes training
program directors for their contributions and
dedication to graduate medical education. The
ACGME receives about 150 nominations nationally
and selects 10 training program directors each
year for this prestigious award. Cleveland Clinic
has had four training program directors nominated
previously, but Dr. Montague is the first to receive
this award. He was the Urology residency program
director for the past 33 years. He also served as
chair of the Surgical Education Subcommittee for
24 years. He has made significant contributions
to Urology residency education as well as other
surgical training programs at Cleveland Clinic and
nationally. His input as a member of the Graduate
Medical Education Council has been invaluable. Dr.
Montague was honored at the ACGME Educational
Conference in Dallas in March 2009.
| 80s |
Tom I. Abelson, MD (OTOCD’81), an otolaryngologist
on staff at Cleveland Clinic since 1997, was
named Director of the Cleveland Clinic Beachwood
Family Health Center, effective Feb. 23, 2009. Dr.
Abelson served as head of Beachwood Otolaryngology
since moving the majority of his practice to
the Beachwood FHC in 2002. In 2004, Dr. Abelson
became Associate Surgical Director of the Beachwood
Ambulatory Surgery Center (ASC) and serves
on the ASC Board and the ASC Capital Committee.
Dr. Abelson has been involved in precepting
first- and second-year medical students in the
Foundations of Clinical Medicine course since the
inception of the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College
of Medicine and is involved in resident education
in the Head and Neck Institute. Additionally, Dr.
Abelson is a member of the American Academy
of Otolaryngology/Head and Neck Surgery and the
Voice Foundation. He lectures regularly on Medical
Care of the Professional Voice at Oberlin College,

the Chautauqua Institution and other groups in the
Cleveland area. He is co-author of 22 articles and
book chapters in medical literature.
Michael S. Benninger, MD (OTO’88), Chairman
of Cleveland Clinic Head and Neck Institute, was
honored in late 2008 with a Distinguished Service
Award from the American Academy of Otolaryngology.
The award recognizes medical professionals
for their extensive meritorious service through the
presentation of instructional courses, scientific
papers, participation on a continuing education
committee or academy leadership position.
Andrew J. Fishleder, MD (GL-1’79, LMED’82). See
“Appointments,” page 12.
Prakash Kotagal, MD (CHN’86, NPHY’88), Head
of Pediatric Epilepsy at Cleveland Clinic, received
the Legacy Award at the 2008 Epilepsy Association
Gala on Nov. 14.
Richard S. Lang, MD, MPH (GL-1’80, IM’82). See
Raul J. Seballos, MD, 90s, below.
Imad M. Najm, MD (N’96, NPHY’97), Director of
Cleveland Clinic Epilepsy Center in the Neurological
Institute, will be the first to hold the Joseph H.
and Ellen B. Thomas Endowed Chair in Epilepsy.
The chair will support Dr. Najm’s work with the
Epilepsy Center.
Anil M. Parikh, MD (P’87). See “Campus Clips,”
page 26.
Holly L. Thacker, MD (IM’89). See “Campus
Clips,” page 25.
Donald A. Underwood, MD (CARD’80), cardiologist
at Cleveland Clinic, was nominated for and
elected to receive the Evelyn V. Hess, MD, MACP
Master Teacher Award of the Ohio Chapter of the
American College of Physicians for 2008. The
award was presented at the annual Ohio Chapter
Meeting at the Awards Banquet on Oct. 17 in
Columbus, OH.
A. Mary Walborn,
MD
A. Mary Walborn, MD
(IM’80, CARD’82), an
internist with Cleveland
Clinic since August 1995,
was one of 12 employees
honored as “Exceptional
Healing Partners” during
Patient-Centered Care
Awareness Month in
November 2008. The Office of Patient Experience
asked employees and patients to nominate
“Exceptional Healing Partners” and carefully
considered nearly 200 nominations.
Mario Zappia, MD (RES’85, NEMG’86), is a
full professor of Neurology and Chairman of the
Department of Neurosciences at the University
of Catania in Catania, Italy. He also is president
of the Italian Society of Movement Disorders and
Parkinson’s Disease.
| 90s |
Raed A. Dweik, MD (PULMCC’96), Cleveland Clinic
Critical Care Medicine/ Respiratory Institute, and
Pathobiology/Lerner Research Institute, was guest
editor of a special issue of the Journal of Breath
Research (Volume 2, Number 3, September 2008),
which highlighted the International Association for
Breath Research “Breath Analysis Summit 2007:
Clinical Applications of Breath Testing” that he
organized and hosted at Cleveland Clinic. To read
the full issue, visit www.iop.org/EJ/journal/JBR.
Olaf B. Johansen, MD (CRS’92). See Shirley Shih,
MD, Future Alumni, page 33.
Michael Kirsch, MD (GE’90), a freelance author
and frequent contributor to Alumni Connection,
started a blog in January 2009. It offers patients an
insider’s view of the medical profession. His aim is
to stimulate thought and dialogue both to empower
patients and to promote healing of our ailing health
care system. He has written numerous articles on
the joys and challenges of medical practice including
controversies in the doctor-patient relationship,
medical ethics and measuring medical quality.
When he’s not writing, he is performing colonoscopies
as a full-time practicing gastroenterologist
in Mayfield Heights, OH. He invites you to visit his
blog, post your comments and join in the conversations:
http://mdwhistleblower. blogspot.com.
Pavel J. Levy, MD (RES’94, VM’95, RES/VM’97),
became Section Head of Vascular Medicine in
the newly formed Department of Vascular and
Endovascular Surgery and Medicine at Wake Forest
University School of Medicine in Winston-Salem,
NC. He will host the first International Fellow
for a mini-sabbatical in Vascular Medicine. Dr.
Levy is also co-director of the K-12 NIH Award in
Clinician-Scientist Vascular Medicine Fellowship.
Satoshi Nakatani, MD, PhD (RES/BE’82 & ‘89,
RES/C’95), was appointed to a professorship in the
division of Functional Diagnostics at Osaka University
Graduate School of Medicine in Osaka, Japan.
Previously, he was with the National Cardiovascular
Center, also in Osaka. He and his wife, Akiko,
have two children, Hiroko and Susumu.
David R. Otto, MD (AN’96), completed an
Echocardiography fellowship through the University
of Utah, Salt Lake City, in 2007, and in 2008 became
a diplomat, National Board of Echocardiography,
TEE Certification. He practices in Wichita, KS.
Feza Remzi, MD (S’96, CRS’97). See “Appointments,”
page 15.
Edmund S. Sabanegh Jr., MD (U/MI’94), Director,
Center for Male Infertility at Cleveland Clinic, and
Ahmed Ragheb, MD (Urology Research Fellow),
recently became the first urologists to receive
the Risman Research Award. Drs. Sabanegh and
Ragheb received a grant as part of the award,
which is donated by the Risman family to the
Beachwood Family Health Center to support the
best scientific research concerning society health
welfare. They will study the effects of smoking, and
quitting smoking, on sperm count and quality. Drs.
Sabanegh and Ragheb are working in collaboration
with Cleveland Clinic Tobacco Treatment
Center to find men to take part in their study. “The
potential implications of this study from a public
health as well as a urological health standpoint
are substantial,” says J. Stephen Jones, MD,
Chairman, Regional Urology. Males who smoke,
live in Ohio and have seriously considered quitting
should contact the Tobacco Treatment Center at
216.444.8881 to schedule an appointment to
start a smoking cessation program and learn more
about this research study.
Raul J. Seballos, MD (PULMCC’95), decided at a
young age to follow in the professional footsteps
of his parents, who moved his family from the
Philippines to Cleveland to complete their medical
residencies in 1978. Today, Dr. Seballos practices
preventive medicine in the Executive Health Program
at Cleveland Clinic, where he takes patients
through a full day’s worth of thorough physical
tests, including a full spectrum of preventive
health measures. Dr. Seballos joined Cleveland
Clinic in 1997 and is board-certified in internal
medicine, is a fellow of the American College of
Physicians and the American Medical Association
and a member of the American College of Preven-
Alumni Connection | 31

Contacts (continued)
tive Medicine. A graduate of Case Western Reserve
University, he earned his medical degree at the
Medical College of Ohio at Toledo and completed
his residency training in internal medicine at St.
Luke’s Medical Center. He then served a fellowship
in pulmonary and critical care medicine at Cleveland
Clinic. Roughly half of his program’s patients
are from outside Ohio and are often seen through
corporate contracts, but the program is open to
everyone. Dr. Seballos says that men are often not
proactive enough with their health. “Many patients
who come through the program are men who have
not had a physical in 10 to 15 years and have
recently seen a family member or coworker experience
a serious illness,” he says. Voted by his peers
as one of the Best Doctors in America in 2007, Dr.
Seballos says the best compliment a doctor can
receive is when a patient refers a friend or relative.
“That’s when you know you’ve made a difference.”
Richard S. Lang, MD, MPH (GL-1’80, IM’82), Vice
Chairman of the Wellness Institute, also heads the
Section of Preventive Medicine.
Editor’s Note: For more information on the
Executive Health Program, or to schedule an
appointment or make a referral, please call
216.444.5707 or 800.223.2273, ext. 45707.
International patients may make an appointment
through the International Center by calling
216.444.6404 or 800.223.2273, ext. 46404 or
visit online: http://my.clevelandclinic.org/
executive_health/default.aspx.
Lt. Col. Constandinos Villias, MD, PhD (RE-
SCRS’97), is Director of the 1 st Surgical Department
of the Veterans Hospital of Athens, Greece.
R. Matthew Walsh, MD (S’91), Cleveland Clinic
general surgeon, is the first holder of a new chair
from Bob and Mindy Rich and their family to
support research at Cleveland Clinic’s Digestive
Disease Institute. The Rich Family Distinguished
Chair in Digestive Diseases is made possible by
a $2 million gift from the Rich family honoring the
high-quality medical care that Dr. Walsh provides
to his patients. Bob Rich is the Chairman of
Cleveland Clinic’s Board of Trustees Development
Committee and of Today’s Innovations, Tomorrow’s
Healthcare: Campaign for Cleveland Clinic. Mindy
Rich is a Vice Chair of the campaign.
32 | Alumni Connection
| 00s |
Maria Fernanda Bonilla, MD (IM’05, IMPC’07),
Cleveland Clinic Infectious Disease Fellow, and
Martin E. Lascano, MD (IM ‘04, H/N’07),
Cleveland Clinic Clinical Associate Staff in the
Department of Nephrology and Hypertension, are
the proud parents of Mateo N. Lascano Bonilla and
Lucas D. Lascano Bonilla, born Aug. 29, 2008. Mateo
and Lucas join big brother Simon, who turned 2
years old on July 7, 2008.
Bonilla/Lascano family
Ursula A. Galway, MD (AN’06, CC’07), general
anesthesiologist with the Cleveland Clinic
health system, was married in her home town of
Gaothdobhair in County Donegal, Ireland, on Oct.
25, 2008, to Ben Repenning, MD, a Med/Peds
physician at Elyria Memorial Hospital.
Ben Repenning, MD, and Ursula A.
Galway, MD
P. Daniel Knott, MD (OTO’06), of Cleveland Clinic’s
Head and Neck Institute, has been awarded the
Ben Shuster Memorial Award from the American
Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive
Surgery in recognition of the “most outstanding research
paper in the field of Head and Neck Plastic
Surgery.” The title of the paper is “Evaluation of
hardware-related complications in vascularized
bone grafts with locking mandibular reconstruction
plate fixation.”
Martin E. Lascano, MD (IM ‘04, H/N’07). See
Maria Fernanda Bonilla, MD, above.
Robert R. Lorenz, MD (OTO’02). See “Appointments,”
page 12.
Dipen C. Maun (FCCRS’07). See Shirley Shih, MD,
Future Alumni, page 33.
Aylin M. Ozdemir-Lorenz, MD (RES/CB’99, RES/
CA’01). See Robert R. Lorenz, MD, “Appointments,”
page 12.
Siriorn Paritpokee Watcharananan, MD (ID’04,
MB’05), sent her holiday greetings to staff and
friends at Cleveland Clinic from her home in
Thailand, along with a photo of her with sons
Art, 3, and Andy, 1.
Dr. Paritpokee Watcharananan and sons
Peter A. Rasmussen, MD (NS/CB’00). See “Campus
Clips,” page 26.
Bridget M. Sanders, MD (FCCRS’05). See Shirley
Shih, MD, Future Alumni, page 33.
Sherrie L. Sharp, MD (PD’04, P’06), is working
at Spring Harbor Hospital in Westbrook, ME, running
an adolescent psychiatry unit. She says she
recently became an ABPN Diplomate with one try
on each part, adding, “Whew!” She happily reported
still staying in touch with several colleagues
from residency.
W. H. Wilson Tang, MD (CARD’03, C/HFT’04). See
“Campus Clips,” page 25.
| Future Alumni |
Ram Chadalavada (Class of 2009) received the
Medical Student of the Year award from the Association
of Indian Physicians of Northern Ohio (AIPNO)
for 2008. He received the award at the 25th Annual
Function of AIPNO on Nov. 1, 2008, from Sangita
Patel Mehta, MD (IM’96), AIPNO President, Dr.
Satish Mahna, AIPNO President-Elect, and Neil B.
Mehta, MD (IM’95), AIPNO Publication Chair. Delos
M. Cosgrove, MD, CEO and President of Cleveland
Clinic, was the chief guest at the function. Ram

was selected from among several applicants for
his academic achievement, extracurricular activities
and community service. Ram’s parents were
present at the event, having traveled from Battle
Creek, Mich. IPNO is an organization with about
350 physicians that raises funds for local charities,
organizes two health fairs each year, supports
medical aid in case of natural disasters and sends
physician teams to underserved areas of the world.
Every year, AIPNO selects one medical student
from one of the northern Ohio schools for this
award. Students get free membership in AIPNO.
Apply at http://www.aipno.org.
Ram Chadalavada, flanked by Drs. Mehta
(left) and Cosgrove.
Ahmed Ragheb, MD, Urology Research Fellow. See
Edmund S. Sabanegh Jr., MD, above.
Jason Robertson (Class of 2009) presented a talk
“Angiographic evidence of early coronary artery
disease and increased risk of mortality in smokers
with non-ST-segment elevation acute coronary
syndrome” at the 7th International Symposium on
“Multiple Risk Factors in
Cardiovascular Diseases
Prevention and Intervention
– Health Policy in
Venice, Italy,” in October
2008. The conference
was sponsored by the
Fondazione Giovanni
Jason Robertson
Lorenzini Medical Science
Foundation. Jason also
presented the work in
New Orleans at the American Heart Association
Scientific Sessions 2008.
Sumit Sharma (Class of 2009) and Dawn Wiese
(Class of 2009) were selected as the year 4 and
5 winners of the 2008 International Traveling
Scholarships. The scholarship award, initiated by
the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine in
January 2008, is designed to broaden students’
development as physician leaders by providing
funds for students interested in an international
educational opportunity.
Eligible students will have
completed both Basic Core
rotations, two out of four
Advanced Cores and one
Acting Internship. Sumit
will be doing an elective
rotation in the Department of Ophthalmology at
Government Medical College, Jammu, India, under
Suraj Prakash, MS (Master of Surgery). Dawn
will be in Costa Rica at the Arenal and Dominical
Campuses in the Medical Spanish Immersion
Program. Her four weeks will be split between
two campuses to maximize exposure to medicine
in different types of communities. As with any
other rotation, the international faculty preceptor
will assess the student’s performance and the
student will evaluate the educational experience.
To apply for the scholarship, students submitted a
proposal of up to 200 words to the Associate Dean,
Admissions and Student Affairs indicating why he
or she should receive support for this international
educational activity. Letters of recommendation
and the student’s previous academic performance
were taken into consideration. Awards were made
following competitive review.
Sumit Sharma Dawn Wiese
Shirley Shih, MD
(research fellow at
Cleveland Clinic Florida),
has been appointed as the
first fellow of the Indiana
University School of
Medicine Colon and Rectal
Residency Program at Kendrick Regional Center
for Colon and Rectal Care at St. Francis Hospital-
Mooresville. Dr. Shih’s fellowship training − the
first program of its kind in Indiana − will begin in
July 2009. The residency program was established
through a partnership between IU, St. Francis
and Kendrick Regional Center and marks the first
educational joint venture between St. Francis and
the medical school, the nation’s second-largest
academic medical institution. Dr. Shih received
her medical degree from Albany Medical College
in Albany, NY, and completed her general surgery
residency at George Washington University Hospital,
Washington, DC. The teaching staff comprises
surgeons with Kendrick Regional Center, including
three alumni, and assistant clinical professors
with the IU School of Medicine’s Department of
Surgery. They are Drs. Olaf B. Johansen (CRS’92),
Fred Lane, R. Barry Melbert, Bridget M. Sanders
Students from the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine attend the Ohio
American College of Physicians Scientific Meeting in Columbus.
Eight students from the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine (CCLCM) attended the
Ohio American College of Physicians (ACP) Scientific Meeting in Columbus, OH, Oct. 16 to 17,
2008. Mark Mayer, MD, who directs Longitudinal Clinics, hosted the meeting as Ohio ACP Governor
and was joined by several other CCLCM faculty, including Drs. David L. Bronson; J. Harry Isaacson;
Franklin A. Michota Jr. (IM’96); Craig D. Nielsen (IM’97); and Lori Kmiec Posk (IM’94). Even
though CCLCM has fewer than 4 percent of Ohio’s medical students, 13 percent of the posters presented
by Ohio medical students at the conference were from our students. These students included
Ram Chadalavada (Class of 2009), Sherwin Yen (Class of 2009), Kevin Blaine (Class of 2010),
Anna Brady (Class of 2010), Shana Weiner (Class of 2010), Rachel Roth (Class of 2011) and
Jean Hu (Class of 2012). Roth placed second in the 2008 Ohio Chapter Annual Abstract Competition.
Sam Edwards (Class of 2009) joined the other CCLCM students at the meeting and attended
the Ohio ACP Health and Public Policy committee meeting as well as the scientific session.
Alumni Connection | 33

Contacts (continued)
(FCCRS’05) and Dipen C. Maun (FCCRS’07) from
Kendrick, and Drs. Bruce Robb and Virgilio George
from IU.
In 2007, St. Francis established the Colorectal
Cancer Center of Excellence for the prevention,
diagnosis and treatment of colorectal cancer. It is
one of the largest programs of its
kind in Indiana.
Aaron Viny (Class of 2009) was
selected to receive an American
Society of Hematology Travel
Award for his abstract titled “Expression
of MICA by Granulocytes
in Neutropenia Due to Large
Aaron Viny
Granular Lymphocyte Leukemia
Points towards Cytotoxicity
Exerted Via NKG2D on Clonal Cytotoxic T Cells.”
This award helps defray costs for attending the
50th Annual Meeting of the American Society of
Hematology in San Francisco in December 2008.
| In Memoriam |
Hope begins in the dark, the stubborn hope that if
you just show up and try to do the right thing, the
dawn will come.
− Anne Lamott
Martin Atdjian, MD (IM’58, IM’62, RH’63), 86,
of Cordoba, Argentina, passed away on Oct. 11,
2008, after a protracted decline attributed in part
to poliomyelitis. He always fondly remembered his
time at Cleveland Clinic and knowing Drs. Rene
G. Favaloro (TS’62, TS’65) and his rheumatology
mentor, Arthur L. Scherbel. He had a rheumatology
career in Detroit, with time spent at Wayne State
University there. He is survived by his wife, Celina,
and two daughters, who are now U.S. citizens,
Millie and Sylvia Atdjian, MD, a psychiatrist in
Washington, DC.
Aubra David Branson, MD (U’68), 80, passed
away at his home in Knoxville, TN, on Sept. 12,
2008. Born Sept. 14, 1927, he was a descendent
of Lloyd Branson, prominent East Tennessee artist.
A polio survivor at the age of 21, he served in the
U.S. Army and was stationed in Korea in 1945. He
was a life-long member of Lincoln Park Baptist
Church. Dr. Branson was the 1956 senior class
president at the University of Tennessee College
of Medicine in Memphis. He spent six years in
primary care practice from 1957 to 1963 and
three years at Cleveland Clinic from 1965 to 1968,
completing a urology residency. He then returned to
34 | Alumni Connection
Knoxville and founded the Knoxville Urology Clinic
in 1968. He was a founding physician of Park West
Hospital in 1971. In 1971, along with his friend
and colleague, Dr. Steve Morris, he was instrumental
in locating the first lithotripter machine
in Tennessee, only one of 13 nationwide at the
time. He retired from practice in 1993. Preceded
in death by his parents and his sister, Hannah
Branson, he is survived by his loving spouse of 36
years, Sally Skocic Branson, who remarked that
Dr. Branson “remained very proud of his education
at Cleveland Clinic.” He also is survived by
Loranna Rittamel Branson, the mother of his four
children; daughters, Debra Branson of Nashville,
TN, Donna (Timothy) Brown of Watertown, TN, and
Denise (Larry) Workman, of Medford, OR, and son,
Aubra David Branson, of Watertown, TN; and five
grandchildren. Funeral services were held Sept.
16, 2008, at Rose Mortuary Mann Heritage Chapel
with interment at Greenwood Cemetery. Donations
may be made to the Cutaneous Lymphoma Fund,
Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Dermatology
Suite 3975, 1301 22 nd Ave. S., Nashville, TN 37232
or the Cutaneous Lymphoma Foundation, POB 374,
Birmingham, MI 4812.
Clyde G. Chamberlin, MD (OTOCD’40, OTOCD’42),
95, died Jan. 21, 2009. He was born March 16,
1913, in Westchester, OH, the son of Dr. Charles J.
and Alyce (Gerard) Chamberlin. He graduated from
the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine
in 1938. He trained under Paul M. Moore, MD,
who headed Cleveland Clinic’s ENT Department
at that time. Dr. Chamberlin served in the U.S.
Army Air Force Medical Corps from 1942 to 1946
and continued to practice medicine in Hamilton,
OH, until his retirement in 1986. He married June
Morner on Aug. 22, 1936. After his retirement,
they moved to Greenwood, IN, in 1991. His wife
preceded him in death in 2001. He is survived by
four sons: Dr. Jerry R. (Emmy) of Westmoreland,
NH; Thomas L. (Susan) of Greenwood, IN; William
D. (Becky) of Findlay, OH; and James E. (Rikki) of
Stevenson, WA. One daughter, Alice, preceded him
in death in 1944. He leaves nine grandchildren and
nine great-granddaughters. The family suggests
that memorials can be made to the Hamilton
Community Foundation, the Presbyterian Church of
Hamilton or the charity of your choice.
J. Michael de Ungria, MD (AN’00), 39, died
Jan. 26, 2009, when he sustained massive head
injuries secondary to a fall while traveling. Dr.
de Ungria’s death was tragic in many ways. He
was a young doctor whose enormous potential
was becoming vividly apparent as he started to
take on important administrative responsibilities
at Cleveland Clinic. He was a fine anesthesiologist
who could be depended upon regardless of
circumstances and was an award-winning teacher.
He was recognized twice with the “Colleague of the
Year” award in General Anesthesiology. A celebration
of his life was scheduled for Saturday, March
14, 2009, at 9 a.m. in the InterContinental Hotel
Bank of America Amphitheatre. A memory book is
being created and will be presented to the family
at the service. Li Ling Lim, MD (N’01, NEMG’02,
N/SD’03), and several of Dr. de Ungria’s friends
in Singapore have set up an online memorial for
him with photos and an opportunity for postings
at: http://drjosephmichael-de-ungria.virtualmemorials.com.
Michael S. Eisenstat, MD (S’68), 73, of Hobe
Sound, FL, formerly of Cleveland, passed away at
his residence on Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2009. Born
Sept. 21, 1935, in Montreal, Quebec, he was the
dearly beloved husband of Marilyn; devoted father
of Aida B. Greenberg (Arthur), Debra L. DeRoche
(James), Paul T. Eisenstat (Dori) and Charles R.
Eisenstat; loving grandfather of Lila, Levi, Erica,
Gillian, Kestrel and Cooper. His loving family,
myriad friends and former medical colleagues
mourn the passage of a devoted husband and
father, generous friend, and esteemed surgical
pioneer who retired from practice in 1998. He received
his medical degree from Queen’s University
in 1963 and completed medical training at the
Jewish General Hospital, Montreal, from 1964 to
1965 and Cleveland Clinic from 1965 to 1968,
where he had an assistantship in the Department
of Colon and Rectal Surgery. An exemplary surgeon,
Dr. Eisenstat joined the medical staff at Hillcrest
Hospital in 1971. While at Hillcrest, he was elected
President of the Medical Staff and Chairman of
the Medical Council, and served as Director of
the Division of Surgery. A medical trailblazer, Dr
Eisenstat introduced laparoscopic surgery to the
Cleveland area, leading subsequent generations
of doctors in exploring safer and less invasive
surgical techniques. Services were held on Feb.
1. Interment was at Mt. Olive Cemetery. Memorial
contributions can be sent to Treasure Coast
Hospice, 1201 S.E. Indian St., Stuart, FL 34997.
Andrew B. Greene, MD (GS resident), 28, passed
away Dec. 31, 2008. Dr. Greene was born Nov. 19,
1980, in New York, NY, and received his medical
degree from Columbia University College of Physicians
and Surgeons in 2006. Dr. Greene is survived
by his parents, Robert Greene and Dianne Stillman
Greene, and his fiancé, Jennifer Lee, as well as

aunts and uncles. Dr. Greene’s family said he was
a “brilliant, sensitive, riotously funny young man.”
Funeral services were private.
George C. Hoffman, MD (CLPTH’59), 84, former
Chairman of the Division of Pathology and
Laboratory Medicine (1981-85), passed away
Sunday, Jan. 22, in Englewood, FL. Originally
from England, Dr. Hoffman joined the Cleveland
Clinic staff in 1957, and his work advanced both
patient care and research in the field of hematopathology,
particularly the study of erythrocyte
disorders, hemoglobinopathies and coagulopathies.
Past President of the American Society of
Clinical Pathologists, Dr. Hoffman also held many
leadership positions in pathology societies, and
received numerous awards for his contributions.
Dr. Hoffman was a famed and patient teacher, and
the George Hoffman Teaching Award is granted annually
in his honor by the Pathology and Laboratory
Institute to a resident who embodies his excellent
teaching and clinical service attributes. In 2002,
he received Cleveland Clinic Alumni Association’s
Distinguished Alumnus Award. His son Peter said
that his father loved his work at Cleveland Clinic
and that the principle to “Act as a Unit” was
important to him. In lieu of flowers, donations may
be made to Tidewell Hospice and Palliative Care,
5955 Rand Blvd., Sarasota, FL 34238. Dr. Hoffman
Please Keep in Contact
Cleveland Clinic Alumni Relations wants to stay on top of significant
changes in your life. Have you moved? Taken on a teaching position?
Received an academic promotion or professional recognition of some
sort? Decided to retire? Have an interesting hobby or avocation you’d
like to share? Your former Cleveland Clinic colleagues really want to
know what you are up to. Please take a few moments to complete this
coupon so that we can keep them informed via “Contacts” (starting on
page 30 of this issue).
_________________________________________________________________
NAME
_________________________________________________________________
PHONE
_________________________________________________________________
ADDRESS q HOME q OFFICE
_________________________________________________________________
CITY, STATE, ZIP
_________________________________________________________________
E-MAIL ADDRESS
is survived by his wife, Ann, and four sons, Peter,
Andrew, John and James, and eight grandchildren.
Cleveland Clinic held a memorial service on Feb.
26. To forward a written tribute, contact Holly Jones
at jonesh2@ccf.org or 216.444.4063.
Willem Kolff, MD, PhD, 97, a Cleveland Clinic
staff physician from 1950 to 1967 and a pioneer
in kidney dialysis and artificial organs, died Feb.
11 at a Philadelphia care center. Born Feb. 14,
1911, Dr. Kolff founded and served as the first
Head of Cleveland Clinic’s Department of Artificial
Organs (now Biomedical Engineering), developed
one of the first heart-lung machines and founded
Cleveland Clinic’s Dialysis Center. He pioneered
a European blood bank and designed the first
functioning artificial kidney during World War II. He
established the Kolff Foundation to help patients
pay for dialysis treatment. Among Dr. Kolff’s other
contributions to medicine are the intra-aortic
balloon pump heart assist device, artificial eye,
artificial heart and membrane oxygenator. His work
on the artificial heart began in 1957 at Cleveland
Clinic. In 1967, he became head of the Division
of Artificial Organs at the University of Utah and
director of the Institute of Biomedical Engineering.
In 1982, he was part of a team of surgeons who
implanted an artificial heart into Seattle dentist
Barney Clark. In 2002, Dr. Kolff received the Albert
WHAT’S NEW?
Lasker Award for Clinical Medical Research for
his work on kidney dialysis. He is survived by his
five children, sons Therus, Jacob “Jack” Kolff,
MD (RES’67, S’72, TS’74), Albert and Kees, and
daughter Adrie Burnett, 12 grandchildren and six
great-grandchildren.
Romeen Kochhar Whinney, MD (H/OPM’03),
36, of South Euclid, OH, died Dec. 17, 2008, after
a heroic battle with breast cancer. Dr. Kochhar
Whinney is survived by her husband, Christopher
M. Whinney, MD, a member of Cleveland Clinic’s
Hospital Medicine staff; young daughter, Pomee
Therese; and father, Dr. Devendra Kochhar. She is
preceded in death by her mother, Dr. Omila Sagar
Kochhar. Survivors also include her parents-in-law,
Joseph and June Whinney, and countless relatives,
close friends and colleagues. Formerly of Cherry
Hill, NJ, Dr. Kochhar Whinney attended Lehigh University
in Bethlehem, PA, and received her medical
degree from the Medical College of Pennsylvania,
Philadelphia. She completed a fellowship in Palliative
Medicine at Cleveland Clinic. A celebration
of her life was held Dec. 20, 2008, in a traditional
Hindu ceremony. The family suggests memorial
donations could be made to The Gathering Place,
23300 Commerce Park, Beachwood, OH 44122 or
Hospice of the Western Reserve, 300 E. 185 St.,
Cleveland, OH 44119.
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Alumni Connection | 35

The Treatment of Cardiovascular Disease:
Legacy and Innovation
June 3–5, 2009
Cleveland Clinic Heart & Vascular Institute invites you
to Cardiovascular Care: Legacy and Innovation, the most
important event of its kind this year. This CME program is
a one-time event and will be a comprehensive, single-site
overview of the state of cardiac surgery, cardiovascular
medicine and their related disciplines. This three-day
event will offer a complete overview of current trends,
ideas and innovations. Presenters include the recognized
leaders in all major aspects in cardiovascular care.
Cleveland Clinic is holding this event to mark the opening
of the Arnold and Sydell Miller Family Pavilion, the new
home of the Heart & Vascular Institute, and the largest and
most advanced heart care facility in the world. Participants
will have the opportunity to tour this remarkable building
We also celebrate the 50th anniversary of the first coronary
angiography and the 40th anniversary of the first coronary
artery bypass graft.
Cardiovascular Care: Legacy and Innovation will explore
the most urgent topics and controversies in the field. It
Cleveland Clinic Alumni Connection
A publication of the Cleveland Clinic Alumni Association. Produced
for medical alumni and friends by the Office of Institutional Relations
and Development, Cleveland Clinic Foundation, 9500 Euclid Avenue,
Cleveland, OH 44195. 216.444.2487 | 800.444.3664 | fax 216.445.2730
| e-mail alumni@ccf.org
CCF Alumni Association Board of Directors
Lee M. Adler, DO
Kenneth W. Angermeier, MD
Elumalal Appachi, MD
Janet W. Bay, MD
Steven Benedict, MD
John A. Bergfeld, MD
Edwin G. Beven, MD
Patrick Blake
Joseph M. Damiani, MD
Gary H. Dworkin, MD
Zeyd Y. Ebrahim, MD
Omar A. Fattal, MD, MPH
Elizabeth A. File, MD
Kathleen N. Franco, MD
Gita P. Gidwani, MD
Jaime F. Godoy, MD
Mark K. Grove, MD
Robert E. Hobbs, MD
Pauline Kwok, MD
Lucy (Massullo) LaPerna, DO
James W. Lewis, MD
Careen Y. Lowder, MD
Jennifer L. Lucas, MD
David E. Martin, MD
Tarek M. Mekhail, MD
Jonathan L. Myles, MD.
Monique Ogletree, PhD
William L. Proudfit, MD
Susan J. Rehm, MD
Marc S. Rovner, MD
Edward D. Ruszkiewicz, MD
Leslie R. Sheeler, MD
Divya Singh-Behl, MD
Scott A. Strong, MD
Elias I. Traboulsi, MD
David P. Vogt, MD
Lilian V. Gonsalves, MD, President
Robert E. Hermann, MD ............................................ Medical Director
William M. Michener, MD ............................ Emeritus Medical Director
Sandra S. Stranscak ...............................................Executive Director
Marilyn Bryce ......................................................... Associate Director
Beth Thomas Hertz .................................................................... Editor
Lois Sumegi ................................................. Director of Development
Cleveland Clinic is an independent, not-for-profit, multispecialty
academic medical center. It is dedicated to providing quality specialized
care and includes an outpatient clinic, a hospital with more than 1,000
staffed beds, an education division and a research institute.
will reflect on the achievements that have brought cardiovascular
care to its current state. You will hear and meet
today’s cardiovascular innovators, tomorrow’s leaders and
pioneers of medicine and surgery. You will leave with fresh
insights, new perspectives and valuable information for
your practice.
Housing and registration information, as well as the
program agenda, can be viewed at www.ccfcme.org/
CardioCare09.
The Cleveland Clinic Foundation
Alumni Relations, DV1
9500 Euclid Avenue, Cleveland, OH 44195
Address Service Requested
Non-Profit Org.
U.S. Postage Paid
Cleveland, Ohio
Permit No. 4184