1. Welcome Message from the President, Board of Governors 2

SPRING 2016 NEWSLETTER

Contents:

1. Welcome Message from the President, Board of Governors 2. Attend Spring Banquet (4/30) and Alumni Weekend Champagne Brunch (5/14) 3. Please Donate to the Sphinx Alumni Fund 4. Buy Sphinx Gear from the New “Sphinx Store” 5. Current Sphinx Campus News 6. Sphinx Alumni News 7. Sign Up for the Sphinx Class Alumni Directory 8. Visit Penn Campus as a Distinguished Sphinx Alumnus 9. Mentor a Sphinx Undergraduate 10. Contribute to the New Sphinx Historical Archives Page 11. Help Us Identify Missing Honorary Sphinx Members 12. Join the Sphinx Facebook and LinkedIn Groups 13. Send Us Your News, Comments, and Suggestions

1. Welcome Message from the President, Board of Governors

Since our Fall 2015 Newsletter in November 2015, the Sphinx Senior Society, now in its 116th year, has continued to work through its 17 member Board of Governors (BOG) and the 30 members of the Sphinx Class of 2016 to implement our five goals:

1. Strengthen alumni outreach; 2. Support the undergraduate program; 3. Update our online Sphinx Class Alumni Directory as part of our ever improving web site, www.sphinxseniorsociety.com ; 4. Expand the Sphinx Links mentoring program; and 5. Raise $10,000 to support the Society’s activities.

In this Spring 2016 Newsletter, you can read about our most recent activities to achieve our goals. These activities include:

• Updating our Sphinx Class Alumni Directory, where you can sign up, enter your profile, and contact other members of your Sphinx class or any signed up alumnus; 1

• Matching Sphinx Class of 2016 mentees with Sphinx alumni mentors in various professional fields through our “Sphinx Links” mentoring program, now in its sixth year; • Our continually expanding website, which contains news of current Sphinx events, alumni accomplishments, an updated Class Awards list going back to 1900 and the founding of Sphinx, our new “Sphinx Store” from which you can buy Sphinx gear, and a new Sphinx historical archives page. This archive includes “flashback” photos of the Sphinx Classes of 1966, 1976 and 1991 celebrating their 50th, 40th, and 25th Reunions this coming Alumni Weekend, May 13-16, 2016. It also includes a video Mika Rao, Chief ’96, and Carrie Kitchen-Santiago,’92, made to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Sphinx in 1999-2000. The video is entitled “Sphinx Senior Society: Celebrating 100 Years.” We showed the video at our annual Spring Banquet on April 25, 2014. Here's a link to it now: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5MWVf6hWkGk&feature=youtu.be&noredire ct=1

Please read this newsletter and check our website to see how you can get involved this year in the Sphinx Senior Society. For example, you can:

• Mentor a Class of 2016 Sphinx member, or a member of the Sphinx Class of 2017 in the “Sphinx Links” mentoring program; • Join already over 200 Sphinx classmates who’ve done so and enter your profile in our new Class Directory and email classmates; • Send us your personal alumni news and memorabilia for the new Sphinx archives page at [email protected] • • Buy Sphinx gear from our new Sphinx Store; • Attend the annual Spring Banquet on April 30, 2016, and/or the annual Alumni Weekend Champagne Brunch on May 14, 2016;• • Donate to support these activities.

Finally, I want to thank the following members of the Sphinx BOG for their continued excellent help to achieve our goals this year: Gregory Suss, C’75, Vice President; John K. Fiorillo, W’86, Treasurer; Elizbeth Katz Miller, W’87, Secretary; Merrie S. Frankel, C’76, President-Emeritus; Samuel Rappaport, W’15, Pharisee-Emeritus; Alexis Ruby Howe, C’07, WEV’09, WEV’10, GED’12; Samir Malik, C’08. W’08, WG’14; Kiera Reilly, C’93, Sphinx Archivist; Anita Saggurti, C’12, Sphinx Links Mentoring Coordinator; Glen S. Schuster, C’86, Co-Coordinator, Web Site and Class Directory; Franklin Shen, ENG’03, Co-Coordinator, Web Site and Class Directory; and Kevin Vaughan, C’77. Ex Officio: Current Student Officers: Devin Grossman, W’16, Chief; Prashant Ramesh, SEAS’16, Pharisee; and Sydney Schneider, C’16, Scribe.

Think Sphinx!

Steve Klitzman, C’66, President, Sphinx Senior Society Board of Governors, [email protected] [email protected]. H:301-263-0616; M: 202-277-9509.

2. Attend Spring Banquet(4/30) and Alumni Weekend Champagne Brunch(5/14)

April 30, 2016, Spring Banquet: Celebrate and bid farewell to the Sphinx Class of 2016, welcome the Sphinx Class of 2017, and socialize with Fellow Sphinx Alums!

• Now that Spring is here the Board of Governors of the Sphinx Senior Society invites all Sphinx alums and guests to the annual Spring Banquet on Saturday, April 30, 2016. Cocktails and hors d’oeuvres begin at 6:30 pm at the historic Orpheus Club at 254 S. Van Pelt Street in Center City, Philadelphia.

• At the banquet we will officially initiate the Sphinx Class of 2017 and Honorary Sphinx member Dr. J. Larry Jameson. Dr. Jameson has served since 2011 as the Executive Vice President of the University of Pennsylvania for the Health System and the 36th Dean of the Raymond and Ruth Perelman School of Medicine. For his distinguished bio click here: http://alumni.med.upenn.edu/jljbio.php

J. Larry Jameson, M.D., Ph. D. and 2016 Honorary Sphinx Inductee

• On Friday, April 22, 2016, Dr. Vincent Price, Provost, Penn’s chief academic officer since 2009, invited the Sphinx Class of 2016 to have lunch with him. As thanks, the Class of 2016 also inducted Dr. Price as an Honorary Member of the Society. For Dr. Price’s distinguished bio click here: https://provost.upenn.edu/about/vincentprice • At the lunch, Dr. Price talked about the importance of an interdisciplinary education, the role the city of Philadelphia plays at Penn, how Penn can go about improving educational opportunities and the city at large, and Penn's expanding global footprint and influence, in particular with the Penn Wharton China Center. • Dr. Price also mentioned his long-term vision for Penn as a place that continues to harness the benefits of MOOCS (massive open online courses) to bring the benefits of

Penn education to millions across the globe and as a place that experiments outside of traditional means of teaching through semester long, lecture courses.

• Dr. Price advised the Sphinx Class of 2016 to follow its passions and assured the class that if it thought Penn was the best four years of its lives so far, the Sphinx Class of 2016 would only continue to grow, learn, and enjoy life even more.

• Penn Provost Vincent Price and a 2016 Sphinx Honorary Member wears his Sphinx cap and pin as he makes the Sphinx sign with members of the Sphinx Class of 2016 on April 24, 2016.

• At the Spring Banquet, we’ll also honor members of the Sphinx Class of 1966 who will celebrate their 50th Penn reunion during Alumni Weekend, May 13-16, 2016. In March and April 2016, 10 members of the Sphinx Class of 1966 also contributed $1550 to the Sphinx Alumni Fund to support the undergraduate Sphinx membership.

• Here also is a list of 27 Sphinx Alumni who contributed $100 or more to our successful Spring 2016 fundraising campaign to reduce to $100 dues for the incoming members of the Sphinx Class of 2017:

Sphinx Alumni 2016 Sponsors*

Adam Behrens, '11 Louise Borke, '76 Sharie A. Brown, C’79, G’79 Beryl Bugatch, '66** John Budd, '89 Howard Coonley, '66 Dr. Robert Daroff, '57. Ernesto Del Valle, '12 Risa Goldstein, '78 Robert Gross, ‘66 Jeffrey Hack, '87 John Hannum,'66 Walter Herman, '55 Jim Hively, Chief, '70 Stephen H. Klitzman, ‘66 Dave Landry, '60 Tom Lang, Chief,'66 Robert Lavan, Chief, '04 Lance Laver, '66 Gary Mintz, '70 Stephen Marmon, Chief,'71 Alvin Shoemaker, '60 Michael Snow, '85 Richard Spiegel. '66 Jeffrey Tillus, '12 Susan Todres, '75 Robert Varney, '66

* Contributed $100 or more to 2016 Sphinx Alumni Fund. ** Member of the Sphinx Class of 1966 celebrating its 50th Penn Reunion May 13-16, 2016.

• At the Spring Banquet, we also will bestow on a graduating member of the Class of 2016 the annual Paul Miller Leadership Award for outstanding public service and campus leadership. The award we created in 2011 is named in memory of the late Paul Miller, C’83, former Sphinx Scribe, Mask & Wig performer, and Commissioner on the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission from 1994-2004.

• Alumni Weekend Champagne Brunch: Please join the new Sphinx Class of 2017, the graduating Class of 2016, members of the Sphinx Board of Governors, and fellow Sphinx alumni as we kick off Alumni Weekend. Join us for our annual free Champagne Brunch on Saturday, May 14, 2015, 10:00 a.m.-11:30 am, just before the Class Parade down Locust Walk to College Hall Green. The Brunch will be held in the Goodhand Room of the LGBT Center, 3901 Spruce Street, Philadelphia, PA, 19104-6031.

• Please also be on the lookout for a special Alumni Weekend email invitation that we will send out after the Spring Banquet.

Alumni Weekend Champagne Brunch May 2014

3. Please Donate to the 2016 Sphinx Alumni Fund

Penn President Amy Gutmann in November 2015 gives the Sphinx Senior Society hand sign with members of the Sphinx Class of 2016.

The Sphinx Board of Governors (BOG) invites you to help us strengthen our support of the undergraduate Sphinx membership and the entire Society by participating in the 2016 Sphinx Alumni Fund Campaign.

Here's what you need to know:

Why: To build a stronger connection between Sphinx alumni and undergraduate members, it’s important to strengthen the current community and a future leadership legacy that extends beyond the senior year at Penn.

What: Our specific campaign goals are two: first, to reduce the amount of Sphinx dues for the incoming Sphinx Class of 2017, and second, to add to the Sphinx Alumni Endowment Fund we’ve created to support current and future Society programs and activities.

In recent years undergraduate dues have gone as high as $300 per the 30- member class. These dues support programming, events, and get-togethers of the current Sphinx class. In Spring 2015 with the help of many Sphinx alumni we were able to reduce the dues for the Sphinx Class of 2016 to $100 as well as begin to build our endowment.

The Ask: We now seek again to raise funds to build our Sphinx Alumni Endowment Fund to offset $4,000 ($125 x 30 members) by April 30, 2016, the date of the annual Sphinx Spring Banquet. These funds will reduce the dues of the incoming Sphinx Class of 2017 to $100 per member.

We intend to use further endowment contributions to keep future undergraduate dues to an affordable level, or even eventually eliminate such dues, as well as to support ongoing activities of the Society. These include the Fall and Spring undergraduate smokers and inductions, the Fall Sphinx-Friars Homecoming Reception, the Spring Banquet, the Alumni Weekend Champagne Brunch, the “Sphinx Links” mentoring program, the Fall, Spring and Summer Newsletters, our recently upgraded Sphinx alumni Class Directory, and our ever improving web site, www.sphinxseniorsociety.com

How: Be part of this important initiative by:

* Donating here; OR

* Mailing your check made out to the Sphinx Senior Society to John K. Fiorillo, Esq. W'86, Treasurer, 1634 Wildlife Drive, Chester Springs, PA 19425; OR

* Responding positively when members of the Sphinx BOG call you in the coming weeks.

The Bonus:

• Donate $1000 or more- receive an attractive Sphinx hooded sweat shirt with the Sphinx logo, a Sphinx pin and hat, a ticket to the Spring Banquet to be held on April 30, 2016 at the historic

Orpheus Club near Rittenhouse Square in Philadelphia, PA and a listing in the banquet program as an alumni sponsor;

• Donate $500-$999- receive a Sphinx pin and hat, a banquet ticket, and a listing in the banquet program as an alumni sponsor;

• Donate $250-$499- receive a Sphinx pin and hat;

• Donate $100-$249- receive a Sphinx pin.

Whatever you donate, the Sphinx BOG thanks you for your support as will the Sphinx Class of 2017 and future Sphinx classes.

4. Buy Sphinx Gear from the New “Sphinx Store”

WE HAVE A SPHINX STORE LADIES AND GENTLEMEN!!

Here it is -- Store Page: http://www.zazzle.com/sphinxseniorsoceity

Our store “manager/organizer” Lex Howe has created a few items, which are just starters - take a look:

Tote Bag: http://www.zazzle.com/sphinx_senior_society_tote_bag-149705185802614526

Coffee Mug: http://www.zazzle.com/sphinx_senior_society_mug-168460076218084777

Polo Shirt (Black): http://www.zazzle.com/sphinx_senior_society_golf_shirt_polo_polo_t_shirt- 235644841344504098

If any one wants to try his or her hand at creating additional Sphinx products, here's a link on "how to". http://www.zazzle.com/sell/designers/tutorials/makeproducts

If you have any questions about the new Sphinx Store, please contact Lex Howe at [email protected] , 202-751-7588.

5. Current Sphinx Campus News a. Sphinx Class of 2017. The Sphinx Class of 2016 has selected the first 23 members of the Sphinx Class of 2017. And the 23 members of the 2017 class will select 7 more members of their class this fall.

Here’s a list of the new inductees with their Penn schools and activities. We’ll welcome them warmly and induct them into the Society officially at the Spring Banquet on April 30, 2016, at the Orpheus Club in Center City, Philadelphia, to which all alumni are invited:

Aizhaneya Carter, C’17 (African American Arts Alliance)

Sarah Cho, C’17 (Asian Pacific Student Coalition)

Jeremy Cohen, C’17 (SAC, Student Activities Council)

Irtiqa Fazili, C’17 (Muslim Students Association)

Kendall Finlay, C’17 (Umoja, United Student Group of the African Diaspora)

Kaleb Germinaro, C’17 (Football)

Jeremy Golant, C’17 (Mask and Wig)

Colin Henderson, W’17 (The DP)

Anny Hu, C’W’17 (Assembly of International Students)

Ian Jeong, NU’17 (Lambda, Queer Advocacy Umbrella Organization)

Meredith Kline, C’17 (Kite and Key)

Ashley Montgomery, W’17 (Women's Cross Country and Track and Field)

Carol Quezada Olivo, C’17 (Grupo Quisqueyano/Dominican Student Association)

Praveen Rajaguru, C’17 (Masala, World renowned South Asian male a capella group)

Temilola Ransome-Kuti , W’17(United Minorities Council)

Gavi Reiter, C’17 (Student Sustainability Association at Penn)

David Scollan, C’17 (Nominations and Elections Committee)

Erina Shan, C’17 W’17 (Wharton Council)

Lauren Silberburg, ENG’17 (Panhel)

Abbie Starker, C’17 (Vagina Monologues, Alternate Spring Break)

Sam Summer, C’17 (Men Against Rape and Sexual Assault)

Pranav Vishnu, ENG’17 (PennApps, responsible for running hack-a-thons)

Pallavi Warkharhar, C’17 (Excelano, Spoken Word performance group)

b. Sphinx Class of 2016 Accomplishments and Plans. Here are some updates on the impressive accomplishments and post-graduation plans of the Sphinx Class of 2016: 2016 Sphinx Accomplishments

Sphinx Class of 2016 Senior Honor Awards

• 13 Sphinges in the Class of 2016 were nominated for the Class of 2016 Senior Honor Awards . Here’s a list of the class winners:

Men’s Awards:

- Bobby Lindquist- Spoon- oldest and most prestigious men’s senior award. Activities include : MARS (Men Against Rape & Sexual Assault), Fisher Hassenfeld RA, WilCaf “Bobrista”, PAVE (Penn Anti-Violence Educator), The Philomathean Society, College Dean’s Advisory Board

Bobby Lindquist 2016 Spoon Man

Women’s Awards:

- Jane Meyer- David R. Goddard Loving Cup Award. Activities include: Undergraduate Assembly Penn Dems, Jewish Renaissance Project, Penn In Washington, Women’s Political League

Jane Meyer- 2016 Goddard Award Winner

- Mahalatchmi Subramaniam- R. Jean Brownlee Skimmer Hat Award. Activities include: Penn Fashion Collective, Vagina Monologues, Financial Literacy Community Project

Mahalatchmi Subramaniam- 2016 Brownleee Award Winner

Other 2016 Class Awards:

• Mahalatchmi Subramaniam was awarded theWharton School Dean's Award for Exemplary Service and was the Ivy Day Senior Honor Award Recipient • Brad Hebert is the 2016 Recipient of the Penn Alumni Student Award of Merit, in recognition of service to the University of Pennsylvania, which, in combination with other activities/endeavors, strengthens and enhances the University. • Connie Kang was nominated for Alumni Award of Merit, Penn Alumni Relations. • America Perez co-Founded Mujeres Empoderadas (support group for Latinas across all Penn schools) that has gone on to win LTA's Inclusivity Award and Trustees' Council of Penn Women Awards, Nov 2015 and April 2016 and was listed as one of top 10 women leaders from 2016 graduating class.

Arts

• Prashant Ramesh released Masala's 9th studio album (“Resonance”) which reached #1 on iTunes World Music on December 2015 and led Masala to a sold-out 20th Anniversary Show in Irvine Auditorium on March 26, 2016 • Sydney Schneider lead the Quaker Girls Dance Team to its first halftime performance on the Phila.’ 76ers basketball court, April 5, 2016 • Connie Kang led and performed in Penn Chinese Theater's 7th production, on Apr 17, 2016. She also performed in a senior honor thesis production, THARTS Program, Apr 7- 10. • Cat Pierce and Mahalatchmi Subramaniam produced and directed "The Vagina Monologues Show: VDAY UPENN 2016” which was performed on Feb 26 and Feb 27. The show turned out to be the biggest VM performance out of all of the college campuses across the US with a cast of 60 and sold out audience nearing 1800 attendees. • Mahalatchmi Subramaniam also lead as President "FOCUS: Spring Fashion Show, Penn Fashion Week,” 04/02, the biggest Fashion Show yet with 16 designers and also hosted by Lady Gaga's designer.

Athletics

• Brooklyn Juday (Varsity Women’s Basketball Captain) won the Ivy League Women's Basketball Championship and was awarded the Epton-Tarr Award for Women's Basketball for 2015-2016 season. • Shannon McCarthy competed in the Ivy League Cross Country Heptagonal Championships on October 31st 2015, placed 4th overall in the 5k at the Penn Challenge Track and Field Invite on March 26th, 2016, and represented Penn Nursing at the National Health Policy Conference in Washington DC Feb 1st-2nd , as 1 of 3 students to attend the event. • Christian Stapleton is now a 2 time Ivy League Champion, Football, 2012 and 2015, and ran his first half marathon in 1:36.

Tech

• Nilesh Kavthekar grew Penn's tech innovation competition to 3x the number of applicants and 2x the amount of award money in Spring 2014 and managed Dorm Room Fund (Philadelphia's only student-run VC firm) as the fund invested in over 5 companies in the 2015-2016 school year.

Community Engagement

• Ingred Prince presented research on homeless teen sex workers in NYC to the CDC and Columbia Med, CDC Undergraduate Public Health Scholars, Summer 2015; led 4A's For Colored Girls to a sold out production as actress and president, 4A, October 2015; nominated for a senior honor award, OSA, April 2016; inducted into Xi Chapter of Sigma Theta Tau International Nursing • Victoria Chen organized and executed Domestic Violence Philanthropy Gala, Sigma Psi Zeta, April 2; participated in “Fostering Unity”, a cultural competency workshop for interested members of Greek organizations, Sigma Psi Zeta, March 18; collaborated with the Japanese Students' Association for “Mochi Fest” to increase awareness of Japanese culture, Penn Queer & Asian, Feb 20; LGBTQ Community Retreat, Lambda Alliance, April 3; Welcome/empowerment video for LGBT-identifying accepted students, Lambda Alliance, March 30. • Gina Dukes led a protest from Penn to Temple University, then to City Hall in Philadelphia for $15 minimum wage. Also studied abroad in a 3- country program called the “ International Honors Program (IHP) Cities,” during spring 2015 where she traveled to Brazil, South Africa, and India. • Mahalatchmi Subramaniam led as “Head Teacher” of the Financial Literacy Community Project. • Javier García Tafoya and Ingred Prince joined Amy Gutman’s recent speaking tour in London and D.C. respectively. (see item # 5C)

Future Plans of Sphinx Class of 2016

• Devin Grossman will be working in Private Equity at Warburg Pincus in NYC. • Prashant Ramesh will be in grad school at Penn, pursuing a Masters in Materials Science. • Sydney Schneider will be working in NYC as part of the Junior Rotational Program at the NFL (National Football League). • Hong Kim will be moving to San Francisco to continue his work on his startup projects that aim to build employee engagement. • Ingred Prince secured an 8-month externship as a VALOR Nurse Scholar at the Philadelphia VA Medical Center. She also secured later employment at the Johns Hopkins Hospital as a Medical Surgical Nurse in Baltimore, MD. • Christian Stapleton will work for Aon Corporation in New York City. The company is one of the world’s largest brokers of high risk insurance.

• Rachel Palmer is moving to Arlington, VA to work as a first year analyst at CEB, a global publicly traded, best practice insight and technology company that provides products and services to businesses worldwide. • Alexandre Kleis will be working as a Business Analyst at McKinsey & Company in New York City. • Brooklyn Juday will be working in Sales and Trading in the Liquid Products division at Wells Fargo in Charlotte, NC. • Joe Step will be working as a research assistant at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York in NYC.

Sphinx Senior Society Class of 2016 Officers: (l to r) Prashant Ramesh, SEAS’16, Pharisee, Devin Grossman, W’16, Chief, Sydney Schneider, C’16, Scribe at the Orpheus Club, Phila, PA, site of the annual Spring banquet, this year to be held on Saturday, April 30.

15 c. Javier Francisco Garcia Tafoya, C’16, Joins Penn President in London, England to Meet with 300 Regional Alumni

In March 2016, Penn President Amy Gutmann traveled to London, England to meet with approximately 300 Penn alumni living and working in the United Kingdom. Joining her were a member of the Sphinx Class of 2016, Javier Francisco Garcia Tafoya, C’16. The University organized the trip as part of its “Our Penn” alumni outreach campaign.

Javier reported on the trip as follows:

I was able to tell my story and experiences at Penn. I was primarily selected to highlight firsthand the power and promise of Penn Compact 2020’s goal of enhancing inclusion on campus. Born in Mexico, I was 11 when my family immigrated to California, where I learned English and excelled academically. At Penn, as a Benjamin Franklin Scholar and a Health & Societies major, I am interested in bringing together the business and biology of healthcare. A first generation student, I have also been active in the new student group, Penn First, and have been selected to serve as a student ambassador for the Named Scholarship Program. My stay in London was facilitated by the countless efforts from the university but also by Sphinx Alum Max Cancre (08’) who opened his home so that I could extend my stay three more days.

Here are some pictures from Javier’ s visit to London with Amy Gutmann:

Previous photo:: Ballrrom venue for Penn London meeting with UK Alumni

Group photo: Javier makes Sphinx sign during March 2016 Lomdon visit. Left to right: Kimberley Aparisio, C’05, Javier Garcia Tafoya, ’16, Michelle Chikaonda, ’06.

Javier Garcia Tafoya, Sphinx Classs of 2016, poses for picture with Thames River and St. Paul’s Cathedral in background during Penn-organized visit to London, UK in March 2016.

6. Sphinx Alumni News a. Peter Joseph Jannetta, M.D., D.Sc, Scribe, Sphinx Class of 1953, World Renowned Neurosurgeon and Former Professor and Chairman, Department of Neurological Surgery, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Died April 11, 2016 at 84

Dr. Peter J. Jannetta, C’53, M.D.’57

On the last page of Dr. Jannetta’s 67 page(!) Curriculum Vitae, his activities as a Penn undergraduate are listed as follows:

Phi Gamma Delta, Beta Chapter President Permanent President, Class of 1953 Vice President, Freshman Class Vice President [Scribe], Sphinx Senior Society MVP Swimming Swimming Team: 1, 2, 3, 4 Football Team: 4 Lacrosse Team: 1, 2, 3, 4.

Here’s Dr. Jannetta’s very informative obituary from the New York Tines, April 14, 2016:

Dr. Peter J. Jannetta, Pioneering Neurosurgeon on Facial Pain, Dies at 84

By MARGALIT FOX

Dr. Peter J. Jannetta, a neurosurgeon who as a medical resident half a century ago developed an innovative procedure to relieve an especially devastating type of facial pain, died on Monday in Pittsburgh. He was 84.

The cause was complications from a brain injury suffered in a recent fall, said Susan Jannetta, his daughter.

Dr. Jannetta, a retired faculty member of the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, was considered one of the foremost neurosurgeons in the world.

A specialist in cranial nerve disorders, he was renowned in particular for having identified the minute culprit responsible for trigeminal neuralgia — a condition causing agonizing facial pain — and for developing a way to vanquish that culprit through microsurgery on the brain.

“This was a condition that had been documented for a thousand years: There are references in the ancient literature to what was originally called ‘tic douloureux,’ ” Mark L. Shelton, the author of “Working in a Very Small Place: The Making of a Neurosurgeon,” a 1989 book about Dr. Jannetta, said in a telephone interview on Thursday. “People knew of this unexplained, very intense, episodic facial pain but didn’t know the cause of it.”

Trigeminal neuralgia is so excruciating — and early remedies were so inadequate — that in the past, some patients committed suicide.

“It’s the worst pain in the world,” Dr. Jannetta told The Times Union of Albany in 1999. “The nerve endings in the face are the most concentrated in the body, even more than the fingertips.”

When Dr. Jannetta began his residency in the 1960s, it was known that such pain stemmed from damage to the trigeminal nerve, a large nerve that carries sensation from the face to the brain.

But the source of the damage was far less understood, severely limiting opportunities for treatment.

“The treatments up until that time tended to be things that damaged the nerve,” Mr. Shelton said. “You would cut the nerve so it would stop sending these responses. They would pickle it with alcohol. They would use electrical impulses to damage it, and so on. The result would be, at best, numbness. That would eliminate the pain, but also eliminate the nerve’s function." 20

In the mid-1960s, Dr. Jannetta made a striking discovery while he was a neurosurgical resident at the University of California, Los Angeles. Dissecting a set of cranial nerves for a class presentation, he noticed something amiss: a tiny blood vessel pressing on the trigeminal nerve.

“It came to him as something of a flash of insight,” Mr. Shelton said. “He saw this blood vessel literally impinging on the nerve so that there was actually a groove in the nerve where the vessel pressed.”

What if, Dr. Jannetta wondered, this were the source of the nerve damage? Though his insight is universally accepted today, it was novel to the point of subversion in the 1960s.

“The idea that a very small blood vessel, the diameter of a mechanical pencil lead, could cause such outsize pain didn’t resonate with people at the time,” Mr. Shelton said.

But if the offending vessel was indeed the cause, Dr. Jannetta reasoned, then the pain could be alleviated by removing it with the aid of a surgical microscope.

Over time, he developed a delicate procedure to do just that. Formally known as microvascular decompression, it is familiarly known among surgeons as the Jannetta procedure.

“If you reach behind your ear, you’ll find a bony lump,” Mr. Shelton said. “And if you move one finger-width over toward your spine, that’s the place where they would drill a hole about the size of a quarter.”

The lens of the microscope was placed against the hole, letting the surgeon peer closely at the trigeminal nerve. Under magnification, the impinging vessel could then be removed.

If the vessel was a vein, it could simply be cauterized and excised. If it was an artery, however — a more essential structure — it would, Dr. Jannetta realized, have to be gently nudged out of the way.

He created a means of doing so that involved slipping a tiny pad of soft Teflon, about the size of a pencil eraser, between the artery and the nerve.

Dr. Jannetta performed the first microvascular decompression operation in 1966. The patient, a 41-year-old man, was relieved of his pain.

It took about a decade for the procedure to win acceptance from the neurosurgical establishment, owing partly to Dr. Jannetta’s youth and partly to the novelty of his idea.

“He convinced many, many skeptics — and there were a lot of skeptics in the early years — because it seemed so counterintuitive as to what caused neurological disease,” Mr. Shelton said.

Today, microvascular decompression is a standard treatment for trigeminal neuralgia, resulting in complete relief in some 90 percent of cases.

Dr. Jannetta trained more than 150 surgeons around the world in the technique. It has been extended to treat a range of conditions — including tinnitus, facial spasms and vertigo — that stem from impingement on various cranial nerves.

Peter Joseph Jannetta was born in Philadelphia on April 5, 1932. He earned a bachelor’s degree in zoology from the University of Pennsylvania in 1953, followed by an M.D. there in 1957. He did a residency in general surgery at Penn before moving to U.C.L.A. for his neurosurgery residency.

Dr. Jannetta was on the faculty of Louisiana State University Medical Center in New Orleans, where he was chief of neurosurgery, before joining the University of Pittsburgh in 1971. Under his stewardship, the university hospital became a mecca for patients suffering from cranial nerve disorders.

From 1995 to 1996, Dr. Jannetta served as the Pennsylvania Secretary of Health. After retiring from his university post in 2000, he joined the staff of Allegheny General Hospital in Pittsburgh. At his death, he had homes in Pittsburgh and Ligonier, Pa.

Dr. Jannetta’s first marriage, to Ann Bowman, ended in divorce. Besides their daughter Susan, his survivors include five other children from that marriage, Joanne Lenert, Carol Jannetta Alpers, Elizabeth Jannetta (known as Binney), Peter T. and Michael; two brothers, Anthony and Samuel; a sister, Ida Marie Higgins; his second wife, the former Diana Rose; a stepson, Robert Davant III; a stepdaughter, Hilary Rose; eight grandchildren; and two step-grandchildren. Another stepdaughter, Jessica Davant, died in 2006.

His many laurels include the medal of honor from the World Federation of Neurological Societies; the Olivecrona Award, presented by the Karolinska Institute in Sweden; and the Horatio Alger Award, which honors perseverance in the face of adversity or opposition.

While Dr. Jannetta did not introduce the microscope into the operating room, his use of it as a foundation on which to build an entire operation was novel, Mr. Shelton said.

“He recognized early that it permitted the development of new insights and procedures, rather than simply being a clearer way of seeing what people had seen before.”

Mr. Shelton added, “He left a legacy of literally thousands of people that he treated for a condition that was unspeakably painful and resistant to treatment.”

b. Rev. Conrad Bennette Tillard, Sr., Sphinx Class of 1988, Pastor of One of New York City’s Oldest African-American Congregations, Receives Community Leadership Awards

Rev. Conrad Bennette Tillard Sr. Sphinx Class of 1988, is the Senior Minister of the Nazarene Congregational Church , a 139 year old United Church of Christ Congregation (UCC) in the Bedford Stuyvesant community in Brooklyn, New York. Rev. Tillard’s church is one of the oldest African-American congregations in New York City.

A graduate after Penn of the Union Theological Seminary and the Princeton Theological Seminary, Rev. Tillard reports that he has been “a student activist, parish minister and community activist for over 20 years.” Rev. Tillard in recent years has also received a number of awards and citations for his pastoral and community service. These include the “Ecumenical Leadership Award” bestowed on him in 2015 by the Community Council of Medgar College, City University of New York; the “Pastor of the Year” award he received in 2009 from Church Women United; and recognition in 2005 and 2006 from Beliefnet.com as one of “the Most Influential Spiritual Black Leaders” in America.

Rev. Tillard notes that he has also been “very outspoken on the issues that affect the quality of life of Bedford-Stuyvesant, including crime, education, police brutality,” and the “stop and frisk” policy of the New York City Police Department , especially during the administration of former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

Rev. Tillard resides in Bedford Stuyvesant with his wife Tamecca, and their five children, Amir,Najmah, Conrad Jr., Zuriel, and Barack.

Rev. Conrad Bennette Tillard, Sphinx Class of 1988, delivers sermon from pulpit of Nazarene Congregsational Church in Bedford Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn, New York, one of the oldest African-American congregations in New York City.

23 c. Peter Spiegel, Sphinx Class of 1991, Appears on Charlie Rose Show to Speak About Brussels Bombings in March 2016

Peter Spiegel, Sphinx Class of 1991, is the Bureau Chief for the Financial Times based in Brussels, Belgium. Formerly, he worked for the Los Angeles Times and the Wall Street Journal. On March 22, 2016, he appeared on the Charlie Rose interview TV show to discuss the Brussels terrorist bombings.

Here’s a posting from our Sphinx Facebook page:

Peter Spiegel, Sphinx '92, Brussels bureau chief for the Financial Times, appears on Charlie Rose to speak about the terrorist attacks in Brussels. Click here: https://charlierose.com/videos/26885

Attacks in Brussels- panelists included: Peter Spiegel, Brussels bureau chief for The Financial Times; Richard Haass, president of the Council on Foreign Relations; Rukmini Callimachi, correspondent for The New York Times; and Nicholas Burns, professor at Harvard University, John F. Kennedy School of Government

Peter Spiegel There was an Italian reporter screaming down the line to his editors in the position next to me. Took all my willpower not to walk over and strangle him in between Charlie Rose questions!

d. Dr. Philip H. McKinley, Sphinx Class of 1968, Ophthalmologist in Winston- Salem, North Carolina, Thanks Us for Fall 2015 Newsletter

Here’s a very kind email about our Fall 2015 Newsletter we received on November 12, 2015 from Dr. Philip H. McKinley, Sphinx Class of 1988, an ophthalmologist in Winston Salem, North Carolina:

“Steve-

Great newsletter obviously by a great editor. Thank you for invigorating Sphinx and sending out this email. This is the first contact that I have had from Sphinx since I graduated in 1968. I believe the only other close friend that was inducted with me was Don Morrison and I have lost

24 contact with him. [Ed Note: We gave Phil Don’s contact information. Don has been a distinguished journalist for many years with TIME, Inc.]

It is wonderful that you are making this into an active organization for the benefit of the members. I do not get to Philly much but am also connected there through crew reunions and my residency in Ophthalmology at the Wills Eye Hospital. I just received your newsletter today but would not have been able to make the Fall Homecoming Reception on November 7, 2015 as I was working in a hospital in the Caribbean.”

-Phil McKinley, ‘68

- PLEASE SEND YOUR SPHINX ALUMNI NOTES TO [email protected]

- REQUEST TO ALL FORMER SPHINX CHIEFS, PHARISEES, AND SCRIBES: PLEASE SELECT ONE INDIVIDUAL FROM YOUR CLASS TO BE YOUR SPHINX ALUMNI CLASS NOTES EDITOR. WE WOULD THEN REQUEST EACH CLASS NOTES EDITOR TO COMPILE AND SEND NEWS FROM THEIR CLASS TO [email protected]

7. Sign Up for Online Sphinx Class Alumni Directory

Please log onto Sphinx’s latest website feature: our Class Directory. You can click here to log on: http://www.sphinxseniorsociety.com/community/ Join 208 Sphinx alumni to date and create your own user name, password and profile page. Then start contacting your Sphinx classmates or other Sphinx alumni in the Class Directory. Rekindle old Sphinx connections and kindle new ones!

8. Visit Penn Campus as a Distinguished Sphinx Alumnus

The Sphinx Class of 2014 initiated the Sphinx Distinguished Alumni Visitor Program. This is a program in which the Sphinx undergraduates invite alumni back to campus, upon recommendation or self-nomination, to speak to and meet with the current seniors and the campus community about their experiences at Penn and their post-Penn personal careers.

The second Sphinx Distinguished Alumni Visitor was Elliot C. Williams, Sphinx Class of 1998. Elliott visited campus in November 2014 and met with members of the Sphinx Class of 2015. He’s currently the Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Office of Legislative Affairs where he oversees legislative affairs operations for the Department of Justice Civil Division as well as the Civil Rights, Antitrust, and Environmental and Natural Resources Divisions. He also served as Assistant Director for Congressional Relations, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Department of Homeland Security. 25

Williams graduated cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania and received a law degree and a Masters degree in journalism from Columbia. Until July 2009 he was on the staff of the Senate Judiciary Committee, as counsel to Senator Charles E. Schumer, Democrat of New York where he advised the Senator on various matters, including immigration, firearms, crime and drug policy, antitrust, bankruptcy and intellectual property.

Williams also served as a Trial Attorney in the Criminal Division of the Department of Justice as well as clerked for Judges Charles R. Wilson of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit and Donald M. Middlebrooks of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.

Hon. Elliot C. Williams, Sphinx 1998

During his visit to the Penn campus, Elliott shared valuable career and life wisdom with the class of 2015. Lessons he shared included defining yourself by something other than your work, “paying it forward,” and recognizing that no decision you make career-wise is permanent, no job is really necessary for another job.

For more information about the Sphinx Distinguished Alumni Visitor Program, please contact [email protected] Whether you would like to be a Sphinx Alumnus Visitor, are planning to visit Philadelphia, or are just passing through the City of Brotherly Love, the Sphinx undergraduate members would love to meet you!

9. Mentor a Sphinx Undergraduate

The Sphinx Society Board of Governors created “Sphinx Links” in 2010 as a new mentoring project to offer the career and life advice of experienced Sphinx alumni to current Sphinx seniors. Since 2010 we've made mentoring matches for over 60 Sphinx undergraduates with alumni mentors in dozens of professional fields. These have ranged from the arts, business, entertainment, finance, journalism, law, media and medicine, to biotechnology, global development, and public health.

So far this school year the Sphinx Links mentor program has matched 5 undergraduate mentees with alumni mentors and we’re looking for mentors for two more Class of 2016 mentees. Mentors and mentees are connecting over job searches, sharing networks and career counseling.

Here are the five mentee-mentor matches we’ve made so far in 2016:

1. Ingred Prince, N’16 , with Jeff Tillus, ’12, working in health care in South Aafrica 2. Victoria Chen, C’16, with Gabriela Abrishamian-Garcia, ’12, a medical student at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis 3. Diana Cabrera, C’15, with Anita Saggurti, ’12, 2nd year law student at the University of Texas, Austin, TX 4. Nilesh Kavthekar, W’16, SEAS’16, with Spencer Penn, ’14, a robotics engineer and entrepreneur in San Francisco 5. Amanda Perez, C’16, with Jeremy Pincus, ’14, working in health care in Chicago.

Here are the two Class of 2016 mentees for whom we’re still looking for appropriate mentors:

6. Hong Kim, W’16. Moving “near San Francisco” to work on his software start up service he calls “FreeFor Coffee.” Would appreciate a Sphinx alumni mentor preferably in the San Francisco area with experience building a software business or selling software to businesses. Hong has also been our excellent Sphinx Senior Society Webmaster and is originally from South Korea.

7. Christian Stapleton, W’16. Moving to New York City to work at Aon Co., a leading global provider of high risk management , insurance and reinsurance brokerage services. Will be working as an Associate Broker in Aon’s National Casualty Department. Would appreciate a Sphinx alumni mentor preferably in New York City with experience in the high risk management and insurance industry. As noted above, Christian is now a two-time Ivy League Champion, Football, 2012 and 2015, and ran his first half marathon in 1:36.

We are always looking for dedicated Sphinx alumni to serve as mentors for our Sphinx undergraduates. If you are interested in serving as a mentor to Hong Kim and/or Christian Stapleton, or to a member of the Sphinx Class of 2017 starting this fall, please send your name, location of work, professional field, and a brief career description and/or resume to Anita Saggurti, Sphinx Links Coordinator, at [email protected] . If you are a Sphinx undergraduate, please also feel free to email Anita to indicate your interest in having a mentor, as well as provide your resume, and desired career and locale preferences.

10. Contribute to a New Sphinx Historical Archives Page

Great news: Our Sphinx archives page is now live. In addition to articles on Sphinx "firsts", we’ve posted our Sphinx Centennial Video. We also are sharing yearbook photos from the Sphinx classes that are celebrating their 50th, 40th or 25th Penn reunions this A`lumni Weekend, May 13-16, 2016. You can view the archives through this link.

We welcome your Sphinx photos, article or memories to share in our archives section. Please contact Kiera Reilly , our Sphinx Archivist, if you have something you would like to contribute.

11. Help Us Identify Missing Honorary Sphinx Members

Sphinx members - we need your help. We are trying to complete our list of honorary Sphinx members. On our website we have good records for the very early days of Sphinx, a few listings in the 1930s, and then the list picks up again in 1997. We also have a list of people who were made honorary members but not the year that they were inducted. If you have any recollection of the honorary Sphinx from your or other missing classes on the list class, or old photos that might help solve the mystery, please let us know at [email protected] Thanks for your help.

You can find our incomplete list of Honorary Sphinx members at http://www.sphinxseniorsociety.com/alumni/honorary/

12. Join the Sphinx Facebook and LinkedIn Groups

Please join our Facebook and LinkedIn groups. These groups are closed groups and only open to members of Sphinx. If you need assistance joining these groups, please email Kiera Reilly.

As the Penn database is not 100% accurate, we also ask you to share this newsletter with your Sphinx classmates. If they did not receive this newsletter, they should email Kiera Reilly, Sphinx '93, member Sphinx Board of Governors, at [email protected] Kiera can code alumni in the Penn database and add Sphinx members to our email list for all future newsletters and other Sphinx information.

13. Send Us Your News, Comments and Suggestions

If you have any personal news, comments or suggestions for future newsletters or emails you’d liked to share with us and/or the Sphinx alumni community, please email us at [email protected] Steve Klitzman,C’66, Newsletter Editor and President, Sphinx Senior Society, Board of Governors, [email protected], W: 202-418-1763; C: 277- 9509; H: 301

-30-