Fall 2011 MEDICINE

BROWN Volume 17 | Number 3 | Fall 2011 MEDICINE

Gentleman Scholar Calm, cool, connected, Griffin Rodgers pushes for research that will serve the people.

PS:L U PRIMARY CARE REIMAGINED MAKING BABIES

c1BrMed_Spring11rev.indd 1 9/29/11 1:53 PM Letter from the dean

Start of One Era, End of Another The opening of the new Medical School in Providence’s old Jewelry District on August 15 marked one of the most important mile- stones in our history. Now our students have a state-of-the-art, spacious, and absolutely stunning home to call their own. This his- toric, creatively restored building off Col- lege Hill is close to several of our major teaching hospitals and the Public Health Program. Furthermore, it symbolizes Brown’s commitment to the city and the state to educate the next generation of physicians for all of us. Reunion and Commencement were carried out with beautiful weather and our usual traditions. Alumnus Griffin P. Rodgers, director of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases—one of the National Institutes of Health—gave an inspiring commencement speech to our graduating class and is featured in this issue. He emphasized the excitement of research in human biology in this era of genomics, proteomics, and systems biology. Advances over the next decades will be spectacular and will change the way we care for patients. Since the earliest classes, the Medical School’s graduates have enhanced the lives of their patients as well as their communities. Some, such as Dr. Rodgers, have gone on to national careers. Others have starred in basic science—for example, Arthur L. Horwich ’73 MD’75, Sterling Professor of Genetics and professor of pediatrics at Yale School of Medicine, has won a share of this year’s prestigious Albert Lasker Basic Medical Research Award, one of the highest awards for basic science in the United States and often a precursor to a Nobel Prize. Others contribute at local, national, and international levels. We are extremely proud of all of our alumni. On a final note, we have been guided and spurred on by President Ruth Simmons for the past decade. Her vision, passion, and support of the Medical School and the goldberg peter Division of Biology and Medicine have been instrumental in our success. We wish her the very best for the future.

bro w n medicin e | fa ll 2 011 http://brownmedicinemagazine.org

c02-01BrMed_Fall11 REV.indd 2 9/30/11 4:43 PM 53

“I wanted to give phenomenal care at an affordable price point.” —Aaron Blackledge MD’o1, Page 37

inside D epartments IxnBo �� 3

Te h Beat�� 4 24 The Ambassador Celebration | Dr. Knowitall | Nobel calling | COVER byS arah Baldwin-beneich Research takes brains | ¡Salud! STORY F or Griffin Rodgers, research matters most R esident Expert �� 15. when it translates to a cure. The Jerk.

F ield Notes�� 16 30 Just What the The very model of a modern Doctor Ordered military physician. by C Kris ambra Zoom�� 18 D ream house: Take a tour of the new He’s your man—anywhere, anytime.

Alpert Medical School building. Bg i Shot�� 22 Leaf peeping. 36 Making Medicine Work P romotions�� 48 byi e leen o’gara-kurtis They’re kind of a big deal.

P rimary care might not be what it used Momentum�� 52. to be, but some alumni have found ways to Two professors get their wings.

make their practice work—for them and Alumni Album�� 53 their patients. Class Notes | Reunion review | Special smiles

Obituaries�� 63 42 Hey, Baby! Fond farewells. ren philippi; ryan conaty a

K byk C ris ambra For some medical students, it’s not only C over: Dr. Griffin Rodgers by David Peterson studying that keeps them up until all hours, it’s

jesse burke; their babies. How do they make it work?

fa ll 2 011 | bro w n medicin e 1

c02-01BrMed_Spring11.indd 1 9/28/11 10:05 AM Letter from the editor

Volume 17 | Number 3 | Fall 2011

e d i t o r Count Your Blessings Sarah Baldwin-Beneich ’87 art director Having been raised by people for whom fair- Min O. Design staff writer ness is sacred, I was shocked the first time Kris Cambra I heard that some parents have favorite chil- a s s i s ta n t S ta f f w r i t e r dren. How could you love one child more Kylah Goodfellow Klinge production A s s i s ta n t than another? Didn’t seem possible. But I’m Frank Mullin guilty: I’ve developed a special soft spot for p r i n t i n g The Lane Press, Inc. Brown Medicine. e d i t o r i a l b o a r d I’m well aware of how lucky I am to have a job that contains so much variety, Gale M. Aronson both in the people my team and I work with and in the projects we undertake. The George Bayliss MD’03 RES’06 new Medical School building has made for two years of nonstop excitement, culmi- Robert Becher MD’06 nating in the Grand Opening Celebration in August. A year’s work of collaboration, Norman Boucher creativity, and sweat went into redesigning the Medical School website. Creating Benjamin Brown ’08 MD’12 case statements and viewbooks, producing videos, tweeting on Twitter—it’s all Christopher Dodson ’99 good. Bored is one thing our small team is not. MD’03 But these other projects are like healthy, assertive children, demanding much of Dana Cook Grossman ’73 our energy and time. Brown Medicine, on the other hand, quietly waits, like Cinder- Krista Hachey ’07 MD’11 ella or some virtuous Dickensian orphan, needing much but asking little. And some- Galen Henderson MD’93 how, in spite of all the other work clamoring for our attention, the magazine gets Phyllis Hollenbeck ’73 MD’77 done. (I shouldn’t say “somehow.” I know how: through the hard work of the myriad Natasha Hunter MD’12 contributors who make it come together in what we hope is a coherent, not uninter- Susan Adler Kaplan ’58 MAT’65 esting set of ideas and images.) Robert B. Klein, MD It’s been an extremely busy summer—sometimes painfully so. But then I think Akanksha Mehta ’02 MD’06 about what it would be like to direct an NIH institute, or start my own micro- Christine Montross MD’06 practice, or have a baby and go to medical school at the same time, like the people in MMS’07 RES’10 this issue. And I think I’ve got it pretty good. Andrew E. Robin MD’13

Brown Medicine may not be reproduced without prior consent and proper credit. Address all requests to the editor. The opinions of contributors do not necessarily reflect the views of The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University or its affiliated hospitals.

Brown Medicine is published three times a year by the Office of Biomedical Advancement.

2 brown medicine | FA LL 2 011 http://brownmedicinemagazine.org

02-15BrMed_Fall11.indd 2 9/28/11 1:56 PM INBOX Full of Win

Brown Medicine recently added some new trophies to its collection. The New England Society for Healthcare Communications (NESHCo) awarded a Gold Lamplighter to Silver Branch Communications for Eileen O’Gara-Kurtis’s article “Primary Consideration,” from the Fall 2010 issue. Kris Cambra’s A Fish Connection article “Snakes on a Plane” (Spring 2010) won an Award of Excellence from It may interest your readers to know NESHCo. Both awards were in the Excellence in Writing (Feature Articles) that my colleague, Professor Emeritus category. of Medical Science Leon Goldstein, who During the summer, the Council for Advancement and Support of joined the Brown faculty in 1968, was an Education (CASE) awarded Brown Medicine a Silver in its prestigious national author on two research articles on coel- Circle of Excellence competition. The magazine was chosen from 36 entries acanth physiology in the 1970s (Field in the Special Constituency Magazines category. Notes, Spring 2011). The first, in 1973, reported the presence of urea cycle enzymes and trimethylamine oxidase in the coelacanth liver, important data that supported the finding that this an- dard you have set. Michael is, indeed, a maceutical industry cannot possibly cient and iconic fish uses urea and tri- great tribute to Brown University and a serve the needs of all whose wounds methylamine oxide as body fluid osmo- valued leader in the His Mansion Minis- need healing. It serves corporate inter- lytes to minimize water loss to the tries leadership team. As one of the Min- ests extremely well. (The prison indus- marine environment. The second paper, istry’s co-founders who served full time try is a relevant, egregious corollary.) in 1976, described the composition of on staff for 24 years in various non-paid Rather than allowing more “broken” peo- coelacanth urine. leadership positions, I can assure you ple to be permanently discarded, let’s cre- Donald C. Jackson, PhD firsthand that men of the character and ate real opportunities for healing that Professor Emeritus of caliber of Dr. Tso are a gift from the require deep transformation, not mere- Medical Science Lord. And thank you for being clear that ly chemical fixes, as well as social struc- Brown University we attribute the life changes of those tures to make the healing sustainable. who come for help to the Lord Jesus. Amy Trent ’92 Ha it ve Fa h Hal Moore Delhi, NY Thank you for the outstanding job on Co-founder, His Mansion the in-depth coverage of Dr. Michael Ministries Brown Medicine Tso and His Mansion Ministries (“Med- Hillsboro, NH Regrets icine Avenue,” Spring 2011). This is the [email protected] • A caption on the 1920s-era photo of first contact I’ve had with your maga- 222 Richmond Street that appeared in zine, but if this article is representative, Thanks to Dr. Michael Tso for think- the article “Climate Change” (Spring I’m very impressed with the high stan- ing far “outside the box” when it comes 2011) incorrectly referred to The Nemo to healing social-emotional-soul wounds. Manufacturing Company. The name of I hope that the Institute he directs is the manufacturing company that built wdyt? able to help establish many more such the factory building now home to Alpert faith-focused residential healing com- Medical School was Brier Manufacturing Please send letters, which may be munities. I also hope that those of other Company. Little Nemo was the trade edited for length and clarity, to: faiths might follow his lead so that heal- name the jewelry was sold under. • Brown Medicine ing guided by faith becomes a realistic • The article “Feel Free to Cut In” (From Box G-ADV option for more of those unreached by the Collections, Winter 2011) should have Providence, RI 02912 conventional psychiatry. Future gener- credited George Bray, MD ’53, not John, • [email protected] ations will have cause to judge our gen- for the gift of rare books to the Brown • Brownmedicinemagazine.org eration harshly if we do otherwise. Con- Library’s History of Science Collections. trol of psychiatry by the psychophar- Apologies to Dr. Bray. WA

fa ll 2011 | brown med e icin3

02-15BrMed_Fall11.indd 3 9/30/11 3:48 PM the Wh at’s new in the clasBsrooms, eon the waratds, and in the labs about you. It is about preparing you to serve in an area vital to the public good.” The new building brings medical education at Brown more in line with the world of medicine these future physicians will be practicing in. The Medical School is transitioning to the use of iPad-based electronic textbooks and course materials. In the new 10,000- square-foot anatomy suite, students perform dissections by referencing their tablets, not lab manuals. In the clinical skills simulation center—where students practice doctoring skills on standardized patients in authentic-looking out- W arren Alpert patient exam rooms—they learn how to Foundation President make notations in an electronic medi- Herb Kaplan gets three cal record. In the George S. Champlin cheers. Right, Providence Library on the second floor, there are Mayor Angel Taveras, Gov. Lincoln Chafee ’75, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, and Sen. Jack Reed show their support.

B ig Reveal Regenerative Medicine New Medical School building opens its beautiful glass doors.

“ So, what do you think?” Deanf o Biol- lecture halls, the question was mostly almost no printed books, but there is a ogy and Medical Sciences Edward J. rhetorical. full-time librarian and abundant con- Wing asked a crowd of about 300 medi- The ribbon-cutting ceremony coin- nections for computers and iPads to cal students, administrators, legislators, cided with the first day of instruction for access vast online resources. Similarly, Frank mullin; mullin; Frank and donors gathered for the grand open- the MD class of 2015, the first to spend the building has power outlets at every ing of the new Alpert Medical School all four years of their training in the lecture and seminar room seat and wire- building on August 15. Medical School’s first dedicated home. less Internet throughout to allow stu- M i With natural light filtering through Brown University President Ruth J. dents to stay connected all day. K E the atrium and spectators watching Simmons addressed these physicians- Much ado was made of the building’s coh e the simulcast in finely appointed to-be: “This structure is for you. It is former life as a jewelry factory and its a

4 brown medicine | FA LL 2 011 http://brownmedicinemagazine.org

02-15BrMed_Fall11.indd 4 9/28/11 1:56 PM theBeat starring role in the city’s Knowledge District. “It’s restoring an old strength of Providence, the jewelry manufacturing industry, and turning it into a new strength for the city and state,” Wing said. “It will be education, medical care, research, and biotech and retail. This is a renaissance for the city of Providence and this building will be one of the important keystones for that.” Pinning their hopes on the building to ignite economic growth, Rhode Island’s entire US Congressional delegation, as well as the state’s governor and the city’s M ed students at the BSCC consult with Dr. Sybil Cineas. mayor, were on hand to show support. “It is a catalytic moment in the his- DIY tory of Rhode Island,” Governor Lin- coln Chafee ’75 told the crowd. Hands On Providence’s mayor, Angel Taveras, agreed that academic-government part- Students learn—and learn to teach—in new nership can drive economic growth. community clinic. “I look forward to working with you to see this area become that foundation of I n 2010, the three Rhode Island Free Clinic (RIFC) student volunteer coordi- our new economy,” he said. “I know that nators for that academic year—Devin Smith MD’13, Pamela Escobar ’09 MD’13, together we can make that happen.” and Ina Soh MD’13—found they were fielding myriad questions from fellow volunteers about how to get more involved in the delivery of patient care. Founded First-Time Homeowners in 1999 by Stephanie Chafee and nationally recognized for its volunteer Jenna Lester MD’14, who represented medical students on the dais, said, “Be- lieve it or not, 222 Richmond Street T he clinic gives Alpert medical students gives us medical students a reason to be excited about studying. No longer will the chance to experience directly the we be on the never-ending prowl for health care system and its challenges. study space, scattered among various classrooms and buildings on Brown’s campus, never quite finding a space of our own.” provider/community partnership model, RIFC provides free primary care, labo- Check out sights and scenes from ratory and diagnostics, specialty health and translation services, pharmacy, and y

e the opening at http://med.brown.edu/ wellness programs to Rhode Island’s most vulnerable residents. In 2011, more newbuilding/grandopening, and expe- than 700 volunteers will provide nearly 10,000 patient visits to the state’s low- rience the new building’s interiors on income, uninsured, working poor, and unemployed adults. The clinic also gives

scott kingsl page 30. —Kris Cambra Alpert medical students the chance to experience directly the health care

fa ll 2011 | brown medicine 5

02-15BrMed_Fall11.indd 5 9/28/11 1:56 PM the Beat system and its challenges. “Medical student-run clinics, the students prepared a Students are overseen by long-term, dents are part of our solution to solving proposal for the Brown Student Commu- dedicated RIFC faculty-mentors. “[They] the problem of providing health care to nity Clinic (BSCC) and started planning have plenty of time to see their patients the uninsured,” says RIFC CEO Marie the logistics. “We received a tremendous with supervision,” says Ghazal. “Data Ghazal. amount of support from volunteer physi- have shown that the care received in But students were looking for real cians at RIFC, who were excited for the this type of environment is not substan- hands-on experience at RIFC. “Most of the medical students had been helping out with administrative tasks, such as “ the excitement created by this wonderful scheduling, medical recording, and translating,” says Soh. The three coordi- learning environment is contagious.” nators and other students explored the idea of a student-run clinic. “We saw a unique opportunity to address two con- educational piece of our project,” says dard, but excellent,” she adds. “Patients current needs: primary care provi- Soh. “With so much student and faculty are extremely satisfied.” sion”—the RIFC is of course unable to enthusiasm, it all went fairly quickly.” The patient visit is collaborative and meet the needs of the some 140,000 un- The pilot clinic opened in the spring structured. First, a junior medical insured Rhode Islanders—“and direct of 2011, and as planned, students are in- student performs vitals and gathers the student exposure to interdisciplinary, volved in every step of the patient visit. patient’s history. Next, a senior medical systems-based primary care,” she says. One particular concern of both RIFC student works with and helps guide the With the support of Medical School and the Medical School—that the BSCC junior student to complete the physical faculty and administrators and RIFC provide the same high level of care RIFC exam and establish a preliminary diag- staff, and after researching other stu- offers—has been carefully considered. nosis and treatment plan. An attending physician then reads the students’ notes and examines the patient. Lastly, the entire team—including the attending—

x PAN confirms the final diagnosis and plan

e sion and sets up continuing care. This approach gives medical students not only Proud Parent clinical experience, but practice teach- Announcing four new public health ing less experienced clinicians—a skill they’ll need as residents. departments. Over the summer, the BSCC expanded O n July 1, 2011, four academic departments were born to Brown’s its student volunteer base. Now sched- Public Health Program, replacing the Department of Community uled to be open regularly, the clinic will Health. This is an important step toward the Program’s accreditation enable more uninsured patients to be as a school of public health. The departments and their chairs are seen at the RIFC—and will likely attract as follows: more physicians to volunteer. “The • H ealth Services, Policy and Practice excitement created by this wonderful Ira Wilson, MD, MSc learning environment is contagious,” • B ehavioral and Social Sciences says Ghazal. The BSCC will also give Christopher Kahler, PhD students early on in their medical edu- • E pidemiology cation a chance to care for patients di- Stephen Buka, ScD rectly, to manage a community clinic, • B iostatistics and, perhaps most importantly, to Constantine Gatsonis, PhD. “experience the need for providers in primary care,” Ghazal says. —Kylah Goodfellow Klinge

6 brown medicine | FA LL 2 011 http://brownmedicinemagazine.org

02-15BrMed_Fall11.indd 6 9/28/11 1:56 PM nominated Volle to represent Brown. At the national level, she was chosen to be one of 80 delegates from 400 nominees. Volle landed in the medieval city of Lindau on June 26. Mornings were spent listening to keynotes by the laureates. Then the students moved on to plenary sessions, where they could ask the scientist questions about anything at C atherine Volle, all—their work, how they made their fa- center, rubbed mous discovery, what it was like to win elbows with Countess the biggest prize in science. “No one is Bettina Bernadotte allowed in but the delegates and one and Nobel Laureate laureate,” Volle says. Thomas Steitz. Her favorite laureate was Sir Harold Kroto, a chemist who shared the 1996 nobe lity Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the discovery of fullerenes (commonly known Meeting of the Minds as buckyballs). “He’s very eccentric … he talks more about advocacy, inspiring Brown sends its first representative to Lindau. teachers. He was adamant that we all need to know how to present our re- H ow would you like na all-expense- expansion and lead to disease. One search to the public. He’s the kind of guy paid trip to Europe to hang out with example is Huntington’s disease. Volle who just says what’s on his mind.” some rock stars? That’s what graduate is trying to discover how that expansion She was able to spend some time student Catherine Volle did during her happens by investigating the behavior talking to him one on one. “I like to joke summer vacation, only these celebs of these repeats within the context of that I’m his new best friend,” Volle says. don’t have guitars slung around their chromosomal packaging. The highlight of the meeting, how- necks. They have Nobel medals. “We’re using chemical techniques to ever, was “sitting around the beer gar- Volle was the first Brown student to assess biological problems,” Volle ex- den with other members of the delega- be chosen for the US delegation to the plains. “We’re chemists, so we’re not tion talking about science,” she says. Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting in Ger- looking at cells, or mice. We use tech- The 550 delegates represented 77 many. Held annually since 1951, the meet- niques such as chemical probing to look countries, and Volle spoke with many ing fosters the exchange of knowledge at DNA structure in a more controlled, from the Middle East. “I’m very inter- between Nobel Laureates and young researchers from around the world. For five days, the laureates offer scientific At the national level, Catherine Volle platform lectures and roundtable discussions and socialize with the delegates. was chosen to be one of 80 delegates from A fourth-year graduate student in 400 nominees. the Department of Molecular Biology, Cell Biology, and Biochemistry, Volle works in the lab of a chemist: Sarah Delaney, an assistant professor of chem- in vitro system, and assess how changes ested in women in science so I found it

e istry. The lab studies trinucleotide re- in the DNA structure lead to genomic was a great opportunity to ask ‘What is it peat diseases and DNA damage repair. expansion.” like for women in your country who want s e These repeats occur throughout the Associate Dean for Graduate and Post- to be scientists?’ It was interesting to get

court genome,y Voll but in some cases they undergo doctoral Studies Elizabeth Harrington their perspective.” —K.C.

fa ll 2011 | brown medicine 7

02-15BrMed_Fall11.indd 7 9/28/11 1:56 PM the Beat bounty White Coats, Green Thumbs Student initiative teaches better health through nutrition.

“ You are what you eat,” the old adage says, and by and wide, research has proved this to be true. Recognizing that our country’s most pressing health problems—obesity, diabetes, heart disease—are rooted in poor nutrition, a Blackstone Academy, a charter high group of medical students started an or- school in Pawtucket, welcomed the ganization to teach people about the opportunity to have a garden on the connection between food and health. school’s property. With financial BrANCH (Brown Agriculture, Nutri- support from the Medical School’s Pe- tion and Community Health) was founded tersen Educational Enhancement Fund, R yan Mason in the spring of 2010 by Jonathan Treem, first-year students Neil Jackson, Raj MD’14, above, Sarah Schmidhofer, Elizabeth Gilbert, Vaghjiani, and Ryan Mason taught a builds a fence around and Erin Kunkel, all members of the class spring semester class to 15 high school the community of 2013. “BrANCH was born to be a forum students on gardening, health, the envi- garden. for students and professionals at Brown ronment, and food science. “With the who were interested in using urban agri- class,” Treem says, “they turned a gravel Island Free Clinic in Spanish and Eng- culture as a tool to educate, inform, and parking lot in front of the school into a lish. “We always walk out feeling like a support the health of the Providence thriving [600-square-foot] garden!” few more people are better prepared to community at large,” says Treem. BrANCH is guided by faculty advisers, confront their health than they were be- Urban Fresh, one of BrANCH’s pro- including Assistant Professor of Medi- fore,” Treem says. The classes have grams, reaches out to school-age chil- cine Mary Flynn, RD, whose research featured a Johnson & Wales student dren who know little about where their focuses on optimal diet recommenda- (the aptly named Frances Flowers), who showed the participants how to prepare vegetables fresh from BrANCH’s gar- “ [T]hey turned a gravel parking lot in front den. What wasn’t used in the classes— more than 100 pounds of fruit and of the school into a thriving garden!” veggies—was donated to the Rhode Island Community Food Bank. Gilbert says the future physicians food comes from and the impact it can tions for weight loss and slowing disease who participate in BrANCH will learn have on their health. BrANCH members progression, and Fred Jackson, director the challenges and the successes of envisioned a student-managed high of Brown’s Plant Environmental Center, advocating for their patients’ health. “We school garden as a hands-on way to who supervises the gardening aspect will get out of the context of health care teach high school students about the nu- of the program. providers as mechanics who fix people’s mbra kris tritional content of food, environmental When not getting down in the dirt, bodies when they break down, and into C stewardship, and how food relates to BrANCH students teach monthly nutri- the role of guides who help people choose a personal and community health. tion and diabetes classes at Rhode the healthiest road to take.” —K.C.

8 brown medicine | FA LL 2 011 http://brownmedicinemagazine.org

02-15BrMed_Fall11.indd 8 9/28/11 1:56 PM 9/11+10 S tat Formative S heet Moment Ten years ago, her future First Class started to emerge. A thumbnail sketch of MD’15.

A decade ago, Angela Hua ’08 MD’12 T he class of 2015 wille b the first to complete all four years of their was a high school sophomore in Fort medical education in the new Medical School building. Students Lee, NJ. She was in Government class, hail from 28 states—from Hawaii to Maine—with 13 students from staring out the window, when she saw California, the largest group from one state. Undergraduate insti- the first plane hit. tutions range alphabetically from Amherst to Yale and geographi- “Too many students lost one or cally from British Columbia to Texas. Nine have earned advanced even both parents that morning,” Hua degrees in education, engineering, public health, humanities, and recalls. “After the initial wave of incre- biology. dulity, I was filled with a strong desire to The class includes the valedictorian of the West Point class of join my fellow volunteer firefighters and 2011, a Ugandan-born poet and accomplished researcher (and cake EMTs to help out at Ground Zero.” decorator), and a Fulbright scholar who studied German hip-hop Hua had always thought about being culture in Berlin. Like myriad Alpert medical students before them, a doctor, but after 9/11 she zeroed in on members of the incoming class are committed to community and emergency medicine. In the summer of global outreach. Many have worked with service groups and pro- 2008, she embarked on a scholarly con- grams both at home—the class includes three Teach for America centration in Disaster Medicine and Re- veterans—and abroad. They aren’t all work and service, however: sponse, titled “Injury and Illness the MD class of 2015 includes musicians of every stripe, athletes, Patterns of Workers During the 9/11 artists, and writers. Rescue and Recovery Operation at the Below are more clues as to what the Class of 2015 is made of.

World Trade Center.” Working with tota l students 109

Professor of Emergency Medicine Greg Female ...... 57 (52%)

Jay and Associate Professor of Emer- Male ...... 52 (48%)

gency Medicine Selim Suner ’86 MS’87 AMCAS (Standard) ...... 52

MD’92 RES ’95, Hua has mined the Program in Liberal Medical Education ...... 39

10,000 medical records of the first re- Postbaccalaureate ...... 15

sponders that they and colleagues treat- Early Identification Program ...... 3

ed as members of the RI-DMAT team Age Range ...... 21-37

that traveled to Ground Zero (see Brown Advanced Degrees (MA, MPH, MST, MS) ...... 9

Medicine, Spring 2002). Undergraduate Institutions ...... 48

“What a touching and somewhat Public ...... 13

haunting experience to read through Private ...... 35 these records of the rescue and recovery Most common is Brown, then Harvard and Yale, workers—some of whom I knew per- followed closely by University of California schools. sonally!” says Hua. “ In the next couple U ndergraduate Majors

of months I hope to finish my data analy- Physical and Life Sciences ...... 52.4%

sis and contribute to disaster planning, Humanities ...... 43% preparation, response, and recovery Engineering , S tatistics,

with this project.” B iomedical Engineering ...... 4.6% —Sarah Baldwin-Beneich and David Orenstein

fa ll 2011 | brown medicine 9

02-15BrMed_Fall11.indd 9 9/28/11 1:56 PM the Beat

alliancess i part of what determines whether stem cells retain their pluripotency and—perhaps even more importantly—whether differentiated cells can regain it. Whites Leave, Minorities Enter Shifts in nursing home population.

O ver the past decade, the nation’s nursing home population has shrunk, and nursing home residents have become proportionately more black, more His- Findings Stay Flexible panic, more Asian, and less white, according to a new How stem cells determinate. study led by Assistant Professor of Health Services, Policy and Practice (Research) Zhanlian Feng. These S tems cells, which can change into any other cell, are findings at first seem to indicate that elderly minori- critically important to human development and life. ties are gaining greater access to Although stem cells have been carefully studied, how nursing home care. According to they “decide” whether to differentiate (become a spe- Feng, however, the shift is occur- cific cell type) or to remain pluripotent (stay flexible) is ring in part because minorities do not well understood. A new study published in Genome not have the same access as whites Research and led by Assistant Professor of Biology William to more desirable forms of care, Fairbrother sheds some light. The researchers show that such as home and community-based different proteins called transcription factors compete alternatives. The study was pub- and cooperate in the cells to produce complex bindings lished in Health Affairs. along crucial sequences of DNA. This game of shifting —D. O. and K.G.K.

W ho Knew of becoming a doctor. She was first introduced to the power of the toy intermediary when she and her older sister, April, Playing? Doctor distributed their handmade sock puppets to local nursing home residents. “These were not designer-grade sock puppets,” says Ventriloquist’s dummy helps student Brucker. “But from that experience I learned that simple engage geriatric patients. objects can be an easy medium to bridge barriers.” Soon after, the sisters received their first vent figures. They were instantly B renna Brucker ’09 MD’13 knows that building a trusting hooked. And they still are: April, now a stand-up comic in New relationship with patients isn’t always easy. That is why she York City, uses ventriloquism in her routine. has always brought Dr. Knowitall— her “vent figure” or Brucker, who “doesn’t like bright lights and stages,” per- ventriloquist’s dummy—to the health discussions she led as forms mainly at nursing homes. At a recent lecture series at a an undergraduate in Brown’s Program in Liberal Medical Edu- local care center, Dr. Knowitall danced, sang, and spoke to the cation, and continues to lead as a medical student. “Dr. Know- enthusiastic elderly audience about basic and diabetic nutri- itall enables me to better connect with people,” says Brucker. tion. People find the mini-doctor, who also helps Brucker “Using a vent figure allows dry, scary topics to feel entertain- teach chair yoga, eminently approachable. “No matter where ing and less daunting.” Dr. Knowitall goes, people ask her questions,” she says. “It is a As a child, Brucker bandaged plastic dinosaurs and dreamed great way to start conversations, especially about health.”

10 brown medicine | FA LL 2 011 http://brownmedicinemagazine.org

02-15BrMed_Fall11.indd 10 9/28/11 1:56 PM 02-15BrMed_Fall11.indd 11

Mkh i e Co ea; David Del Poio DaD vid elPoio; Mike cohea M chase t t o f tem. S g D with alaugh shares B og ih h uul stethoscope, usual the with ong A create opportunity. iPads save trees and Apps for Education INNOVATION mentation eter, o h m re ing i t. rom he he uides r phthalmoscope, chool’s andouts, r l r edical quired

ike

“ enna enna . Knowitall. . Knowitall. l

S Students

Most t ibrary i re rain econd-years

Pad T i

t Pads

K quired iPad heir hese

im p

students.

n osted s y o e tudents

r ew

et,

quipment f

i c w h versions

ucker ucker p t m Pads, omputers. ave

hese a roject ere

t s l aterials ssignments, an earning extbooks tudents

b p

fi i een a

art

nnovations a a R nd

s C nd nd a

ahul of w

nd anvas, f

or a a o a ell

m some dded re w f ll aculty

W phygmomanom-

h fi a

anagement ere a

o e ave he re rst-year hile s B

f asily

t anerjee

a t heir of heir a a i

he o Pad vailable

b ble

nd h a

n een them. t

ow re

a he ot M

ccessed

g aptops ecture i A

edical

t mple- l eared s a

h o ist

lpert tudy

p ll s elp-

ur- ys-

nd o

se o o n f f

h cause tensively nology. a i p v t p i t have clinical scribe f cepts p g a t dents—more he toward Pad. Pad or extbooks, he he pps. nd roups irtual as ractice roblem-based hysical

Banerjee “ And “One i

nstance, I fi

s s een appear o

w heer

he’s rst l T pted

H earned c i

[ as

m t he t atheterizations “ where f p owever,

with q microscopes uture

They’ve athology w

icroscopy, t b

uite t

t hat

i alking ig t o

ill a n fi Pad-based o

xcited endless.

nd umber h rst-year

b ays t

reading a

s han ave i

ake a

uy e w n dvantage upportive

e llow ight

l ducational

as cl earning

ven

t t

hat a b hem,”

6 ass o

n ccess c a

q een

o ourse, bout a otes t

uarter o

( a cl he

e r s

edly e h i a m m d A p v a t firmly hd Island Rhode

EKGs.” second-year) quired t each f

nto

xamine han n

entriloquist,

s he very o uring c ending as ass, o

lpert re

p edicine y

ine

ardiology m u pposed o h

a t

hysician.

B rawn Initially o

o r sing ead nal o t

fi i

fi anerjee t t

edical-related f t rucker,

human.

s aught p f

2 g time.” he

t rst f s o rst-year a

s cientific p

atient

or u

he 50 ive

ince pps t f i tudents

exercise. cl atient a

ses he t o

pply i he

t n s ass, f i v Pads p

o athology perating edical

nstance, hem

lides u o

ew t hat t isit t

oems n

o b i h t c he r

s f

hat

s Pad

hey’re

w lass—

d er—will c

ays.

s u B s

w ase], mall

c re urgery, ho

ech- xtra sing p

ut S s s

b lass

u on- a t b d ategory e b v tu- re- ants: miled,” he’s

a ut he ad

rticle se e- e- x-

race ia

a i S n s h s nd chool

ays

er ro a

t a

a p

om o f

h t

lso s m “ re re s s v e cult p a eature, m pproachable, t s rolific

alents—and i elp mall ervice tudents Before ble ntire irtual o athology

n he day of classes. of day first the and on out ds ready i B h icroscopy

nal nal ay B P

o a rown erself: h a a rucker a

re r t t

p h

elp n

o o

re o p b b lans er

nto d iopsies athology ona re

fa cl

“ roup w cent

p t c igitize all b

ass s produce he ews, t riter. b alled latform,

b l ecome

o B tabilize

e o small

t ecause l

s rucker

fi e he

n i

a ays s Pads 2011 xplore i de t t

nique

ssue ble ystem

o t g o u

t h he

oing

S end npretentious, P

ospital he u i

group t athXchange),

nventor, t appen,”

t |

se.

hat

brown medicine brown he o l a

as o

h essons i s o t

s “

nto

s t

h m he lides

umor he everyone b i f a

( i nto k

n as B mpossible ring nd through

icroscope h b ind o

a 1 er

o fl e t ur edicine & Health Health & edicine 00

hinks

reality.”

blique oor

e a

s o g

ublished

w p mall ither o nd D o w cl D ifted.” nly

anerjee ieces, s f nline ith r. r. assmates ith

lides d w

octor K K a

hen a

—K.G.K.

a ake

a o g n

a nowitall nowitall t m s b nd he’ll m llowing alented eriatric ur

lides

v ecause a

f —K.C. p o S d uscles

or irtual et s

m nline re atent

he ecid- d s

he n t w ays.

iffi-

t ore hat nal

o ell he b

o a i i 11 n e s s t f

9/28/11 1:56 PM theBeat

Map of the brain taken from the Alsop Riley Brain Atlas found in Stopa’s personal library.

S topa cites parallels between the mysteries of the brain and the known universe. “It’s just another Box of Stars composed of neurons.”

One of Stopa’s favorite ties is patterned with the misfolded proteins that cause bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or mad cow disease. T his slide from the Brain A natomy of a Neuropathologist Bank shows the ravages of Too Big to Fail multiple sclerosis. W hen Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine Ed- ward Stopa P’06 beholds the brain, he sees the cosmos, complete with galaxies, constellations, and stars. He also sees an organ whose proteins and physiological processes hold the secret of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and other degenerative brain diseases. Stopa uses Stopa is director of the Brown Brain Tissue Resource Center, this Atlas of which is currently located at Rhode Island Hospital but will soon the Heavens to move to larger quarters in the Biomedical Center on Brown’s illustrate the campus. The Brain Bank, as it is known, is a repository of donor limitations in specimens from the entire nervous system—not just brain but our attempts to spinal cord, muscle, cerebrospinal fluid, and peripheral nerve— conceptualize providing human tissue for basic and translational research. the brain. Stopa’s work focuses on AD and dementia, but researchers at Brown and in the broader scientific community can draw on it to study memory disorders, strokes, mental illnesses, and more. Stopa attributes the expansion of the Brain Bank to “the growing concern mastoon adam people have for curing the devastating neurologic disorders that touch the lives of so many.” —S.B.B.

12 brown medicine | FA LL 2 011 http://brownmedicinemagazine.org

02-15BrMed_Fall11.indd 12 9/30/11 2:37 PM diversify The school’s nurse, Lucie Rafferty, and principal, Raymond Dalton, also pro- A New Chapter vided support. Screenings for high blood pressure, diabetes, and develop- Latino medical students come together. mental delays were offered, in addition to workshops on drunk driving, bully- W hen Angel Taveras nwas sworn i last Science Technology Academy to the ing, skin protection, and nutrition. There January, he became the first Latino Brown campus, where they learned was some fun, too: children and their mayor of Providence, a city where about about the cardiovascular system and families enjoyed a bounce house, bicycle 38 percent of the population is also Latino. spent a few hours in the anatomy lab. and toy raffles, a salad bar, and face Last year a group of Latino students at The culminating event was a bilin- painting by RISD students. Latino Public Alpert Medical School realized that gual health fair, Healthy Kids, Happy Radio broadcasted live from the fair. having a chapter of the national Latino Community/Niños Saludables, Comunidad Paniagua says the Medical School’s Medical Student Association (LMSA) at Feliz, held at Baldwin Park Elementary Office of Diversity and Multicultural Brown would not only unify and represent School in Pawtucket. “We started plan- Affairs, led by former Assistant Dean medical students, it would help students ning in November for a May event,” says Emma Simmons MD’91 MPH’04 and serve this diverse Latino community. Linda Paniagua ’07 MD’12, LMSA’s past coordinator Zoila Quezada, was instru- The LMSA chapter coalesced in the co-chair. mental in helping LMSA get off the summer of 2010. Four students drew up The event drew 500 participants and ground. Clinical Assistant Professor of a constitution for the group and obtained dozens of sponsors, including generous Family Medicine Carla Martin, who had approval from the Medical School, and contributions from Memorial Hospital been a national LMSA co-chair when quickly kicked off a year of outreach of Rhode Island, Campus Compact, and she was a medical student, signed on as and peer education. Performance Physical Therapy that Pa- the faculty adviser. The students assisted at the monthly niagua says made the event possible. LMSA is not just for Latino students, meetings of Young Leaders of Medicine, an organization run by two pediatrics residents that guides high school “A ll medical students need to be aware of students interested in health careers. LMSA brought another group of teens Latino health issues.” from Providence’s Cooley Health and

Paniagua says. “All medical students need to be aware of Latino health issues, not just Latino medical students. With the increasing diversity of the US population, physicians are more and more likely to encounter situations that require Libby Flores MD’14, Poio (2)

l the delivery of culturally competent e above, checks blood pressure

i care and access to a vast array of lan- v at the LMSA health fair. DaD guage services.” —K.C.

fa ll 2011 | brown medicine 13

02-15BrMed_Fall11.indd 13 9/28/11 1:57 PM the Beat

FUTURE Freeze! Experimental procedure preserves fertility.

A s cancer treatments have advanced, allowing more patients to survive, more attention is being paid to the toll aggres- sive treatment takes on the body. This is particularly true for young cancer survivors, whose entire lives may be affected by treatment decisions made when they are young. Enter a new research program under way at Women & Infants Hospital and “We can give a hope of fertility to these Hasbro Children’s Hospital. The research, supported by the National Insti- young cancer survivors.” tutes of Health’s Oncofertility Consor- tium, is studying how best to freeze the ovarian tissue of young girls. That’s be- plinary team. Earlier this year, Jared preservedn a ovary of a 2-year-old girl cause some of the treatments for cancer Robins, a reproductive endocrinologist from Ohio with stage four neuroblasto- can render a woman infertile. and leader of the Program for Fertility ma. Robins worked with his co-principal The procedure requires a multidisci- Preservation at Women & Infants, cryo- investigator on the study, Jennifer Welch, a pediatric oncologist at Hasbro Children’s Hospital. The team also includes the Division of Pediatric Surgery at Hasbro, which assisted with a laparo- Panic and Stress: scopic procedure to harvest the girl’s It’s Complicated ovarian tissue. Once the child is cured of her cancer and ready to have children, Symptoms can increase over time. this tissue may be transplanted back A new study presents the counterintuitive finding that, for adults into her body or eggs may be extracted with panic disorder, certain stressful life events cause panic symp- from the tissue for in vitro fertilization. toms to increase gradually over succeeding months, rather than to The Women & Infants /Hasbro site is spike immediately. “We definitely expected the symptoms to get one of only a few in the country and the worse over time, but we also thought the symptoms would get only one in New England to be enrolling worse right away,” says Ethan Moitra, lead author and postdoc- children. toral researcher in the Department of Psychiatry and Human “Freezing part of a child’s ovary to Findings Behavior. Even if a stressful event doesn’t appear to trigger an im- preserve her fertility 20 or 30 years mediate panic attack, patients, family members, and therapists down the line is a research procedure. should remain vigilant for the months following, say the researchers. Although we are far from knowing all of

The findings were published in the Journal of Affective Disorders. the facts about its efficacy, we do believe istock —d.o. and K.G.K. that we can give a hope of fertility to p h

these young cancer survivors,” Robins oto says. —K.C. WA

14 brown medicine | FA LL 2 011 http://brownmedicinemagazine.org

02-15BrMed_Fall11.indd 14 9/28/11 1:57 PM 02-15BrMed_Fall11.indd 15

blair thornley No physician is an island. an physicianNois Sorry, Dr. House save lives. To treat an acute heart attack, attack, Tosave lives. acute heart an treat we can intervention and diagnosis quick but now, attack, with donebe for a heart advanced considerably. Once, little could we’ve Thankfully, were. they as limited options, treatment the all of grasp sive comprehen- a have could doctor single a when time a was that Maybe meekly. deferred patients and doctor a of ence pres- the in stood nurses else—when all encyclopedic beyond mattered doctor a of and knowledge skill technical the knows for howtohelp. ask and who when one communicator, and leader team exceptional an medical but average ability of doctor a me Give teamwork. of lack and communication poor for up make cannot but certainly beneficial are brilliance and skill nical Tech- misguided. is choice his think I doctor? your as jerk skilled a accept you Should correct? Stuart Is goes. thinking the so or doctor, nice the than doctor best the have to better and important is health Your culture. medical especially brilliant doctor but seems deep-rooted in our culture, surly a of archetype The asserts. knows he’s Stuart doing,” what he as long as jerk a like act can when no one “He else diagnosis can. cult diffi- the bad- makes who sarcastic, doctor tempered a plays House name, same the by show TV physician, the In House. Dr. TV favorite his rather myself, but not is question in doctor The saying. of fond is Stuart, father-in-law, “That’s the kind of doctor of doctor kind the “That’s RESIDENT Perhaps in the dark ages of medicine medicine of ages dark the in Perhaps sentiment. this in alone not is Stuart I want,” I my want,” want want to be yelled at by Dr. House would for ques- nurse What communication. to down comes often cause root the die, or toxicity. and teractions, in- medication effects, complications, adverse surgical avoid and promptly diagnose to challenge the also but ease dis- cure to with chance challenge opportunity—the introduce tools tical or pharmaceu- techniques surgical New plexhuman biology and pathophysiology. propriate response to magnificentlycom- is care an Rather, in teamwork health ap- todaywho sleep, eat, and make mistakes. of mortals weak into physician human tragic devolution of the a legendary, super- represent not does which others, on lives. save best do that who doctors and teams, in work we artery. Today blocked the open and patient, the to stabilize medications, cardiologists, administer with coordinating techs, and nurses with work physicians When the ambulance emergencyarrives, hospital. the in physicians to emergency information their relay the and suspect diagnosis must field the in medics When we fail, and patients are injured rely we care patient good achieve To EXPERT Y NO S E R D M , G R E B N E S O R H OA N BY Noah Rosenberg Noah for make entertainment. good rarely physicians behaved well- all, After TV. House—on Dr. like team. the leads and care, dinates coor- feedback, constructive gives and the to most junior member even of the team, accepts respectfully listens who one is The doctor effective most can. and safest Nobody myself. by pulseless patient a resuscitate appropriately questions can’t I face. save to with guessing than rather me approach to vise super- I interns on count I unfounded. if even concerns, relaying comfortable same surgeon?sponge-throwing I doubt it. that with on later surgery sided wrong- a of possibility the raising able comfort-feel story) (true her at thrown Will the dose?student who had a medicationbloody sponge confusing a tioning residency p Me Me H rogram’s ealth dical dicine. There is still a place for physicians physicians for place a still is There feel who nurses the on most rely I

& fa ll 2011 ll fa

School’s

Science

program He

creative

emergency University

his |

writing attended and r

fourth o

w a

member n

group.

medici

year medicine

School Oregon

Alpert of n

the

W 15 A

9/30/11 2:38 PM FIELDNOTES BY SHREYUS KULKARNI md’14

Military Medicine Man An 18th-century Scot advances scientific methods and gets hospitals to clean up their act.

Throughout its development, West- Herman Boerhaave in Leiden. He accept- treatment options for many diseases. ern medicine held to the ancient tradi- ed a professorship at the University of Ultimately, Pringle’s experiments fail tion of identifying disease as an imbal- Edinburgh and held the position until he to hold up to modern medicine’s rigors, ance of bodily humors. Then, in the 18th was appointed physician to the British but his methods and reasoning are re- century, physicians found themselves army in Flanders during the War of Aus- markably cogent for his day. Pringle amidst growing scientific inquiry, which trian Succession (1742). Pringle’s six pioneered the study of antiseptic agents led to many advances in physiological years in the army saw his rise to the rank in Britain, and his experiments paved and pathological study. They increas- of Physician General of His Majesty’s the way for future research in antisepsis. ingly adopted empirical methods, fo- cusing on experience and inductive reasoning, rather than relying solely on Pringle pioneered the study of antiseptic traditional theory. In reading about medicine, I repeat- agents in Britain, and his experiments paved the edly came across references to a Scot- way for future research in antisepsis. tish physician, Sir John Pringle (1707- 1782). Historians identified him as a staunch empiricist and often touted him as the “father of modern military medi- Forces. During the war, he kept exten- For his astounding work, the Royal Soci- cine.” They noted his sagacity and strong sive notes of his medical observations, ety awarded him the Copley Medal, its grasp of the scientific method, yet they and these formed the foundation of his highest honor, in 1752. seemed to gloss over him, offering little later works. That same year, Pringle published critical analysis of his work. My curiosity Following his service, Pringle settled his seminal Observations on the Diseases sparked, I worked with Professor of His- in London, where he practiced medicine, of the Army in Camp and Garrison. Grow- tory Harold Cook at Brown University published his observations, and became ing British imperialism had already to conceive a summer project: conduct- involved in the Royal Society (of which highlighted the importance of naval ing history of medicine research at the he was elected Fellow in 1745). In 1750, medicine, but Observations was the first Royal Society, Wellcome, and British he published a series of papers titled treatise to specifically address the ar- libraries in London. My research sug- “Experiments upon Septic and Antiseptic my’s needs. Several editions were pub- gests that, though Pringle may not stand Substances” in the Royal Society’s jour- lished, and it was translated into several among the likes of Hippocrates and Osler nal, Philosophical Transactions. These languages. In this tour de force, Pringle in the class of immortal physicians, he groundbreaking experiments shattered related his experiences treating the dis- nonetheless deserves recognition and ac- the long-held assumption that alkaline eases that ravaged the army. He vividly esc Dae Rosne Deane jessica claim for his contributions to medicine. substances induced putrefaction by dem- described “intermitting fevers” and onstrating that, in fact, they resisted it. “hospital and jail fevers”—what we now badr Ai Pringle also identified several other recognize as malaria and typhus, re- Pringle earned his medical degree in substances that resisted putrefaction, spectively. He failed to appreciate their

1730 after studying under the eminent and in so doing, widened the range of transmission by vectors, and instead ex- r

16 brown medicine | fall 2011 http://brownmedicinemagazine.org

16-17BrMed_Fall11.indd 16 9/28/11 10:11 AM preventive medicine. Hence, Pringle’s recommendations formed the basis of new military and hospital hygienic standards. For his work, Pringle enjoyed a global reputation, and his vast network of corre- spondents included Albrecht von Haller and Benjamin Franklin. Pringle was eventu- ally appointed Physician to the King and Queen, and served as President of the Royal Society from 1772 to 1778. Today, we might char- acterize Pringle’s medical thought as an assimilation of new discoveries into the old humoral framework. Charac- teristic of an age before germ theory, many of his medical hypotheses ultimately proved incorrect. However, Pringle changed contemporary approaches to disease compre- hension and prevention, and he laid the groundwork for future investigations. Fur- thermore, Pringle still serves emplified the contemporary climato- cious, and ventilated facilities—mea- as a model doctor today in being shrewd, logical disease theory by blaming their sures that ultimately do reduce spread caring, and a lifelong learner. WA transmission on stagnant air in hot, of these diseases. Pringle also main- muggy environments. But most impor- tained that filthy, crowded hospitals Shreyus Kulkarni graduated from tantly, he provided specific guidelines to themselves were the greatest source of University of Maryland, College Park, curb morbidity with better hygienic disease, and he advocated for sanitation where he majored in physiology and practices. He called for clean, dry, spa- and ventilation as the cornerstones of neurobiology and minored in art history.

fa ll 2 011 | bro w n medicin e 17

16-17BrMed_Fall11.indd 17 9/28/11 10:11 AM ZooM B Y k y l ah goodfellow klinge

It’s No Accident The emergency medicine leader, mentor, and clinician has grown with his young—and still-evolving—field.

O n a hazy summer afternoon in Prov- emergency department (ED). Fascinated idence, Brian J. Zink is describing the and invigorated by the specialty’s pace book he authored, Anyone, Anything, Any- and variety, by its demands and intensity, time—A History of Emergency Medicine, by the sense that this was the wild, wild when his assistant politely but purpose- West of medicine, Zink knew he had found fully enters. There’s a phone call; it’s about his place. In the ED he also met his future a patient, and it’s urgent. Zink, medical wife, Dana, an emergency nurse (now historian, is no passive observer of the director of clinical skills assessment at field whose progression he has studied Alpert Medical School), with whom he and cataloged. A dynamic and dedicated has three children. clinician, mentor, and leader, he has in fact helped drive the development of I nto the Unknown emergency medicine into a full-fledged Though emergency medicine had called academic specialty. The growth of his to Zink, the field was still viewed skepti- 25-year medical career has in many ways cally by a number of academics. When paralleled the evolution of the field itself. he started to apply to residency programs The second in his family to pursue an in the field, Zink was admonished. education beyond high school, Zink was “Rochester’s head of internal medicine exposed to emergency medicine while called me and said I was making a big working in college as a summer orderly, mistake,” says Zink. “He told me that first at Meadville City Hospital in Penn- entering the field was a considerable sylvania, and then at Shore Memorial risk—that it was untested.” The warning Hospital in New Jersey. It was around “only made me want to do it more, of 1980, and emergency medicine had only course,” he says. He applied and was just been officially recognized as a board- accepted to the University of Cincinna- certified specialty. “At the time, most of ti, whose emergency medicine residen- the physicians in the emergency depart- cy program, started in 1970, is the oldest ments were family practice doctors who in the county. had simply migrated,” says Zink. “I went into residency thinking I was he started to do research—on trauma During those college summers and going to be a community emergency and shock, brain injury and alcohol later in his clinical rotations in medical physician,” says Zink. However, in- effects in brain injury. “There was no school at the University of Rochester, spired by his mentors—some of the first going back,” says Zink. Zink saw near-drownings, “horrific” car emergency medicine academicians in The University of Cincinnati was crashes—seatbelts were not yet com- the nation—Zink decided that he, too, ahead of most of the country. “There monplace—strokes, and every other in- wanted to focus on an academic career was still very little research going in the jury and illness that tend to end up in an in the field. In his third year of residency, field at large,” says Zink. When he grad-

18 brown medicine | fa ll 2 011 http://brownmedicinemagazine.org

18-21BrMed_Fall11.indd 18 9/28/11 10:15 AM 18-21BrMed_Fall11.indd 19

Ryan Conaty But with more experience than most, most, than experience more with But says. Zink was,” I laughable, prepared poorly is how “It belt. his under ticles laboratory ar- published limited few a only and experience had He College. Medical Albany at Medicine Emergency appointed of Department was the of director research he residency, uated rging the Path Path the rging A F mentors, William Barsan, MD, had had MD, Michi- of University the joined recently Barsan, William mentors, favoriteresidencyZink’s ofOne written. ik truh ra ad ro, slowly error, years. four over program the built and trial through Zink, agr story, larger o however, was being being was however, H E M of chair 12), September held was dedication P G inaugural the is Zink rofessor of of rofessor m i o e bson- spital and and spital dical School, and physician-in-chief, physician-in-chief, and School, dical ergency ergency fa ll 2011 ll fa E E d m ward ward ergency ergency M E T e m h dicine, dicine,

| ergency ergency e A brown medicine brown . M I a i M riam riam nnuccilli, nnuccilli, F e R r dicine at at dicine ances ances h M ode ode H e o dicine (the dicine spital. spital. I W s MD land land e A eden eden l , pert pert 19 9/28/11 10:15 AM ZooM

gan as the emergency medicine section Zink. His interests and skills, he says, more than 150,000 annual emergency director in the Department of Surgery; were leading him toward medical edu- patient visits, RIH’s ED is one of the 10 he urged Zink to follow him. Though one cation, administrative, and leadership busiest in the country—and the high of the country’s premier academic med- positions. During his 14 years at Michi- acuity of these cases. “Emergency medi- ical centers, Michigan had “no real pres- gan, he served as assistant dean for medicine is the center of what makes the hos- ence of emergency medicine at the cal student career development and as- pitals go here,” says Zink. This is a relative time,” says Zink. “Naturally, the oppor- sociate dean for student programs and, rarity: “In academic medical settings, EDs tunity was impossible to resist.” on the national level, as president of the are not always seen as vital to the whole Charged with growing the emergency Society for Academic Emergency Medi- operation, clinically or academically.” medicine residency—which was estab- cine. And during a nine-month sabbati- lished when he arrived, in 1992—and cal, he wrote the history of emergency F rom a to Zink launching a research program, Zink medicine. Shortly after arriving, Zink, along faced significant challenges. To garner with other Medical School leaders, support for the section, he and his col- T he Time, the Place established a clear mission for the De- leagues had to convincingly demon- I n life and in work, it is hoped that partment: provide exceptional medical strate the value of high-quality emer- one’s steps will together form a wor- care, education, research, and service to gency care and the critical role of thy and definable path—a path that will the people of Rhode Island and beyond. board-certified emergency physicians bring one to a place one is needed, and “Above all, we had to build our academ- in it, as well as the importance and feasi- meant to be. The choices Brian Zink ics,” says Zink. Although the goals were bility of research in the field. “We had to made—in college, medical school, resi- both wide-ranging and far-reaching, prove [it] was a legitimate academic dency, and beyond—led him to Brown. Zink was—and is—viewed as equal to the challenge. “He has a top-to-bottom and bottom-to-top understanding of RIH’s emergency department is one of the emergency medicine practice, including all of its academic and clinical dimen- 10 busiest in the country. sions,” says Gregory D. Jay, vice chair for emergency medicine research. Zink first focused both on develop- field—to the University, to the larger In 2005, Alpert Medical School recruited ing the existing medical staff and on hir- medical world,” Zink says. him to chair the newly formed Depart- ing additional, and highly academic, Zink and his colleagues did just that: ment of Emergency Medicine. This was physicians. To date, he has brought on 35 they built the emergency medicine sec- the first emergency medicine depart- new faculty, many of whom are fellow- tion into a full department, and con- ment in the Ivy League, and its estab- ship-trained. “These physicians have structed the research program from the lishment was a watershed moment for helped us develop our academic pro- ground up. It soon became a national the field. “This was a place where a new gram,” Zink says. leader in emergency medicine funding. chair with a new department could have He has also ensured that the Depart- Zink himself received NIH funding and an impact,” says Zink. ment is varied and dynamic. Half of the recognition for his work on alcohol and Zink was also drawn to Brown’s clini- physicians Zink hired are female, and brain injury. cal setting—and particularly to the EDs faculty possess and develop expertise in After about 10 years, however, he gave at The Miriam Hospital and Rhode Island a wide range of areas, from internation- it up. “I realized I would be better off sup- Hospital. Emergency medicine plays a vi- al emergency medicine to the medical porting and enabling great researchers tal role in these hospitals, Zink says, be- humanities, with Zink’s robust support. than doing the research myself,” says cause of the high patient volume—with “The Department offers the opportu-

20 brown medicine | fa ll 2 011 http://brownmedicinemagazine.org

18-21BrMed_Fall11.indd 20 9/28/11 10:15 AM party, Zink has initiated social, wellness, and “know and grow” events for residents Zink says his job as chair is to “help his faculty and faculty, as well as a journal club at his find a passionate focus.” home and with his wife, kids, and pets. But Zink’s greatest passion, he says, is helping others—from medical students to senior faculty—develop their nity to learn from an incredible diversity search and in its centerpiece course, careers, a spirit of generosity that can be of minds,” says Jay Baruch, assistant Doctoring. He advanced clinical care at traced to the moment he put aside his professor of emergency medicine and Brown’s affiliated hospitals, creating own research at Michigan to support director of the ethics curriculum. with his colleagues, for example, a psy- others. (In October, this role was for- The cornerstone of any academic chiatric and substance abuse disorder malized: he was appointed Assistant program is research, and from the start emergency unit. He worked to establish Dean for Medical Student Career Devel- this has been a top priority for Zink. One new Emergency Medicine divisions— opment.) Zink, who says his job as chair of his initial efforts was to establish a including International Emergency Med- is to “help his faculty find a passionate seed grant program that has helped icine, Sports Medicine, and EMS and focus,” makes a point of working with “launch the research careers of promis- Disaster Medicine—and to bolster exist- each member to develop a personal mis- ing Department faculty,” says Jay. Zink ing programs. He advocated for the cre- sion and vision. Known to nominate has also supported innovative programs ation of new fellowships: Brown now has those on this team for national teaching, that “other chairs might have ques- one of the most comprehensive emer- clinical, and research awards and posi- tioned, both in terms of cost and value,” gency medicine fellowship and residency tions, he is “committed to growing each says Assistant Professor of Emergency programs in the country. individual member of the Department,” Medicine Megan L. Ranney. One such says Ranney. This deep sense of respon- project was as a grant writing workshop B eyond the Destination sibility extends even beyond the faculty: that she helped develop. Although the A committed clinician who still takes “Dr. Zink cares about the patients; he idea was untested, “Dr. Zink saw its val- weekend, evening, and overnight shifts, cares about the staff; he cares about the ue, encouraged its development, and Zink is also an inclusive and accessible hospital,” says Smith. “He simply cares.” helped guide it to success,” says Ranney. administrator who works to get to know It can be argued that Zink, by be- Ultimately, the program not only in- and understand the diverse opinions of lieving in its importance as an aca- creased the Department grant submis- everyone in his Department. “He always demic specialty—and by lifting up sion rate, but received a national award makes time for you,” says Ranney, “even those around him—has elevated his for innovation in emergency medicine at the end of one of his very long days.” As field. As the challenges, especially in education. This tale of success is only the leader of a varied and dynamic group clinical emergency medicine, continue part of a larger narrative: three years af- of physicians, Zink—even in the heat of a to mount, Zink’s focused and steady ter Zink’s arrival—two fewer than he passionate debate—“gets the conversa- leadership will be critical. “He has a initially planned—the Department had tion back on track with just a few words,” vision,” says Smith. doubled its research funding. It is now says Associate Residency Program Direc- When Zink returns to the room after one of the nation’s leading emergency tor and Assistant Professor of Emergency taking his patient call, he apologizes, medicine departments in research. Medicine Jessica L. Smith. and picks up the dog-eared copy of his The list of what Zink has accom- This sense of balance comes perhaps History of Emergency Medicine. “Where plished in five years goes on: he in- from his belief that work is just part of a were we?” he asks. It’s as though this creased his Department’s involvement full and healthy existence: known to cut a story—of the field, of Zink—has just in the Medical School, particularly in re- rug with his wife at the annual holiday begun. WA

fa ll 2011 | brown medicine 21

18-21BrMed_Fall11.indd 21 9/30/11 3:50 PM 22 brown medicine | fall 2011 http://brownmedicinemagazine.org

22-23BrMed_Fall11.indd 22 9/28/11 10:19 AM BIGSHOT Joan Teno MS’90, MD

Autumn of My Years A physician focuses on the art of seeing.

Since 2005, I have been carrying a cam- era with the goal of taking a picture a day. For me, it serves as a reminder to forget the deadlines and my overflow- ing email inbox and focus on finding beauty in my everyday, ordinary existence. This picture was taken during a lunch break when I was teaching an in- tensive course in palliative care for 20 teams from Eastern Europe in Salzburg, Austria. After 15 years of working at Brown’s Center for Gerontology and Health Care Research and as an associate medical director at Home and Hos- pice Care of Rhode Island, the simple yet important lesson that I have learned is: life is short. Take stock and try to find beauty in each day. WA

Joan M. Teno is professor of health services, policy, and practice and associate medical director at Home and Hospice Care of RI. Her research and her photography were featured in Brown Medicine, Winter 2011.

fall 2011 | brown medicine 23

22-23BrMed_Fall11.indd 23 9/28/11 10:19 AM For Griffin Rd o gers, overseeing an NIH institute means bringing the best research to the greatest number of patients.

B y S a rah Baldwin-Beneich

P h o t o g r a p h b y D avid Peterson The

Ambassador24 brown medicine | fall 2011

24-29BrMed_Fall11.indd 24 9/28/11 10:26 AM Ambassador

24-29BrMed_Fall11.indd 25 9/28/11 10:26 AM

a breath-stoppingly hot August day in Bethesda, Maryland. The thermometer reads 98, but the real-feel It’temperature is arounds 110. The sidewalks of the National Institutes of Health’s 300-acre campus are mostly deserted. The heat finds you even under the trees. You can almost hear the leaves sizzle. But nine stories up, in the “A” Wing an end in itself. Rather, the mission is to tional Achievement Finalists, including of Building 31, Griffin Rodgers ’76 make the best research relevant and him, than the remainder of Louisiana, MMS’79 MD’79, MBA sits in his office— affordable to the public. Citing the stag- Alabama, and Mississippi combined). bookshelves tightly lined with journals gering social and economic toll of dia- He excelled in math and science early on. and reference books, desk barely visible betes, for example—26 million Ameri- His father taught physical education and under neat piles of yellow, red, and blue cans with the disease, another 79 million science. But it was his mother, a public folders—and emits an enviable aura with pre-diabetes, $174 billion in health health nurse, who first exposed him to of cool. As director of the National Insti- care costs annually—and a concurrent the practice and potential of medicine. tute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney flat or shrinking budget, he makes a “Many of my mother’s patients weren’t Diseases (NIDDK), he is responsible for compelling case for creating the most able to get to the clinic during the work the fifth largest of the NIH’s 27 insti- effective programs that can reach the week. She’d take it upon herself to visit tutes, and one that seeks to cure many of greatest numbers. (One of these is the them at their homes during the week- the most common, chronic, and costly National Diabetes Education Program, end. We went to some rough neighbor- maladies that plague Americans today: based on a lifestyle modification study hoods,” Rodgers recalls, laughing softly, diabetes, obesity, liver disease, Crohn’s supported by NIDDK and tested by re- “and she took me along as protection.” disease, hepatitis, kidney and bladder searchers—including Rena Wing, pro- He watched as she applied her nursing diseases, and hyperthyroidism, to name fessor of psychiatry and human be- training and practical approaches to a few. Yet you get the sense that the heat havior and director of Brown’s Weight solve medical problems. “I learned quite is no more likely to make Rodgers break Control and Diabetes Research Center.) a bit this way. Her knowledge, compas- a sweat than is his responsibility for a sion, and ability to get along with people $2 billion annual research budget and I n his blood went a long way in getting them to fol- 1,300 of the country’s best scientists A hematologist by training, Rodgers low instructions, do follow-up.” and administrators. first became interested in medicine Making the rounds with his mother It’s only gradually that you realize growing up in the ’60s and ’70s in New was formative in another sense, as well: that for all his warmth and calm, this is a Orleans. He attended the distinguished “I saw that diabetes, obesity, and kidney man of intense and entwined passions— all-male St. Augustine High School, disease hit African Americans harder for science and medicine, and for ser- which coupled an emphasis on commu- than others. This was my first exposure vice to others. nity service with academic rigor (his to the effects and interaction of genetics For Rodgers, NIDDK research is not graduating class alone had more Na- and the environment.”

26 brown medicine | fall 2011 http://brownmedicinemagazine.org

24-29BrMed_Fall11.indd 26 9/28/11 10:26 AM “ Parents aren’t supposed to bury their children, and neither are their friends.”

It was when the teenage Rodgers watched three close friends suffer “un- bearable, unimaginable pain” before dying of sickle cell disease that interest became vocation. Sickle cell disease is an inherited blood disorder in which red blood cells become crescent (sickle) shaped and block small blood vessels, resulting in damaged tissue and often, until recently, death. “Parents aren’t supposed to bury their children,” he says, “and neither are their friends.” Rodgers enrolled in Brown’s medical program so he could pursue his passion R odgers (top left) with his parents and brother, Howard, at his Brown for research and medicine right out of medical school graduation. With Mary Tyler Moore, Sugar Ray Leonard, high school. (At the time, Brown had a and Nick Jonas (above), testifying at a Senate hearing in support six-year program leading to a master of of research funding for Type 1 diabetes. The hearing was part of the medical science degree, after which 2009 JDRF Children’s Congress. students transferred to a conventional medical school for their final, two years of clinical training. Shortly after Rodgers members. He was assigned a faculty Organ Laboratory. Rodgers worked in matriculated, in 1972, Brown received adviser, Dr. Pierre Galletti, then vice the lab as an undergraduate, “analyzing provisional accreditation for awarding president of biology and medicine and the blood of the large animals … before the MD degree; full accreditation as a an early architect of the Medical School, and after it passed through the filtration four-year medical school came in 1975.) whom Rodgers calls “an outstanding and oxygenation device.” Despite the shock of Providence’s harsh mentor.” Galletti, a Swiss physician- Another key influence was his thesis winters and substantial snowfall, his scientist renowned for his groundbreak- adviser, Dr. Herbert Lichtman, an emi- transition to Brown was smooth, thanks ing work in artificial organs and tissue nent hematologist recruited from SUNY in part to some influential faculty engineering, directed Brown’s Artificial Downstate Medical Center in the ’70s to

fa ll 2 011 | brown medicine 27

24-29BrMed_Fall11.indd 27 9/28/11 10:26 AM become physician-in-chief at The Miri- “As a researcher, you can indirectly am Hospital. “We wanted to do a study of sickle cell disease but there weren’t a touch and perhaps save the lives of millions lot of patients in or near Rhode Island,” Rodgers explains, “so we focused on of people worldwide.” blood issues in people who were octoge- narians and older. We compared aspects the laboratory of Christian Anfinson, that he puts everyone at ease, from top of their blood to that of people in their winner of the 1972 Nobel Prize in Chem- managers to young postdocs.” 20s, and we made some key findings: we istry, on molecular and cellular aspects “We used to ‘walk the farm’ together, thought that the red blood cell might be of sickle cell disease, along with hema- dropping in to visit my scientists’ labs,” a key indicator of how the other cells are tologist Alan Schechter. Rodgers has been Levin recalls. “Griff would ask unbeliev- functioning as you age. This turned out there ever since. able questions about their science. He to be a quite novel concept that has been knew as much as I did about the work replicated by others over the succeeding Grace and gravitas these young people were doing!” 30 years.” They published their findings R odgers’s portfolio of responsibilities Dr. Allen M. Spiegel, who preceded in the Journal of the American Geriatric at the NIH has steadily expanded for Rodgers as the NIDDK’s director and is Society. two decades. Named chief of the Molec- now dean of Albert Einstein College of Then, during his clinical rotations, ular and Clinical Hematology Branch in Medicine, concurs, noting his succes- Rodgers met a third—and ostensibly 1998, he became NIDDK’s deputy direc- sor’s “love of science and medicine unlikely—mentor, Brown’s founding tor in 2001, acting director in 2006, and coupled with a sense that helping others chair of dermatology, Charles McDon- director in 2007. And all the while, he is the best reward for one’s efforts.” ald. Though Rodgers was more inter- has run a laboratory studying the molec- Spiegel cites another quality, as well: ested in blood than skin, the dermatolo- ular basis of globin genes and how cer- “tremendous people skills,” a key require- gist’s work intrigued him. McDonald, tain drugs induce production of fetal ment of the job. For Rodgers is in essence who had come to Brown from Yale in hemoglobin, and has maintained a cadre an ambassador—for his institute, for 1968, was a pioneer in the use of chemo- of patients—including a 31-year-old wom- the NIH, for biomedical research. And therapy to treat nonmalignant dis- an whom he first began treating for thal- his stakeholders are multiple and varied, ease—in this case, psoriasis. “This ap- assemia when she was 12. from lawmakers to patient advocacy proach led me to use chemo in sickle cell This capacity to enjoy a truly dual groups, from young science lovers to NIH- disease,” explains Rodgers—an innova- career in research and medicine is part funded investigators themselves. In ad- tion that in turn led to the development of what distinguishes the NIH, says Ira dition to meeting with colleagues in his of the first effective, FDA-approved Levin, PhD ’61. He should know: he lab, preparing his research for publica- therapy for sickle cell anemia, for which spent 48 years there, most recently as tion, and caring for patients, a typical he is credited. Today Rodgers is explor- scientific director of the NIDDK, before week for Rodgers might include a visit ing the use of blood stem-cell transplant retiring last summer. Levin calls Rodg- from the Juvenile Diabetes Research therapy, which has already proven effec- ers “a true physician-scientist—which Foundation (JDRF), testifying at a Senate tive in adults. is, if not a dying breed, a small one.” hearing, speaking to summer students Rodgers’s calling was confirmed. After He is also, says Levin, a gifted leader. in the NIDDK’s Short-term Education completing an internal medicine resi- Not only does Rodgers have a “phenom- Program for Underrepresented Per- dency at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and enal grasp” of the complexities of all sons, and recording “Healthy Moments” Washington University School of Medi- NIH programs, both intra- and extra- segments for local and national radio. cine in St. Louis, he embarked on a career mural, he is also “so thoughtful, so con- Shake his hand, and it’s easy to imag- at the NIH: in 1982, he began working in siderate, so understanding of problems ine Rodgers in this ambassadorial role.

28 brown medicine | fall 2011 http://brownmedicinemagazine.org

24-29BrMed_Fall11.indd 28 9/30/11 3:54 PM But if he has all the elegance and polish potential breadth of impact: “A physi- from Johns Hopkins in 2005, there’s an of a diplomat, he also possesses an air of cian can affect the lives of several thou- economic imperative as well. “We can profound sincerity and the remarkable sand people over the course of his or her help our nation by improving quality of ability to be utterly present and yet career. Teachers of medicine can pre- care at a lower cost—saving lives, our somehow recede, so that all the focus is pare hundreds of students, ultimately economy, and the federal budget,” he on the work. affecting the lives of hundreds of thou- told the graduates. “That is why we’re sands of people. As a researcher, you can embedding comparative effectiveness, SE E ing the forest— indirectly touch and perhaps save the health economics, and health disparities and every tree in it lives of millions of people worldwide.” research in all the large-scale clinical L istening to Rodgers talk about bio- At the same time, he spoke as the trials we conduct or support.” medical research is like looking first young man who had lost three dear With responsibilities and challenges through one end of a telescope, then the friends, and exhorted the graduates like these, it’s a wonder Rodgers can other. In his commencement address to never to lose their sense of the patient sleep at night, but he insists he does: “If

i the Alpert Medical School Class of 2011 as a person: “It’s all about people’s you don’t get enough sleep it can con- p p last May, he expressed his hope that lives—unique, precious, irreplaceable tribute to obesity,” he says, with a laugh. many of them would choose the path of human beings.” Then he sobers. “What I do worry about is

karen Phili physician-scientist, as he did, for its For Rodgers, who earned an MBA how low our budget will actually go and whether this will have a substantial impact on the next cohort of biomedical researchers. People go into a profession because of their mentors, of who they aspire to be. And if researchers have a difficult time in getting their own research funded, it sends a bad message to the junior people …. You have to keep the leaders involved and engaged, but you also need to pay special attention to the younger investigators.” If Rodgers is calm, perhaps it’s also because he knows how to “leave work at work and home at home.” He’s always made a point to enjoy his family (he is married to Dr. Sherry Mills ’78, director of the NIH’s Office of Extramural Pro- grams, and they have two sons, Christo- pher and Gregory) and play the occa- sional round of golf. But fundamentally, it’s because he feels he’s exactly where he’s supposed T he weekend before Rodgers delivered his commencement address to to be. “It’s hard to believe you can have Brown’s MD Class of 2011 (above), he—along with Elie Wiesel—received this much fun and get paid for it,” Rodgers an honorary degree from Washington University. He shared the dais with says. “I’m doing what I’ve been prepar- his son Christopher, who earned a bachelor of science the same day. ing for my whole life.” WA

fa ll 2 011 | brown medicine 29

24-29BrMed_Fall11.indd 29 9/30/11 3:56 PM P h o t o g r a p h y by Warren Jagger

Just what the Doctor O rdered After a $45 million facelift, the Alpert Medical School building is ready for its close-up.

Walking through the new Alpert Medical School, you see a lot of smiles. Smiling faculty who have state-of-the-art lecture halls to teach in, smiling students who have comfy spaces for study and easier access to their advisers. A super-smiling dean who is thrilled to see the entire medical community making itself right at home at 222 Richmond Street. In their new surroundings, the possibilities seem endless; administrators, teachers, and students have only begun to devise ways to use the space and the new technology to its full educational potential. Take a virtual walk through the Medical School’s new home. —Kris Cambra

30 brown medicine | fall 2011 http://brownmedicinemagazine.org

30-35BrMed_Fall11.indd 30 9/28/11 11:26 AM ET X Reme HOME MAKEOVER R ichmond Street entrance The atrium (above) is the building’s spine, a central connector to the programmatic areas. Light spills in from three-story windows on either end. The exposed ceilings and columns were preserved to honor the building’s former life as a jewelry factory.

8:00 am timeline Photogra p h y b y M i k e C o h e a Doors A D Y open IN THE LIFE W ith medical education and Eddy Street entrance at dusk administration now located under one roof, the building is abuzz from early morning through the evening with students, faculty, and staff.

fall 2011 | brown medicine 31

30-35BrMed_Fall11.indd 31 9/30/11 3:59 PM A D/V SQUA Two case study rooms (right) have 70 seats arranged in a U to give the class a clear view of physical exam demonstrations, standardized patient interviews, and presentations. A multipurpose room has no fixed furniture so that it can be used for different types of instruction. The latest in audiovisual technology makes it easy for instructors to use a variety of materials in class.

A Clean, WELL-LIGHTED PLACE Though it might be as conducive to daydreaming as to studying, the first- floor library boasts clear views of the riverfront and what will someday be a pedestrian bridge linking the Knowledge District to College Hill. A full-time librarian provides support for accessing the vast digital collections, nary a print book to be found.

32 brown medicine | fa ll 2 011

30-35BrMed_Fall11.indd 32 9/28/11 1:54 PM 9:00 am

Nutrition lecture

2:00 pm Multimedia experience Histology Students in the lecture halls can call up the instructor’s slides on their iPads during the presentation, and access them later while studying. With 150 seats in each, there’s room for the class to grow.

“ The new building is bringing out the best in the students and faculty. I feel more inspired to teach than at any other time in my career.”

P hilip Gruppuso, associate dean for medical education (above)

fa ll 2 011 | brown medicine 33

30-35BrMed_Fall11.indd 33 9/28/11 11:27 AM

Touches 4:00 pm of Home Students from Academy all four years are break assigned to one of three academies. The academies will help maintain the small-school feel as class size increases.

“With this new building, we will thrive because of our surroundings rather than in spite of them.” Jenna Lester, second-year medical student

“ I want the doctor to understand the science but also to understand that each person is unique in their life and lifestyle.” — LarrY KIRKLAND, artist

ONL Y THE PATIENTS ARE FAKE The clinical skills simulation center (above and right) works just like a real doctor’s office— the diagnostic equipment, the examining table, even the electronic medical record all function as they would in an outpatient office.B ut these exam rooms have video cameras so that student interactions with standardized patients can be reviewed, helping them to improve their clinical skills.

34 brown medicine | fa ll 2 011

30-35BrMed_Fall11.indd 34 9/28/11 11:27 AM PUBlic DISPLAYS OF CONNECTION A rtist Larry Kirkland was commissioned to create the public art. The collage’s representation of two heartbeats and two marble chairs directly in front of it celebrate the doctor-patient relationship. Each academy, like the Blue Academy (right), has director and faculty advisers’ offices, a kitchen, and study areas. These spaces encourage peer mentoring and access to advising. You’ll find students eating, studying, even napping on the couches. WA

fa ll 2 011 | brown medicine 35

30-35BrMed_Fall11.indd 35 9/28/11 11:27 AM In today’s BY EILEEN O’GARA-KURTIS health care landscape, some doctors choose to blaze their own trail.

M aking Medicine

e i n b e r g t S

illustration by J a m e s

Work36 brown medicine | fall 2011 http://brownmedicinemagazine.org

36-41BrMed_Fall11.indd 36 9/28/11 10:32 AM late 2008, as the global economy The office art was by UK-based graf- In fiti artist Banksy (“We hung high-res sputtered and gasped, Aaron Blackledge MD’01 prints on large canvases,” says Black- ledge, “to send the message, ‘This is not was launching a storefront primary care prac- your typical doctor’s office’”) and most tice in the heart of San Francisco’s Mission of the furniture was from Ikea—as well as from another, ironic source. District. “A lot of the things in our office, I With entrepreneurial audacity, Black- the ways in which contemporary prima- bought from primary care physicians ledge hoped to prove a practice model ry care practice works and the ways in who were going out of business,” says that would breathe new life into the which it does not. Blackledge. dream of primary care in America— By 2008, Blackledge was ready to One day, his father went with him to drawing on both tradition and technol- give life to his vision. one such physician’s office to pick up an ogy to empower patients and physicians. “In February, on Super Tuesday, I electric exam table. Blackledge’s father There would be 24/7 coverage. There heard [then-candidate] Obama say, ‘We asked the physician’s 7-year-old daughter would be house calls. There would be are the change that we seek,’” Blackledge what she wanted to be when she grew up. minimal staffing and overhead. There remembers. “At the time, I was canvass- The child’s father answered for her. would be online scheduling. There would ing for him in the Mission Dolores area, “Well,” he said, “she’s certainly not going be artful branding and smart use of and I looked around and thought, ‘This to be a doctor.” technology. And there would be integra- is the kind of neighborhood where I tion into the life of the neighborhood. would want to practice—a diverse, urban L ooking for “I wanted to get back to the idea of community.’ So I decided to do it.” another way the small-town doctor who was really CarePractice was born. E veryone in medicine—and everyone part of the broader community,” says The bonfire of the recession was who has tried to make a doctor’s appoint- Blackledge, who lives a few blocks away. building when Blackledge signed a lease ment recently—is well acquainted with “I wanted to give phenomenal care at an on an empty, graffiti-covered storefront the crisis in primary care. There are far affordable price point.” on 14th Street and started turning it into too few primary care physicians. what he describes as a “stripped-down, The field is reeling from years of “W e are the change technology-driven primary care prac- decimation driven by the departure of that we seek” tice” that would operate in a setting that veteran physicians, an increase in part- T he idea had been percolating for a “would make it look more like a funky time practice, and defection of medical while—through Blackledge’s stints as neighborhood restaurant and less like a students to other specialties offering medical director of a community medi- medical office.” He drained his savings, better life balance or higher compensa- cal center, as an emergency department as he couldn’t get a line of credit in the tion. Community-based private practi- physician, as a member of a boutique newly harsh banking environment of tioners, who must also grapple with the practice that sent him on house calls to the melted economy. Although confi- rising costs and administrative burdens rock stars in five-star hotels, even as a dent in his approach—“I knew what of running a small business, have be- medical student working with Alpert resonated with health care consumers, come especially rare; a recent Accenture Medical School faculty in Thursday after- and thought it would be popular”—he survey projects that they will represent noon HIV/hepatitis C clinics at Rhode had no idea whether patients would re- less than one-third of the physician Island’s Adult Correctional Institute. spond to his practice model. workforce by 2013. Like all physicians on the front lines of “My backup plan,” he recalls, “was to But there has been a recent uptick in American medicine, he had witnessed put a shower in and live there.” the number of medical school graduates Work fall 2011 | brown medicine 37

36-41BrMed_Fall11.indd 37 9/28/11 10:32 AM choosing primary care residencies, which rose 11 percent in the past year, T he Integrated Life according to the National Resident Matching Program. And emerging mod- “It’s a blast.” S mall practice, els of care may offer the next generation That’s how John McGonigle RES’09, big vision of physicians greater choice. a clinical instructor in family medicine, M cGonigle’s decision to join the grow- Like Blackledge, who was inspired describes his micropractice on the East ing micropractice movement, in which by Dr. Gordon Moore’s Ideal Medical Side of Providence. practices are kept small and overhead Practice movement, a growing number Most days, McGonigle wears shorts to low, was part lifestyle choice and part of physicians—in primary care as well work, reserving his white coat for hospital accommodation of his vision of holistic as other specialties—are looking for rounds. His office, where he shares com- primary care. new ways to practice. mon areas with a holistic psychiatrist, a “I realized that for me to be able to do “While most family medicine resi- pediatrician, and a nurse practitioner, is holistic medicine as a family doctor, and dents are still getting jobs as employees decorated to feel like a favorite profes- do good, evidence-based primary care, I when they come out of training, there’s sor’s study. He sees no more than 13 pa- had to do this micropractice thing,” he a lot more heterogeneity in what people tients on an average day. And, if he wants says. “It works on every level—practically are doing,” says Professor and Chair of to book off a Friday afternoon to take his and from a personality/philosophical Family Medicine Jeffrey Borkan, MD, kids to the beach, that’s what he does. viewpoint—both for me and for my PhD. “Because of generational changes, “I didn’t go to medical school until I patients.” as well as shifts in incentives and inten- was 36,” says McGonigle, who found his McGonigle is one of a handful of sified emphasis on lifestyle, current way to Providence in 2006 via Alpert holistic primary care practitioners in graduates are picking more definitively Medical School’s family medicine resi- southeastern New England, and he and distinctively than prior genera- dency program at Memorial Hospital of believes he’s the only one in Rhode Is- tions. It’s now the unusual resident who Rhode Island, after a well-traveled life land. Since 2009, when he launched his continues with the full scope of what as a poet and translator and medical practice, about 1,300 patients have he or she was trained for. While nearly school at SUNY-Stony Brook. “And I found their way to him. His waiting list all continue to care for patients of all didn’t do it to end up with a lousy job.” is eight months long. ages, most tailor their practices to reflect their interests and the needs of their patients.” Veteran physicians, as well as new doctors, are making changes. ful for me and for my family,” says Aus- Then, Austerlitz and his wife, a terlitz, a clinical assistant professor of Rhode Island native, returned to her N avigating a shifting medicine who was in private practice in home state to open a practice. landscape Rhode Island for 17 years before moving “When I first went into practice, I n 2004, Jeffrey Austerlitz ’74 MD’78 to the VA. “It was no longer any fun.” your patients were your patients—you traded private practice for a medical staff Austerlitz has come full circle, back developed a relationship where you position at the Alpert Medical School- to the federal health care system. He trusted each other,” says Austerlitz. affiliated Providence VA Medical Center. began his career as chief of medicine “Now, your relationship with the “In order to see my patients and pay and pulmonary medicine with the Indi- patient is only as good as the insurance the bills, I was putting off charting until an Health Service in Oklahoma. After plans you take. Because health insur- the end of the day, taking work home, that, there was a brief stint with a staff- ance is so expensive, employers have and generally living a life that was stress- model HMO in Kentucky. to shop around—and often they

38 brown medicine | fall 2011 http://brownmedicinemagazine.org

36-41BrMed_Fall11.indd 38 9/28/11 10:32 AM Many of his patients are veterans of L oving medicine plified model that relies on technology. I long struggles with chronic conditions, M cGonigle has no office staff. He uses knew that was the way I needed to go.” serious illness, or unexplained malaise an online fax service and does pretty “It’s wonderful,” he continues. “It who seek a forensic diagnostic approach much everything—from filing immuni- takes a lot of the financial and adminis- and customized therapies. zation records with the state to ordering trative burden off the clinician. In the “I see people who have been to 20 dif- prescriptions—electronically. His patients average practice, 60 to 70 percent of rev- ferent doctors and still don’t feel well, a schedule appointments online and reach enue goes to overhead, and people end lot of women in mid-life who have been him via cell phone. (The only down side, up in this terrible loop, chasing their treated with anti-depressants [although says his wife, Kate—whom McGonigle own tails. It’s a tragedy. The patients are they feel that something else is wrong], credits with “taking care of everything miserable, and so are the doctors.” people who are struggling with very else while I scraped and clawed my way McGonigle believes he’s found a way heavy, serious stuff … cancer, MS, recur- through med school and residency”—is to make medicine work. rent miscarriage … and we work together that maintaining boundaries between “In my early 30s, after a long time to figure out what’s going on,” McGonigle work and home life is often a challenge.) abroad, I decided that I wanted to put explains. “I do a lot of integrative home- Although he works alone, McGonigle my feet down somewhere and have an opathy, in which we try to find out every- is supported by a growing movement of impact on my community. I went to thing we can about the person … dreams, like-minded physicians, several of whom work as a temp in a cardiac surgery de- sleep, what do you do with your time, practice in Rhode Island. He meets reg- partment at a medical center in New relationships, spiritual life, what were ularly for informal dinners with Lynne Ho York City, and I fell in love with medi- you like as a child. It’s the cornerstone of ’80, a leader in the Ideal Medical Practice cine. Love at first sight.” all medicine, but especially of inte- movement who launched her Wickford “It’s true that primary care pays a grative or holistic medicine, which is micropractice in 2004 after working third what cardiology, gastroenterology, tailored uniquely to the individual. I might 15 years in community health centers, and other specialties pay,” he acknowl- have 10 patients with high blood pressure and several other colleagues, including edges. “But you know what? Society pays following 10 different treatments.” Clinical Assistant Professors of Family me very well. I get to do work that is fasci- McGonigle’s approach takes time. Medicine Andrea Arena and Lisa Denny, nating, challenging, and emotionally and “The average primary care physi- partners in a micropractice in Barrington spiritually rewarding, and I get to grow cian sees four patients an hour, with a that has received national media attention. personally while helping other people. It first patient appointment usually about “I grew up in western Massachusetts, doesn’t get any better than that.” 30 minutes,” he says. “You can generally in an old house heated by a wood stove, do a very good history and physical in and I always had this vision of the What about you? Have you modified half an hour. But, because of what I do, I country doctor, never envisioned myself the way you practice medicine? Let us need to book an hour and half. To do working in a big practice,” McGonigle know (brown_medicine@brown. that, and be financially viable, I need says. “Then, in my first year of residency, edu). We’ll publish your answers at to keep overhead super low.” I heard Lynne Ho lecture about this sim- brownmedicinemagazine.org.

switch plans, sometimes forcing their that your patients have changed insur- practice, with a full panel of patients, my employees to switch doctors. And, ers, or that their insurer has changed equity in the practice was $8,000.” because fees are not keeping up with policies and the drug you prescribed is expenses, there’s pressure to see more no longer in the formulary.” B uilding a medical home patients.” Austerlitz left private practice as W orking at the VA, says Austerlitz, has “There was a time when I didn’t even passionate as ever about patient care. put the wind back in his sails. want to know what insurance my pa- But he didn’t leave rich. He is liberated from the administra- tients had,” he continues. “Now, when “When I started, there was a sense tive burden of running a business while you’re writing a prescription, you need that when you built a practice you were practicing medicine (“I have time to to know what plan your patient has— building something tangible. The insta- teach again,” he notes) and, most impor- and every January, the calls start to bility in the system has made that a tantly, he feels that the VA model sup- come in from pharmacies informing you distant memory. When I left private ports the doctor-patient relationship.

fall 2011 | brown medicine 39

36-41BrMed_Fall11.indd 39 9/28/11 10:32 AM “In the federal system, I have one re- “Unfortunately, by the time people After graduating from Alpert Medical sponsibility—to my patient,” says Aus- are seen, it’s pretty routine to have to School in 2004, Wong returned to Cali- terlitz. “If my patient needs something, tell them that they have hypertension or fornia, completing residency and fellow- he or she will get it. If my patient needs a diabetes or some other [previously ship at UCSF School of Medicine and test that is not included in my system, or a undiagnosed] chronic condition,” says settling in Oakland, where her social drug that’s not in the formulary, I know Wong, who is fluent in Mandarin. justice mission meets her interest in how to be an advocate with the VA phar- Where Wong grew up, in California’s system-level work here and abroad. macists. They know that I’m not asking Central Valley, it was not commonplace for something that I don’t feel is really for high school graduates to matriculate S ophy Wong, MD, Inc. important. We’re on the same team.” at four-year colleges and still more L ike Blackledge, Wong is on an entre- “I used to have patients trying to unusual to attend Ivy League schools on preneurial journey. save money by using insulin needles the East Coast. Accepted to the Program Although she is an assistant clinical over and over again, or taking medica- in Liberal Medical Education, Wong was professor at UCSF and enjoys collabora- tions every two or three days,” he con- drawn to Brown because its curriculum tive relationships with colleagues there, tinues. “There are still challenges, of allowed her to explore her interest in Wong has chosen to incorporate herself course, but it’s a huge relief knowing art, social and community justice, and and piece together a complementary set that your patients won’t need to figure other fields while keeping the door open of roles outside of academia. out how to afford the care they need.” for a career in medicine. In addition to working at Asian Health Physicians and patients also benefit An undergraduate experience work- Services, she is medical director of the from the innovation investments made ing with Alpert faculty at The Miriam East Bay AIDS Education and Training by today’s VA, he adds, noting that the Hospital’s HIV clinic opened the door a Center, working with the Alameda VA was a national leader in implement- little wider. “It really threw me into the County Department of Public Health to ing electronic health records (EHRs) and world of HIV/AIDS, and it was such an improve HIV/AIDS testing and linkages is at the forefront of the medical home exciting time in the field,” she remem- at county jail and community organiza- model of primary care. bers, noting that her tenure with the tions, and using novel approaches to inte- “The thing that makes me most happy clinic coincided with the advent of anti- grate social network testing to reach the is that a lot of people who used to come retroviral therapies in the 1990s. “There most at-risk youth and young adults. As to the VA only for their medications are was a great energy about the people and the medical director of HIV ACCESS, she now transferring their primary care to the team. They showed me how medi- oversees the quality improvement initia- us. We’re really able to establish a stable cine could be a tool for social justice.” tives in federally funded HIV care and medical home for them.” Still, Wong didn’t go directly to med- treatment programs in Alameda County. ical school after college. She taught kin- Her international work has taken her P ractice model meets dergarten, coordinated a young women’s to Tanzania and Kenya, including time personal mission community health project, and freelanced in Eldoret, Kenya, with Associate Pro- T here are about 2,000 names on the in graphic design. Then she worked as a fessor of Medicine Jane Carter’s team. waiting list at Asian Health Services, the caseworker in New York City, where she Earlier this year, as medical director Oakland, California, community health advocated on behalf of undocumented of Pangea Global AIDS Foundation’s center where Sophy Shiahua Wong ’98 HIV-positive people. It was a critical tran- China Project, she concluded an assign- MD’04 works. People often wait more sition. “I wanted to be more effective, ment on a Gates Foundation-funded than a year for a new patient appoint- I wanted more knowledge and power, capacity-building project in China. ment at the center, which specializes in and I wanted to use the analytical side of “It’s been great,” Wong says. “It’s al- providing care for Asian patients with my brain more,” she says. lowed me to provide hands-on care and limited English proficiency. She came home to medicine. also contribute at the system level.”

40 brown medicine | fall 2011 http://brownmedicinemagazine.org

36-41BrMed_Fall11.indd 40 9/28/11 10:32 AM G rowth through cially for people with adult ADD,” says H appier doctors, innovation Blackledge. happier patients A cross the Bay Bridge, an eclectic “We’re starting to look at the neuro- “ At a time when so few physicians are group of patients seeks care from the chemical spectrum of ADD as a focus going into primary care—and when five physicians—four full-time, one part- area,” he adds. “It disproportionately even clinics run by major health systems time—who now staff Aaron Blackledge’s affects artists, musicians, and entrepre- hope for break-even and actually expect thriving CarePractice. “If you drop in to neurs—and a lot of our patients. I real- negative cash flow—we’ve proven that our reception area,” says Blackledge, ized recently that by using this practice you can create a viable business model “you’re likely to find a tech CEO sitting model—which is attractive to people who by stripping down your overhead, sim- next to an unemployed waiter.” can’t stand things that aren’t intuitive, plifying your practice, and interacting More than 7,000 patients have found can’t wait in line, and are social media- with people through technology,” says their way to the storefront in the Mis- driven—I’ve created a medical clinic that Blackledge. “Primary care is about the sion since CarePractice launched in late pre-selects for people with a neuro- relationship between the patient and 2008. They are attracted by its non-tra- chemical pattern on the ADD spectrum.” the provider, and by delivering respon- ditional approach, use of online sched- While CarePractice assists insured sive care—we can usually get you in uling, social media, and other technol- patients in submitting their claims, it within hours, and will come to you if ogy, and promise of 24/7 accessibility. operates outside third-party reim- necessary—I think we’ve shown the value On average, the practice welcomes bursement, requiring payment at time of an alternative approach.” eight new patients daily. of service. But it’s not a concierge prac- It’s a message he hopes will resonate Patients started coming even before tice. Patients pay no membership fee in with other physicians. “Doctors are the doors officially opened, Blackledge exchange for access. cynical, frustrated, tired, and so isolated remembers. “I’d stop painting [the walls], Many of the group’s patients have from each other,” says Blackledge. “I see a patient, and go back to painting.” high-deductible health insurance plans hope people will look at the CarePrac- CarePractice offers a Suboxone with health savings accounts. Others tice experience and see that by being treatment program for patients with are uninsured, and access to the physi- creative and using technology to reduce opiate addiction, and provides compre- cians of CarePractice keeps them out of waste and expedite care, you can lower hensive care across the board. The staff the hospital emergency department and health system costs, make yourself nutritionist has even been known to go enables them to avoid complications happy, and make your patients happy.” grocery shopping with patients. But that come with deferred care. CarePrac- Borkan agrees. chronic disease management for diabe- tice’s simplified, cash-based approach “Overall, the kind of innovation tes, heart disease, and other conditions works for both groups. that’s going on is incredibly positive,” he typically seen in aging populations is “The Mission still has a large popula- says. “It’s creating more excitement about not a major focus. The group’s demo- tion of underserved people, but it’s also primary care, and giving people a sense graphics skew young, drawing from the at the epicenter of a looming tech resur- that they have a lot of options in terms of area’s pool of tech entrepreneurs and gence,” says Blackledge, who estimates how they can practice. And, on the sys- professionals as well as people who work that there are about 300 company tem level, one way of changing the in San Francisco’s service economy. founders among CarePractice patients. system is by having thousands of exper- “We started out doing a lot of urgent “There are a lot of startups here, a net- iments and seeing what will work.” WA care, but now we’re also doing a lot with work of young company founders doing chronic illnesses of the young—things creative things, and a huge influx of Eileen O’Gara-Kurtis is the founder and like irritable bowel disease and fibromy- young people who write code. A lot of president of Silver Branch Communications. algia, as well as conditions like adrenal them are independent contractors, and She is a frequent contributor to Brown fatigue, which tends to be a problem espe- many are underinsured or uninsured.” Medicine.

fall 2011 | brown medicine 41

36-41BrMed_Fall11.indd 41 9/28/11 10:32 AM By Kris Cam b r a photography b y J e s s e B u r k e

Hey, BabyWe talk about life-work balance ! in medicine, but what about life-school balance? What challenges do student parents encounter?

42-47BrMed_Fall11.indd 42 9/28/11 10:39 AM BABY MAKES THREE Fourth-year Sarah Housman asked every female physician she could find, “When’s a good time to have a baby?” “They all said ‘There’s never a good time.’ So we decided to go for it.” She and husband Joseph Grossman welcomed Hannah in 2010.

fall 2011 | brown medicine 43

42-47BrMed_Fall11.indd 43 9/28/11 10:39 AM The arrival of their daughter, Han- lpert Medical School’s new nah, was a little more complicated. Sarah home has shiny anatomy developed preeclampsia and had to be hospitalized. Her labor was induced and labs, lecture halls that rival Hannah was born at 37 weeks, tiny at 5 the comfort of your living room, a hip bagel pounds but perfectly healthy. At the café, and—wait for it—a lactation room. time, Joe was in the midst of one of the most grueling clerkships: surgery. You read that right. It’s a grant-funded Day School of Rhode Island, supported “I was sleeping at the hospital to be space the size of a large exam room out- Sol’s decision to enter medical school. with Sarah and then heading over to my fitted with a clean sink, a refrigerator But, Sol says, they knew they didn’t shift. After Hannah was born, I called just for breastmilk, and outlets to plug want to put their lives on hold. Alex and asked if there was any way I in a breast pump. It has a locked door, is The timing ended up being perfect, could have some time to be home with Aoverseen by a certified lactation consul- academically speaking. Sol was finish- Sarah. Alex made it happen,” Grossman tant, and is absolutely necessary given ing up a research project during the says. He took two weeks off, finished the that it’s not entirely uncommon for summer after first year, and he was able rotation and shelf exams, and then went medical students to start families. (Fac- to be home full time the first three back to make up the weeks. ulty and staff are welcome to use the weeks after Leor was born. room, too.) “When I arrived for the first day of Good Chemistry Recently three to four Alpert medi- class that fall, I received a congratulatory A s analytical and pragmatic as most cal students per year have become par- round of applause,” Sol says. “It was evi- medical students are, making the decision ents, both women and men. And, since dent that nobody had started clerkships to have a baby can entail lots of research, the opening of the standard route of yet, because once they complete their planning, and weighing the pros and cons. admission, more people are embarking ob/gyn rotation, they’ll realize that it’s Joe, who is 34, and Sarah, 30, met in on medicine as a second career and only Dina who’s worthy of applause!” chemistry as post-baccalaureate students come in already having had children. Sol didn’t need any special accom- at Columbia (they joke about love sparked Their training coincides with their modations from the Medical School, over a Bunsen burner). Sarah applied to prime reproductive years, and students though administrators are willing to be Alpert Medical School via the linkage are no longer expected—implicitly or flexible for student parents. But, he says, program with Columbia, and Joe applied explicitly—to wait until they are handed they were incredibly supportive. “The the following year. They married during a medical license to become parents. Admissions Office bought us a swing Sarah’s first year at Brown. “The whole that we used religiously for the first 6 time we were thinking ‘When would be a T hree Is a Magic Number months, and [Director of Admissions] good time to have a baby?’” she says. S ol and Dina Adelsky, both 27, met at Barbara Fuller even offered to babysit.” Sarah was a third-year when she got Hillel on the University of Michigan Joe Grossman and Sarah Housman, pregnant and had just finished all of campus when she was a freshman and he both fourth-year students who also her most difficult rotations. After the was a sophomore. They married three have a baby girl born in 2010, agree that birth, she was able to take six months years later. On July 30, 2010, just weeks their news was welcomed with support off to be with Hannah by using the Medi- before the beginning of Sol’s second year and understanding. cal School’s “fellowship status,” which at the Medical School, they welcomed “[Director of Student Affairs] Alex allowed her to spread the fourth year of their first child, a daughter named Leor. Morang was just like ‘Oh yay! I love help- medical school out over two years. In Dina, who is director of institutional ing students through pregnancy!’ She the end, it was fortuitous, because now advancement at the Jewish Community was so supportive,” Housman says. she and Joe are in the same graduating

44 brown medicine | fall 2011 http://brownmedicinemagazine.org

42-47BrMed_Fall11.indd 44 9/30/11 4:41 PM LAMBS AND IVY Third-year Sol Adelsky and his wife, Dina, cherish family time with daughter Leor, born in 2010.

class and can enter the couples Match in years makes it very easy to take off less a back-up care program, an agency that the spring of 2012. than a full semester of maternity leave. will provide a caregiver in the event an Fourth-year Marina MacNamara, “It’s also very easy to take a year off at employee’s usual care provider is un- who gave birth to a daughter during her any point,” she says. available. Many members of the Medi- first year, says she “can vouch for the Another thing to consider is that cal School faculty, however, are not flexibility and incredible support” that having a baby is expensive—child care employees of Brown, but rather of the is offered to medical student parents in especially. Daycare is a problem that hospitals or clinical sites where they terms of reorganizing their rotation/ many families at Brown face, especially work, so they are not entitled to the class schedule around their pregnancy medical faculty. Brown does not operate same benefits as Brown employees. and children. For example, she says, the its own facility, but maintains affiliation And as Sol points out, Brown PhD block class schedule during the first two agreements with three. Brown also offers students are considered employees, but

fa ll 2 011 | brown medicine 45

42-47BrMed_Fall11.indd 45 9/28/11 10:39 AM medical students are not. “We got lucky D s o A I Say—and As I Do room that wasn’t being used and even that we landed a spot in a Brown-affiliated W hile medical student parents are though the sign was there, a resident daycare, but the director said they had still a minority, resources are coming just walked in.” never had a medical student parent be- together to support those in training. Associate Professor of Family Medi- fore. As a general policy, it would be One way students connect is through cine Julie Taylor, director of clinical great if those daycare centers officially MomDocFamily (see Brown Medicine, curriculum and the Doctoring course at welcomed children of Brown medical Spring 2010), a group dedicated to men- the Medical School, co-wrote the mini- students in addition to Brown graduate toring and support for women combin- grant that provided funds for the lacta- students. Though we are not employees, ing a career in medicine with motherhood. tion room with Marina MacNamara. In the needs of medical school parents are It is open to all Rhode Island women their grant application, they cited re- no different from those of PhD students.” physicians as well as medical students. search (some of which was conducted by The Grossman/Housmans have child- MomDocFamily helped Sarah Hous- Taylor and colleagues on resident physi- care help from family. Joe’s mom moved man, who is still nursing Hannah, par- cians at Brown) that shows while the to Providence just to take care of Han- tially meet the challenge of finding a rates of initiating breastfeeding among nah three days a week. Sarah’s mom place to pump as she rotated through physicians are often higher than the re- lives in Newton, MA, and takes Hannah the various hospitals. MomDoc mem- gional average or national recommen- two days. “That’s how we do it all,” Joe says. bers Lynne E. Taylor, MD, and Kathleen dations, the duration of breastfeeding is Then there are the less predictable Moren, RN, have compiled a list of lacta- often shortened and the length of time events, like doctor’s appointments or tion rooms at area hospitals and train- expressing milk is below the recom- mended allowance. A major obstacle is that physicians-in-training do not have “ They get my work/life/husband-in-medical their own offices. school balancing act.” “When I was in medical school we used to jokingly call it ‘the ill healing the ill,’” Taylor says. “In my day, we treated when the baby gets sick. Sol says now ing sites (not just the affiliated hospi- ourselves so terribly while learning to that he’s on the wards as a third-year, he tals). Where dedicated rooms are not improve the health of others. You’re try- has less flexibility. available, they list a point person who ing to make [your patients] better but Fortunately, Dina’s career is more can help find one. you’re supposed to do so without any family friendly. “My boss at work, as “I’ve always found a place to pump, time to sleep or eat or exercise. There well as my colleagues and the larger whether someone just lets me go into was a certain amount of cognitive disso- JCDSRI community, are incredibly un- their office, or an empty conference nance to the process.” derstanding when Leor is sick or I need room,” Housman says. “One time a sec- Indeed, it’s illogical for a physician to to take her to a doctor’s appointment,” retary told me, ‘Oh! Why don’t you use the counsel her patient to breastfeed when she says. “They get my work/life/husband- bathroom!’ as if that were a really great she herself is unable to because her work in-medical-school balancing act.” place to pump. I told her ‘No, thanks.’” conditions do not support it. And, Leor is lucky to have grandpar- As if the time wasted trying to locate “If we transition to a model where we ents in Boston and New Jersey. Dina a space and the lack of sanitary condi- consider physicians as the ultimate role says, “I have to give lots of credit to my tions weren’t enough, another problem models of health,” Taylor continues, parents, who come keep me company on with using random places is the lack of “then it is almost a professional obliga- most Sundays and, when possible, come privacy, as Housman has experienced. tion to provide support for people to be from Boston to take care of Leor when “I always put a sign on the door, always. as healthy as they can possibly be so they she is sick and can’t go to daycare.” One day I was pumping in a conference are at their maximum capacity to pro-

46 brown medicine | fa ll 2 011

42-47BrMed_Fall11.indd 46 9/28/11 10:39 AM “ [I]f I do end up pursuing a pediatric specialty, Hannah,” she says, “I really loved working with underserved patients, and I I think I’ll be a better clinician for it.” speak Spanish, so I love working with the Latino population. I’ve always had vide care to others. It makes total intui- children and about 40 men. Only two an interest in primary care.” tive sense to me. It’s a framework shift.” residents before me had ever had chil- Joe Grossman is still undecided but Taylor, who is also an internationally dren while in the program, so it was un- is leaning toward neuro-psychiatry or board-certified lactation consultant, charted water,” Daniel says. primary care. The couple hopes to have conducts research on maternal-child Taylor says she would like to see more children. In the limited free time health and breastfeeding and sees patients more formal curricula around work-life they will have as residents, Joe and part time at Memorial Hospital of Rhode balance in medical school. “When I was Sarah say they will make it a priority to Island. She says her work is a “natural in residency, I learned how to work in spend time together as a family. combination of my academic interests the hospital and ignore the rest of my Sol’s third year of medical school is and my medical education interests in- life. Then you grow up and if you’re a giving the Adelsky family a taste of what tersecting around the maternal-child parent on call from home, you’re often residency will be like. “Given Sol’s school health of medical students.” working at the same time you are with obligations—classes, clerkships, and Taylor and Michelle Daniel, an assis- your family. It would be nice to provide studying—most of the daily responsibili- tant professor of emergency medicine more formal training around taking call ties fall on my shoulders,” Dina says. (clinical) and co-director of the Year 2 from outside the hospital so that physi- “[He] contributes as best he can given Doctoring course, are the kind of role cian-parents can learn the art of taking the constraints of his schedule, and he models that physician-parents badly care of patients and children simultane- provides me with immense support. need: they, like many others, combine ously without worrying that you are What’s more important to us than split- parenting with successful medical hurting your patients or your children.” ting tasks 50/50 is that we are equal part- careers. Taylor has four children, the ners in parenting in the global sense— oldest of whom was born during her fi- T xhe Ne t Phase values and approach … [A]s observers of nal year of fellowship training. Daniel Transitioning into residency when the Jewish Sabbath, one day of our week was pregnant during her intern year in you are a parent is another area where is devoted to family and community emergency medicine and due to preg- Taylor says medical students could use time rather than work or studying, and nancy complications, was forced to take additional support. There, she says, they so no matter how stressful things get, I a six-month leave of absence, thereby leave the realm of students/learners know we’ll get to spend at least one full extending her time in residency. She and become employees/workers. Though day together as a family.” now has two children, ages 7 and 4. residency hour work restrictions have Sol came into medical school inter- “In my program there were two mitigated the problem somewhat, resi- ested in pediatrics and pediatric subspe- women [attendings] who didn’t have dents still spend a good portion of their cialties, and having a child hasn’t changed week inside the hospital, away from that. “If anything, it has reaffirmed my their families. passion for kids,” he says. “I really enjoy Need Help? It’s a factor the medical students engaging parents, and with fields such as have to consider as they begin preparing child psychiatry, parent counseling and Resources for medical trainees for the residency match. Sarah Hous- education is often the key to the child’s who are parents can be man plans to pursue primary care, and health. As a parent, it’s natural for me to found in this article at http:// she says having a baby did affect her de- relate to other parents, and if I do end up brownmedicinemagazine.org. cision, since faculty in this field tend to pursuing a pediatric specialty, I think I’ll be supportive. “But before I even had be a better clinician for it.” WA

fa ll 2 011 | brown medicine 47

42-47BrMed_Fall11.indd 47 9/28/11 10:39 AM PROMOTIONS

Beth Bock, Tip o’ the Hat PhD The 2010-2011 BioMed senior faculty appointments. » P rofessor of psychiatry and human Recently, a Brown faculty member was re- behavior flecting on academic rigor and remarked, (research) “It’s hard to get promoted here—and that’s Beth Bock has been promoted to professor of psychiatry and human behav- a very good thing.” In addition to the teach- ior (research). Bock currently works in ing, research, and scholarly work that is de- the Centers for Behavioral and Preven- tive Medicine at Alpert Medical School tailed in the candidate’s application, the and The Miriam Hospital. Her primary dossier itself is scrutinized by the Office of research interests include examining innovative interventions for smoking BioMed Faculty Affairs and departmental cessation and exercise promotion, and and university committees. Candidates must the use of computer-based technologies in changing behavior. She is currently also be approved by the dean of medicine the principal investigator on two Na- and biological sciences, the provost, the tional Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute- president, and the Brown Corporation. In funded studies that examine smoking cessation interventions for emergency the end, the process ensures the high qual- medical patients. ity of BioMed academic programs, and rec- She is also an associate editor for the Journal of Cardiopulmonary Rehabilitation ognizes a faculty member’s contributions and conducts research with Quitnet.com, to Brown and to his or her field. a website for smokers attempting to quit.

Km i berle Chapin, MD FACULTY BY » Professor of pathology THE NUMBERS and C ampus-based...... 218 laboratory

Hospital-based...... 777 medicine and

Voluntary clinical...... 1,079 medicine

Research and teaching associates ...... 156

Other (visiting, adjunct, emeritus) ...... 339 K imberle Chapin has been promoted to professor of pathology and laboratory

TOTAL ...... 2,569 medicine and medicine. Chapin currently serves as director of microbiology in Lifespan’s Department of Pathology.

48 brown medicine | fall 2011 http://brownmedicinemagazine.org

48-51BrMed_Fall11.indd 48 9/28/11 11:01 AM She also serves on the Centers for Dis- During his time at Brown, Kohn has James ease Control and Prevention Clinical received numerous awards, including a Linakis, MD, Laboratory Improvement Advisory Com- teaching recognition award from the De- PhD mittee, is the chair of the American partment of Psychiatry and Human Be- » Professor of Board of Medical Microbiology, Ameri- havior (2002-2003). He was also named emergency can Academy for Microbiology Stan- a distinguished fellow by the American medicine and dards and Examination Committee, and Psychiatric Association in 2003 and pediatrics is the vice-chair of the American Board of served on an expert advisory panel for Microbiology. the World Health Organization in 2009. James Linakis has been promoted to Chapin serves on numerous editorial professor of emergency medicine and boards and is a contributing editor of Geralyn pediatrics. Linakis has served as associate the Microbiology Section of the Year Book Lambert- director of pediatric emergency medi- of Pathology and Clinical Pathology. She is Messerlian, cine at Hasbro Children’s Hospital since also the author of several monographs PhD 2004 and has been an associate profes- and has published nearly 100 original » Professor of sor in his department since 1995. He articles on medical microbiology. pathology and completed a residency in pediatrics at laboratory Yale-New Haven Hospital and a com- R obert medicine bined fellowship in pediatric emergency Kohn, MD medicine and toxicology at Children’s » P rofessor of Geralyn Lambert-Messerlian has been Hospital of Boston. He has conducted psychiatry promoted to professor of pathology and research in the areas of toxicology, and human laboratory medicine. She is the associate injury prevention, and health care de- behavior director of the Division of Prenatal and livery and is the author of numerous Special Testing at Women & Infants Hos- original peer-reviewed publications. pital and has been an associate professor Linakis is the recipient of multiple R obert Kohn has been promoted to at Alpert Medical School since 2005. teaching awards, including the Pedi- professor of psychiatry and human be- Her work with the reproductive hor- atric Housestaff Divisional Teaching havior. Kohn has been the director of mone inhibin proved instrumental in Award (1998, 1999, 2000), and is a the Brown University Geriatric Psychia- the development of clinical applications member of the American Pediatric try Training Fellowship since 2002 and of the inhibin immunoassay and prena- Society and the Society for Pediatric has served on numerous editorial tal screening test for Down syndrome— Research. boards, including those of the World Cul- a test now used throughout the world. tural Psychiatry Research Review (since She has multiple ongoing research proj- S usan 2005) and the World Healer: Newsletter of ects in collaboration with investigators Miller, the WPA Transcultural Psychiatry Section in the departments of Obstetrics and PhD, MBA as an associate editor (since 2009). Gynecology and Pathology at Women & » P rofessor of Kohn has an interest in cultural psychi- Infants and was recently a manager for a health services, atry and international mental health, trial funded by an NIH obstetrical grant, policy, and and his research focus is in psychiatric the results of which were published in practice epidemiology and geriatric psychiatry. the New England Journal of Medicine. (research) He has done research on such issues as She is a member of the International disasters, immigration, and the role of Down Syndrome Screening Group and S usan Miller has been promoted to social class in mental health. the New England Fertility Society. professor of health services, policy, and

fall 2011 | brown medi cine49

48-51BrMed_Fall11.indd 49 9/28/11 11:01 AM practice (research). She is trained in ger- to emerge as important topics in medi- approaches to intractable OCD and de- ontology and epidemiology and focuses cine, and made a successful career in pression. her research on the quality and utiliza- the field. Rasmussen is the author of more tion of nursing home end-of-life care O’Connor has been an assistant di- than 100 peer-reviewed publications, and long-term care. Miller has been an rector of the Pediatric Residency Pro- the associate editor for the Journal of associate professor at Brown since 2005 gram at Rhode Island Hospital since Clinical Psychiatry, and a member of the and is currently principal investigator 2005 and has been an associate profes- American Psychiatric Association. on a Retirement Research Foundation- sor at Alpert Medical School since 2000. funded study that will estimate the Her research focuses on health belief R enee prevalence of culture change practices and behavior and she is the author of Shield, PhD in US nursing homes. Miller also leads numerous original publications in peer- » Clinical an Alzheimer Association-funded study reviewed medical journals. professor of that aims to understand the use of Medi- O’Connor is a member of multiple health care hospice care. The goal of her re- anthropological, folkloric, and medical services, search is to generate and disperse societies, including the American Acad- policy, and knowledge to inform policymaking and emy of Pediatrics and the American practice care provision with the goal of improv- Folklore Society, since 1981. ing access to and the quality of long- R enee Shield has been promoted to term care. Se t ven clinical professor of health services, Miller has received numerous awards Rasmussen policy, and practice. As a cultural/medi- and currently serves as an associate edi- ’74 MMS’77 cal anthropologist, Shield has been tor for both the Journal of Palliative Medi- MD’77, P’13 deeply involved in the exploration of life cine and the international journal BMC MD’17 and work in US nursing homes using Geriatrics. » Professor of qualitative and mixed research meth- psychiatry ods, and has served as director of the Bonnie and human Resource Center for Geriatrics Educa- O’Connor, behavior tion at Alpert Medical School since PhD 2006. At the Center for Gerontology » P rofessor of S teven Rasmussen has been promoted and Health Care Research, Shield is cur- pediatrics to professor of psychiatry and human rently conducting research in end-of- (clinical) behavior. Rasmussen has served as life care and culture change practices in medical director of Butler Hospital nursing homes. She has received numer- since 1998 and is currently the interim ous awards, including the Watson Smith Bonnie O’Connor has been promoted chair of the Department of Psychiatry Prize in Anthropology from Brown Uni- to professor of pediatrics. O’Connor and Human Behavior at Alpert Medical versity and the inaugural President’s earned her PhD in folklore and folklife School. He has been listed among the Award from her time working as direc- at the University of Pennsylvania, best doctors in America (1999 - 2008) tor at the Jewish Home for the Aged in where she specialized in health belief and as one of the Top 25 Most Cited in Providence. systems, cultural issues in health care, Psychiatry (2005-2008). He is an inter- Shield is the author of numerous and complementary/alternative medi- nationally recognized expert in the publications and is a member of the Ge- cine. She entered the medical educa- course and treatment of obsessive com- rontological Society of America and of tion field just as cultural competence pulsive disorder (OCD) and has recently the National Association for the Prac- and complementary medicine started focused his research on neurosurgical tice of Anthropology.

50 brown medicine | fall 2011 http://brownmedicinemagazine.org

48-51BrMed_Fall11.indd 50 9/28/11 11:01 AM A sSOCIATE professorS Brianbb A ott, MD Laboratory Medicine and Associate Mr a garet Miller, MD Associate Professor of Medicine Professor of Neurology Associate Professor of Medicine and (Clinical) Associate Professor of Obstetrics and Da vid Dosa, MD, MPH Gynecology Brian Alverson, MD Associate Professor of Medicine Associate Professor of Pediatrics and Associate Professor of Community T homas Miner MD’91 Health Associate Professor of Surgery C hristine Barron, MD Associate Professor of Pediatrics C braig E erson, MD RES’00 F vrank O erly, MD (Clinical) Associate Professor of Orthopaedics Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine and Associate Professor of C urt Beckwith MD’99 RES’02 A my Gottlieb, MD Pediatrics Associate Professor of Medicine Associate Professor of Medicine (Clinical) K elly Pagidas, MD C esario Bianchi, MD, PhD Associate Professor of Obstetrics and Associate Professor of Surgery F adlallah Habr, MD Gynecology (Research) Associate Professor of Medicine (Clinical) Donna Parker, ScD Jose ph Bliss, MD, PhD Associate Professor of Family Medicine Associate Professor of Pediatrics R ami Kantor, MD (Research) Associate Professor of Medicine A njulika Chawla, MD C hanika Phornphutkul, MD Associate Professor of Pediatrics Brianm Ki ble, MD Associate Professor of Pediatrics (Clinical) Clinical Associate Professor of Medicine Philip Rizzuto, MD Ed ward Chien, MD Clinical Associate Professor of Surgery Associate Professor of Obstetrics and L eo Kobayashi ’94 MD’98 Gynecology Associate Professor of Emergency S ivamainthan Medicine Vithiananthan, MD R obert Curran, MD Associate Professor of Surgery Clinical Associate Professor of Da phne Koinis-Mitchell, (Clinical) Radiation Oncology PhD Associate Professor of Psychiatry and H olly Westervelt, PhD Daniel Dickstein ’93 MD’97 Human Behavior (Research) Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Human Behavior (Clinical) Human Behavior A lbert Lo, MD Associate Professor of Neurology K aren Woolfall-Quinn ’84 MD’89 John Donahue, MD and Associate Professor of Community Clinical Associate Professor of Associate Professor of Pathology and Health Medicine WA

fall 2011 | brown medi cine51

48-51BrMed_Fall11.indd 51 9/28/11 11:01 AM MOMENTUM

Braden Fleming trained in mechanical High Flying engineering and came to Brown in 2003. He is the leading PhD researcher and Two faculty members in orthopaedics honored funded investigator in North America in for pioneering research and teaching. the field of anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury and repair, a problem afflict- B rown’s Department of Orthopaedics leader in hand kinematics. In addition, ing 400,000 people annually in the US. is renowned for extraordinary research, Time magazine included his work on He has mentored innumerable resi- teaching, and for having one of the most football helmets that transmit informa- dents, and is managing eight active grants. competitive residency programs in the tion about forces and explain concus- He also works with Connective Ortho- nation. Last May, this flagship depart- sions in its Best Inventions of the Year paedics, a medical device startup com- ment garnered additional prestige with list. Crisco has also developed toys that pany, to help to spur research on ACL the dedication of two endowed profes- take advantage of hand motion and injury to improve patient care. Fleming sorships, made possible by the generosity build functional muscle strength in chil- and Crisco are productive scholars, having of Mary Ann Lippitt. dren with disabilities. He is a passionate compiled more than 200 peer-reviewed Lippitt (1918-2006) was a pioneer in teacher who has mentored hundreds of publications, 20 books or chapters, and her own right who devoted her life to Brown students since 1996. nearly 400 abstracts between them. charitable and civic causes. She enrolled Michael G. Ehrlich, MD, Vincent in the first Gray Ladies training and the Zecchino, MD, Professor of Orthopaedic nurse’s aide class for the Rhode Island Surgery, has had a significant impact on Red Cross, and during WWII, the depatment’s growth and its retention she trained to work with psychiatric of world-class faculty like Braden and patients. She was president of the boards Crisco. Ehrlich shares the praise, saying, of Bannister House and the Women’s “Drs. Crisco and Fleming are an inspira- Center, and a board member of the Provi- tion to us all, and are an example of why dence Public Library, Gordon School, the Warren Alpert Medical School of John Hope Settlement House, the Animal Brown University is rapidly becoming Rescue League, Preserve Rhode Island, one of the top institutions in the nation.” and Community Preparatory School. — Amy R. Umstadter W A For her service to the Brown University community, she was awarded the Presi- M ary Ann Lippitt, dent’s Medal in 2004. above, formed Lippitt Through a bequest, Lippitt estab- Aviation, which she

lished two professorships, each named owned for 26 years, Courtesy in memory of her parents: the Henry by operating a charter Frederick Lippitt Professorship in Ortho- flight service and T i paedic Research, conferred upon Joseph offering lessons. mothy J. Crisco III, PhD; and the Lucy Lippitt At right, Drs. Edward M o

Professorship in Orthopaedics, conferred Wing, Joseph Crisco, Amy re; upon Braden C. Fleming, PhD. Braden Fleming, and U

Crisco specializes in muscle injury, Michael Ehrlich, with m st a

spine motion, and movement of the Timothy More, Ms. d ter wrist—making Brown an international Lippitt’s nephew.

4452 brown medicine | springfa ll 2 011 2011 http://brownmedicinemagazine.org

52-64c3BrMed_Fall11.indd 52 9/30/11 4:15 PM ALUMNI ALBUMCHECKING IN WITH BROWN MEDICAL ALUMNI

SINGi t loud: Graduates Danny Lee, David Washington, and Andrew Baum lift their voices in song at Commencement.

classnotes and Boston Medical Center (BMC). At wha t’s Happening? BMC, he is responsible for expanding 1977 the practice network and for program Career news, weddings, births, i development. reunions…it’s all good. Go to med. p p Karl J. Karlson ’74 MMS’77, P’06 was brown.edu/alumni and click on named chief of cardiac surgery at L inda Stronach, FACC ’74 and her “Updates and Class Notes.” r a

K Bostonen Phili University School of Medicine physician group, Cardiology Specialists,

fa ll 2 011 | brown medicine 53

52-64c3BrMed_Fall11.indd 53 9/28/11 10:55 AM al umnialbum

have joined BJC Medical Group. They are located on the campus of Missouri 1978 Baptist Medical Center. Linda complet- Julianne Ip ’75, associate dean of medi- ed residency training at North Carolina cine and clinical associate professor of Memorial Hospital/University of North family medicine at Alpert Medical Carolina and fellowships in critical care School, writes, “I am honored and so medicine and cardiovascular diseases at pleased that I was chosen this year for the Health Center Hospitals/University the MD Class of 2011 Senior Citation. of Pittsburgh. She specializes in cardio- What an honor to truly be a part of the vascular diseases with an emphasis on class. We have journeyed together, all of GOOD FOR YOU: Juli Ip at the interventional coronary procedures and us growing academically, personally, PLME award ceremony with t fr t m

women’s heart health. and professionally. This class note is one Chandler Villaverde ’11 MD’15. a t a n

Jeffrey Yablong ’74 practices emer- c i ; K s; gency medicine in the southeastern Juli Ip ’75 MD’78 was chosen by the Class of 2011 a r US and works at a pain management Phili en clinic in Kentucky. He can be reached at to receive the Senior Citation. p p [email protected]. i

WAL K THis WAY: Faculty make their way into the First Unitarian Church, led by Assistant Professor of Medicine (Clinical) Joe Rabatin (left) and chair of Pediatrics Robert Klein (right).

54 brown medicine | fa ll 2 011 http://brownmedicinemagazine.org

52-64c3BrMed_Fall11.indd 54 9/28/11 10:55 AM oneyealumni

Children Star in “Special Smiles” Plastic surgeon donates his expertise to children in far-flung nations.

With three advanced degrees, it’s “We want to empower no wonder that Navin Singh ’90 the children so that they MD’93 laughingly calls himself a know they’re doing some- “professional student.” After grad- thing positive,” says the uating magna cum laude from soft-spoken Singh. “We Brown with an AB in mathematics perceive them as mem- and philosophy, Singh went on to bers of our team, not as earn an MD from his alma mater, recipients of our aid.” followed by an MS in clinical bio- Fluent in five languag- statistics from Harvard School of es, the Indian-born Singh Public Health and an MBA from participates in up to three Johns Hopkins University. While missions a year. He relishes his passion for scientific inquiry the challenges associated is unabated, Singh says, “No more with setting up an oper- [degrees]!” ating room, screening pa- The double board-certified tients, operating, and man- plastic surgeon frequently travels aging the post-operative on medical missions to China, Navin Singh ’90 MD’93 treatment, all in two Ecuador, India, and Peru. weeks. His absence can On those missions, Singh performs cleft lip, cleft be a challenge, he says, but he has a very supportive palate, and burn reconstruction surgeries on children. partner in his practice. And though he leaves his wife, a Recognizing that local community members idolized radiation oncologist, and their three very young chil- “as stars” the volunteer surgeons, Singh wanted to set dren behind, he hopes their kids will come to realize the the record straight. value of Singh’s service. “It’s really the kids who are the stars,” he says, “and He also maintains his suburban Washington, DC, the local dentists, pediatricians, anesthesiologists, and plastic surgery practice and serves as an assistant pro- nurses who volunteer their time.” With that perspec- fessor of plastic surgery at the Johns Hopkins Hospital tive, he and co-author Sachin M. Shridharani (a resi- in Baltimore, MD. Whether it’s breast surgery in Wash- dent Singh trained) wrote and self-published Special ington or facial reconstruction in Peru, plastic surgery, Smiles: The Journey of Three Amazing Children, a story says Singh, can be hugely transformative and a “force told from the perspective of three youngsters. It defor good, if it’s not overdone.” scribes their journeys—from living with a facial defor- Singh, the recipient of some 27 awards, finds one in mity to seizing the opportunity to seek medical treat- particular most meaningful: the Veterans Administra- ment to the surgery and post-operative experiences. tion Medical Center’s 1998 Gold Pin Award for Dedica- Singh hopes that volunteer surgeons will share the tion to Patient Care. Why? “It was from a patient,” he book (available on Amazon.com) and its message with says, “not from peers or a medical society.” local medical providers and their pediatric patients. —Nancy Kirsch courtesy singh

fa ll 2 011 | brown medicine 55

52-64c3BrMed_Fall11.indd 55 9/30/11 5:03 PM al umnialbum way of showing my appreciation and gratitude for this extraordinarily special recognition. Yes, I remember when my MD’78 class awarded our senior citation to Serafina Garella, our nephrology professor, and how many more outstanding teachers have been so honored since. To think I am among those who have received this award previously awes and humbles me. “This award comes at a particularly bittersweet moment in my life. Many of you know that my husband of 21 years, Larry Shaw, died in November 2010. As I reflect on our journey through his year-and-a-half of illness, I wish to thank my Brown family and community: the PLMEs, the PLME and Brown medical alumni, and the faculty, staff, and administrators for their care, support, and understanding. Many of you sent cards, came to Larry’s memorial service or even contributed to the Larry A. Shaw Scholarship, established to help a PLME student complete his or her medical education. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate it. “Each of you led my family to a more peaceful place as life completed its cycle and death came. My son, Christopher, HA VIng A FIELD DAY: Anish Sheth ’98 MD’01 and Shilpa Pai ’97 MD’01 with and I miss Larry tremendously as a father, their children, Ria and Rohan. husband, friend, and as a fine person. But we have all of you and again, these words are one way we can share our appreciation and gratitude. You made being a physician and educator important but being a person and family far more so. Thank you.” This year, parents of a PLME student gave a major gift to the new Medical School building and will name a room in Larry’s memory. In addition, $17,853 has been raised for the Larry A. Shaw Memo- A bove, left to right, Jim Revkin rial Term Scholarship. In FY11, the t fr t m a

MD’81, Ginny Ross and Michael Ross recipient of this scholarship was Kim- t berly Matthews ’06 MD’12, an Africana

’78 MD’81. Right, Sahana, daughter a n c i

of Preetha Basaviah ’91 MD’95 and Studies concentrator interested in pedi- (3) s Venky Ganesan, with Bruno. atrics and neonatology. Additional gifts

56 brown medicine | fa ll 2 011 http://brownmedicinemagazine.org

52-64c3BrMed_Fall11.indd 56 9/28/11 10:55 AM to the Brown Medical Annual Fund in Larry’s memory are welcome.

R oy M. Poses ’73 is president of the Foundation for Integrity and Respon- sibility in Medicine (FIRM), which ad- vocates representative, transparent, accountable, and ethical health care gov- ernance, and a principal of the Miska- tonic Group, a consulting firm, both based in Warren, RI. Roy also writes a blog, Health Care Renewal, at http:// hcrenewal.blogspot.com. He can be LISN TE HERE: Associate Professor of Pediatrics Charlotte M. Boney reached at [email protected]. gives the Faculty Address.

L inda Semlitz ’75, who lives in Tokyo and works for Tokyo English Life Line, “Y ou don’t conquer a mountain. It’s a negotiated recorded two interviews about mental health support and psychosocial first settlement.” aid and the role of a foreign NPO in Japan after the earthquake. They can be viewed at www.youtube.com/ David Carlisle is the new president watch?v=02nQODDgKzE and www. 1981 of Charles R. Drew University of Medicine youtube.com/watch?v =RjKGSJaMEqA. D errick K. Au ’78 was named head of and Science in Los Angeles. He was for- Linda is the mother of E lizabeth Gil- human resources for the Hong Kong merly the director of the Office of State- bert ’08 MD’13. Hospital Authority in July. He is a spe- wide Health and Planning and Develop- cialist in rehabilitation medicine and ment and on the faculty of the David geriatric medicine, and the first doctor Geffen School of Medicine. He is married 1980 to ever be named to the position full to S ylvia G. Carlisle MD’82. L ouis Mariorenzi ’77 climbed Mt. time. Derrick is confronting a profound Everest in May. The ascent took two shortage of doctors and an aging popu- months, and was detailed in a Provi- lation in Hong Kong. 1983 dence Journal article on June 19. “You R obert Kleiman ’80 has been ap- don’t ever conquer a mountain,” Louis S eth Berkley ’78, founder of the Inter- pointed chief medical officer in addition said. “It’s a negotiated settlement. If the national AIDS Vaccine Initiative, was to his current role as vice president of weather is right, if you stay healthy, the named CEO of the Geneva-based GAVI global cardiology at ERT, a provider of circumstances allow you to summit.” Alliance in March 2011. GAVI, a public- clinical services and customizable med- private partnership, has committed ical devices to biopharmaceutical and more than $4 billion to poor countries health care organizations. follow us! since it started in 2000, vaccinating nearly 300 million children and saving an estimated 5 million lives. Seth, an 1985 http://www.facebook. epidemiologist, has also worked for the John Ho was recently named president com/BrownMedicine Rockefeller Foundation, the Carter of Decision Resources Group Consult-

i Center, and the Centers for Disease ing. Formerly a senior executive at p p http://twitter.com/ Control and Prevention. In 2009 Time Charles River Laboratories, he will be brownmedicine magazine named him one of the “100 responsible for leveraging the company’s r a

K en Phili most influential people in the world.” significant intellectual capital.

fa ll 2 011 | brown medicine 57

52-64c3BrMed_Fall11.indd 57 9/28/11 10:55 AM al umnialbum

on ealyumeni Brains and Balance A neurologist finds a way to do it all.

Neurologist Teena Shetty ’95 MD’00 has a way with words. When asked “Why neurology?” she says, “Of all the organs we study, the brain is the closest to your soul. As compelling as the pathophysiology of the heart, lungs, and kidneys is, the brain defines who we are.” Shetty is not your run-of-the mill neurologist. A spe- cialist in nerve and muscle damage, she serves as the New York Giants’ neurologist and consultant for traumatic brain injuries, and consults for the New York Mets. One of a handful of women physicians in professional football, she treats such high-profile patients as the Giants’ quarterback Eli Manning, who suffered a head injury last fall. An assistant attending neurologist at New York’s Hospital for Special Surgery, Shetty is board certified in neurology and electrodiagnostic medicine and has a subspecialty certification in neuromuscular medicine. When she sees players with repeated concussions, Teena Shetty ’95 MD’00 migraine headaches, or related stresses, she must balance the injured athletes’ intense desire to return to the After completing her undergraduate studies at playing field with her need to ensure their neurological Brown, Shetty earned a master’s in philosophy in and physiological health before releasing them for play. medicine from Cambridge University as a Fulbright Other competing demands also require careful ne- Scholar. Her essay, “From the Deccan Plateau,” gotiation: Shetty teaches medical students, residents, appeared in This Side of Doctoring: Reflections from Women in Medicine, a collection of essays edited by Eliza Lo Chin “ Balancing motherhood and work ... allows (Sage Publications, 2002). Shetty received the Leah J. each part of my life to fuel the other.” Dickstein Award from the Associ- ation of Women Psychiatrists in 2000 and, in 2011, Crain’s New Courtesy Courtesy and fellows at Weill Cornell Medical College, practices York Business named her one of New York’s “40 under at the Hospital for Special Surgery, writes about her Forty” rising stars. She is currently studying a group of H o

patients, and is mother to three daughters (3-year-old professional football players to understand the long- s p i t twins and a 6-month-old), whom she calls “the richest term effects of traumatic brain injury. Rather than es- a l for for blessings in my life.” Her greatest challenge? “Finding chewing sports because of the risks involved, she has S p

time to do justice to everything in the way that I wish. gained tremendous respect for professional athletes e c i a l

Balancing motherhood and work, while daunting at and their commitment, and hopes athletics will play a S u times, allows each part of my life to fuel the other.” significant role in her children’s lives. —K.N. rgery

58 brown medicine | fa ll 2 011 http://brownmedicinemagazine.org

52-64c3BrMed_Fall11.indd 58 9/28/11 10:55 AM of crying baby has gone viral. Denies be- Navin can be reached at doctor@ 1987 ing nick-named ‘Skittles’ by his 6 y.o. big WashingtonianPlasticSurgery.com. Gary Belkin ’84 and Catherine Burch brother Shyam Veer. Can neither con- were married on June 26, 2011, on Gover- firm nor deny his father naming him nor’s Island in New York. ‘Shyer Maximus Tiberius Singh.’ Policy 1996 statement on ‘Cap and Trade/Global M ehri Brown ’92 writes in with a “late Warming’ will be forthcoming on his announcement of the birth of my 1988 website as he positions himself for 2042 daughter, Sabrina Brown Miller, on E ric Sievers ’85 was promoted to vice Senate Bid from the 51st State of North April 4, 2010. My life will always remain president, clinical affairs, at Seattle California.” an adventure for me, although now I am Genetics, Inc., a clinical-stage biotech- nology company focused on developing therapies to treat cancer and autoimmune diseases. Eric joined Seattle Genetics in July 2006, and served most recently as executive medical director. 1990 Naiyer Imam ’87, P’14 has been appointed an adviser to Stem Cell Assur- ance, Inc., on its newly created Scientific Advisory Board. Naiyer will assist the company in establishing strategic relationships with leading physicians, FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS: Left, Galen Henderson MD’93 and his wife, Vanessa Britto scientists, and medical institutions, as MMS’96, MD. Right, Andree Heinl ’83 MD’86, PMD’15 at the Reunion Class Dinner. well as participating in potential clinical trials and stem cell applications. Naiyer is currently the chairman and CEO of Advanced Medical Imaging and Telera- diology, LLC. 1992 John Delhagen ’87 lives in Round Rock, TX, where he is chief of staff at George- town Community Hospital and a senior partner at Northstar Anesthesiology Associates of Dallas. 1993 Navin Singh ’90 and his wife, Dr. Anu Mehra Singh, welcomed their third child last year. Navin writes, “Saturday 3.20.2010 @ 12:47 AM our newborn son a M Shyer Arman Singh sent out his first L eft to right, Edward Chu ’83, Wyman Lai ’83, and Manny Rose check out

adam tweet.stoon (3) Has 37 followers. YouTube video their MD Class of 1986 Annual.

fa ll 2 011 | brown medicine 59

52-64c3BrMed_Fall11.indd 59 9/30/11 5:02 PM al umnialbum

AET TH ARONSONS’ Founding Dean Stanley Aronson blows out the candles. Bottom left, the MD classes of ’76 and ’81 mingle with faculty. Top right, Jim Revkin MD’81 (right) listens to Thomas Krahn ’78 MD’81 (center). Below, Stan Aronson talks with Professor of Biology Susan Gerbi. KAren Phili KAren p p i (4)

60 brown medicine | fa ll 2 011

52-64c3BrMed_Fall11.indd 60 9/28/11 10:55 AM just forever exhausted. Sabrina is about dren’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) At CHOP, Orange directs the Jeffrey to walk. She already has better fine mo- and co-lead author of a genomics study Modell Diagnostic Center and cares for tor skills then I do.” Mehri is in private that sets the stage for the first predictive children with primary immunodeficiency practice in San Francisco. diagnostic test for common variable im- diseases. This was the first genome- munodeficiency disease (CVID), a seri- wide population-based study of CVID ous immunodeficiency disease in chil- and appeared online in April 15 in the 1997 dren. If CVID can be diagnosed early, Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunol- Jordan S. Orange ’90 PhD’96 is a children may receive life-saving treat- ogy. Orange is now working on a diag- pediatric immunologist at The Chil- ments before the disease can progress. nostic test for CVID.

on ealyumeni

use. She then helped to integrate it into Chicago’s What’s in Konda’s Toolkit? advanced endoscopy program, one of the nation’s early A powerful microscope with sites to use the scope. Relatively easy to use and maneuver, the microscope new diagnostic applications. is most frequently used to identify precancerous areas in Barrett’s esophagus—the major risk factor for esoph- Vani Konda ’97 MD’01 regularly uses the world’s small- ageal cancer—as well as indeterminate strictures in the est flexible microscope—the Cellvizio system, with bile duct and colon polyps. Although used predominantly magnification some 500 to 1,000 times more powerful by gastroenterologists, the microscope also offers diag- than that of a standard scope—as a practitioner and as nostic opportunities in the lungs. “The potential for an an instructor. ‘optical biopsy’ is exciting,” Konda says. “There’s also a An assistant professor since July at University of whole world of in vivo molecular imaging” that is now Chicago’s Department of Medicine, Section of Gastro- possible with endomicroscopy technology. enterology, she knew from a young age that she wanted The scope, which was first used in the United States to practice medicine. “The combination of patient care in 2005, has gained increasing attention from academic and the opportunity for scientific endoscopy centers. Konda esti- discovery and teaching” appealed mates that some 30 centers across to Konda, whose Indian-born and the country now use it. It’s excit- raised father is a gastroenterologist ing, she says, to have “real time” in Dallas. “He didn’t push me to go microscopic detail of the tissue, into medicine or gastroenterology, especially when looking for areas [but] he was supportive and helpful of subtle precancerous change or through the process,” Konda says. areas otherwise hard to access. Although the microscopes are Further investigations and valida- not yet widely used in the United tions must be done before the scope States—the Cellvizio system is becomes widely used, but the poten- relatively new—demand is growing tial is very encouraging. “The fast for the probe-based confocal microscope allows physicians to laser microscope. Konda learned better detect and monitor tumors,” endomicroscopy in Munich, Ger- says Konda, “and helps us differen- a many, from Dr. Alexander Mein- tiate cancers from other disor- nd o k ing, who pioneered its clinical Vani Konda ’97 MD’01 ders.” NK.. o c urtesy

fa ll 2 011 | brown medicine 61

52-64c3BrMed_Fall11.indd 61 9/28/11 10:55 AM al umnialbum practice with two locations in Arizona. Public Health since October 2008. He 2001 Abram has just completed a clinical has investigated the impact of high- Tanya J. Becker ’98, a clinical instructor cardiac electrophysiology fellowship at deductible health plans on primary in pediatrics at Alpert Medical School Tufts University Medical Center. He care delivery, a subject he’s presented and a solo private practitioner in Paw- completed his cardiology fellowship at on nationally, and has worked with tucket, RI, was honored to receive a Stony Brook University Medical Center. community health centers and non- CATCH grant from the AAP for the devel- He has a special interest in the diagno- profit agencies in Philadelphia to mea- opment of a medical home in Pawtucket’s sis, risk-stratification, and management sure primary care access. Shea High School. This is the first such of Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome. 2009 C osts of Care earned national media recognition, M ark Scott ’05 writes, “After finishing my preliminary internship in general including mentions on ABC TV and NPR. surgery at UCSF, I secured a categorical position at HCMC in Minneapolis, MN, starting as a PGY-2. I am now finishing model in the state and perhaps nation- my first year in Minnesota and loving wide. Beginning this fall, Tanya will have 2003 every minute!” Mark can be reached at a satellite office at Shea High School, G iridhar “Gidi” Mallya ’99 was in- [email protected]. eliminating the more typical intermedi- ducted into the 2011 Delco Hi-Q Hall of ary at school based health centers. Honor during the Partners in Learning N eel T. Shah ’04 MPP is in his second Celebration last May in Upper Darby, year of residency in obstetrics and gyne- PA, for outstanding professional achieve- cology at Brigham & Women’s Hospital 2002 ment and community leadership. Gidi and Massachusetts General Hospital. A bram Mozes ’98 has joined Cardiac has been director of policy and planning He is also executive director of Costs of Solutions, a 12-physician cardiology for the Philadelphia Department of Care (www.CostsofCare.org), a non- Ae Phili KAren p p TEH Y DID IT: The MD Class of 2011 emerges, diplomas in hand. i

62 brown medicine | fa ll 2 011 http://brownmedicinemagazine.org

52-64c3BrMed_Fall11.indd 62 9/28/11 10:55 AM obiu t aries profit he founded with fellow Brown alum Ariana Green ’04. Costs of Care earned national media recognition this year for expanding the public discourse on the role of physicians in health care spending, including mentions on ABC TV and NPR. (See also Brown Medicine, Spring 2010.) Neel and his wife, Julie Shah, live in Boston. Neel can be reached at [email protected]. AL UMni member of the Tanque Verde Little D ouglas A. Wegner, MD League and coached one of the teams. 2011 D ouglas Allen Wegner MD’89, 53, He is mourned by his father, Dr. Kurt R ajiv Kumar ’05, founder and chairman passed away suddenly on August 5, 2011, Wegner; sons Graham, Maxwell, and of Shape Up RI, was honored at Shape while running through Sabino Canyon Benjamin Wegner; two brothers; and Up RI’s Fifth Anniversary Gala in June. in Tucson, AZ, with his sons. He earned Dr. Ann Pearson. In lieu of flowers, dona- Proceeds from the event established a a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engi- tions may be made to the Dr. Douglas new fund for the organization, which neering at MIT in 1979 and then worked Wegner Memorial Fund, Wells Fargo has grown to become the largest state- on nuclear reactors for submarines. In Bank, 105 South Houghton Road, Tucson, wide wellness program in Rhode Island. 1983, he received his master’s degree AZ 85748 (to benefit Little League Base- in engineering at Carnegie-Mellon Uni- ball) or to the charity of the donor’s residents versity. He then decided to follow in his choice. father’s footsteps and become a physi- 2005 cian. He completed residency at Yale resident M ary Hohenhaus, MD, FACP, an University and a fellowship in hand sur- J ulie A. Baker, MD attending physician in internal medi- gery at the Indiana Hand Center. For Julie Baker, 39, died on April 26, 2011, at cine at The Miriam Hospital and an several years he was an attending hand Rhode Island Hospital following compli- assistant professor of medicine (clinical) surgeon at the University of Kentucky, cations of H1N1 and pneumonia. She was at Alpert Medical School, has received Lexington. He is remembered as a su- a resident physician in obstetrics and gy- The Riesman Family Excellence in perb teacher to medical students and necology at Women & Infants Hospital Teaching Award. The award was created residents and won the prestigious who planned to return to her native Buf- by a gift from the Robert A. and Marcia S. Riesman family to recognize excellence in teaching by a Miriam physician Julie Baker had planned to return to her who is currently and actively involved in the education of medical students, native Buffalo, NY, upon graduation. resident physicians, and other colleagues. Mary joined The Miriam in 2005 after completing her residency in general in- Teacher of the Year award during his falo, NY, upon graduation in June. She ternal medicine at Rhode Island Hos- second year there. Subsequently, he was a physician-researcher in women’s pital. During that time, she also served joined the Tucson Orthopedic Institute, reproductive and mental health. as chief resident. She is currently medi- where he practiced for the past 12 years. She earned a bachelor’s degree in cal director of the Internal Medicine A fan of the mountains and sports, his economics, as well as a bachelor’s in Residency Continuity Clinic and assis- favorite activities included skiing, golf, nursing, in 1997; a master’s in epidemi- tant director of the Medical Educational running, biking, and camping. He was ology in 2000; and a medical degree in Exchange with Moi University Teach- happiest spending time with his family 2007—all from the University at Buf- ing and Research Hospital in Eldoret, and dogs and was a devoted father to his falo. During her training, she achieved a Kenya. WA three sons. He was an active board remarkable record of scholarly work,

fa ll 2 011 | brown medicine 63

52-64c3BrMed_Fall11.indd 63 9/28/11 10:55 AM obiu t aries teaching, and mentoring. She received cine at the University of Pittsburgh ducted into the Rhode Island Heritage more than a dozen honorary awards for School of Medicine from 1960 to 1983 Hall of Fame in 1983 for his long-stand- her clinical and scientific work, and and was a fellow of the American ing contributions to his community, authored more than 20 peer-reviewed College of Physicians. state, and nation. He retired from the scientific publications. Upon retiring from private practice, Air National Guard and the United Baker earned a reputation for her Phillips became a clinical professor of States Air Force with the rank of Colo- passion for science, for her sharp and medicine at Brown and was awarded nel, and served as a Senior Federal Avia- curious mind, and for her unrelenting the Irving A. Beck Memorial Award in tion Administration Medical Examiner devotion to her patients. One colleague 1998 for dedication to patient care and for more than 23 years. described her as having the perfect scholarship in medicine. Phillips authored He is survived by a sister, three combination of the heart and soul of a numerous articles in the West Virginia brothers, a niece, a nephew, and three nurse with the expertise of a doctor. Medical Journal, New England Journal great nieces. Survivors include her partner, Barbara of Medicine, Archives of Internal Medi- Contributions in his memory may be J. Burns, her parents, and two sisters. cine, and The Journal of Occupational made to Philip Hulitar Inpatient Center, Julie was a dedicated foster mother for Medicine. 1085 North Main Street, Providence, RI many years. Survivors include his wife of 66 02904-9826. Alpert Medical School students have years, Doris C. Phillips, two sons, a established a memorial page in honor of daughter, five grandchildren, and one L eonard B. Bellin, MD their teacher, www.forevermissed.com/ great-granddaughter. He was preceded L eonard Bellin ’42, P’76 died at the age julie-baker. in death by a daughter. of 89 on July 4, 2011. A graduate of Brown Donations may be made in Julie’s Memorial contributions may be University and Tufts University School name to the Rhode Island Hospital made to Volunteers in Medicine Clinic, of Medicine, Bellin had been an assis- Adult ECMO Center, 593 Eddy St., 417 S.E. Balboa Ave., Stuart, FL 34994. tant clinical professor of pediatrics at Providence, RI 02903. Brown since 1973 and on the staff of Alpert Medical School has a new, B las Moreno, MD Rhode Island Hospital and Women & state-of-the-art home, kitted out facy ult B las Moreno, 83, clinical assistant Infants Hospital. A rthur M. Phillips Jr., professor emeritus of medicine, died on Bellin was a Francis Wayland and with the latest technology for MD June 10, 2011. Born in Cuba, Moreno James Manning Scholar and a member A rthur Phillips Jr. died April 24, 2011, graduated from the University of of Sigma Xi Scientific Honor Society at at the age of 92. Born in New York City, Havana School of Medicine and prac- Brown and a member of the Alpha Ome- medical education. But high-quality Phillips graduated cum laude from Am- ticed medicine in Pawtucket from 1957 ga Alpha Medical Honor Society at herst College in 1940 and received his to 2000. Moreno was one of the first Tufts. He was also a member of the medical education is more than medical degree from Columbia Univer- clinical instructors in medicine in American Medical Association, the sity College of Physicians and Surgeons. Brown’s Program in Medicine, and later Rhode Island Medical Society, and the bricks, mortar, and iPads. Phillips was a Captain in the US Army became a clinical assistant professor at American Academy of Pediatrics. Medical Corp. He served his internship Brown and Memorial Hospital. Bellin was a captain in the US Army It’s about mentoring and working with patients in Visit http://bmaf.brown.edu for more and residency in internal medicine and During his 27-year military medical Medical Corps during WWII—serving the Doctoring course. It’s enriched by independent information and to make your gift. cardiology at Rhode Island Hospital career he received numerous military in both the Philippines and Japan—and research, through the Scholarly Concentrations Program. Questions? Contact Bethany Solomon, from 1947 to 1949 and was assistant chief honors, including two Meritorious Ser- during the Korean War. director of the Brown Medical Annual Fund, of medicine at the Veterans Hospital in vice Awards from the Air National He was the husband of the late Shirley It’s connected to the world of medicine through student by email at [email protected] Providence from 1949 to 1954. Guard, Meritorious Service from the (Borodach) Bellin, and is survived by his travel to scientific meetings. or phone at 401 863-1635. He was in private practice for 30 years Association of Military Surgeons of the three children, ten grandchildren, and in Weirton, WV, starting in 1954. He United States, Air Force Commendation five great-grandchildren. All things supported by the Brown Medical Annual Fund. established the first coronary care unit Medal and Citation, Legion of Merit of Donations may be made in his mem- at Weirton General Hospital, where he the United States, and the Rhode Island ory to the Leonard and Shirley Bellin When you make a gift to the BMAF, you are ensuring was chairman of the Department of Star. He was named “Flight Surgeon of Endowment Fund at Temple Emanu-El, that Alpert Medical School’s inside is as extraordinary Medicine for 20 years. In addition, he the Year” in 1975 at the Aerospace Med- Tamarisk Assisted Living, or Odyssey as its outside. was assistant clinical professor of medi- ical International Meeting and was in- Health Care. WA

64 brown medicine | fa ll 2 011 http://brownmedicinemagazine.org

52-64c3BrMed_Fall11.indd 64 9/28/11 10:55 AM Alpert Medical School has a new, state-of-the-art home, kitted out with the latest technology for medical education. But high-quality medical education is more than bricks, mortar, and iPads.

It’s about mentoring and working with patients in Visit http://bmaf.brown.edu for more the Doctoring course. It’s enriched by independent information and to make your gift. research, through the Scholarly Concentrations Program. Questions? Contact Bethany Solomon, It’s connected to the world of medicine through student director of the Brown Medical Annual Fund, travel to scientific meetings. by email at [email protected] or phone at 401 863-1635. All things supported by the Brown Medical Annual Fund.

When you make a gift to the BMAF, you are ensuring that Alpert Medical School’s inside is as extraordinary as its outside.

52-64c3BrMed_Fall11.indd 3 9/28/11 10:55 AM Brown Medicine Box G-ADV Providence, RI 02912

Reconnect - Remember Save The Date for Reunion May 25-27, 2012 This time, we’re trying something new!

Did you have friends in the class ahead? Now you can be sure you’ll see all your friends. Alumni in Reunion years, plus and minus one year, are invited back in 2012.

We will toast the MD Classes of ’76, ’77, ’78, ’81, ’82, ’83, ’86, ’87, ’88, ’91, ’92, ’93, ’96, ’97, ’98, ’01, ’02, ’03, ’06, ’07, and ’08.

Planned highlights for Reunion Weekend include tours of the new medical school building and dinner for medical school alums and their families on the 18th floor of the Biltmore Hotel.

Information, including special Alpert Medical School rates at local hotels, is available at http://brown.edu/academics/medical/gateway/alumni/reunion

Other questions? Contact Director of Alumni Relations Bethany Solomon [email protected] or 401-863-1635

Scan with your smartphone

c4BrMed_Fall11.indd 1 9/28/11 10:23 AM