Spring/Summer 2002 - University of Rochester Medical Center

ROCHESTER MEDICINE
UNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER SCHOOL OF MEDICINE AND DENTISTRY SPRING/SUMMER 2002
BIOTERRORISM:
D.A. Henderson and other alumni battle the problem.
Smart bandages and more —the latest research.

I’d
like to congratulate Dean Ed Hundert on
his upcoming appointment as president of Case
Western Reserve University. From the work he
has done here at Rochester, I can safely say
that Case Western will gain immeasurably from
his energy and vision.
Dr. Hundert’s five years at Rochester
have been extremely fertile ones. As the architect
of the Double Helix curriculum, which
intertwines basic science and clinical work
from year one, Dean Hundert led the School
of Medicine and Dentistry through historic
change. That change culminated in February
2001, when the leading educators of the Liaison
Committee on Medical Education announced
the results of its inspection of our school. They
had “no areas of concern — an unprecedented
finding in American medical education.”
And so, Dr. Hundert’s legacy will
continue on as the mantle is passed to David
Guzick, M.D., Ph.D., who has been named the
ninth dean of the University of Rochester
School of Medicine and Dentistry. Dr. Guzick
has been with the University of Rochester since
1995, when he joined us to serve as chair of the
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology.
I hope you’ll join me in congratulating
Dr. Hundert on both his contributions here and
his new undertaking, and in congratulating
Dr. Guzick as he carries us through the next
chapter of innovative education here at Rochester.
We’ve dedicated this issue of Rochester
Medicine to Rochester faculty and alumni
working on the bioterrorism problem.
The initial shock and horror of
September 11 may have subsided somewhat,
but still we feel uneasy. The first steps have
been taken to protect ourselves, but still we
wonder what we need to do now. We’ve dealt
with the crisis with great resolve, but still
we must ask, “What about the future?”
Rochester graduates and faculty are
now at the forefront of preparations against a
bioterrorist attack. They’re working throughout
the federal government on plans and technologies
that will protect whole communities.
One alumnus, D. A. Henderson, was
having a remarkable career even before he
became director of the new federal Office of
Public Health Preparedness in November.
Henderson led the World Health Organization’s
effort in the ’60s and ’70s to eradicate smallpox.
That project is still considered one of the
greatest successes in the history of public
health. In this issue, we take a look at how
he did it, and how he’s being asked to make
the world safe once again from smallpox.
We also take a look at cutting-edge
research being done here at the Medical Center
and by alumni. From better vaccines to “smart
bandages” that one day could detect the presence
of dangerous bacteria, scientists are
moving quickly to find technological solutions
to the bioterrorism problem.
The government has been just as quick
to act. When the NIH decided it needed to test
a diluted form of smallpox vaccine, Rochester
was one of only four institutions chosen to
conduct the study.
In this issue we wanted to show how
work is continuing on the bioterrorism front.
That work, which actually began long before
September 11, will help make us all safer.
Jay H. Stein, M.D.
Senior Vice President & Vice Provost for Health
Affairs, Medical Center & Strong Health CEO
SPRING / SUMMER 2002 1

It
is with very deep emotions that I write
to inform you that on July 31st I will be stepping
down as dean of the School of Medicine
and Dentistry and professor of psychiatry and
medical humanities at the University of
Rochester, to become president of Case Western
Reserve University on August 1, 2002. These
five years at the School of Medicine and
Dentistry have been the most energizing of
my professional life, and I cannot tell you
what a privilege it has been to work with
such remarkable people as yourselves. I am
confident that Rochester’s educational paradigm
will continue to set the national standard in
medical education into the future, thanks
to the remarkable students, faculty, administrators,
staff, and alumni with whom it has been my
great pleasure to work so hard. You are amazing.
The opportunity to serve as president of
Case Western Reserve University is unique in a
lifetime. CWRU is poised to rethink the meaning
of an undergraduate education at a research
university, with a plan to integrate “theory and
experience” throughout the entire curriculum
(a university-wide Double Helix!). They also
face exciting challenges and unique opportunities
in a number of their graduate and
professional schools, and have a Master Plan
to rebuild the entire campus over the coming
decade. I would add that CWRU is also poised
to become a partner with the city of Cleveland,
so that just as our medical school has a mission
to make Rochester the healthiest city, Case
Western Reserve as a whole will be engaging
all of its schools and programs with a goal
of making Cleveland the best possible city.
Leading this effort represents a truly unique
opportunity for leadership and service both
to higher education and the civic role of
universities.
I will work hard with Dr. Stein, Dean
Cory-Slechta, and the rest of the senior leadership
team over the coming months to ensure
a smooth transition and to make sure the positive
momentum we have at URMC continues
unabated. This is a remarkable institution
with some of the finest people it has ever been
my pleasure to know. I will definitely stay in
touch over the years ahead and look forward
to hearing news of how our new educational
paradigm has spread beyond medical student
education through graduate and continuing
medical education, so that the lifelong
learning of both cutting-edge science and
humanistic clinical practice continues to be the
trademark of a Rochester-educated physician.
I will miss you.
Edward M. Hundert, MD
Dean of the School of Medicine and Dentistry
2
ROCHESTER MEDICINE

CONTENTS
ROCHESTER MEDICINE
FEATURES
10 Best prepare for the worst: How D. A . Henderson saved the planet
from smallpox and how he plans to do it again
17 War rooms, new vaccines and meetings with the President
20 Technology vs. terrorism
24 Rochester provides a national model
28 A lasting memorial
4 Medical Center rounds
29 School news
37 Alumni news
40 Class notes
47 In memoriam
DEPARTMENTS
Rochester Medicine is published by: The University of Rochester Medical Center,
Department of Public Relations and Communications, in conjunction with the
Department of Medical Alumni Relations and Development
Teri D’Agostino, Director of Public Relations and Communications
Mark Liu, Editor
Leslie Orr and Tom Rickey, Contributing Writers
Mitchell Christensen, Art Director
Randy Tagg and Vince Sullivan, Photographers
Rita J. Ciarico, Editorial Assistant
Christopher Raimy, Director of Development for Medical Alumni Programs
Christina Mancini, Associate Director of Medical Alumni Relations
For questions or comments, contact:
Department of Alumni Relations and Development
300 East River Road, Rochester, NY 14627
1–800–333–4428 585–273–5954 Fax 585–461–2081
E-mail address: RochesterMedicineMagazine@urmc.rochester.edu
Cover montage images
and selected D. A.
Henderson story photos
and graphics from: The
Global Eradication of
Smallpox: Final report of
the Global Commission for
the Certification of Smallpox
Eradication. World Health
Organization: Geneva,
1980. Basu, R.N., Z. Jezek
and N.A. Ward. Eradication
of Smallpox from India.
World Health Organization:
Faridabad, India, 1979.
SPRING / SUMMER 2002 3

medical center rounds
Strong deploys decade’s “single biggest
advancement” for Parkinson’s patients
The FDA recently put its stamp of approval on
a revolutionary treatment that can enhance
the quality of life for patients in the advanced
stages of Parkinson’s disease.
In Deep Brain Stimulation therapy,
an electrode device is implanted in precisely
targeted areas of the brain to deliver carefully
controlled pulses of electrical stimulation,
which relieves the debilitating slowness, stiffness
and shaking that characterize Parkinson’s.
This creates a whole new treatment option for
advanced Parkinson’s disease patients, and also
is the first time that motor function is actually
further improved. Physicians at the University
of Rochester Medical Center (URMC) are using
the new technique, with encouraging results.
“From my perspective, this is the single
biggest advancement in treatment for
Parkinson’s in the last decade,” says Timothy
Counihan, M.D., assistant professor of
neurology at the Medical Center and codirector
of the Strong Surgical Treatment
Program for Movement Disorders. “For most
patients, medication eventually becomes ineffective
as the disease progresses, leaving the
person with no real treatment alternatives
but a slow, inexorable deterioration. Deep Brain
Stimulation provides a marked improvement
in motor function, allowing many patients to
achieve a better quality of life.”
According to Counihan, clinical trials
using the electronic implants have shown that
patients have up to a 60 percent improvement
in motor function (as measured by the standard
Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating scale)
three years following the surgery, despite a
substantial reduction in their medication
usage, and despite the fact that the disease
progressed during the same three-year period.
Robert Bakos, M.D., associate professor
of neurosurgery at URMC, says that the surgery
is unique because the patient is awake to help
guide the placement of the electrodes.
We use computers to pinpoint the
specific “ area on the brain for placement of
the electrodes, but then we work with the
patient during the surgery to find the precise
area that is the major source of Parkinson’s
disease symptoms,” says Bakos. “We then ask
the patient to hold a coffee cup or write on
a pad as we fine-tune the electric impulse.”
This surgery is followed by another
minor procedure, in which the electrodes are
connected by lead wires under the skin to a
pulse generator — similar to a pacemaker —
implanted under the collarbone. Medtronics
Inc., of Minneapolis, makes the device, called
Activa Parkinson’s Control Therapy.
“Because the amount of electricity is
adjustable, we can provide significant symptom
4
ROCHESTER MEDICINE

medical center rounds
Largest ever study of Parkinson’s disease
Active Parkinson’s Control Therapy.
relief while minimizing side effects,” Bakos
notes. “And the therapy is reversible, which
means patients will be able to pursue new treatments
that may be developed in the years ahead.”
A debilitating disease
One million Americans are estimated
to have Parkinson’s disease, a progressive and
degenerative movement disorder that gradually
robs patients of their independence. The cause
of Parkinson’s is unknown, but the symptoms
stem from the degeneration of neurons (brain
cells) that produce dopamine. Dopamine is
a neurotransmitter that enables communication
among the brain cells involved in motor
control. The electrical stimulation acts on
the malfunctioning circuits in the brain.
Patients are typically put on medication
to control the symptoms. However, after a long
A neurologist at the University of Rochester
Medical Center has been chosen to lead a study
of 3,000 patients around the country who have
Parkinson’s disease. Karl Kieburtz, M.D.,
professor of neurology, will lead the largest
effort yet to find a way to slow the progression
of the disease.
The five-year study, to be launched
in late 2002 or in 2003, will be funded with
approximately $6.5 million from the National
Institutes of Health.
Roughly one million adults in North
America have Parkinson’s disease, in which
several hundred thousand cells in the substantia
nigra region of the brain degenerate and die.
Currently, doctors use a range of
medications to treat the classic symptoms —
slowness of movement, difficulty walking and
swallowing, muscle stiffness, tremors, and
rigidity — but there is no way to slow or
prevent the death of brain cells.
“There is not a lot out there at this point
period of time (10 to 20 years) drugs become
ineffective. In these late stages of the disease,
patients often experience uncontrollable
shaking and flailing as a side effect of medication
to treat Parkinson’s. The combination of
symptoms and side effects leads to self-isolation
and avoidance of public situations, and eventually
can cause patients to become totally
dependent on others for their care.
Since 1995, about 15,000 people in
Europe, Canada and Australia have been
implanted with “brain pacemakers” to treat
their disease. Doctors at Strong Memorial
Hospital have a waiting list of 20 people
eligible for the surgery, and are working
with insurance companies to provide coverage
before scheduling the surgery. Medicare is
currently working on its payment policy as well.
to protect patients from further damage,” says
Kieburtz. “We have several candidates, but thus
far none has been shown to slow the disease.”
Kieburtz will coordinate doctors from
42 sites around North America who will track
the health of the patients over a five-year
period. The team will test the effectiveness
of various substances at slowing the disease’s
progression. Possibilities include obscure
compounds in development in laboratories,
as well as everyday substances like caffeine
and nicotine.
In similar studies bringing together
doctors and patients around the country,
Medical Center physicians recently led a team
that found that a skin patch under development
to treat Parkinson’s disease appears
as effective as traditional oral medications.
The research is being done through the
Department of Neurology’s Clinical Trials
Coordination Center, where Kieburtz serves
as director.
” Cache” in on
research news
The latest news on the University’s research
in science, medicine and engineering is
available via e-mail through the ScienceCache
newsletter. Once or twice each month,
subscribers receive a concise synopsis of the
latest news in these areas, with links to the
Web for more information. It’s a handy way to
keep track of the University’s top research news.
For more information or to subscribe, send
a note to trickey@admin.rochester.edu,
or send a message with the words “subscribe
sciencecache” in the body of the note to
majordomo@listener.uis.rochester.edu.
SPRING / SUMMER 2002 5

medical center rounds
help prevent
suicide is the 3rd leading cause of death among young adults
suicide suicide is is the the 3rd 3rd leading leading cause cause of of death death among among young young adults adults
$3.2 million grant will help prevent suicide here and in China
Researchers at the nation’s leading center
for the study and prevention of suicide have
received $3.2 million from the National
Institutes of Health to conduct research and
training, expand their team, and establish
a new venture with counterparts in China,
where more than half the suicides among
women worldwide occur each year.
The psychiatrists and psychologists
doing the research are part of the Center for
the Study and Prevention of Suicide at the
University of Rochester Medical Center. The
center was established three years ago and
has quickly emerged as an international leader
on suicide study and prevention. In the last
two years, its scientists have attracted $6 million
in funding for the study of suicide, which —
in addition to its tragic human consequences—
costs the U.S. economy more than $100 billion
annually.
A team led by Yeates Conwell, M.D.,
professor of psychiatry, will receive $2 million
from the National Institute of Mental Health
over the next five years to train researchers
who focus on suicide. The training program
is the largest in the country devoted to suicide,
with the University of Pittsburgh, University
of Pennsylvania, University of Washington,
and Weill Medical College of Cornell University
also taking part.
Suicide is actually the third leading
cause of death among young adults, and the
eighth leading cause of death among all people
in the United States. But a reluctance to talk
about it complicates its study.
“More people die from suicide than by
homicide, yet we all understand that homicide
is a major assault on our communities,”
Conwell says.
A second grant, for $1.2 million, focuses
on suicide in China through the China-
Rochester Suicide Research Center, headed by
Eric Caine, M.D., the John Romano Professor
and chair of the Department of Psychiatry.
Chinese scholars who study suicide will visit
Rochester, and Rochester researchers will travel
to China. Collaborations have been established
with several Asian universities.
The China connection opens up a new
vista for researchers, says Caine. It is one of
few places in the world where the suicide rate
among women is as high as among men;
it’s also a culture with a much lower rate of
homicide than in the United States.
“We know that cultural and social
factors play a huge role in suicide,” says Caine,
“ and it’s helpful to compare trends in the United
States to those in another setting, like China.”
The Rochester group is also leading a
nationwide effort to identify and publicize the
best ways to prevent suicide. Caine and Conwell
last year received a grant from the NIH to
support these efforts in a five-year project.
“Medicine has really failed to look
at suicide as a public health problem,”
says Caine.
The University is home to an array of
other studies on suicide. Kathryn Castle, Ph.D.,
is looking at suicide factors among minority
groups. Caine and Conwell focus on suicide
among the elderly. Paul Duberstein, Ph.D.,
studies how personality and social factors play
a role. Other researchers include Ken Conner,
Psy.D., who studies the role of alcohol; Kerry
Knox, Ph.D., who is evaluating a suicideprevention
model used in the armed forces;
Scott Kim, M.D., Ph.D., who is looking at the
ethical issues surrounding the study of suicide;
and Valerie Borum, Ph.D., who is studying suicide
among African Americans and deaf people.
6
ROCHESTER MEDICINE

medical center rounds
From invention to implementation:
Rochester builds a better prostate cancer treatment
The University of Rochester Medical Center
has begun using a new computerized medical
device developed by its researchers to improve
the treatment for prostate cancer.
The software-based device is called
PIPER (Prostate Implant Planning Engine for
Radiotherapy) and was developed and patented
by the University and licensed to RTek Medical
Systems LLC, a collaboration between the
University and Real Time Enterprises, Inc.
of Pittsford. The University’s James P. Wilmot
Cancer Center acquired the system last fall.
The PIPER system assists surgeons,
radiation oncologists, and medical physicists
in planning and performing brachytherapy,
which is an increasingly popular treatment
for prostate cancer. Brachytherapy involves
surgically implanting tiny radioactive seeds—
roughly the size of a grain of rice — into the
prostate to destroy cancer cells over a period
of several weeks.
The success
of brachytherapy
hinges on the placement
of the
radioactive seeds
at precise locations
within the prostate
to destroy all nearby
cancer cells without
harming the healthy tissue surrounding the
prostate. The PIPER system uses sophisticated
optimization algorithms to help clinicians
determine how many seeds are necessary and
exactly where to place them within the prostate.
Physicians often use computer programs
to help them decide how and where to place
the seeds, but this system is revolutionary
because of its speed and optimization capabilities.
Based on an ultrasound scan of a patient’s
prostate and other organs, the PIPER system
automatically
compiles a
computer-optimized
radiation treatment
plan in less than
two minutes.
This means that
radiation-treatment
planning can be
done in the operating
room
immediately before
surgery, instead of
several weeks
beforehand, as
is now standard.
A plan created in the operating room just
minutes before the procedure can better match
the anatomy that surgeons actually confront.
“It is a tremendous advantage to be able
to plot seed placements
using
up-to-the-minute
images of the
prostate,” says
surgeon Edward
Messing, M.D.,
chair of the
Department of
Urology. Messing
has performed scores of brachytherapy procedures
at Strong Memorial Hospital.
“When you enter the operating room,
the prostate you see then is never the same
as the one you saw a few weeks previously,”
says Messing, referring to changes in the size
and shape of the organ that can result from
patient positioning, hormone therapy, and
anesthesia. “Using PIPER helps take the guesswork
and heavy, time-consuming calculations
out of the process. You know exactly where
The PIPER system displays the seeds implanted in the prostate.
your seeds went and where you want to put
the next ones.”
Placement of the seeds with pinpoint
precision is difficult because the tiny seeds
are difficult to visualize with ultrasound.
The PIPER system also helps during the procedure
by providing an interactive, ultrasound
interface that allows surgeons to track needle
locations and determine seed positions in real
time. And actual seed placements can be
adjusted to match the optimized plan.
“This approach improves the therapeutic
outcome by optimizing the treatment
of the cancer cells while lessening the effects
on adjacent organs and minimizing side effects
and complications,” says Ralph Brasacchio, M.D.,
assistant professor of radiation oncology and
co-director of the Prostate Brachytherapy
Program.
PIPER was developed by medical physicist
Yan Yu, Ph.D., associate professor of radiation
oncology at the Wilmot Cancer Center, based
on more than six years of research funded by
a variety of sources, including the National
Cancer Institute and the Whitaker Foundation.
SPRING / SUMMER 2002 7

medical center rounds
Strong Memorial unveils high-tech ORs
Surgeons and faculty at Strong Memorial
Hospital have more room to operate, thanks to
an $8.5 million project, completed in February,
that has added 12 new operating rooms to the
hospital’s existing surgical center.
The new surgical suite, located below
the Frank and Caroline Gannett Emergency
Center and adjacent to the existing ORs, uses
the latest technologies and design ideas. The
rooms are larger than traditionally designed
rooms: 800 square feet, which is 75 percent
larger than the existing rooms and 25 percent
larger than the norm. They’re equipped with
flat-panel video displays, which allow surgical
teams to view x-ray images delivered electronically
from a different part of the hospital rather
than rely on the manual delivery of actual
x-rays viewed on a light board.
The computers and video displays also
enable surgeons to communicate in real time
via the Internet with other doctors within the
hospital and beyond, to discuss procedures
being performed or to teach other medical
personnel and students. As learning labs,
the rooms can be used for tele-medicine and
some day could incorporate surgical robotics.
The new ORs were essential because
of increasing numbers of patients and a need
to accommodate larger, leading-edge equipment,
says Arthur S. Hengerer, M.D., F.A.C.S.,
acting chief of the Department of Surgery and
chair of the Division of Otolaryngology.
“These operating rooms truly cater to
our specialty surgical services, including
general surgery, transplantation, orthopaedics,
trauma, vascular, cardiac and neurosurgery,”
says Hengerer.
Two rooms are devoted to heart bypass
and heart transplantation procedures, and two
are designated for live-donor liver and kidney
transplantation. Each contains a hepa-filtration
system that cleans the air in the ORs to
reduce the risk of infection.
A vascular surgical room is enclosed
by several-inch-thick lead walls that house
the latest in digital x-ray equipment, some of
which is located below the patient and can be
used to image from a very different angle than
was possible in the past.
Orthopaedic rooms are fitted with
a laminar flow air-handling system that
controls the movement of air and reduces the
risk of infection. A state-of-the-art trauma bay
is located directly across from private emergency
elevators that lead up to the emergency
department, as well as to the rooftop helipad.
The 12 operating rooms are being used
in conjunction with 15 existing rooms, for a total
of 27. The project cost $5 million for construction
and $3.5 million for medical equipment.
8
ROCHESTER MEDICINE

medical center rounds
Weak sperm count doesn’t always mean infertility
Research offers new classifications for normal, abnormal semen levels.
The nation’s most in-depth study of the quality
of sperm in nearly 1,500 men shows that sperm
counts previously thought to be abnormal do
not always mean infertility. The University of
Rochester Medical Center research was published
in the New England Journal of Medicine.
The study proposes new recommendations
for classifying semen samples as “normal”
or “abnormal.” If accepted by clinicians worldwide,
the research could rewrite laboratory
standards used for 50 years.
The findings demonstrate in scientific
terms what many clinicians already suspect:
that male infertility is not as clear-cut as
the current laboratory guidelines suggest,
says lead author David Guzick, M.D., then
chair of obstetrics and gynecology at the
Medical Center and newly appointed dean
of the School of Medicine and Dentistry
(see page 29 for more on the dean). For
example, a sperm count may fall just below
the laboratory criteria for infertility published
by the World Health Organization (WHO). But
in reality, that man may be able to establish a
pregnancy. The study’s new guidelines create a
“ gray zone” for such borderline semen samples.
“Every treatment for infertility depends
upon first establishing what’s normal and
abnormal,” Guzick says. “Up until now, we’ve
just been using guidelines without rigorously
testing them. We hope specialists will use these
revisions in their counseling of infertile couples
and in tailoring treatments to individual
patient circumstances.”
The Medical Center is the first to
compare fertile and infertile men using
contemporary methods for semen analysis;
other research has only gone so far as to study
sperm from infertile men before and after
infertility treatment. The research is also the
first to analyze semen samples from a very
large cross-section of men: it evaluated samples
from 765 men from infertile couples and 696 men
from fertile couples, at nine locations across
the country. All of the men were between 20
and 55 years old.
The results show there is no single
criteria that always leads to infertility. In fact,
the shape and appearance of sperm (known
as morphology) seemed to be a very important
measurement for discriminating between fertile
and infertile men, the study found. However,
the guidelines currently used by clinicians and
published in WHO laboratory manuals do not
even provide a reference value for morphology.
About 1 in 6 couples are unable to
conceive children. Of those couples, 30 to
40 percent suffer from male infertility. The
routine test for diagnosing male infertility is
a semen analysis. It consists of obtaining a
sample and then microscopically analyzing
the number of sperm per milliliter, the
percentage of sperm that are moving, and
the shape of the sperm. Normal sperm are
uniformly oval.
The WHO says that a “normal” sample
contains 20 million sperm per milliliter, with at
least 50 percent of the sperm moving. Anything
else is considered “abnormal.” But Guzick’s study
provides three new categories as reference points:
• Infertility is defined as having a concentration
of less than 13.5 million sperm per milliliter,
less than 32 percent motility (movement)
and less than 9 percent with a uniform shape.
• A gray zone is defined as having a concentration
of between 13.5 million and 48 million
sperm, between 32 and 63 percent motility,
and 9 to 12 percent of the sperm having a
uniform appearance.
• Fertility is established with a concentration
of greater than 48 million sperm per milliliter,
greater than 63 percent motility, and greater
than 12 percent with a uniform appearance.
The exact cause of male infertility is
unknown, although hormonal and anatomic
factors are sometimes responsible. Certain
behaviors, such as smoking cigarettes or marijuana,
are associated with lower sperm counts.
SPRING / SUMMER 2002 9

Best prepare for the worst
How D.A. Henderson, M.D., M.P.H.,saved the planet
©1980 World Health Organization
from smallpox, and how he plans to do it again.
Electron micrograph
of variola virus
isolated from
a specimen from
the last case of
smallpox in the
world.
by Mark Liu
Really, he just wanted to be a cardiologist. Instead, in a
globe-spanning career packed with high adventure and
serious risk-taking, D. A. Henderson, M.D., M.P.H.(M ’54),
became known as the first person in history to wipe
a disease from the face of the earth.
Henderson is quick to credit the many people who
contributed to the World Health Organization’s smallpox
eradication program in the ’60s and ’70s. But he was
the one in charge. He was the one who transformed
previous eradication attempts into a successful global
campaign. He was the one who innovated at every step,
learning on the run and applying experimental
techniques against a disease that killed one of every
three people who contracted it.

D.A. Henderson
how he gained the insight to predict a problem that plagues us now —
is the stuff of a good page-turner. And, in fact, he was working on the
book. But duty called. The book will have to wait.
Photo by John Dean
Now, after evading gunfire and dodging land mines, after decades of
outfoxing epidemics and human suffering, Henderson is maneuvering
through what may be the trickiest landscape of them all: government.
When he was named director of the newly formed federal Office of Public
Health Preparedness in November, a daunting task lay before him.
He became responsible for the medical and public health response to
terrorism, with a special emphasis on bioterrorism. The man who waged
war against natural epidemics was now faced with the sad and ugly reality
of defending against manmade ones.
At least one key person thinks he’s up to the task.
“ Dr. Henderson brings a lifetime of preparation for the demands
of this job,” says Tommy Thompson, Secretary of the Department of
Health and Human Services. “His distinguished record speaks for itself,
and we are fortunate to have him join the
department on a full-time basis.”
In many ways, the position is the logical “
culmination to the work Henderson did
throughout the ’90s, in his other career as
a bioterrorism expert and White House advisor.
Back then, he and a handful of others
implored the government to take the bioterrorism
threat seriously. It was a tough sell—
until anthrax hit the headlines last fall.
“ It felt like we were praying for rain in
the desert,” says Henderson from his Baltimore
home. “And then when it came, it was a flood.”
How he became the man at the floodgates —
Into Africa
It was an incredible achievement
to get people from all over
the world to cooperate.”
Bob Berg, M.D., professor emeritus,
Community and Preventive Medicine,
University of Rochester Medical Center
Donald A. Henderson earned his medical degree from Rochester in 1954,
then completed his internship at Bassett Hospital in Cooperstown, N.Y.
With the “doctor draft” still in effect, Henderson applied to the Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), even though the CDC was little
known and very small at the time. Henderson had only one qualification
for public health work: He had written a paper on the history of cholera
in Rochester for a contest, which he had entered only because he wanted
the prize money to buy a hi-fi.
“I applied to the CDC not because I was interested in public health
or anything like that. But we all had to do military service,” he says.
“ I thought, ‘Well, I’ll spend two years in public health.’ ”
Henderson ended up in the Epidemic Intelligence Services (EIS)
in Atlanta, among a group of epidemiologists who, with the Korean War
fresh in their minds, were looking into the problem of biological warfare.
They were ahead of their time in other respects, as well. When they got
word of an epidemic, they responded like an emergency department that
made house calls. They packed their bags and went, bringing with them
the latest ideas in vaccinating and isolating patients to contain outbreaks.
On one assignment, to fight an outbreak of botulism toxin in
Argentina, local officials asked Henderson if he wanted to see any sights.
He said he wanted to see a case of smallpox.
Henderson and a World Health Organization (WHO) doctor were
flown far up the Amazon to a tiny town, where he got his first glimpse
at how complicated smallpox work could be out in the trenches. The clinicians
in the treatment tent were baffled by smallpox patients who seemed
to be experiencing relapses several weeks later. As it turned out, some
patients with chickenpox were acquiring smallpox, and others with
smallpox were getting chickenpox. It was a good, first-hand lesson in
differentiating one disease from the other.
Henderson had come face to face with the
disease that would make him famous.
He tried to stick to his original plan,
returning to Cooperstown to study internal
medicine, but he decided that public health
was far more exciting. He enrolled at Johns
Hopkins University to earn his M.P.H., then
found himself back in Atlanta, running
the surveillance section of the EIS.
Henderson was already thinking big
about what the EIS could do. Lawrence Altman,
M.D., now a medical correspondent for
The New York Times, remembers his very first
SPRING / SUMMER 2002 11

©1980 World Health Organization
D. A. Henderson (circled) with members of the Global Commission for the Certification of Smallpox Eradication in the late 1970s.
conversation with Henderson when Altman came to the EIS for a job interview.
“ He was talking about eradicating smallpox,” says Altman. “I had
never heard the concept of eradicating a disease before. It was never talked
about in med school, or any other training. It was just an eye-opener.”
The idea was to break the human chain, which would stop the
disease because it was communicable only through human contact.
When an outbreak occurred, epidemiologists could vaccinate a ring of
people around the outbreak, effectively cutting off all paths for it to spread.
The premise was simple enough, but everything else would be dizzyingly
complex. Eradication would require teams of experts to cross world
cultures and negotiate through civil wars, in places that had the least
developed health services in the world. They would have to secure and
transport hundreds of millions of doses of vaccine in places that barely
had roads, let alone communication systems — all with the Cold War
heating up around them. Understandably, talk of smallpox eradication
was just that: talk, with no practical plan in sight.
Even when Henderson saw a chance to fight the disease in a major
hot spot, he wasn’t thinking about eradication. In 1965, the U.S. Agency
for International Development (AID) was fighting a losing battle against
measles in West Africa. AID turned to Henderson for more manpower,
which the EIS really couldn’t spare. But rather than say it that way,
Henderson cleverly said the opposite. He proposed a massive, combined
effort to fight measles and smallpox in 18 countries, at a staggering cost
of $35 million.
Essentially, it was a bluff. Henderson knew that neither group
was equipped to handle such an undertaking. As he tells it, he was
thinking, “We know they’ll turn it down, and then we’re off the hook.
But we needed to offer something.”
Henderson, an avid bridge player at the time, had played his
cards right. AID did turn down his proposal, and he was off the hook —
for a moment. Then something completely unexpected happened.
For its 20th anniversary, the United Nations had declared 1965
“ International Cooperation Year,” and President Johnson was looking for
a cause to showcase American cooperation. Someone in the Public Health
Service brought the big, unwieldy smallpox-measles proposal to a presidential
advisory committee, explains Henderson. They liked the idea,
Incidence of smallpox in 1967.
©1980 World Health Organization
12
ROCHESTER MEDICINE

and so did the president.
“ He ordered AID to fund the program,” says Henderson. “So all of a
sudden, there we were with an enormous program.”
History would see Henderson’s bluff differently. Don Millar, M.D.,
a 32-year CDC veteran who led the CDC portion of the eradication effort,
says, “If a single idea can be said to have launched the global smallpox
eradication program, it was D. A.’s proposal for a joint smallpox-measles
program in Africa. It stands as a bold stroke of managerial genius.”
The idea snowballed, and suddenly the United Nations was voting
on launching a 10-year effort for global smallpox eradication. It passed
by only two votes, says Henderson, and the director of WHO, a Brazilian,
was livid.
“ He blamed the Americans for getting us into this terrible mess,
because he felt it could not succeed,” says Henderson.
The WHO director wanted an American to head the program, notes
Henderson, so when it failed, the United States would receive the blame
it deserved. Henderson was his guy — his fall guy, actually.
“ At that point I was thoroughly overwhelmed trying to get this
West African program under way,” recalls Henderson.
That overwhelming program was now just one piece of something
much, much larger. Programs would need to be conducted in 50 countries,
with a total population of more than a billion people. The WHO budget
provided for only $2.6 million; the rest would have to come from contributions,
volunteer work — wherever it could be found.
And roughly 15 million new cases were appearing each year.
Henderson was now in charge of stopping every last one of them.
Bullets or missiles?
Those who worked with him say that Henderson’s unique abilities made
him ideal for the task. People cite his commanding presence and sonorous
voice, but also his ability to foresee outcomes much larger than mere
mortals can see. And when he saw opportunity, he seized it.
The kingdom of Tonga in the South Pacific is a prime example.
While Henderson was still with the CDC, he learned that the king of
Tonga had a business meeting with the Coca-Cola Company in Atlanta.
Henderson saw it as an opportunity to test an experimental jet-gun vaccination
technology, so he arranged his own meeting with the king.
Somehow, he sold the king on his plan. Henderson got his test study,
and the entire kingdom of Tonga — roughly 80,000 people — got vaccinated
against smallpox.
As head of the global eradication effort, Henderson would have to
be just as resourceful. With Geneva as home base, he and teams of workers
and volunteers began to solve problems, one at a time. Many of the problems
weren’t medical at all.
“It’s war,” says Millar about fighting epidemics, speaking quite
literally. “I was involved in seven coups d’etat. I was under house arrest
during several.”
Photo by John Dean

Henderson’s scenario if an attack comes
Suppose, says Henderson, that Rochester is hit
with an anthrax attack. The Office of Public
Health Preparedness has worked to devise a
practical plan to contain the problem — for
Rochester and any other location in the country.
“Patients are going to hit the ERs first,”
says Henderson. That’s why ER doctors and
nurses need to know what a biological attack
looks like and be able to recognize the symptoms.
These doctors and nurses need to be able
to call their health department if they suspect
there may be a problem. If there is an outbreak,
local health departments need to be available 24
hours a day. Only a few were before the anthrax
attacks, says Henderson, but that is changing
under the new plans.
The health departments, in turn, need to
be able to call on designated infectious disease
specialists quickly, to determine whether there
are similar cases in other hospitals; to obtain
specimens and to get them to qualified laboratories
in our national laboratory network; and to
call for help from state or national officials.
“We have a new federal command center
open 24 hours a day,” says Henderson. The CDC
also opened a 24-hour command center.
For treatment of patients, Henderson has
contracted for hundreds of millions of doses of
vaccine. The National Pharmaceutical Stockpile
Program has been expanded, so vaccine will be
on hand no matter where an attack occurs. The
program includes antibiotics to treat 20 million
people. It has respirators, smallpox vaccine and
some anthrax vaccine. Stockpiles are located at
12 strategic locations around the country, guaranteeing
that supplies can be delivered wherever
they’re needed within 12 hours.
But patients will have to go somewhere
for treatment. So hospitals are embarking on
regional planning to answer basic questions
such as how they would deal with thousands of
affected patients, where they would put them,
and who would treat them. Federal disaster
medical teams are being formed that could fly
in and augment local staffs, if needed.
“The key is to find it as quickly as possible,
diagnose it and take action,” says Henderson.
Special treaties had to be arranged so
that vaccination could proceed amid revolutions
and civil wars. Sometimes, as in Nigeria,
treaties were made on both sides. And where
agreements couldn’t be reached, Henderson
found other ways.
When Ethiopia’s minister of health
refused to have his country participate in the
program and refused even Henderson’s request
to visit, Henderson waited until the minister
was out of the country, then managed to get
permission through other channels. He then
befriended the emperor’s personal physician
who, in turn, persuaded the emperor. The
minister was ordered to execute the program.
Later in the campaign, Henderson found
himself back in Ethiopia, flying extremely low
in a helicopter while rebel soldiers fired at
them from the ground. Henderson turned to
the pilot and asked, “Why don’t we fly a little
higher?” The pilot answered, “We heard they
got surface-to-air missiles last month. We
thought it was better to brave rifles than SAM
missiles.”
There were other difficult choices to
make. In Bangladesh, Henderson was trying
to get a UN team out to a health center in the
middle of a revolution. As Henderson tells it,
the authorities asked, “Doc, do you want a military
escort? There are lots of landmines out there.
Better that the car in front of you hits them.
So an escort is good. But the army draws lots of
gunfire from militants. So an escort is bad.”
Henderson thought hard, eventually
choosing to go without the escort.
“ I felt that trip was 200 miles, but it was
more like 15,” he says.
Yet he insists that the “incredible bunch
of people” on the eradication staff and in local
teams actually faced worse dangers. “What I
experienced was really minor compared to
what they did,” he says.
Every few months, recalls Henderson,
someone on the staff was kidnapped. They’d
disappear from Ethiopia and sometimes end up
in Somalia, where their release would have to
be negotiated.
Somehow, Henderson kept his teams
“ I think it’s a travesty that
he hasn’t won the Nobel Prize
for the eradication
of smallpox.”
Don Millar, M.D.,
32-year veteran of the Centers
for Disease Control
committed to the cause. A clue to how he
pulled it off comes from the likes of Don Millar.
Millar says it “wasn’t always pleasant working
for him. He was hard-driving. He expected
more of me than I thought I had to give. I
never had as lofty an opinion of me as he did.”
Yet, Millar also says, “Because of people like
D. A., it was a wonderful career.” Henderson
expected the best from people, so he often got
it. He could drive people beyond what they felt
was comfortable, yet still have them feel it was
“ wonderful” in the end.
The WHO teams also knew they were on
a medical mission of the highest order. They
made major strides in West Africa using the
faster, cheaper (and Tonga-tested) jet gun,
though they had to modify it to pedal power
because they didn’t have electricity. Henderson
convinced countries to donate vaccine or
develop their own. Despite the Cold War, the
USSR became the largest donor, contributing
25 million doses. Still, vaccine was in short
supply, so the teams experimented with a bifurcated
needle just invented but not yet in use.
It quadrupled the number of successful “takes”
per dose, and made it easier for volunteers to
administer the vaccine.
Several years into the program, the
teams reached a major milestone. They had
eradicated smallpox in Africa and South
America, but, more important, they now felt for
the first time that global eradication was truly
possible. Now, a major battle loomed: India.
Indian officials had been fighting smallpox for

From left — Lowell A. Goldsmith, M.D., Robert Joynt, M.D., Ph.D., D.A. Henderson, and Jules Cohen, M.D., at Henderson’s 1999 URMC bioterrorism talk.
years, but still the WHO teams faced an extremely high incidence of the
disease there. As weapons, the team brought with them many solid years
of resourcefulness and on-the-job learning. As Henderson puts it, “At that
point, we knew better what we were doing.”
The field staff had an idea for a search operation that eventually
would reach every village in India. Later, it was extended to reach every
house in India — a remarkable undertaking, considering India’s diverse
population of half a billion people spread over more than a million square
miles. More than 120,000 health workers were engaged in the search.
The team came up with a final innovation: a reward to anyone who
reported a case of smallpox. The operation worked. In 1975, smallpox was
dead in India. Five years later, WHO declared smallpox eradicated, and the
world celebrated an unimaginable accomplishment.
Overlooked in the celebration was the ominous ending to this
chapter of the story. The world’s last smallpox fatality didn’t occur in
the midst of an epidemic in squalid surroundings. It occurred in England,
in 1978, when a sample of virus accidentally escaped from a laboratory.
This would foreshadow the problem that would come to haunt the world
two decades later — the problem that has Henderson as busy as ever,
fighting the same fight in very different circumstances.
The man-made epidemic
Henderson returned to Johns Hopkins in 1977, where he served as dean
of the School of Public Health for 14 years. He calls that time “very gratifying,”
as he cemented a relationship with the school of medicine and
built up the international program. He was in the midst of overseeing
major growth at the school when the White House came calling.
Henderson became a science advisor for George Bush Sr. in 1990.
When President Clinton took office, Henderson moved to the Department
of Health and Human Services as senior science adviser and deputy
assistant secretary.
It was through briefings and work on Department of Defense
committees during the Clinton administration that Henderson became
especially aware of the problem of biological weapons. After the Gulf War,
he says, evidence of anthrax activity in Iraq was mounting. In 1995,
a Japanese cult released toxic sarin gas in the Tokyo subway system,
raising the specter of domestic terrorism. But the big blow came with
the revelation of a major biological-weapons program in Russia.
Smallpox virus was alive and well as a potential weapon.
“ There was a feeling by the President and the administration that
we really had to gear up,” says Henderson.
But many other people would have to be convinced. In some ways,
preventing a manmade epidemic was as daunting as stopping a natural
one. The whole topic of biological weapons and the diseases they could
unleash was foreign to most people in public health and medicine,
says Henderson: “The subject was all but taboo.” The prevalent view
was that the healing arts shouldn’t be mixed with research or teaching
that involved such repugnant weapons. That view was reflected in the health
care system, as well.
“We were doing nothing in the hospitals, nothing in the ERs,”
says Henderson.
SPRING / SUMMER 2002 15

A handful of experts did understand the problem. In fact, Frank
Young, M.D., Ph.D., former dean of the University of Rochester School of
Medicine and Dentistry, was talking about bioterrorism as early as 1979.
“ I spoke to the State Department and said the potential to cause
havoc is very high,” says Young, who served as the commissioner of the
FDA from 1984 to 1989 (see “War Rooms” story, next page).
Yet there was widespread complacency, in part because of a feeling
that no one would cross the moral barrier of inflicting these weapons on
civilians.
By the late ’90s, Henderson had become a founding director of
the Johns Hopkins University Center for Civilian Biodefense Studies.
In essence, he was trying to sound the alarm. NATO had established a list of
30 potential biological agents, with smallpox at the top and anthrax not
far behind. Henderson started the biodefense center to talk about the
dangers.
He spent years trying to convert skeptics. Then, practically
overnight — after the September 11 attacks and subsequent anthrax
mailing — Henderson went from alarmist to visionary. The Department
of Health and Human Services quickly tapped him to lead the newly
formed Office of Public Health Preparedness — a position with great
responsibility, but requiring cooperation among a staggering number of
government departments. In the words of Jerome Donlon, M.D. (M ’72, Ph.D.
’ 68, R ’73), who is on detail assignment to the Office of Public Health
Preparedness, “A lot of what D. A. does is referee and negotiate.”
Those negotiations are crucial to the overall homeland-security
efforts. So Henderson assembled a small, dedicated staff of people mostly
on assignment from other government departments. Within two months,
D. A. Henderson will be the keynote speaker for two big events
at the University:
The Gala opening
of the second state-of-the-art medical research
facility, adjacent to the Arthur Kornberg Medical
Research Building.
Thursday, May 9
Convergence 2002 conference
Friday, May 10
Regional events will occur simultaneously on May 9
in New York, Boston and Los Angeles.
his office was disseminating roughly $1 billion to hospitals and state
and local health departments to help get them prepared. He arranged for
the purchase and development of vaccines and drugs while beefing up
the capabilities of diagnostic labs to enable quick identification of biological
agents.
Just as important, his team began detailing a response plan against
a potential attack. A network of 81 laboratories has been established and
hundreds of lab workers trained. And his team is assessing how prepared
each state is to handle a bioterrorism attack, asking the states to submit
details of the plans they have in place.
Some observers have wondered how Henderson — a man who
likes to get the job done — will fare amid the thick layers of Washington
bureaucracy. But Henderson himself doesn’t seem too concerned.
Whether he’s maneuvering around the globe to fight smallpox or around
Washington to fight bioterrorism, Henderson says there’s an old lesson
from his Rochester days that serves him well.
“One of the most important pieces of what I learned was the Engel
and Romano model in ‘Introduction to Diagnosis,’ ”says Henderson of
Rochester’s biopsychosocial philosophy. “Take time, question the patient
thoroughly, listen carefully. More often than you can imagine, the patient
has a remarkably keen insight and understanding of his problem and will
effectively provide you the diagnosis before you do the physical examination
or obtain a laboratory study.”
He says it worked in far-flung countries when he tried to find out
where an outbreak originated. Against popular wisdom, he would ask
patients, “Where do you think you got the disease?” Surprisingly often,
this led straight to the source.
A similar approach worked just as well at the White House. When
he arrived, Henderson was faced with a long agenda of problems that,
for him, were new and complicated.
“It was all too apparent that there were many talented and knowledgeable
people who had given many of the problems a great deal of
thought, who understood the problems well and who had imaginative
ideas as to what might be done,” he says. “One simply had to take the
time to question them thoroughly and to listen carefully. It sounds simple
and obvious, but all too few people seem to understand this very simple
precept that came straight from that introductory course in diagnosis at
Rochester.”
Luckily, Henderson knows when to talk, too. Henderson appeared
before the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee and cautioned that
terrorists would not be above attacking innocent civilians, with anthrax
or other biological weapons.
The date of his warning? September 5, 2001.
For more information on any of these events, please call
800–333–4428
16
ROCHESTER MEDICINE

War rooms, new vaccines and
meetings with the President
Experts take their places in Washington to protect the country from bioterrorism.
by Mark Liu
Not many associate pastors can say they spent 20 years in the dark
world. Then again, Frank Young, M.D., Ph.D., isn’t your typical
associate pastor. Young, former chair of the Department of
Microbiology at Rochester and former dean of the School of
Medicine and Dentistry and now an associate pastor in Maryland,
worked for nearly two decades within the federal government in classified
areas — known as the “dark world” to people inside the Beltway.
Young’s efforts in the ’80s and ’90s helped lay the groundwork
for the explosion of activity now under way as a result of September 11
and the anthrax attacks. His was one of the few voices in the Washington
wilderness, warning of the need to prepare for bioterrorism.
Today, that preparation is a national priority, reflected both in
the billions of new dollars being budgeted for bioterrorism defense and
the sheer numbers of people now devoted to Eric Noji, M.D., M.P.H.,
the problem. Several Rochester alumni have shakes hands with
recently stepped into key leadership positions President Bush in
on this new front, in the recently created Office the White House.
of Homeland Security and the Office of Public
Health Preparedness. They’re part of the new
guard in this post-September 11 world.
Young, for his part, foresaw this changed world and helped
persuade President Clinton to begin preparing for it. Young was in the
position to advise the president after a far-reaching Washington career
that included stints as commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration,
deputy assistant secretary for Health Science and Environment in the
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), U.S. representative
17

to the Executive Board of the World Health Organization (a Senateconfirmed
position), and director of the Office of Emergency
Preparedness / National Disaster Medical System. Before that, Young’s
research in Rochester involved the nontoxic form of anthrax. In effect,
he has been working on bioterrorism issues for a quarter of a century.
In 1993, Young took part in a simulation that helped change the
face of bioterrorism response in this country. The event was the government’s
first full-scale biological attack simulation “in the white world,”
as Young describes it, as opposed to previous simulations held in secrecy.
The tabletop exercise simulated the response to an anthrax release in the
subway system of a major metropolitan area. More than 100 people took
part, representing the EPA, FEMA, HHS, Department of Agriculture, and
various other local, state, and federal offices. The simulation even brought
in CNN reporters to show how difficult it is to address the public in the
midst of an unfolding crisis.
Young, as the officer in charge of the public-health response to
the attack, says the key players in the simulation continued to meet over
the years because of what they discovered from that exercise.
“The dominant thing we learned was a need for command and
control,” says Young. “A clear line of authority was needed.”
It takes coordination
It’s no coincidence that, today, Washington is emphasizing command
and control centers for better communication and coordination of information.
Eric Noji, M.D., M.P.H. (M ’81), sits in one of these new centers at
the White House, in the Office of Homeland Security. Noji is on assignment
from his job at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in
Atlanta, where he serves as associate director of the Bioterrorism
Preparedness and Response Program. In fact, he went immediately to
Washington after September 11, then onto assignments at the World Trade
Center site in Manhattan because of his disaster-medicine research
expertise in the toxic effects of pulverized concrete. Typically, Noji is called
to earthquake sites, which he compares the World Trade Center site to
(except that Ground Zero is in a much more concentrated area).
The day the first anthrax case in Florida came to light, Noji was
scheduled to return home to Atlanta. Instead, he found himself called to
work at the White House.
“ I’ve been living in a hotel since September 13,” he muses.
He’s also been working in a kind of war room, officially dubbed
the Coalition Information Center, in a former ballroom in the old
Executive Office building. Back in Teddy Roosevelt’s day it was the Indian
Treaty room, but today it’s filled with several dozen desks representing
various agencies. The Department of Defense is there, as is the Department
of the Treasury, Department of Transportation, even a London desk.
The idea is to provide some centralized coordination for what Noji —
a man who knows his way around the chaos of an earthquake — deems
“ an almost unbelievably complex situation.” When Noji’s boss,
Governor Tom Ridge, the head of the Office of Homeland Security,
displayed a diagram of who reports where within the various entities
involved in terrorist and bioterrorist defense, Noji says it “looked like
a quilt” because of all the lines connecting so many groups.
And that’s the real challenge facing us. Noji says that, while his
physician colleagues might be surprised to hear it, “the medical and health
aspect is the smallest part of disaster response.” For example, after the
September 11 attack, the United States discovered that incompatible telecommunications
systems among first responders — police, fire, ambulance
services, the Red Cross — made it extremely difficult to coordinate efforts.
When other unexpected problems arose, there was no clear system
in place to deal with them. Citizens, says Noji, were donating things “out
of the goodness of their hearts,” but they didn’t know what was needed.
So they were emptying out their medicine cabinets and sending it all.
Diet pills, birth-control pills — everything imaginable was showing up in
huge piles, some of it simply addressed to “U.S. Government.” Volunteers
also were showing up, but some weren’t qualified and others didn’t even
speak English. Yet all needed a place to stay and meals to eat. And somebody
in the government had to figure out how to deal with such issues.
Noji helped coordinate information during the height of the
fighting in Afghanistan, when rumors were flying about hemorrhagic fever
and the poisoning of wells. Now, he has settled back into his primary
assignment: preparing for a smallpox attack. There’s so much emphasis
on a smallpox attack because, as Frank Young explains it, it’s a low-probability
event with high-risk consequences. The low probability means that
some people didn’t take the threat seriously. But the high-risk consequences
— spread of a horrific disease that kills a third of its victims and
renders survivors severely scarred or blind — means that a response plan
is now considered vital.
Betting on better vaccine
Just down the street from Noji, between the Washington Monument and
Capitol Hill, Major General Philip K. Russell, M.D. (M ’58), and Jerome
Donlon, M.D. (Ph.D. ’68, M ’72, R ’73) are working on the smallpox problem,
as well. (And down the street from them, Donlon’s wife, Mildred Donlon
(Mas ’64, Ph.D. ’72) works for a government office dedicated to futuristic
defense breakthroughs; see technology story on page 20.)
Russell and Donlon are part of the new federal Office of Public
Health Preparedness, led by D. A. Henderson, M.D., M.P.H. (M ’54).
Primarily, their task is to oversee the development and storage of vaccines,
especially for anthrax and smallpox. A major project is under way to
develop a second-generation anthrax vaccine that would improve on the
current one, which is based on older production techniques. In March,
the National Academy of Sciences came out in support of such research,
saying that the current vaccine should be improved.
“Genetic engineering and recombinant technology allows for
isolating specific proteins, which would create a better specified vaccine,”
18
ROCHESTER MEDICINE

says Donlon, whose regular assignment is at the Center for Biologics
Evaluation and Research at the FDA.
The better vaccine might be used to protect public health workers
and other first responders who would be in danger of infection during
an attack. The vaccine might also be useful after exposure, says Donlon,
to help the immune system produce a response to infection. The NIH has
lead responsibility for the effort, with assistance from the CDC and FDA,
and oversight by the Office of Public Health Preparedness.
Donlon and Russell spend much of their time overseeing the
government contract to produce smallpox vaccine. The job is more
complicated than it might sound, requiring coordination among the CDC,
the FDA, the private company producing the vaccine and the Office of
Public Health Preparedness. The vaccine must meet FDA standards,
which means strict protocols for clinical trials and inspections, and it has
to be effective. Because the vaccine is being prepared for the expanding
National Pharmaceutical Stockpile Program, coordinated by the CDC,
Russell and Donlon must consider practical matters such as what kind of
needles are needed and how many, and how best to package the vaccine
for rapid deployment.
Russell seems the ideal person to draw up battle plans against
a smallpox attack. After graduating from Rochester, he served in the army,
becoming director of the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research,
commander of the Fitzsimons Army Medical Center and commander of
the U.S. Army Medical Research and Development Command. His military
awards include the Legion of Merit and the Distinguished Service Medal,
and he retired a major general. Henderson considers him “one of the
nation’s most knowledgeable and respected persons in vaccine research,
development and production.”
Some critics have questioned the wisdom of devoting so many
people and so much money to prepare for bioterrorism attacks. To Donlon,
such criticism overlooks the overarching benefits of these efforts.
“The training, response plans, surveillance, lab services — it all
strengthens the public-health infrastructure,” says Donlon. “It’s not just
for bioterrorism. It’s the same public-health response, so other outbreaks
can be responded to quickly.” The same need exists for teamwork and
communication during such problems as floods, flu outbreaks, or the
discovery of West Nile virus.
Besides, the people on the front line of a potential attack are
looking for guidance.
“ I get literally 300 e-mails a day from concerned doctors and
nurses,” says Noji. They want to know how they should prepare, and what
they can do.
Meanwhile, Frank Young has retired from the dark world and now
deals in the light of the world. As an associate pastor, he’s working to
establish an accredited theological school. Even as he was giving his
recommendations before Congressional committees in October, and even
as his former Rochester colleagues were gathering in Washington to
hammer out plans to protect the country from biological attacks, Young
was making sure to keep working on what he has learned to be a cornerstone
of the plan: faith.
From left — Major General Philip K. Russell, M.D., Jerome Donlon, M.D., Ph.D., Mildred Donlon, Mas, Ph.D., and D. A. Henderson, M.D., M.P.H.
SPRING / SUMMER 2002 19

Technology vs.Terrorism
From bomb detection to shirts that talk to satellites,
researchers are working on high-tech solutions.
by Mark Liu
Frank Young, M.D., Ph.D., envisions a future where our
shirts are smarter than we are — smart enough to monitor
our health and save our lives. Where soldiers or citizens
exposed to a biological attack can get a quick injection
and never suffer any symptoms. Where advances in bioinformatics
will be a key element of a strong civil defense.

Frank Young, M.D., Ph.D.
Benjamin Miller, Ph.D., holds the sensor chip that is at the heart of the smart bandage.
Young, former chair of the Department of Microbiology at Rochester
and former dean of the School of Medicine and Dentistry, is retired from
a 20-year career as a Washington insider on bioterrorism issues. But he
hasn’t stopped working on the problem. He serves on the board of two
companies working to develop futuristic solutions.
Scientists of all sorts are applying their knowledge to the bioterrorism
problem. At Rochester, researchers at the Center for Future Health
recently unveiled the first major step toward a “smart bandage” that will
change color depending on what kind of bacteria is present in a wound.
Benjamin Miller, Ph.D., assistant professor of chemistry at Rochester,
and Philippe Fauchet, Ph.D., professor and chair of the Department of
Electrical and Computer Engineering, have devised a tiny, bacteria-identifying
sensor that eventually could be reduced down to the size of a grain
of sand. Their aim is to develop a bandage that will immediately alert
people to the presence of dangerous bacteria. While their work began long
before the September 11 attacks, they’re well aware that their technology,
in theory, can be expanded to detect bioterrorist agents such as anthrax.
The Center is in the initial phase of testing a handheld sensor based on
their work, which was featured in the Journal of the American Chemical
Society. With the right funding, says Miller, they could begin large-scale
testing by the end of the year.
The bandage is part of the Center for Future Health’s “smart
medical home,” equipped with several prototype devices that can work
together to monitor your health.
In this home of the future, the smart bandage can confer with other
sensors that have been monitoring your gait for signs of stroke, your skin
for signs of melanoma, and your medicine cabinet for signs your current
medication might conflict with any new medication. A computer, compiling
the information, can suggest in spoken English what steps to take.
Such futuristic ideas are a hallmark of academic researchers,
but the federal government also is involved in research that sounds
more like science fiction than science. In a little-known section of the
Department of Defense, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency
(DARPA) is charged with supporting research that’s considered the most
innovative around.
DARPA deals in high-risk, high-reward projects — the kind that,
when successful, can lead to major advances both in military realms and
civilian life. DARPA was founded in 1958 as a direct result of the Russian
launch of Sputnik. The technology behind the launch was a surprise to
the United States, and Eisenhower “didn’t like it that we were surprised,”
says Mildred Donlon (Mas ’64, Ph.D. ’72). Donlon is the program manager
for DARPA’s Biological Warfare Defense program. She is overseeing the
research and development of about a dozen farsighted technologies,
including something considered vital in this new age of bioterrorism:
a sensor that could be used in the field to detect biological agents.
Philippe Fauchet, Ph.D.
Right — A conceptual
view of the
smart bandage
sending data to
a computer
display device.
SPRING / SUMMER 2002 21

Ruola Ning, Ph.D., works on imaging technology at Rochester.
Such a device would need to be rugged and light enough for the
battlefield, extremely accurate, but not extremely expensive. It would need
to do in minutes what today takes hours in a laboratory.
“ It’s not going to be a single technology that will solve this
problem,” says Donlon, who did radiation biology work with the
Department of Defense after graduating from Rochester. “It will be
a system of technologies.”
Early work in this realm was truly
innovative, focusing on fusing rat-brain
neurons onto semiconductor chips. Today,
Donlon cites three promising technologies
that might some day work together to solve
the problem.
One, a mass spectrometer, is meant
to quickly identify broad classes of biological
and chemical agents. From there, an
immunosensor that uses antibodies and a
miniature laser could detect biological agents
on a more fundamental level, by identifying
specific proteins. And a chip device that examines
What these technologies
make clear is that some
scientists were working on
the terrorism problem long
before it became a widespread
concern in this country.
ribosomal RNA messages could differentiate between biological agents that
differ by only a single base pair within the RNA.
It’s a daunting task not only to make the technology work, but also
to make it practical for use. As Donlon puts it, “There’s no due date. These
are new babies, and they need time before they’re ready to come out.”
Such is the nature of technology that incorporates the very latest
science. DARPA at least has the luxury of functioning as a sort of venturecapital
group. Donlon’s program supports research done at private
companies, so she can pick and choose from any project that looks
promising for what she needs.
DARPA helped fund the research behind another potential blockbuster
technology: The Smart Shirt, which incorporates innovations
in textile engineering, wearable computing, and wireless data. The Smart
Shirt has built-in sensors that can monitor the wearer’s heart and respiration
rates and detect hazardous particles in the immediate environment.
The shirt, which doesn’t feel any different from a “not-so-smart” shirt,
can send a person’s biometric information through wireless transmission
to a computer for analysis. The computer, in turn, can alert the wearer
on a wristwatch or personal display apparatus if, for example, the person’s
heart is beating abnormally.
While it has a pedigree that sounds straight out of a video game —
coming out of the U.S. military’s 21st Century Land Warrior Program —
the Smart Shirt has already proven itself in testing. And it happens to be
a technology that Young believes can fill one of the holes we have in our
civil defense.
Young serves on the board of the company, Sensatex, that’s working
to market the Smart Shirt. If a biological attack should occur, Smart Shirts
could be the first means of detecting that something is wrong. The shirt
can also transmit a person’s location, which Young says is crucial for first
responders at a site such as the World Trade Center. “With these shirts,
you can know where someone is buried in rubble,” he says.
With the right funding, Young says, the shirt could be available
within a year.
On the treatment side, Young is devoting his energy to a New Jerseybased
company called EluSys, which is
developing a “heteropolymer system” that uses
two antibodies joined together “like a piece
of biological double-sided tape.” One antibody
sticks to the target to be removed —anthrax,
for example — while the other binds to a
receptor found on the red blood cells of all
primates. Once the target is bound, the red
blood cells carry the pathogen to the liver for
destruction. In principle, any blood-borne
pathogen or toxin could be removed by the
system, including anthrax, smallpox, plague
and Ebola. In practice, EluSys needs more
funding to test and develop the system.
22
ROCHESTER MEDICINE

What these technologies make clear is that some scientists were
working on the terrorism problem long before it became a widespread
concern in this country. Ruola Ning, Ph.D., an associate professor of radiology
at Rochester, has spent 15 years perfecting a cone-beam technology
for 3-D scanner imaging. Ning says his imaging would retain all of the
essential information of an object in three dimensions, as opposed to
current scanners, which take a two-dimensional snapshot. Ning sees
numerous applications. A year ago, at a White House conference on the
black-market diamond trade believed to be a way terrorists fund their
operations, Ning proposed his imaging technology for capturing the structural
“fingerprint” of raw diamonds, so smuggled diamonds could be
tracked. He also envisioned better airport scanners that could more effectively
detect explosives.
In fact, several years ago, Ning and his colleagues from the optics
and computer science departments demonstrated a prototype to the
Federal Aviation Authority and to the business community.
“We talked to some manufacturers, but they thought this technology
was not needed,” says Ning, who has secondary appointments
in electrical and computer engineering, biomedical engineering, and radiation
oncology. “They thought the airlines wouldn’t want it.”
Much has changed in a few months, and Ning now plans to
reintroduce the idea, which until recently has been more focused on
health care applications.
There’s reason to believe that these kinds of research projects will be
taken even more seriously now, given what’s at stake. That’s the impression
that Stanley M. Lemon, M.D. (M ’72), came away with after serving
on a special blue-ribbon panel on bioterrorism held by the NIH National
Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and after attending a workshop
on bioterrorism organized by the Institute of Medicine. Participants,
which included the FBI, senators, representatives from the CDC and experts
in virology, bacteriology and other fields, noted the massive increase in
proposed government funding for bioterrorism research.
“There was a clear consensus that the increase in funding was
unprecedented,” says Lemon, who serves as vice chair for the Forum
on Emerging Infections within the Institute of Medicine. “The feeling
was that it wasn’t going to be business as usual. There needed to be
products that emerged from this to protect the American public.”
Lemon has made a commitment to that effort as dean of the School
of Medicine at the University of Texas Medical Branch. His school just
broke ground on a Level 4 laboratory, which is a “full spacesuit containment
lab” that allows researchers to handle the most dangerous materials.
That includes Category A agents such as anthrax.
“ It’s the first one of its kind on an academic campus,” says Lemon,
who also helped found his school’s Center for Biodefense.
Lemon agrees with the adage that the scourge of the 20th century
was the nuclear threat, while the scourge of the 21st century will be the
biological and chemical threat. But he, like other researchers dedicating
themselves to finding solutions, sees hope in the quick response from
scientists. And nobody can predict what the breadth of benefits might be
from this research.
“ We need to rebuild our scientific capabilities,” he says, “and then
I think there will be lots of spinoffs for things other than bioterrorism.”
Some day, all our shirts might be smart.
Love Grows in the Lab
It sounds like the concept for a new TV show: A husband and wife, biologist
and engineer by training, spend their days fighting bioterrorism, with the
latest advances in science as their weapons.
But it’s just normal life for the Donlons. Jerome (Ph.D. ’68, M ’72, R ’73)
and Mildred (Mas ’64, Ph.D. ’72) are both hard at work in their respective
government offices in Washington — he on assignment with the new
federal Office of Public Health Preparedness, she at the Defense Advanced
Research Projects Agency within the Department of Defense. One is working
on the public health response to a bioterrorism attack, the other is trying to
find ways to detect such an attack on the battlefield.
It’s not the first time the Donlons have worked on two sides of
the same problem. Once upon a time, at Rochester, the two were lab partners
in radiation biology class. As Mildred tells it, he was an engineer who
knew math but not biology and she was a biologist who knew biology but
not math. It was the ideal combination, and lab partners quickly became
life partners. It made sense: “Our kids would be perfect,” Mildred jokes.
So how did their experiment go? Their son is studying business at the
University of Notre Dame, and their daughter is getting her degree in public
health at Yale and is applying to the University of Rochester School of
Medicine and Dentistry.
“Both of the children are bright in math, physics and biology,”
says Mildred. “Genetics works!”
SPRING / SUMMER 2002 23

Rochester provides a national model
Drills, training and planning
get the region ready for a potential attack
by Leslie Orr

The scenario: During a wintry day in mid-February at
the height of flu season, a handful of new patients flowed
into Strong Memorial Hospital’s Emergency Department
with coughs, colds, headaches and fevers. One person
died shortly after being admitted, and an unusually high
number of people continued to seek help. Alert, worried
physicians began analyzing illness patterns, and looking
to blood samples and tissue specimens for evidence of
something other than the flu.
Their answer came from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
(CDC), which confirmed that a rare disease called tularemia, or “rabbit
fever,” was sweeping through the community. A bacterial infection,
tularemia is usually transmitted to people from deer flies, rodents or an
infected animal’s carcass, most often afflicting animal handlers and
furriers. But in this case, bioterrorists had released a form of tularemia into
a crowded public arena (and Rochester’s disaster preparedness was put to the
test.) Within a month, 5,500 local patients had sought treatment at emergency
rooms, clinics and doctors’ offices. An alarming 65 were dead.
The above scenario is pure fiction, but it was devised for a very
important reason. The invented “attack” was used as the basis for a
disaster drill, practiced a couple of months ago with more focus than ever
before by dozens of Rochester public health and safety officials.
Indeed, when it comes to planning for the unthinkable, “suddenly
everyone is paying attention, and we are truly learning a lot about our
strengths and weaknesses,” says John Benitez, M.D., M.P.H., managing
director of the Finger Lakes Regional Poison and Drug Information Center
at Strong Memorial Hospital and associate professor of emergency medicine
and environmental medicine. Benitez is also one of the University of
Rochester Medical Center’s designated representatives on a communitywide
Metropolitan Medical Response System (MMRS) team. The MMRS
program addresses issues such as drug distribution in the event of mass
casualties, community safety and use of secure communications networks.
Such community-wide coordination is one reason Rochester is
considered to be at the forefront of readiness for a bioterrorism attack.
According to D. A. Henderson, M.D., M.P.H. (M ’54), director of the federal
Office of Public Health Preparedness, “Rochester’s plans are among the
most advanced in the country and it is, in fact, a model.”
Rochester stands out, in part, because of key federal funding.
It’s one of 73 cities to receive a CDC grant in 2001 supporting the
John Benitez, M.D., M.P.H., models the personal protective equipment kit
in Strong Memorial Hospital’s Decontamination Room.
Metropolitan Medical Response System, for cities identified as potential
bioterrorism targets. Rochester’s proximity to the Canadian border is one
qualifying characteristic. Several physicians, including Benitez, and other
UR Medical Center officials, such as Fire Marshal Mark Cavanaugh,
participate in the countywide MMRS drills and planning. And another
CDC grant—one of only three in the nation—went to the County Health
Department to develop innovative secure communication tools, under the
Monroe County Health Alert Network. The Strong Memorial Hospital
emergency department and the Finger Lakes Regional Poison Center have
links to this system.
Since the Gulf War in the early 1990s, the CDC has provided special
training for the nation’s poison centers on responding to biological or
chemical warfare.
The anthrax deaths that followed the World Trade Center terrorism
provided crude lessons in planning, equipment needs, and communications.
Round-table discussions and drills — like the tularemia exercise
that Benitez helped plan for local physicians, hospital administrators, fire,
police and ambulance crews — forced the group to confront key issues
without overlooking minor details.
For example, if such a disaster truly taxed Rochester’s hospitals,
what is the best way to provide routine medical care for the rest of the
community? What would it take to set up a temporary kidney dialysis
center in a high school gymnasium? How will hospitals communicate
with emergency medical personnel to prevent the spread of lethal
contaminates? Where’s the best place to store special equipment so that
it’s easily deployable?
The good news, says Eric Davis, M.D., associate professor of emergency
medicine at Strong Memorial and regional medical director for
emergency medical services, is that Rochester has been preparing for years.
SPRING / SUMMER 2002 25

Helping Kids Cope, Too
With adults having so much trouble comprehending the events of
September 11 and subsequent anthrax attacks, it’s natural to wonder how
to help children understand and be safe.
Pediatricians at Rochester are doing more than wondering.
The Department of Pediatrics has formed the Committee on Bioterrorism/
Disaster Preparedness, headed by Geoffrey A. Weinberg, M.D., associate
professor of pediatrics. The committee developed several ideas, and in January,
Weinberg held a grand rounds entitled “Bioterrorism and You —
A Pediatrician’s Primer.” He reviewed how bioterrorism might affect children
differently from adults and gave background on biological preparedness.
The committee also suggested working with other departments
to present a pediatric grand rounds on disaster-related biopsychosocial issues.
Part of being prepared means staying involved with community
resources. Weinberg and Paul Graman, M.D., associate professor of medicine,
serve on the Monroe County Bioterrorism and Communicable Disease
Task Force and are liaisons to the Rochester MMRS. Caroline Breese Hall,
M.D., professor of pediatrics, serves on several FDA and CDC committees
concerned with bioterrorism.
The work will be ongoing. As the committee put it in their recommendations,
“The effect of weapons of mass destruction on the psyche of
the community at large and its children in particular will need to be
addressed at some point.”
“ We’ve always taken this very seriously here, and we are even better
prepared today,” Davis says. “People are recognizing that a disaster plan needs
to be a real disaster plan, and not something you just control on the fly.”
Ironically, local hoaxes and other false alarms in the aftermath
of September 11 actually provided opportunities for the testing of new
ideas. For example, Davis is on a New York State task force that is pulling
together response teams of physicians, nurses and paramedics specially
trained to treat trauma victims at a moment’s notice. This would avoid
having to send untrained personnel into the dangers of a ground-zero
situation, Davis says.
Benitez, who joined the Medical Center in September 2000 after
serving as the medical director of the Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh’s
poison center, has been able to identify problem areas and improve on
an already well-honed disaster plan. His team has purchased new personal
protective equipment kits with respirators, special suits, gloves and booties;
maintained funding for staff training on chemical toxicity issues;
and worked with emergency department staffers on recognition of
symptoms of rare diseases and use of the facility’s new, state-of-the-art
decontamination room.
“ In my 20 years as a physician, I never thought I would be faced
with bioterrorism,” Benitez says. “But we have learned so much about
our response and our ability to integrate with the community. In general,
the system has worked the way it is supposed to each time we test it.”
Rochester is called on to study a new
form of the old smallpox vaccine
by Tom Rickey
As talk of anthrax and smallpox had the nation in
a frenzy last fall, word of a possible solution was causing
a stir in Rochester. The University of Rochester was one
of four sites chosen by the federal government to test if
a diluted form of the old smallpox vaccine would be
effective in case of an outbreak due to a terrorist attack.
When federal officials announced the smallpox study a month after
September 11, the nation had only about 15 million smallpox vaccine
doses on hand. Officials wanted to learn how to stretch those doses to
cover a population of nearly 300 million. Rochester was chosen along
with Saint Louis University, Baylor College of Medicine and the University
of Maryland because they're part of an NIH-funded network to develop and
test vaccines for illnesses such as flu, pneumonia and whooping cough.
When news of the study broke, dozens of people around the country
immediately called the University, offering to drive or fly hundreds of
miles, calling friends who worked at the institution, even suggesting
special status as investors in vaccine companies — all in their efforts to
be protected should a smallpox attack occur.
“What makes smallpox so scary is that one in three people who
contract it die from it,” says vaccine expert John Treanor, M.D., associate
professor of medicine and leader of the Rochester portion of the study.
“ And it's extremely contagious. Someone would have to be out of his mind
to release it, because chances are good that it would come back to kill that
person's mother, father, children, and himself.”
26
ROCHESTER MEDICINE

Hundreds of
volunteers flocked
to the smallpox
vaccine study at
the Medical Center.
Before 1972, getting the vaccine was regarded as a harmless rite of
passage: Schoolchildren received the vaccine, then went back to the classroom
the same day and compared scabs later in the week. The dime-sized
scar that nearly all U.S. citizens older than 32 carry on their upper arms or
elsewhere on the body is proof that they received the vaccine as a child.
The vaccine is the same one that was used in the worldwide immunization
program that eradicated smallpox.
The closely studied and monitored vaccinations of today are a far
cry from how people in Europe used to protect themselves from smallpox,
says Treanor. It was not uncommon for people in the 1700s and 1800s
to pull off a scab from an infected friend or family member, then rub
the scab over their own skin in an effort to protect themselves.
“ While the thought is disgusting to us, they were really undertaking
a crude form of vaccination,” says Treanor. “While about one of every
three people who contract the disease naturally die, the death rate drops
to only about one in 100 for people who infected themselves this way.”
Throughout November and December, the Vaccine Testing and
Evaluation Unit fielded hundreds of calls from potential volunteers.
Treanor and a team of nurses and doctors worked long hours evaluating
volunteers, eventually enrolling 170 adults between the ages of 18 and
30 who had never been vaccinated against smallpox. In all, 650 individuals
around the country lined up in a repeat of a once-routine occurrence:
Vaccination against one of the deadliest diseases ever to face humankind.
Treanor and his team completed the study despite a steady stream of TV and
newspaper reporters that trouped through Strong to document the study.
Student Tia Neely appeared on NBC Nightly News and MSNBC as one
of the first people in the world in 25 years to be vaccinated, and other
participants were featured on the front page of the Boston Globe,
the Baltimore Sun, and other publications around the country. Most
volunteers spoke of their participation as their patriotic duty, while several
simply took advantage of the opportunity to be vaccinated in case of
an attack. Some participated for the money offered: $25 per visit.
In March, Treanor and his colleagues announced their findings:
Diluted forms of the vaccine are as effective in protecting against the
disease. Treanor’s team plans to conduct further studies of people who
have been vaccinated to learn more about their immunity.
“ I am proud that we were able to organize and conduct the study
so quickly, and to contribute something to the country’s preparations for
the unthinkable,” says Treanor.
John Treanor, M.D., prepares a volunteer for vaccination.
SPRING / SUMMER 2002 27

A lasting
memorial
On October 21, 2001,
Howard Beaton, M.D.
(M ’76), spoke at the
traditional Reunion
Memorial Service during Reunion Weekend.
Here are his words, on the immediate tragedy
of September 11 — which he witnessed —
and an impassioned idea for how we can
best honor those who were lost.
For the last eight years, it has been my privilege
to be the chief of surgery and emergency
services at NYU Downtown Hospital. For those of
you not familiar with New York City, this is a 200-
bed community hospital in lower Manhattan.
Late on a summer afternoon, the western facade
of the hospital and my office windows were
formerly in the shadow of the North Tower of the
World Trade Center. Today we describe the location
of the hospital as “four blocks from Ground Zero.”
It has been said that on September 11, every
American became a New Yorker. Whether you
were an eyewitness to the Towers’ collapse,
as I was, or watched it on TV, you shared in the
unimaginable enormity of this disaster. Whether
you actually smelled the acrid odor and became
covered in the gray ash that burned your eyes
and skin and irritated your lungs, as I was, or
just saw the images of the advancing dust cloud,
you were there. Whether you actually helped to
care for hundreds of injured patients in the first
few hours after the planes struck and then
waited in sad frustration, hour after hour and
day after day, for the second wave of survivors
which never materialized, as I did, or just read
about it in your newspaper, you were there, too.
Whether you saw the faces on the posters that
were plastered on the walls of every medical
facility by the families of the thousands of
missing victims, as I did, or just heard the grim
statistics, you also grieved for their loss and pain.
On September 11, we lost hundreds of incredibly
brave firemen, policemen and paramedics.
These individuals were extraordinary heroes. On
September 11, we also lost thousands of ordinary
people: men and women of every race and religion;
cooks and stockbrokers, janitors and
executives; people who had just gone to their
daily work — people just like you and me. Every
generation, it seems, goes through a tragedy
that tears away its innocence. In recent memory,
there have been Pearl Harbor, the assassinations
of President Kennedy, Martin Luther King and
Robert Kennedy, and now the terrorist attack on
the World Trade Center.
I have been asked how we can create a memorial
to so many innocent victims. How can we
explain to generations yet to come the feelings
that we share today? Mayor Giuliani has
suggested that we should return to our normal
daily activities, and indeed we must do so. I have
heard promises that the World Trade Center will
be rebuilt in some yet undetermined form that
will include a permanent memorial to those lost in
this cowardly attack. Personally, I would like to see
the Twin Towers rebuilt to be the tallest buildings
in the world, as a symbol of our defiance.
However, regardless of its size, I think that no
structure of steel and concrete can be enough of
a memorial to the memory of so many people.
I believe that the clues to a fitting memorial are
all around us. They are in the hundreds of
volunteers who walked, rode bicycles or hitchhiked
to our hospital and other medical
facilities on the morning of September 11. There
are clues in the handwritten notes and cards
that we received from elementary-school
children from small towns in Kentucky, Kansas
and North Carolina, to name a few; in the words
of encouragement we received from ER nurses
from North Dakota and in a letter that I received
from the medical staff at the hospital of the
University of Wisconsin. Clues are present in the
truckload of teddy bears we received from
children in Oklahoma City.
It is this profound sense of unity among all
Americans that we must now preserve as our
memorial to these victims. September 11
changed everything. We cannot simply let
ourselves slip back into the way we behaved
towards each other in the past. Similarly, no
single act of kindness or generosity, no matter
how great, is sufficient to be a permanent
memorial to these victims.
If you are a doctor or a nurse, you must volunteer
in a clinic or take extra emergency call at
your local hospital. If you are a lawyer, you must
devote some of your time to pro bono cases.
If you are an architect or engineer, you must
volunteer your services for some needed
community project. Become involved at a
homeless shelter, soup kitchen or some worthy
advocacy group. Help an old woman cross the
street or a young mother with a stroller down the
stairs. Give directions to the stranger who
appears lost. Pick up a piece of someone else’s
litter. And, of course, we must give to charity on
a regular basis, not just now. And every time we
do something for someone else just because it is
the right thing to do, we should say, “September
11th.” When our children ask us what this
means, we should explain that this is our
enduring memorial to these thousands of innocent
victims of terrorism.
The attack on the World Trade Center ripped
apart not just the skyline of downtown
Manhattan but the very fabric of our human
interaction. I know it changed me. How we
rebuild is up to each and every one of us.

school news
Guzick was named by Good
Housekeeping as one of “America’s 400
Best Doctors for Women” and has published
more than 100 articles. He is a member of
numerous societies, including the American
Gynecologic and Obstetric Society, the Society
for Gynecologic Investigation, and the
American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology.
Guzick named Dean of School of
Medicine and Dentistry
David S. Guzick, M.D., Ph.D., has been appointed the
ninth dean of the University of Rochester School
of Medicine and Dentistry. Guzick succeeds Dean
Edward M. Hundert, who will become president
of Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland
in August. Guzick has served as the Henry A.
Thiede professor and chair of the Department
of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University
of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry
since 1995, in addition to chief of service of
Obstetrics and Gynecology at Strong Memorial
Hospital and Highland Hospital.
Guzick came to Rochester from the
University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine
and Magee-Women’s Hospital, where he served
as professor of obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive
science and director of the Division of
Reproductive Endocrinology. He earned his
medical degree and Ph.D. from New York University.
Following a residency at The Johns Hopkins
Hospital, he completed a fellowship in reproductive
endocrinology at the University of Texas,
Southwestern Medical School. Guzick is board
certified in obstetrics and gynecology and in
reproductive endocrinology.
Former Surgeon General Satcher
accepts faculty appointment
David Satcher, M.D. (R ’72), the 16th surgeon
general of the United States, has joined the
University of Rochester Medical Center faculty
in a two-year consultative role as senior advisor
for community health. Satcher also will have
adjunct faculty appointments with the pediatrics
and community health and preventive
medicine departments.
Satcher will visit the University several
times annually to deliver guest lectures, participate
in grand rounds and visit with community
organizations and government officials in an
effort to improve access to health care.
In addition, Satcher will provide
strategic guidance on the planning and direction
of Project Believe, a Medical Center
initiative to make Rochester the healthiest
community in America by the year 2020.
Through the project, the Medical Center has
been directing the resources of its research,
education and patient care teams to developing
creative health interventions throughout the
community.
“We are thrilled and honored that Dr.
Satcher has accepted this position,” says Jay
Stein, M.D., senior vice president and vice
provost for health affairs and CEO of the
Medical Center and Strong Health. “As you can
imagine, Dr. Satcher had numerous opportunities
awaiting him at the end of his surgeon
general’s term, and the fact that he chose to
devote some of his time to Project Believe is an
endorsement of the community health mission
of this University.”
In February, Satcher completed his term
as surgeon general. In September he will
become director of the National Center for
Primary Care at Morehouse School of
Medicine. He also serves as the senior visiting
fellow of the Henry J. Kaiser Family
Foundation, advising on its programs and
working on a book about his experiences as
surgeon general.
International expert named
Cancer Center director
The University of Rochester Medical Center
appointed Richard I. Fisher, M.D., director of
its James P. Wilmot Cancer Center and director
of Cancer Services for Strong Health. Fisher
is an internationally known expert in biological
research and treatment of lymphoma.
He served as director of the Cardinal Bernardin
Cancer Center at Loyola University Stritch
School of Medicine, in Chicago, since 1984.
At Loyola, Fisher was instrumental in
the creation of the Cardinal Bernardin Cancer
Center. He helped secure new lab space and
championed building a $35 million facility for
cancer prevention, treatment and research.
He has big plans at Rochester, too.
SPRING / SUMMER 2002 29

school news
Richard Fisher, M.D.
“I want to build a world-class cancer
research and treatment facility to provide
state-of-the-art care with the newest and best
treatments for patients with cancer,” says
Fisher, who was also appointed chief of the
Hematology / Oncology Unit in the Department
of Medicine and the Samuel E. Durand
Professor of Medicine.
Fisher will oversee clinical cancer
services at Strong Memorial Hospital and
Highland Hospital, which together provide
comprehensive care for cancer patients
throughout western and upstate New York.
“Dr. Fisher is a nationally renowned
cancer clinician, scientist, and educator,”
says Edward M. Hundert, M.D., dean of the
School of Medicine and Dentistry. “All of his
science and clinical work starts with the patient
at the center. We are thrilled he has taken on
the leadership of the Cancer Center.”
A graduate of Harvard College and
Harvard Medical School, Fisher completed
an internship and residency at Massachusetts
General Hospital. He held an oncology fellowship
and worked as a senior investigator at
the National Cancer Institute from 1972 to 1984.
Fisher’s research centers on the biology
and treatment of lymphoma, cancers derived
from white blood cells, and he has led national
and international studies in Hodgkin’s disease
and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. He is chairman
of the Lymphoma Committee of the Southwest
Oncology Group, a cooperative clinical research
organization that includes 283 institutions and
more than 4,000 physicians.
Fisher is a member of numerous organizations,
including the American Joint
Committee on Cancer’s Lymphoma Task Force,
American Society of Clinical Oncology and the
American Association for Cancer Research. He
has authored more than 250 articles and chapters
in national and international publications.
JAMA article rewrites the definition
of a “good doctor”
Ronald Epstein, M.D.
Something important has been missing from
medical-school assessments of physicians and
students. Edward M. Hundert, M.D., dean of the
School of Medicine and Dentistry, and Ronald
M. Epstein, M.D., a practicing physician in the
Department of Family Medicine, are doing
something about it.
The two co-authored “Defining and
Assessing Professional Competence,” which
appeared in the Jan. 9 issue of the Journal of
the American Medical Association along with
an endorsing editorial by the executive director
of the Accreditation Council for Graduate
Medical Education (ACGME).
Epstein and Hundert expand on what
it means to be a good doctor to include often
overlooked areas such as interpersonal skills,
teamwork, learning strategies, clinical
reasoning, and managing ambiguous clinical
situations. They also propose changes in assessment
techniques to account for these qualities.
“For patients, it’s not enough to know
that their doctor scored well on a multiplechoice
test,” says Epstein, who developed his
ideas as part of the new competency-assessment
approach within the Double Helix curriculum.
As a family physician, Epstein took a
broad view of what constitutes competent
medical practice. After examining the ways
that medical students are being taught and
assessed, he found that not all the right questions
were being asked.
“There were lots of studies of the reliability
of assessment instruments, but very little on
whether what we assess is really what matters in
medical care,” says Epstein. “More troubling was
that few people had even identified a problem.”
Epstein studied the philosophy of medicine,
from the earliest writings in Greece and
India to modern discussions of ethics and
professionalism. He also drew on his original
training in music, which emphasizes the use
of all mental faculties — including thinking,
reasoning, judgment and emotions — along
with a technical skill.
Many of the ideas in the JAMA article
are already embodied in Rochester’s new
curriculum, which intertwines basic science
and clinical work throughout training like
the strands of a double helix. At the end of
the second and third years, students take part
in a professional-competency assessment that
lasts two full weeks and embodies all of the
elements of competence laid out in Epstein
and Hundert’s article.
The Department of Education’s
Foundation for the Improvement of Post-
Secondary Education decided to support
development of the new comprehensive-assessment
methodology with a half-million-dollar
grant. It reasoned that the Rochester approach
could become a national model.
The ACGME director’s endorsement makes
it likely that Rochester’s new definition of
competence will be widely discussed at federal
agencies, medical schools, and licensing boards
interested in improving the quality of care.
30
ROCHESTER MEDICINE

school news
Above — David Sada (M '05), Mrs. Nancy Evarts (B ’54), C. McCollister
Evarts (M ’57, R ’64), Elethea Caldwell (R ’69), Robert Caldwell (M ’61,
R ’69), and Sean Hislop (M ’05) tour the M.E.T.A.L. Arts Gallery at the Deans’
Spring Event for first-year students and local 10-Year-Club alumni.
Above right — First-year medical students and Lindsey
Henson, M.D., senior associate dean for medical education, gather at
the event. Left to right — Chinlin Ching, Owen Halloran, Shay Martinez,
Michael Kim, Dean Lindsey Henson, Denise Aronzon, Michael Hehir,
Brian Recht, Arvind Bakhru, and Michael Pirri.
Right — Participants grab a bite to eat. From left — Sanjeewa
Goonasekera, Lakmal Kotelawala, Maureen Goodman, Adrienne
Carruth, and Fernando Ontiveros-Llamas.
New ophthalmology chair is
an inventor and leader
Steven E. Feldon, M.D., M.B.A., is an acclaimed
clinical and basic scientist with a specialty in
orbital disease and neuro-ophthalmology, an
inventor of ophthalmic instruments, and an
entrepreneur and business executive who
started his own company to market his inventions.
He’s also the new chair of the University
of Rochester Department of Ophthalmology,
with a definite goal in mind.
“ Ten years from today, the eye institute
will be perceived as one of the top 10 centers
for the study and care of the eye,” says Feldon.
“ We have an unparalleled opportunity here in
Rochester to advance eye care regionally,
nationally and worldwide.”
Existing strengths at Rochester will lay
the foundation, he says.
“ The University of Rochester already has
experts in various centers of excellence that
focus on visual science, including the Center
for Visual Science, brain and cognitive sciences,
computer science, optics, ophthalmology,
neurobiology, anatomy and neurology,”
explains Feldon. “Our opportunity is to bring
them all together to advance the science of
ophthalmology in a very significant way, and
further complement that knowledge base by
recruiting additional specialists and scientists.”
Feldon has a special interest in the management
of patients with thyroid-associated eye
disease, and his clinical expertise has been
recognized in the publication Best Doctors
in America.
Among his career accomplishments,
he has invented ophthalmic instruments and
created a company to manufacture and market
them. He also created a company to market
an electronic medical record-keeping system,
which he invented. His current research investigates
the biological origin of Graves’ disease.
Feldon was recruited from the No. 7-
ranked Doheny Eye Institute in Los Angeles,
where he served as associate chair of the
Department of Ophthalmology at the University
of Southern California and vice president of
business development, marketing and finance
of the Doheny Eye Medical Group Inc.
Feldon earned his medical degree
from Albert Einstein College of Medicine. He
completed his residency at the Massachusetts
Eye & Ear Infirmary, Harvard University, along
with three fellowships: a research fellowship in
neurosurgery at Massachusetts General Hospital,
a clinical fellowship in ophthalmology at
Harvard Medical School and a clinical fellowship
in neuro-ophthalmology at the University of
California Medical Center, San Francisco.
SPRING / SUMMER 2002 31

school news
Match Day 2002
Getting the call, making the call and
starting the celebration.
32
ROCHESTER MEDICINE

school news
Alabama
Sarah Bean
Pathology
U Alabama Hosp-Birmingham
Birmingham
California
Christine Bower
Neurology
UC Los Angeles
Los Angeles
Christine Bower
Medicine-Preliminary
UC San Diego Med Ctr
San Diego
Nicholas Byrne
Pathology
UC San Francisco
San Francisco
Victor Chiu
Medicine-Preliminary
UC Irvine Med Ctr
Orange
Ilia Christy
Medicine-Pediatrics
UC San Diego Med Ctr
San Diego
Jeremy Hirst
Psychiatry
UC San Diego Med Ctr
San Diego
Sara Tamarin
Pediatrics
UC Davis Med Ctr-Sac
Sacramento
Colorado
Jeffrey Faragher
Emergency Medicine
Denver Health Med Ctr
Denver
Florida
Gurjeet Birdee
Medicine-Pediatrics
Jackson Memorial Hosp
Miami
Jennifer Citron
Pediatrics
U Florida Prog-Shands Hosp
Gainesville
Hawaii
Christy Taoka
Internal Medicine
Tripler Army Med Ctr
Honolulu
Illinois
James Goldman
Ophthalmology
Northwestern Med
Chicago
Minh-Doan Nguyen
Plastic Surgery
SIU SOM & Affl Hosps
Springfield
Maine
Joseph Donohue
General Surgery
Maine Medical Center
Portland
Donald Medd
Internal Medicine
Maine Medical Center
Portland
Maryland
Hubert Fenton
Pathology
Johns Hopkins Hosp
Baltimore
David Maine
Anesthesiology
Johns Hopkins Hosp
Baltimore
Lena Mayes
Medicine-Preliminary
Johns Hopkins/Sinai
Baltimore
Tsuyoshi Mitarai
Medicine-Emergency Med
Univ Maryland Med Ctr
Baltimore
Massachusetts
Jennifer Dorantes
Internal Medicine
Baystate Med Ctr
Springfield
Keith Downing
Obstetrics-Gynecology
Brigham & Womens Hosp
Boston
Trustin Ennacheril
Internal Medicine
B I Deaconess Med Ctr
Boston
Michael Kaufman
Anesthesiology
Massachusetts Gen Hosp
Boston
Michael Kaufman
Medicine-Preliminary
Baystate Med Ctr
Springfield
Vincent Ko
Pathology
Massachusetts Gen Hosp
Boston
Brenda Lawrence
Medicine-Pediatrics
Baystate Med Ctr
Springfield
Lori Schleicher
Internal Medicine
Boston U Med Ctr
Boston
Ross Zeltser
Dermatology
Boston U Med Ctr
Boston
Michigan
Joon Choi
Plastic Surgery
U Michigan Hosps-Ann Arbor
Ann Arbor
SPRING / SUMMER 2002 33

school news
Edward Hall
Ophthalmology
U. Michigan Hosps
Ann Arbor
Minnesota
Christian Capitini
Pediatrics
U Minnesota Med School
Minneapolis
Victor Chiu
Ophthalmology
U Minnesota Med School
Minneapolis
Christina Eadie
Transitional
Hennepin Co Med Ctr
Minneapolis
North Carolina
Gregory Lam
Internal Medicine
Duke Univ Med Ctr
Durham
Shane Reeves
Obstetrics-Gynecology
Univ North Carolina Hosp
Chapel Hill
New York
Trinh Bang
Internal Medicine
Beth Israel Med Ctr
New York
Roman Bloch
Medicine-Preliminary
Rochester Gen Hosp
Rochester
Ian Bristol
Medicine-Preliminary
Rochester Gen Hosp
Rochester
Andrew Brown
Medicine-Preliminary
Mt Sinai Hospital
New York
Andrew Brown
Neurology
Albert Einstein
New York
Mark Burkard
Internal Med/Research
NYP Hosp Cornell
New York
Christina Cashimere
Internal Medicine
Rochester Gen Hosp
Rochester
Eric Chang
Medicine-Pediatrics
U Rochester/Strong Mem
Rochester
Caesar Djavaherian
Emergency Medicine
Mt Sinai Hospital
New York
Caesar Djavaherian
Medicine-Preliminary
St Lukes-Roosevelt
New York
Mathew Empie
Pediatrics
U Rochester/Strong Mem
Rochester
Felix Fianko
Anesthesiology
NYP Hosp Cornell
New York
James Goldman
Medicine-Preliminary
Unity Health System
Rochester
Christopher Good
Orthopaedic Surgery
Hosp For Special Surg
New York
Edward Hall
Medicine-Preliminary
Rochester Gen Hosp
Rochester
Marc Halterman
Internal Med/Neurology
U Rochester/Strong Mem
Rochester
Marc Halterman
Neurology
U Rochester/Strong Mem
Rochester
Kelli Harding
Medicine-Preliminary
Mt Sinai Hospital
New York
Kelli Harding
Psychiatry
NYP Hosp-Colum Presby
New York
Jennifer Hayes
Anesthesiology
U Rochester/Strong Mem
Rochester
Hoon Jung
Ophthalmology
SUNY-Buffalo/Ed Cons
Buffalo
Hoon Jung
Transitional
Wilson Mem Reg/UHS
Johnson City
Tashveen Kaur
Pediatrics
U Rochester/Strong Mem
Rochester
Adam Kelly
Internal Med/Neurology
U Rochester/Strong Mem
Rochester
Adam Kelly
Neurology
U Rochester/Strong Mem
Rochester
Alan Kenny
Pediatrics
U Rochester/Strong Mem
Rochester
34
ROCHESTER MEDICINE

school news
Amanda Knapp
Pediatrics
U Rochester/Strong Mem
Rochester
Melissa Langdon
Pediatrics
U Rochester/Strong Mem
Rochester
Karen Leitner
Medicine-Pediatrics
Mt Sinai Hospital
New York
Quoc Lu
Medicine-Preliminary
St Lukes-Roosevelt
New York
Timothy Lum
Emergency Medicine
U Rochester/Strong Mem
Rochester
Lena Mayes
Anesthesiology
U Rochester/Strong Mem
Rochester
Thalia Mayes
Internal Medicine
U Rochester/Strong Mem
Rochester
Laticia Mendler
Internal Medicine
U Rochester/Strong Mem
Rochester
Igor Mikityansky
Medicine-Preliminary
Rochester Gen Hosp
Rochester
Igor Mikityansky
Radiology-Diagnostic/MPH
U Rochester/Strong Mem
Rochester
Gregory Nielsen
Pediatrics
U Rochester/Strong Mem
Rochester
Bridget O’Mara
Transitional
Mary Imogene Bassett
Cooperstown
Bridget O’Mara
Radiology-Diagnostic
Rochester Gen Hosp
Rochester
Nicolas Oreskovic
Medicine-Pediatrics
Mt Sinai Hospital
New York
Pamela Polashenski
Internal Medicine
Rochester Gen Hosp
Rochester
Catherine Rahilly
Internal Medicine
Mt Sinai Hospital
New York
Elizabeth Reddy
Medicine-Pediatrics
Mt Sinai Hospital
New York
James Richardson
Internal Medicine
U Rochester/Strong Mem
Rochester
Andrew Robinson
Ophthalmology
SUNY Upstate Med Ctr
Syracuse
Andrew Robinson
Transitional
St Josephs-Syracuse
Syracuse
Paul Rowe
Surgery-Preliminary
U Rochester/Strong Mem
Rochester
George Semien
Anesthesiology
U Rochester/Strong Mem
Rochester
George Semien
Medicine-Preliminary
Unity Health System
Rochester
Jennifer Shaulinski
Anesthesiology
U Rochester/Strong Mem
Rochester
Jennifer Shaulinski
Medicine-Preliminary
Rochester Gen Hosp
Rochester
Chandler Shyu
Radiology-Diagnostic/MPH
U Rochester/Strong Mem
Rochester
Rose St. Fleur
Pediatrics
Winthrop-Univ Hosp
Mineola
Hiroshi Takeyama
Transitional
Sound Shore Med Ctr
New Rochelle
Hiroshi Takeyama
Radiology-Diagnostic
U Rochester/Strong Mem
Rochester
Brian Wong
Medicine-Pediatrics
St Vincents Hosp
New York
Hsiang Yin
Pediatrics
NYU School Of Medicine
New York
Alison Walker
Internal Medicine
U Rochester/Strong Mem
Rochester
Ross Zeltser
Medicine-Preliminary
Lenox Hill Hospital
New York
SPRING / SUMMER 2002 35

school news
Ohio
Christina Eadie
Phys Medicine & Rehab
Ohio State Univ Med Ctr
Columbus
Peter Letourneau
Plastic Surgery
Univ Hosps Cleveland
Cleveland
William Plerhoples
Emergency Medicine
Metrohealth Med Ctr
Cleveland
Er-Wey Teng
Internal Medicine
Univ Hosps Cleveland
Cleveland
Oregon
Elizabeth Kehr
Medicine-Primary
Oregon Health & Science Univ
Portland
Alivia Thompson
General Surgery
Oregon Health & Science Univ
Portland
Pennsylvania
Roman Bloch
Radiology-Diagnostic
Univ Health Ctr Of Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh
Jennifer Blum
Peds/Psych/Child Psych
Univ Health Ctr Of Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh
Leah Greenhill
Ophthalmology
Univ Health Ctr Of Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh
Leah Greenhill
Transitional
Mercy Hosp-Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh
Amy Park
Obstetrics-Gynecology
Univ Health Ctr Of Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh
Andrew Reznick
Internal Medicine
Univ Health Ctr Of Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh
Jesse Selber
Plastic Surgery
Hosp Of The Univ Of PA
Philadelphia
Chandler Shyu
Medicine-Preliminary
Univ Health Ctr Of Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh
Rhode Island
Christina Baik
Internal Medicine
Brown U Int Med Res
Providence
Daisy Bassen
Psychiatry
Brown Univ Psych Res
Providence
Catherine Malone
Medicine-Primary
Rhode Island Hosp/Brown U
Providence
Cathryn Mcnamara
Internal Medicine
Brown U Int Med Res
Providence
Texas
Ian Bristol
Radiation-Oncology
U Texas M D Anderson
Houston
Utah
Jasmine Low
Pediatrics
U Utah Affil Hospitals
Salt Lake City
Anne Thomas
Internal Medicine
U Utah Affil Hospitals
Salt Lake City
Vermont
Todd Whitman
Medicine-Primary
UVM/Fletcher Allen
Burlington
Virginia
Jennifer Fulton
Internal Medicine
University Of Virginia
Charlottesvile
Nikolaus Mcfarland
Medicine-Preliminary
University Of Virginia
Charlottesvile
Nikolaus Mcfarland
Neurology
University Of Virginia
Charlottesvile
Michelle Rindos
Obstetrics-Gynecology
University Of Virginia
Charlottesvile
Jonathan Swanson
Pediatrics
University Of Virginia
Charlottesvile
Rebecca Webster
Psychiatry
Naval Med Ctr
Portsmouth
Washington, D.C.
Suyoung Chang
Internal Medicine
Walter Reed Army Med Ctr
Washington, D.C.
Nia Robinson
Obstetrics-Gynecology
Walter Reed Army Med Ctr
Washington, D.C.
Ways to Give
10% annuity
• an annuity gift returns income
to the donor for life
• the University has one gift
arrangement that currently
guarantees, dependent on age,
as high as a 10% rate!
To learn more about gifts that
provide the donor with income,
please contact:
Jack Kreckel
Sr. Associate Vice President
Office of Trusts and Estates
590 Mt. Hope Avenue
Rochester, NY 14620
800–635–4672 or 585–273–5904
email:
kreckel@alumni.rochester.edu
Join other alumni in supporting
the School of Medicine & Dentistry!
Washington
Megan Stormo
Family Practice
Central WA Family Med
Yakima
Wisconsin
Joseph Frieben
Psychiatry
U Wisconsin Hosp/Clinics
Madison
Michelle Frieben
Psychiatry
U Wisconsin Hosp/Clinics
Madison
Jennifer Weiss
Internal Medicine
U Wisconsin Hosp/Clinics
Madison
36
ROCHESTER MEDICINE

alumni news
The man who kept the Olympics fair
Before the first Triple Lutz, before any bobsleds
shot down the mountain, Don Catlin, M.D. (M ’65),
was putting Olympic athletes to the test.
Catlin is director of the UCLA Olympic
Analytical
Laboratory, the only
anti-doping testing
site in the United
States accredited
by the International
Olympic Committee
Don Catlin, M.D. (IOC). What that
means is simple:
Catlin was a busy man during the Salt Lake
City Olympic Games in February.
“It’s a lot of work,” says Catlin, who put
in a few 20-hour days in the beginning of his
Olympic quest. The tests are much more
complicated than the ones done for workplace
drug testing, with some samples requiring as
many as 30 different tests. A single assay may
require screening for 50 different steroids. The
IOC bans more than 300 substances.
Catlin and his colleagues began
preparing for their Olympics by stocking up on
testing supplies at their lab, located — appropriately
enough — off Olympic Boulevard in
West Los Angeles. Then they traveled to Salt
Lake City in September and essentially built a
temporary, multimillion-dollar lab next to the
Olympic Village. Forty lab members had to test
about 1,500 samples around the clock for
evidence of doping.
The result was “the largest number of
positives ever for a Winter Games, by far,” says
Catlin, who is also an associate professor of
molecular and medical pharmacology at UCLA.
In fact, the lab’s advanced testing was
able to detect a new drug called darbepoetin,
which led to two athletes being stripped of their
gold medals.
The Olympic Analytical Laboratory
opened in 1984 for the Summer Olympic Games
in Los Angeles. It has been open ever since,
attracting clients such as the NFL, the NCAA, the
United States Olympic Committee and the
The October 2001 Neurosurgery Department Dinner, with the Frank P. Smith Lecture.
Department of Defense.
Catlin has now worked at three Olympic
Games — the key word being “worked.” At the
Salt Lake City Games, he says he didn’t have
time to attend any events beyond the opening
and closing ceremonies. His priority is getting
the job done right, even as he works on a larger
mission: to get drugs out of sport.
He says he takes no joy in grinding out
positives. “I view every positive as a failure of
the system,” he says.
Catlin finally made it home weeks after
the Olympic flame was extinguished,
long after the athletes had packed up and left.
Winning races takes a lot of hard work, and
so does making sure the winners won fairly.
He’s got the future of pediatric
education in his hands
After a nationwide search, Richard Behrman, M.D.
(M ’60), has been chosen to become the executive
chair of the Pediatric Education Steering
Committee of the Federation of Pediatric
Organizations (FOPO).
Many exceptional candidates threw
their hat into the ring, but the search
committee recommended Behrman, and the
seven member organizations of FOPO voted
unanimously to accept the recommendation.
Behrman will help carry out the recommendations
of the Future of Pediatric
Education II (FOPE II) Task Force, which spent
three years studying medical education in the
21st century and
devising ideas for
its future.
Behrman is
senior vice president
of the Lucile
Richard
Behrman, M.D.
Packard Foundation
for Children’s
Health and clinical
professor of pediatrics
at Stanford University and the University
of California, San Francisco.
Previously, he was chair of the
Departments of Pediatrics at Columbia
University and Case Western Reserve University,
where he also served as dean and vice president
for medical affairs. Behrman is editor-in-chief
of Nelson Textbook of Pediatrics and the
journal The Future of Children. He has
published extensively in critically reviewed
scientific journals and is a member of the
Institute of Medicine and numerous professional
pediatric organizations.
Behrman describes himself as a
“ builder,” which will serve him well as he
works to fashion a foundation for the future
of pediatric education in this country.
SPRING / SUMMER 2002 37

alumni news
Campbell heads the department,
wins the award
Kevin P. Campbell (Ph.D. ’79) was named
interim head of the University of Iowa
Department of Physiology and Biophysics in
February. Campbell,
the Roy J. Carver
Chair of Physiology
and Biophysics and
Howard Hughes
Medical Institute
Kevin P.
Campbell, Ph.D.
Investigator, is
internationally
renowned for his
neuromuscular
disease research. His work has led to the
identification of the molecular and genetic
basis of several forms of muscular dystrophy
and has provided a clearer understanding of
the muscular dystrophy disease processes.
“I am extremely pleased that one of our
brightest stars has agreed to accept an appointment
as interim head of the Department of
Physiology and Biophysics,” said Robert P. Kelch,
M.D., dean of the University of Iowa College of
Medicine and vice president for statewide health
Timothy Aiken, M.D. (’98), and
his guest Julie Jacobson enjoy
the D.C. alumni event at B. Smith’s
Restaurant in November.
The URMC Golf Classic brought Fuzzy Zoeller to Rochester in September, but the
weather had other plans. Moments after this picture was taken, rain poured down.
The tournament did go on— three weeks later, under friendlier skies.
services. “Dr. Campbell’s work has played a major
part in bringing the department to national and
international prominence.”
Last September, Campbell received the
Muscular Dystrophy Association’s S. Mouchly
Small Scientific Achievement Award. The award,
in honor of the late S. Mouchly Small, M.D.,
is presented annually to an MDA-funded
researcher who has made significant contributions
in the field of muscular dystrophy research.
Campbell received his doctoral degree in
biophysics from Rochester and in 1999 was
elected to the prestigious Institute of Medicine of
the National Academy of Sciences.
From surgeon to CEO: Coughlin, Jr.,
directs microbial-detection company
Thomas R. Coughlin, Jr., M.D. (’ 75), has been
named CEO and director of Centrex, Inc.,
a development-stage company based in
Oklahoma. Coughlin was formerly the medical
advisor for the company, which
owns the exclusive U.S. license to develop,
manufacture and market a system for detecting
microbial contamination from E. coli bacteria
in food, air and water.
The detection system, currently in
development, is designed to be tailored to detect
a variety of bacterial or viral organisms in real
time. Centrex is considering all the agents
on the Defense Intelligence Agency’s biological
warfare threat list as potential organisms for
the device to be able to detect.
Before joining the company in 1999,
Coughlin was working as a cardiovascular and
transplant surgeon. At the University of
Maryland from 1986 to 1990, he started the
heart transplant program and performed the
first successful heart transplant there. He also
served as medical director of the Maryland
Organ Procurement Center. From 1992 to 1995,
he was medical director of Cardiovascular
Surgical Services at Alexandria Hospital in
Alexandria, Va. From
1991 to 1995, he was
assistant clinical
professor of thoracic
and cardiovascular
surgery at George
Washington
University Medical
Center in
Washington, D.C.
Thomas R.
Coughlin, Jr., M.D.
From 1995 to 1999, Coughlin practiced
cardiovascular surgery in Tulsa, Okla., and was
assistant clinical professor at the University of
Oklahoma Medical School.
38
ROCHESTER MEDICINE

alumni news
U. of Deans, continued
Our last issue of Rochester Medicine focused on some of the alumni
who are or were deans of medical schools across the country. Of course,
we didn’t have room to include everyone (which speaks volumes about
the accomplishments of Rochester alumni). So from time to time,
we thought we’d update you on alumni deans, past and present.
Solomon Sidney Solomon, M.D. (M ’62), was the associate dean
for research at the College of Medicine, University of Tennessee from 1983
to 1998. Currently he’s professor of medicine and pharmacology at the
University of Tennessee; chair of endocrinology and metabolism section,
Medical Service, Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Memphis; and
attending physician (medicine), City of Memphis Hospitals and University
of Tennessee Hospital.
Solomon says he opted to stay in academics, where he could
pursue research (particularly on diabetes). The decision left him a
full plate: Rounding seven months of the year, performing his duties
as associate dean, and maintaining two research grants from the NIH
and Veterans Affairs Medical Center.
But he’s not one to slow down. Solomon has been a reviewer
for dozens of publications and committees, including Science, American
Journal of Medical Sciences, Cancer Research, and the American
Journal of Physiology. While associate dean, he received top honors in
clinical research at the Awards for Excellence in Research, sponsored by
the Health Industry Council and Memphis Health Care News. And he is
a member of a dozen associations, including the American Diabetes
Association and the American Medical Association (special).
After all, in his listing in Who’s Who in America, Solomon
says his philosophy in life “has always been to get involved … my motto
is, ‘I came to play, not to watch.’ ” It’s no wonder he succeeded as an
associate dean all those years.
As former associate dean for research at the College of Medicine,
University of Tennessee, Solomon Sidney Solomon, M.D., maintained
his research schedule in addition to his administrative duties.
Author Author!
Roger A. Brumback, M.D. (R ’80), recently published Attention, Behavior,
and Learning Problems in Children: Protocols for Diagnosis and
Treatment. This book was written for physicians,
educators, and parents to use in
evaluating children with school problems.
Dr. Brumbeck was a member of the
house staff in the Department of Pathology at
the University of Rochester. He was a resident
in anatomic pathology and neuropathology
from July 1, 1982 to May 30, 1986. Since
January 1, 2001, he has held the position of
professor and chairman of the Department
of Pathology at the Creighton University School of Medicine, St. Joseph
Hospital, Omaha, Neb.
Robert C. Smith, M.D. (Fellow ’80, Faculty ’84), has written Patient-
Centered Interviewing: An Evidence-Based Method (Lippincott Williams
and Wilkins, 2001). The book describes, orders, and prioritizes the specific
behaviors needed to conduct the entire medical interview — and to
establish the provider-patient relationship. This step-by-step method has
been directly studied in a randomized controlled trial and shown effective.
A specific, evidence-based method allows interviewers to formulate a relevant
biopsychosocial description of individual patients in a scientific way.
The book is used as a course text for students, residents, nurses, CME, and
faculty development. The efficiency of the interviewing method and its
user-friendliness have been valued.
Smith also produced a teaching videotape by the same title
to accompany the text. It demonstrates the method the book describes
for both patient-centered and doctor-centered interviewing. The tape
is distributed by the
book publisher and
also is available
from Michigan
State University,
who produced it.
It has proved
an invaluable
teaching adjunct
for new learners.
SPRING / SUMMER 2002 39

class notes
Class of 1941
Allen Walker, M.D., sends his greetings to
classmates and regrets that he and his wife,
Mary Lee, were unable to attend Reunion
2001. He and Mary Lee celebrated their 60th
wedding anniversary this year.
Class of 1946
Walter H. Abelman, M.D., is the current
director of alumni affairs at Harvard MIT
Division of Health Science and Technology.
John H. Kennell, M D. (B ‘44), is a professor
of pediatrics at Case Western Reserve
University’s School of Medicine in Cleveland,
OH. He is currently teaching first- and
second-year medical students and is doing
research under an NIH grant.
Class of 1951
Norman B. Abell, M.D., volunteers as a
medical counselor and pharmacy assistant
in the health service of Penney Retirement
Community in Florida. He facilitates recycling
efforts in the community and continues
research on post-polio syndrome.
Bernard B. Brody, M.D., is presently a trustee
of The Freedom Forum and travels around the
world in that capacity.
George J. D’Angelo, M.D., received the John
L. Robison Humanitarian Award in 2001 from
the Boys and Girls Club in Erie, PA. Presently,
D’Angelo is serving as trustee for the
Mercyhurst College and the Boys and Girls
Club in Erie, PA.
Richard Koch, M.D., assumed the position of
principal investigator of the Material PKU
Collaborative International Study for the
National Institute of Child Health at the
University of Southern California.
Class of 1953
Edward J. Zebrowski, M.D., was elected
national commander of the Combat
Infantrymen’s Association in June 2001.
Zebrowski also founded the New England
Regiment of the Combat Infantrymen’s
Association, which meets monthly at Fort
Devens, MA. He has written three books since
his retirement: My Brother, Hail & Farewell,
which is about his exploits during WWII in
General Patton’s Third Army in Europe;
Patient Beware — Doctor Take Care, about
medical mistakes, and Health, Healing, and
Healers in Conventional and Alternative
Medicine, which has a list of 115 of the most
commonly used medicinal plants with all their
beneficial and adverse effects.
Class of 1954
A word from the Class of ‘54: We’re rescheduling
our planned Seattle/Alaska trip for
mid-August and hope to have at least the
65 who had originally intended to come last
September. There will be an alumni reception
for all U of R med school graduates in the
Seattle-West Coast area, as well as some
sightseeing, possibly a Seattle Mariners ball
game, and a class dinner before we board
the newest of the Princess Line ships for a
seven-day cruise from Vancouver to Seward.
This is a follow-up of our week in San Antonio
a few years ago.
The Rochester-area Class of ‘54 has
taken on the somewhat daunting task of
saving large amounts of money for the Alumni
Office. We have made ourselves responsible
for stuffing all the envelopes that are sent
with mailings throughout the year. It’s been
fun. We talk about anything and everything,
drink more juice than coffee and nibble
delicately on a cookie or two. We’ve had
some wonderful help from members of other
classes as well, and we can always use more
volunteers from any class (call Karen Gaffney
at 585–273–5947).
Dave Kluge, as conference faculty
coordinator, put together the 8th Annual EMS
Conference in April, an outstanding two-day
event. These are attended each year by 450 to
550 ambulance personnel, EMTs, police,
firemen, and others with public safety interests.
They feature a nationally known keynote
speaker, individual workshops on topics such
as rescue (including a live demonstration with
heavy equipment); chemical and biologic
hazards; EMS cases and the law; fast-food
restaurant fires; incident planning and control;
domestic violence; and many others.
The faculty included Chloe Alexson.
Class of 1956
Joseph Amdur, M.D., is looking forward to
hearing from any classmates passing through
north Florida.
Vacationing and native Floridians of the Class of '54 held a two-day mini-reunion to eat and
reminisce. Seated, from left — Joae (Graham) Brooks, M.D.(’54), and Bernie Brooks (who hosted
in Naples); Irwin Frank, M.D. (’54) and Marilyn Frank. Standing, from left — Mary Flatley,
Joseph Flatley, M.D. (’54), Beverly Kluge, Dave Kluge, M.D. (’54), and Jean Brodell and Harold
Brodell, M.D. (’54), (who hosted in Boca Raton).
Lee R. Chutkow, M.D. (R ‘56), moved from
Louisville, KY, to Tucson, AZ. Chutkow intends
to work part time and meet new friends.
Charles G. Cochrane, M.D. (BA ‘51), is a
professor in the Department of Immunology for
the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, CA.
40
ROCHESTER MEDICINE

class notes
HIGHLIGHTS OF THE WEEKEND
THIS YEAR, REUNION CELEBRATES
“Trailblazing:Frontiers in Medicine”
William A. Kern, Jr., M.D., was a Class Agent
for Reunion 2002 along with his wife, Kathryn
Kern, M.D. (M ‘56).
William C. Luft, M.D. (BA ‘52), spends time
volunteering with the Red Cross
(Bloodmobiles) and Habitat for Humanity. He
enjoys traveling to New York City for Broadway
musicals and takes a cruise each year.
Sanford C. Spraragen, M.D. (MAS ‘52),
is retired and spends his time serving as
a docent at the Roger William Park Zoo in
Providence, RI. Spraragen enjoys playing
the trumpet, surfing the Net, reading good
books and playing golf.
Class of 1958
Samuel P. Gotoff, M.D., recently retired, after
36 years in academic medicine. In his career
as a pediatrician, he was chair of the
Department of Pediatrics at Michael Reese
Hospital & Medical Center, and a professor
at the University of Chicago, Rush Medical
College and Rush Children’s Hospital. He
received several awards for his work and
teaching. Gotoff’s research focused primarily
on the epidemiology, immunity and prevention
of Group B streptococcal infections in
newborns.
eunions.html
The dates have been set, and the schedule is falling
into place for Fall & Reunion Weekend 2002.
Mark your calendars to join your classmates for
a fun-filled weekend.
For more information, contact the
Office of Medical Alumni Relations at 800-333-4428,
or visit the reunion website
http://www.urmc.rochester.edu/smd/alumni/reunions.html
●
THURSDAY | OCTOBER 3 | 2002
The 31st Annual George Hoyt
Whipple Society Dinner at the Oak Hill
Country Club.
FRIDAY | OCTOBER 4 | 2002
● A number of exciting lectures
● Tours of the School of Medicine
and Dentistry, Strong Memorial
Hospital, and the new emergency center
● A night at the Rochester Museum and
Science Center featuring a family
barbecue, fun events for the kids, and
dancing for everyone!
SATURDAY | OCTOBER 5 | 2002
● An Erie Canal Boat tour on the
Colonial Belle
● Reunion Class Dinners
Class of 1960
William A. Peck, M.D., recently announced
plans to conclude his deanship at the
Washington University School of Medicine in
June 2003. He will continue on as a professor
of medicine at the school after that time.
Class of 1961
Robert E. Burke, M.D., assumed a position as
lab chief for the National Institutes of Health in
Bethesda, MD. NIH sponsored a symposium in
Burke’s honor for his research career.
Robert P. Gibbons, M.D., received the
Certificate of Achievement Award in 2001 for
lifetime career achievements in urology from
the American Urological Association.
Henry T. Smith, M.D., F.A.C.P., was recently
awarded the Laureate Award from the
Minnesota Chapter of the ACP-American
Society of Internal Medicine. The award honors
a “commitment to excellence in medical care,
education, research and service.”
Class of 1964
Charles A. Lankau, M.D., is the chief of the
Department of Pediatric Surgery at Miami
Children’s Hospital. He and his wife celebrated
42 years of marriage in December
and have five grandchildren (so far!).
Class of 1966
Julian M. Earls, Ph.D.
(MAS ‘66), was
selected to carry the
Olympic Torch in the
Cleveland section of
the Olympic Relay.
An avid runner,
Earls has completed
over 25 marathons. He
is the deputy director
of operations at
NASA’s Glenn
Research Center,
Cleveland, OH.
Wayne Myers, M.D.,
is semi-retired after
directing the federal
Office of Rural Health
Policy. He is now
raising heritage
livestock and doing
occasional consulting.
Class of 1968
Joseph S. Bujak, M.D., recently co-authored
the book Leading Transformational Change:
The Physician-Executive Partnership.
Class of 1969
Russell V. Luepker, M.S., M.D., was appointed
the Mayo Professor of Public Health in July
2001. He remains professor and head of the
Division of Epidemiology for the School of
Public Health at the University of Minnesota.
Class of 1971
Richard Billingham, M.D., has been appointed
president-elect of the American Society of
Colon and Rectal Surgeons and was a
member of the American Board of Colon and
Rectal Surgery. He lives in Seattle, WA, where
he enjoys running, biking, rollerblading, skiing
and hiking.
Richard O. Buck, M.D., and Virginia Buck,
M.D., both currently work for the Buck Allergy
and Asthma Clinic in Eugene, OR. Richard
is on the State of Oregon Commission on
Asthma and served as assistant clinical
professor at Oregon Health Science
University. He is an active member of the
Eugene Concert Choir. Virginia has been
SPRING / SUMMER 2002 41

class notes
Warren Zapol, M.D.
(’66), and Dean
Hundert talk at
the D.C. reception
at B. Smith’s
Restaurant.
of multi-organ transplantation at Cedars-Sinai
Medical Center and professor of medicine,
UCLA School of Medicine. Last year he
stepped down as chair of the Board of
Directors of the American Liver Foundation
after six years of service. He was elected to
the Council of the American Association for
the Study of Liver Diseases this year and will
begin serving as president in 2006.
president of the Oregon Society of Allergy,
Asthma & Immunology and spends time with
the Eugene Recorder Ensemble.
John Fitchen, M.D., has been chair of several
committees, including the American Cancer
Society, Oregon Chapter and Oregon Health
Science Foundation. He has received a Top
Ten Teacher’s Award five years in a row from
OHSU. He is currently the president and CEO
for Catalyst Biomedical.
John Grossman III, M.D. (B ‘67, R ‘72),
is currently working as senior associate vice
president at George Washington University,
where he has received the School of
Medicine and Health Sciences Golden Apple
Award and the School of Public Health and
Health Services Excellence in Teaching
Award. He also received the Council on
Resident Education in Obstetrics and
Gynecology National Faculty Award in
Resident Education. He recently concluded
his tenure as dean of medicine at George
Washington University.
Jerrold Hokanson, M.D., currently lives in
Martinez, CA, with his wife, Carolyn. He is
staff pediatrician and associate chief of
pediatrics at Kaiser Permanente.
Robert Lewis, M.D., is the head of
immunology and vice president for Aventis
Pharmaceuticals, Inc. in Bridewater, NJ. He
is a member of the American Association of
Immunologists and the American Society of
Molecular Biology and Biochemistry.
Joseph B. Martin, M.D., Ph.D. (Ph.D. ‘71),
dean of the Harvard University Faculty of
Medicine, has been appointed to the board of
directors at Baxter International, Inc., a global
medical products and services company.
Thomas McMeekin, M.D. (R ‘76), is currently
the president of Genesee Valley Laser Centre.
Ira Shoulson, M.D. (M ‘71, R ‘73, R ‘77),
is president of the American Society of
Experimental Neurotherapeutics and is on
the Editorial Board of Neurology Today. He
is currently on the faculty at the University of
Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry.
William Taylor, M.D., is a pediatrician for
Sandhills Pediatrics in Columbia, SC. He
received the “Doctor of the Year” award for
Columbia in 2000. He serves as chairman of
the Easter Seals Committee and State School
Health Committee.
Class of 1973
Sarah C. Oxnard, M.D., and Thomas Oxnard,
M.D. (M ‘71), are pleased that their son,
Jeff, is a first-year medical student at the
University of Chicago. As Sarah puts it, it’s
“nice to have one follow in our footsteps.”
Class of 1974
Karl J. Marchenese, M.D. (R ‘79), sponsors
a medical clinic with three full-time staff to
provide services to disadvantaged children
on the island of Negros in the southern
Philippines. He spent several weeks there
in September and October bringing medical
care to rural villages.
John M. Vierling, M.D. (R ‘74), is currently
director of hepatology and medical director
Class of 1975
Dean X. Parmelee, M.D., was named associate
dean for academic affairs at Wright
State University School of Medicine in
Dayton, OH, in October 2001. He served for
15 years at Virginia Commonwealth University
School of Medicine as head of child and
adolescent psychiatry and for many of those
years directed the second-year medical
school curriculum.
Class of 1976
Sharon Allen, M.D., is currently an associate
professor at the University of Minnesota
Medical School. She has published many
peer-reviewed journal articles. She and her
husband, James, have three children (William,
Julie and Katie).
John Dier, M.D., is a member of the Board
of Directors for the Glens Falls (NY) Hospital
Board of Directors. He is a volunteer physician
for the Rocky Mountain Biological
Laboratory.
William Feaster, M.D., is senior vice president,
chief medical officer and chief
information officer for Community Medical
Centers in Fresno, CA. He is a Certified
Physician Executive — American College of
Physician Executives.
Robert R. Johnson, M.D., is on the Board
of Directors of the Tucson Medical Center
Foundation. He is currently an internist for
Arizona Community Physicians.
Beverly Love, M.D., is a member of the U.S.
Chamber of Commerce, the AMA and the
Fathers Active In Children’s Education, and
is president of Capital City Medical Society.
42
ROCHESTER MEDICINE

class notes
Melvin S. Rapelyea, M.D., works in the
Department of Diagnostic Imaging for Howard
County General Hospital in Columbia, MD.
He spends time working on boards for
non-profits and coordinates the Chestertown
Jazz Festival.
Neil Swanson, M.D., assumed the vice president-elect
post at the American Academy
of Dermatology in March 2001. He is on the
medical staff at a number of Portland, OR,
area hospitals and is professor and chair of
dermatology and professor of otolaryngologyhead
and neck surgery at Oregon Health
Sciences University. In addition, he is a
member of the American Academy’s Board
of Directors and is the chair of the Health
Policy Council.
Herman Szymanski, M.D., received the
Exemplary Psychiatrist Award from the
National Alliance for the Mentally Ill, which
represents the families of the mentally ill.
He is past president of the Western New York
Psychiatric Society. Szymanski was made an
honorary member of the 11th Armored Cavalry
Regiment, a unit that served in Vietnam,
to recognize his work treating many Vietnam
veterans with post-traumatic stress.
Donato Viggiano, M.D., has served on the
Board of Directors of the Medical Center of
Port St. Lucie and has worked to regulate
office-based surgery in Florida.
Edward B. Yellig, M.D. (R ‘76), became
medical director of Hospice of Wake County
in North Carolina in August 2001.
Class of 1979
Kenneth A. Bock, M.D., has been involved
in the field of integrative medicine for the
greater part of 20 years.
Robert J. Brommage, Ph.D. (MAS ‘76), has
joined the Department of Endocrinology at
Lexicon Genetics in The Woodlands, TX. He is
a senior scientist specializing in osteoporosis
research.
Arthur Eisenberg, M.D. (FLW ‘79), is currently
with St. Luke’s Roosevelt Hospital Center in
New York City as the administrator for the
Institute for Health Sciences and head of the
Office of Grants and Research Administration.
His wife, Deborah, obtained her master’s in
social work from Columbia University and
now works in a school system in Westchester
County. His son, Michael, is a sophomore at
New Rochelle High School. Eisenberg would
love to hear from fellow alumni. His e-mail
address is arthure @ ix.netcom.com
Deborah C. German, M.D. (R ‘79), was recently
named an honoree for the Academy for
Women of Achievement. The Academy was
founded in 1992 by the YWCA of Nashville
and Middle Tennessee to honor women who,
through excellence and leadership in their
chosen fields, serve as role models for young
women and girls. German is the senior associate
dean of medical education at the
Vanderbilt University School of Medicine.
Carl A. Patow, M.D., M.P.H., has been
appointed associate dean of faculty at
HealthPartners for the University of
Minnesota Medical School. The appointment
is recognition of the important role
HealthPartners Institute for Medical
Education plays in the education of physicians
in Minnesota. It is also a reflection of
Patow’s leadership role in building the relationship
between the university and the
medical school, strengthening their undergraduate
and graduate education programs,
and creating an effective infrastructure for
education within HealthPartners.
Class of 1980
Marco Alberts, D.M.D., M.P.H. (EDC ‘80, R ‘82),
received his master’s degree in public health
from the University of South Florida in Tampa
last year, and has assumed a position as
director of the Dental/ Oral Surgery Clinic at
Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, WA.
He was also appointed to the faculty of
Restorative Dentistry at the University of
Washington, and will be involved with undergraduate
teaching.
Class of 1981
Bradford C. Berk, M.D., Ph.D. (M ‘81, PhD ‘81),
is the chair for the Department of Medicine,
chief of the Cardiology Unit and director for
the Center for Cardiovascular Research at
the University of Rochester.
The Retired Surgeons Luncheon in June. From left — John Frazer, M.D. (’39), James DeWeese, M.D.
(M ’49, R ’56), Seymour I. Schwartz, M.D. (R ’57), John Morton, M.D. (R ’54), James T. Adams, M.D.,
Morris J. Shapiro, M.D. (B ’34, MAS ’34).
Martha P. Bond, M.P.H., has been hired as
director of grants at Hobart and William Smith
Colleges.
SPRING / SUMMER 2002 43

class notes
The First Annual Mary Ellen Riegel Lecture
in Primary Care in October. From left —
Leslie Algase, M.D. (’83), Faith Fitzgerald, M.D.,
Stephen Riegel, Paul Fine, M.D. (’61).
Robert H. Fisher, M.D., lives in Wisconsin,
where he is the vice president of medical
affairs for Community Memorial Hospital.
He and his wife, Bonnie, have 3 children
(Laura, Jessica and Deborah).
Deborah Geer, M.D., is a certified music practitioner.
She works for Surgical Associates in
Waynesboro, PA, as a general surgeon. After
retiring from the Army after nine years, she
and her husband, Malcolm, did six years of
solo practice in Ohio and now are part of a
small practice. They have been doing shortterm
overseas medical missions and love
every minute of it.
Alan Kaell, M.D. (R ‘81), is currently a senior
partner in an eight-person private practice
rheumatology group on Long Island. He is a
clinical professor of medicine at SUNY Stony
Brook, chief of rheumatology at St. Charles
Hospital, and on the Advisory Council for
Osteoporosis, NYS, DOH. He and his wife,
Diana (U of R ‘75), celebrated their 27th
anniversary this year. Diana is a clinical
research coordinator. Their children, Laura
(22, graduated from U. of Michigan in organizational
management and works in Chicago),
Steven (20, is in applied mathematics and
neurosciences at Brown University) and
Matt (16, a high school lacrosse star) are
doing well. Kaell hopes the winter is mild
in Rochester!
Stanley D. Musgrave, M.D., lived in several
developing countries since residency (Haiti,
Ethiopia, Uganda, Nepal and India), and
moved back to the UK in 2000, where he
works as a freelance consultant.
David B. Nash, M.D., is the associate dean
at Jefferson Medical College of Thomas
Jefferson University in Philadelphia. He is
internationally recognized for his work in
outcomes management, medical staff development
and quality-of-care improvement. His
national activities include appointment to the
JCAHO Advisory Committee on Performance
Measurement and the Foundation of
Accountability (FACCT) Board. He is a
consultant to organizations in both public and
private sectors. He lives in Lafayette Hill, PA,
with his wife, Esther, twin daughters and son.
Henry Rose, M.D. (R ‘84), is currently a
medical director of renal dialysis for Berkshire
Health Systems and received the Berkshire
Medical Society Community Clinician of the
Year Award in 2000.
Peter G. Szilagyi, M.D. (R ‘84, MS ‘89), is the
director of a large outreach program to help
inner-city preschool children receive preventive
and primary care and has received
awards for teaching residents. He is on the
Board of Directors for the major Medicaid
managed care physician organization in
Rochester. Szilagyi is at the University of
Rochester as chief of the Division of General
Pediatrics, and is an associate professor and
the director of Pediatric Ambulatory Services.
Leslie Tar, M.D., J.D., M.P.H., is working as
a physician and attorney in Pittsburgh. As a
physician, he works as a medical specialist
in allergy / rheumatology / occupational medicine.
As an attorney, he represents physicians
in health law matters, workers’ compensation
and Social Security disability law issues. He
often thinks about the time
he spent studying for exams at the U of R with
classmates Mark Milner, Stuart Silverman,
and John Wilinsky.
Lois H. Windes, M.D., currently works part
time for Holston Medical Group in Tennessee.
Married with four children, Windes is
chairman of Holston Medical Group’s
Wellness Committee and Program and
teaches parenting classes and health and
wellness.
Class of 1982
Ronald P. Cantanese, M.D. (R ‘82), started
a service to help fellow M.D.s eliminate costly
answering-service bills. He practices in
Greenfield, MA.
Class of 1984
Stephen McLeod-Bryant, M.D. (B ‘80), became
the medical director of the South Carolina
Department of Mental Health in August 2001.
He works in Columbia, SC, but continues to
live with his wife, Aleta, and their three
children in Mt. Pleasant, SC, just outside of
Charleston. He hopes to see his classmates
at their 15th medical reunion in 2004.
Class of 1985
Jude Sauer, M.D. (B ‘81), president and
CEO of LSI Solutions, was named the Ernst &
Young Upstate New York 2001 Entrepreneur
of the Year. The award is based on leadership,
tenacity, innovation and the creation and
maintenance of a successful business
environment.
44
ROCHESTER MEDICINE

class notes
Class of 1986
Christopher J. Arpey, M.D., is an associate
professor of dermatology at the University
of Iowa and has received several academic
honors from local, regional and national
dermatology groups. He has been happily
married for 11 years to Diana Cook.
Martin Cutrone, M.D., works for Albany
Associates in Cardiology, P.C. He and his wife,
Margaret, have four children.
Thomas H. Davis, M.D., is an associate
professor at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical
Center. He and his wife, Robin, have three
children (Bruce, Alison and Wil).
David M. Lintner, M.D. (R ‘91), is the head
team physician for the Houston Astros,
as well as an associate professor at Baylor
College of Medicine and an AOSS Traveling
Fellow.
Class of 1987
Karen Dec Rochelle, M.D., is in private practice
and specializing in women’s imaging in
Mount Vernon, WA. She and her husband, Rory,
adopted two children from Korea — Hannah,
3 years old, and Chatham, 1 1 /2 years old.
Steven L. Small, M.D., is the co-director of
the Brain Research Imaging Center at the
University of Chicago.
Philip Wagner, M.D., is an anesthesiologist
with a practice in pain medicine at the
Hospital for Special Surgery in Manhattan.
Class of 1988
Randall Zielinski, M.D. (R ‘88), is in private
practice in Dover, NH. He was certified
by the American Society of Hypertension
as a Clinical Specialist in Hypertension in
August 2001.
Class of 1990
Peter Fung, M.D., his wife Suan, and his three
children (Melanie, Christopher, and Jonathan)
live in Orange County, CA. Recently, Fung
became a partner physician with the Southern
California Permanente Medical Group, where
he practices as a staff anesthesiologist and
director of the Pain Clinic at the Kaiser
Permanente Medical Center in Bellflower, CA.
Alex Macario, M.D., is in Madrid on a oneyear
sabbatical from Stanford, working on
health economics related to new drugs and
technologies. Macario, his wife, Susan, 8-yearold
daughter, Samantha and 7-year-old son,
Kevin, report that they have settled in nicely.
Ellen Louise Singer, M.D., is the lead physician
for urgent care at Kaiser Interstate
Emergicenter in Portland, OR. She has three
boys: Ben (9), Daniel (6 1 /2 ) and Eli (18 months).
Class of 1991
Izchak Barzilay, D.D.S., M.S. (MS ‘91), was
awarded the Bruce A. Hord Master Teaching
Award by the University of Toronto Faculty of
Dentistry for excellence in teaching. Barzilay
is the past recipient of many awards,
including the Tylman Award from the
American Academy of Crown and Bridge
Prosthodontics; the Prosthodontics Research
Award from the International Association for
Dental Research, the Buonocore Award from
the American Association for Dental Research
Rochester Chapter, the Essay Award from the
American College of Prosthodontics, and the
International Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial
Implants Best Paper Award. Barzilay is head
of the Division of Prosthodontics and
Restorative Dentistry at Mount Sinai Hospital
and is assistant professor at the University of
Toronto Faculty of Dentistry.
Mignon Benjamin, M.D., and Brian Benjamin,
M.D., live in Durham, NC. They both work for
the University of North Carolina as family
practitioners. Mignon also works for Medical
Reviews of North Carolina doing chart review
and is medical director of 3CI.
Joseph Buell, M.D., is working for the
University of Cincinnati as a transplant
surgeon, surgical oncologist and assistant
professor. He received the International Young
Investigator Award from the Liver Transplant
Society and served as the head of the Israel
Penn International Transplant Tumor Registry.
He has two boys, with a new baby on the way.
Karen Johnston, M.D. (R ‘92), her husband,
Jeffrey, and two children (Jeremy and Tyler)
live in Charlottesville, VA. Karen works for the
University of Virginia as an assistant professor
of neurology and health evaluation sciences.
Ann O’Malley, M.D., works for Georgetown
University Medical Center as an assistant
professor in health services research. She
received various research grants from NIH
and served on the Society of General Internal
Medicine and the Association for Health
Service Research.
Patrick O’Malley, M.D., currently works
for the Walter Reed Army Medical Center
as chief of the Division of General Internal
Medicine. He served as an associate
professor of medicine in 2000 for the Uniformed
Services University in Bethesda, MD.
Bradley Schwartz, M.D., is a self-employed
ophthalmologist at the Arizona Specialty Eye
Care Center in Tucson, AZ. He is married to
Joan Schwartz and they have three children
(Ariel, Rayna and Danielle).
Jeffrey Stone, M.D. (BS ‘87), lives in Martinez,
GA, with his wife, Carolyn. He works for the
Medical College of Georgia as an interventional
neuroradiologist and an assistant
professor.
Daniel Turner, M.D. (BA ‘87), currently works
in pediatric interventional catheterization for
the Children’s Hospital of Michigan. He is
married to Lisa Turner, M.D., and they live in
West Bloomfield, MI.
Charles Whalen, M.D., works for Fort Wayne
Medical Oncology/Hematology in Indiana.
He and his wife, Gita, have three children
(Olivia, Judson and Celeste).
Class of 1992
Gina A. Martin, M.D. (R ‘95) married Lloyd B.
Cuyler on September 22, 2001. Martin is an
internist at Wilson Health Center in Rochester
and Lloyd is a patrol lieutenant in the
Rochester Police Department.
Class of 1994
Antonio J. Eppolito, M.D., a family physician
serving as a U.S. Air Force flight surgeon
in support of Operation Northern Watch in
Turkey, was reassigned in October 2001 to
Peterson AF Base in Colorado Springs in
support of Space Command.
SPRING / SUMMER 2002 45

class notes
Paul Tulikangas, M.D., is working on the
faculty at the University of Connecticut in
the Department of Ob/Gyn. He and his wife,
Michele, are enjoying work and their two
daughters, Christine and Anne.
Class of 1995
Diane D. Montgomery, M.D. (R ‘98), and her
husband, Craig, are proud to announce the
birth of their son, Nathan, born on August 3,
2001. The family lives in Syracuse, NY.
Class of 1996
Hugh Babineau, M.D., completed his general
surgery residency at The Mary Imogene
Bassett Hospital in Cooperstown, NY, and
is now in solo practice in Tyler, TX.
Paula Busse, M.D., is working for Mount Sinai
Hospital in New York City as a clinical
instructor in allergy and immunology. She has
received the American Academy of Allergy
and Immunology Future Leaders Award and
a two-year term appointment on the American
College of Graduate Medical Education Board
for Review of Allergy/Immunology Fellowship
Training Programs. She has been a Fellow-in-
Training member of the American Academy
of Allergy and Immunology and the American
College of Allergy and Immunology.
Mark A. Deuber, M.D., and Christina Gray
Deuber, M.D. (M ‘92, R ‘95), are currently living
in Dallas, where Mark is in plastic surgery
private practice and Tina is a pediatrician.
Louis Eichel, M.D., is the 2001 Pfizer Scholars
in Urology grant recipient at the University
of Rochester. The award honors Eichel as
an outstanding physician who has made
important contributions to research and
patient care in urology.
Peter Fischer, M.D., is currently working as
an anesthesiologist at Brigham & Women’s
Hospital in Boston, MA, where he was a chief
resident.
Garrett Lam, M.D., is enjoying life in the South
at the University of North Carolina, where he
is a fellow in maternal-fetal medicine and clinical
instructor in ob/gyn. He has received a
Preeclampsia Foundation grant and served as
speaker for the North American Society
for the Study of Hypertension in Pregnancy.
Yvonne Murphy, M.D., lives in Oak Park, IL,
and works for MacNeal Hospital as a faculty
physician. She has served on the American
Academy of Family Physicians and the
Society of Teachers of Family Medicine.
Carla Peracchia, M.D., and Eugene
Storozynsky, M.D., Ph.D. (B.S. ‘90, M.S. ‘96,
Ph.D. ‘98, M ‘00), are proud to announce
the birth of their third baby, Roman Mycola,
on December 22, 2001. Carla is an internist
at Strong Memorial Hospital and is a member
of the American College of Physicians.
Eugene is doing his residency in internal
medicine at Strong Memorial Hospital.
Dina Plekavich, M.D., received the Young
Award and Morgan Award and is currently
a general internist at the Fallon Clinic in
Massachusetts.
Kirsten Staples, M.D., and her husband,
Harold, are thrilled with the birth of their son,
Nathaniel. She is currently working for
Penobscot Bay Physicians and Associates.
David W. Toth, M.D., and his wife, Renee,
are proud to announce the birth of their son,
Brayden Alexander, born November 10, 2001.
Brayden is growing quickly, and his parents
are enjoying discovering new things with him
every day. Toth is finishing his endocrine
fellowship at the University of Virginia, and
occasionally runs into classmates Joshua
Greenhoe, Christina Bove, Jay Gangemi,
Jeff Claridge, and Richard Knee. (He notes
that UVA is crawling with Rochester alumni
from other years as well!) The Toths just
traveled down to Durham, NC, and spent
a weekend catching up with Garrett Lam,
his wife, Jenni, and their dog, Max. In July,
Toth begins his first “real” job as an attending
endocrinologist at St. Luke’s Medical Center
in Milwaukee, WI. He received the Endocrine
Society Research Travel Grant Award in 2001.
Class of 1997
Kelly Goonan, M.P.H. ‘97, C.P.H.Q., moved from
Raleigh, NC, to Greensboro, NC, in April 2001
to begin working as evaluation coordinator
for the Center for Healthcare Research and
Quality at Wake Forest University School of
Medicine. As a former dance and biology
major at SUNY-Brockport, Goonan is also
excited to report making the 2002 dance team
for Prowlers Arena Football in Greensboro.
Eliana Miller Perrin, M.D., is in the last year
of a Robert Wood Johnson clinical research
fellowship. She is hoping to go into academic
medicine. She gave birth to a son on Sept. 23,
2000.
Class of 1998
Colleen Barber, M.D. (B.S. ‘94, M ‘98), and her
husband, Keith, welcomed their first child,
Lily Catherine Bromley, into the world on June
22, 2001. Barber will be finishing an ob/gyn
residency in June and has accepted a position
with the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Clinic in
Manchester, NH.
Amy E. Sass, M.D., started a fellowship in
adolescent medicine at Children’s Hospital
in Boston, MA.
Robert Whorf, M.D., and his wife, Patricia,
are proud to announce the birth of their son,
Jacob. He was born on November 23, 2001.
Whorf recently finished his internal medicine
residency at Strong and is currently doing
an oncology fellowship at Yale.
Class of 1999
Heather Evans, M.D., is a PGY-3 in the
Department of Surgery at the University of
Virginia Health System and just started a
two-year research fellowship in the Surgical
Infectious Disease Research Laboratory. She
also enrolled in the Graduate School of Arts
and Sciences at the University of Virginia and
will be working toward a master’s in health
evaluation sciences with a focus in health
services research and outcomes evaluation.
Andrew C. Swiderski, M.D., married Amy
Yoxthimer on August 11, 2000. He is a pediatric
resident at Strong Memorial Hospital, and
Amy is a clinical technician in Chili, NY.
Class of 2001
David Sullo, M.D. (B.A. ‘94, M ‘98, R ‘01),
married Sari Aintablian on July 1, 2001.
46
ROCHESTER MEDICINE

in memoriam
James W. Bartlett, M.D. (R ’57)
James W. Bartlett, M.D. (R ’57), a towering figure
who drove important change at the University
of Rochester Medical Center in a career that
spanned more than three decades, died March
24, 2001, in Maryland of multiple myeloma,
a bone marrow cancer. He was 75.
In 1958, shortly after completing his residency
at Rochester, the then 31-year-old
psychiatrist was named assistant dean in the
School of Medicine and Dentistry. By the time
he left Rochester in 1990 to become dean of
health sciences at The Aga Khan University in
Pakistan, he had held many key posts,
including medical director of Strong Memorial
Hospital, associate dean of the medical school,
and chairman of health services. He is particularly
remembered for the leading role he played
as Strong’s medical director (1967 – 1983)
during a period that included planning and
construction of the “new” Strong, which
opened in 1975.
Professor of Medicine Emeritus Paul
Griner, M.D. (M ’59), whose career at the Medical
Center overlapped Dr. Bartlett’s, remembers his
6’ 4” colleague as a “gentle giant” with
tremendous presence: “Jim was one of those
people, when he felt strongly, he just wouldn’t
ever let things drop. He wasn’t a bulldog but
he had a diplomatic way of working. His was
a subtle but persistent approach.”
Griner attributed three important
changes to Bartlett’s interests and principles.
Beginning before the new hospital was
built and fully implemented after, all patients
were assigned to hospital beds regardless of
their socioeconomic status or race.
“That’s an important point because,
early in the history of Strong, there was a clear
separation, if not according to race, certainly
according to economic status,” says Griner.
“ Jim felt that was a discriminatory approach
and it wasn’t healthy for either patient care or
medical education to perpetuate that separation.”
Prior to the new hospital, Bartlett also
established an experimental unit to examine
the roles and responsibilities of the many types
of staff delivering health services. This led to a
consolidation of functions, explains Griner, so
that the new hospital required a smaller staff to
care for patients.
Finally, adds Griner, “Jim — more than
any physician in the history of Strong —
recognized the need for the integration of
nursing education and practice. Historically
at the University and Medical Center, the
education of nurses was almost totally independent
of nursing practice. Nurse educators
and nursing students would be on the floors
but there was really very little, if any, interaction
with the staff nurses on the floors or direct
care of patients.”
Bartlett pushed to integrate these activities
under a separate School of Nursing and a
revised Medical Center administrative structure,
and worked closely with the first dean of the
school, Loretta Ford, R.N., Ed.D., to achieve their
shared vision. For a 75th anniversary Medical
Center book printed in 2000, Bartlett recalled
the plan as ambitious and not easy to implement,
but one with impressive results. He
wrote: “Nursing became a major integrating
force in managing the institution.”
Bartlett’s widow, Nancy, and his son, Thomas,
remember him as a man who was always
keenly interested in the teaching of medical
students as well as his own ongoing learning
experiences. While in his 60s, Bartlett moved
to Pakistan for three years to serve as dean
and director at Aga Kahn University, a developing
institution where the needs were great.
Such a move, says his widow, was not out of
character for him.
“He was intellectually curious all his
life,” she explains. “It was an opportunity to
do something different, a learning experience,
and a chance to give back.”
Bartlett attended Massachusetts Institute
of Technology before entering the
U.S. Navy during World War II. He subsequently
earned his undergraduate degree at Harvard
College and his M.D. from Johns Hopkins
University before moving to Rochester to
complete his internship and residency. He
married Nancy, a psychiatric nurse at Strong
when they met, in 1954. In addition to his
widow and son, another son, John, and
a daughter, Anne, survive him.
Edward Bird, M.D. (‘48)
A remembrance by
Gordon Davenport, M.D. (‘48)
Note: Edward Bird, M.D., was killed in December
2000. Here, his friend and classmate offers a
fond remembrance.
It was not the pursuit of medicine that brought
Ed Bird to Rochester, but rather an interest
in optics and a job with Bausch & Lomb.
At Bausch, Ed was frequently assigned production
problems that had baffled the company.
And he solved them with his analytical and
innovative mind. But eventually, Ed’s interest
turned to medicine and before long he was
admitted to the University of Rochester School
of Medicine and Dentistry, class of 1948.
SPRING / SUMMER 2002 47

in memoriam
Ed Bird, M.D. (center), adopted a Philippine
village after retiring, raising funds for
a new school and other buildings.
Four years later, medical degree in hand,
Ed took a navy internship at Long Beach Naval
Hospital and completed a required six months
of sea duty. Then Ed returned to Rochester
to begin a residency in hospital administration.
But within a month, after being assigned to
an entire day of helping the ladies of the
hospital auxiliary make bandages, he decided
to return to the navy and make it a career.
Ed’s initial service was on the navy’s first
guided-missile research vessel. The first rocket
delivered to the ship was a concern because,
for want of a better place to put it, they stood
it up on the aft end. In Ed’s words, “No one
knew, when it was fired, whether it would do
what it had been told to do or if it would blow
the end of the ship off!” Fortunately, it followed
instructions.
The words that best describe Ed Bird are
“ energy” and “fiery spirit.” Wonderful traits,
though they sometimes got him into trouble.
Energy, for example. While his ship was in
harbor in Long Beach, he volunteered to make
house calls on crew members’ families ashore,
and the service became very popular. But then
the doctors on nearby ships, who apparently
did not have the benevolent nature of our
classmate, protested because their crews were
asking for the same service. Firm words passed.
House calls continued, but more quietly, and
word went out that the choice of provider was
limited to our Ed. (Question: Was this the west
coast’s first HMO?)
And that fiery spirit. When one
commanding officer ordered what Ed felt was
unfair punishment for one of his corpsmen,
Ed went toe to toe with him. A couple of
centuries ago that would have meant certain
keel hauling. (Look it up!) Even today, Ed was
flirting with charges and unpleasant action.
But he stood his ground and eventually the
captain capitulated, which made Ed — in the
eyes of his already admiring corpsmen —
another couple of feet taller.
When at sea, duty consisted of the usual
general practice problems and an occasional
bit of surgery. Once, in the middle of the
Pacific, a sailor on another ship needed an
appendectomy. The sea was so rough that
a helicopter had to pick Ed up and lower him
to the deck of the other ship. On the way down
the strong winds swung him about rather
mercilessly, even bouncing him off a stack once
or twice. Eventually he touched down, intact
enough to do the appendectomy.
Throughout his career, Ed was dogged
by the fact that he was red-green colorblind.
Once retired, he admitted his defect and told
how he had circumvented this little deficiency.
A simple mechanism, really, known as
cheating. During one examination, as he
approached the eye exam section, he climbed
out the window of a men’s room, papers in
hand. He then filled in the blanks appropriately,
re-entered beyond the eye exam section,
and he was in the navy! Once in uniform, he
continued to pass routine physicals by memorizing
the pattern of dots on the pages of the
eye color test books.
Eventually, Ed became head of the
Audiovisual Training Section of the Bureau
of Medicine and Surgery, working at Bethesda
Naval Hospital. He developed the Medical
Television Department of the National Naval
Medical Center, and directed the production of
teaching films.
Retired from the navy, Ed Bird remained
as busy as ever. He recalled a village he had
visited in the Philippines with crude conditions
and hardly a decent building. He decided to
adopt it. He secured funding and organized
building projects, starting with a school. This
was no simple task. Among other problems,
construction material had to be brought over
a gorge on a swinging suspension bridge. But
the village was transformed. A bust of Ed now
occupies a prominent site outside that school.
In his later life, Ed experienced a major
injustice. An acute illness left him severely
neurologically impaired. He was almost quadriplegic.
A lengthy period of rehabilitation
followed, and eventually he was provided with
a motorized chair. On his first attempt to
manipulate the chair he confused the controls,
and both he and the chair ended up in a swimming
pool. But once mastered, the chair
provided him mobility and he became reasonably
active again.
Ed eventually settled in his beloved
Hawaii, where his candy handouts made him
very popular with the younger generations.
Unfortunately, one night, an adult couple
decided to rob our 80-year-old friend, and in
the process bludgeoned him to death. The
culprits were identified and as of this writing
are awaiting trial.
Before his death, Ed Bird wrote an entertaining
autobiography. I am fortunate to have
a copy, from which comes much of the information
herein.
During his lifetime, Ed financed the
schooling of several people. As a final salute to
the value he placed on education, his will dedicated
the proceeds of his insurance to the
education of the children of ten families in the
Philippines, as well as for an addition to the
school — the school that exists because of the
drive and generosity of Ed Bird.
48
ROCHESTER MEDICINE

in in memoriam
Frank W. Masters, M.D. (‘45)
By Paul R. Schloerb, M.D. (’44),
and David W. Robinson, M.D.
Note: Schloerb and his colleague at the
University of Kansas Medical Center offer
a remembrance of their good friend.
Frank W. Masters, M.D. (’45), an outstanding
leader in plastic surgery, a devoted teacher and
friend, died on October 14, 2001, at the age of 80
at his home in Mission Hills, Kans., after a long
battle with prostate cancer.
Frank was born in Pittsburgh, Pa., and
attended public and private schools in Kansas
City, Cleveland, and New Jersey. After graduating
from Hamilton College and from medical
school at the University of Rochester in 1945,
he served in the Philippines as a captain in
the Medical Corps. He then returned to
Rochester to train as a surgical resident at
Strong Memorial Hospital — he start of a long
association with Robert McCormick, M.D.,
later the head of plastic surgery at Rochester.
In 1949, another long association began.
Frank married a Rochester graduate, Jean
Cooper, a nurse. It was a legend that Jean and
her identical twin sister, Joan (a student nurse),
could switch dates and no one would know!
He completed a residency in plastic
surgery at Duke University Hospital, then
accepted an appointment as chief of plastic
surgery at Charleston Memorial Hospital
in Charleston, W. Va. In 1958, he became an
associate professor at the University of Kansas
Medical Center and a partner of David W.
Robinson, M.D., and stayed on until he retired in
1989. According to Robinson, this association
was characterized by not one unresolved argument
over a span of 33 years!
After just nine years, Frank became a
professor of surgery in 1967 and was appointed
head of the section of plastic surgery when
Dr. Robinson retired as chief. Frank’s abilities
as surgeon, teacher, researcher, administrator
and leader in the medical school were fully
evident. He was appointed chair of the
Executive Committee of the medical staff from
1972 to 1976 and chair of the Department of
Surgery from 1976 to 1986.
Frank was also a leader in many plastic
surgery societies, including the American Board
of Plastic Surgery (which he chaired in 1974).
His memberships were numerous, including
the American Medical Association and the
American College of Surgeons. Testimony to his
outstanding teaching ability was his election by
medical students to membership in the prestigious
Alpha Omega Alpha, Kansas Chapter.
His influence was international, as
visiting professorships and lectureships took
him to many academic centers around the
country and overseas (including a stint in 1963
at the Christian Medical College and Karagirie
Leprosarium in South India).
In his career, Frank authored more than
75 papers — some research but mostly based
on his clinical experiences.
As hobbies, Frank collected Western art,
played golf, did needlepoint and enjoyed traveling
with Jean. He and Dr. Robinson were
the surgeons for the Kansas City hockey team,
and he was a loyal fan of Kansas University
teams as well as the Kansas City Royals and
Chiefs. He and Jean were devoted members of
the St. Andrews Episcopal Church in Kansas
City, where Frank was elected to the vestry and
was a junior warden. After Jean passed away,
Frank devoted much more time to this activity,
which provided emotional support to him in
his terminal illness.
Frank will be missed by all who knew
and loved him. He is survived by his three children,
Frank W. Masters III, Pittsburgh, Kans.;
Pam Appenfeller, Leawood, Kans.; and Randy
Masters, Paola, Kans.; and five granddaughters.
In Memoriam
1935
William E. Merrill, M.D., Sheridan, WY
1936
Robert A. Burns, M.D., Little River, CA
1940
Clara Hinton Williams, Ph.D., Towson, MD
1941
Carl S. Hellijas, M.D., Pinellas Park, FL
George A. Moll, M.D., Hanover, PA
1942
David S. Parker, M.D. (R ’42), Rochester, NY
1943
Richard H. Koenemann, M.D., Rochester, NY
Arnold A. Nutting, M.D., Redding, CA
1945
Francis W. Masters, M.D., Shawnee Mission, KS
Gerald Miller, M.D., Somers, NY
1947
Edith Searles Porter, M.D., Gorham, NY
1951
Bernard F. Donovan, M.D. (R ’52), Henrietta, NY
William E. Smedley Jr., M.D., Grand Junction, CO
1952
Merle L. Gibson Jr., M.D., Owings, MD
1958
Alden H. Hayden, M.D. (R ’58), Pittsford, NY
1961
Ronald W. Tatum, M.D., (R ’64, FLW ’66),
Albuquerque, NM
1964
David P. Campbell, M.D., Placitas, NM
Robert H. McLean, M.D., Towson, MD
1970
Jack I. Stein, M.D. (R ’70)
SPRING / SUMMER 2002 49

in memoriam
In Memoriam
1935
William E. Merrill, M.D.
Sheridan, WY
1936
Robert A. Burns, M.D .
Little River, CA
1940
Clara Hinton Williams, Ph.D.
Towson, MD
1941
Carl S. Hellijas, M.D .
Pinellas Park, FL
George A. Moll, M.D .
Hanover, PA
1942
David S. Parker, M.D.
(R ’‘42)
Rochester, NY
1943
Richard H. Koenemann, M.D.
Rochester, NY
Arnold A. Nutting, M.D.
Redding, CA
1945
Francis W. Masters, M.D.
Shawnee Mission, KS
Gerald Miller, M.D.
Somers, NY
50
ROCHESTER MEDICINE

Rochester Rises in the Rankings
The University of Rochester School of Medicine and
Dentistry has risen from 31st last year to 28th in research,
and from 14th to 7th in primary care, in U.S. News and
World Report's annual ranking of the country's top
medical schools.
U.S. News looks at several criteria, including
NIH research grants, MCAT scores, faculty-student ratio,
acceptance rate and peer and residency directors'
assessments.
The rankings were reported in April in the magazine's
annual guide to the best graduate schools.
Univeristy of Rochester
School of Medicine and Dentistry
601 Elmwood Avenue, box 643
Rochester, NY 14642
Non-Profit Org.
US Postage
PAID
Permit No. 780
Rochester, NY
Change Service Requested