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Progress Notes
1940s
Stu Pritchard, MD ’47, has been retired for 20 years in remote southwest Montana after a 40-year practice in Olympia, Wash. Dr. Pritchard writes, “As the only doctor in the county and unlicensed, I ‘practice’ only at the post office when I innocently might greet someone with a ‘How’re you doin’?’ How times have changed! I was in a class of about 130 males, almost all in uniform during WWII, lived in one of five Greek-lettered fraternity houses or in Abbott Hall for three straight years of study, classes, and Chicago hospitals.”
1950s
Robert Baum, MD ’52, Santa Barbara, Calif., shared a few proud memories from over the years. “I worked with MICRA (Medical Injury Compensation Reform Act) of 1975, which settled malpractice premiums in California and has been a guide to other state legislatures. I also worked with the committee that started smoke-free California, by the year 2000. This has been the seminal item not only here, but all over the country regarding the use of tobacco products.”
Wayne Wertz, MD ’53, and wife, LeAnn, live in Glendale, Ariz., with their children who are scattered in Tucson and Cave Creek, Ariz., and Omaha, Neb. He officially retired from general surgery in 1992, but came back to assist (largely in colorectal surgery) until May 2012. He is now doing volunteer work in general medicine at a free clinic in Phoenix. Dr. Wertz writes, “LeAnn still rides her two horses (a black Peruvian Paso and a Tennessee Walker). She is an officer in the Glendale Equestrian Club and the Arizona Horse Council. Our youngest daughter is in charge of emergency education at Phoenix Children’s Hospital which has over 500 beds. We both sing in the choir of Chaparral Christian Church in Scottsdale. Come see us if you are ever in Phoenix or e-mail me: wlwertz@cox.net.”
George Leonard Apfelbach, MD ’57, GME ’62, of Sarasota, Fla., reports that he is alive and well. Dr. Apfelbach writes, “Activities are unchanged since the last report five years ago, which I find fortunate.”
Howard Sanford, MD ’58, has been working as a student health physician for the past 15 years, after 30 years in a solo practice of cardiology and internal medicine in Miami.
Richard C. Boronow, MD ’59, of Brandon, Miss., retired from private practice one week after his 74th birthday, but admits he doesn’t feel he has left “medicine,” as he has shifted from treating bad diseases to the whole emerging areas of wellness, risk education, and even prevention. Dr. Boronow writes, “I have created a presentation on our current health issues and our current options entitled, ‘A New Face in Medicine: An Emerging Paradigm,’ and last year was invited to give this talk in over a dozen cities in the U.S. and Canada. We have made major changes in our eating habits and I work out at the YMCA six days a week. I am the historian for two medical societies: the Society of Gynecologic Oncologists and the Society of Pelvic Surgeons. I have the feeling this job is given to the oldest living member not afflicted with early dementia! But it is a labor of love and I enjoy it. In my spare time, I am a guest columnist for one of our local newspapers. Every day is a blessing. Kathryn and I have, between us, four children and four grandchildren. All but the two youngest were with us in Chicago in 2002 for the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine Merit Award. Visits with all of them at their homes, or at ours at the reservoir outside of Jackson, give us our greatest pleasure.”
1960s
After Jerome Goss, MD ’61, GME ’64, retired from practicing 35 years as a cardiologist, he began searching for a new outlet for his talents. Dr. Goss learned antique bookbinding and now runs Milagro Bookbinding in Corrales, N.M., specializing in restoring antique books from the 1600s and the 1700s.
Richard M. Heller, MD ’63, of Nashville, Tenn., founded the Department of Pediatric Radiology at Vanderbilt. He served as program director of the radiology residency program for 20 years from 1975-1985 before becoming program director of the pediatric radiology fellowship program, a position he has held for over fifteen years. He has co-authored more than 100 articles and six textbooks as well as served as an expert witness and lecturer on child abuse. Dr. Heller has been the Danish Counsel for Tennessee since 1981. The recipient of numerous national honors during his career, Dr. Heller was named a Knight First Class of the Royal Order of the Dannebrog by Her Majesty Queen Margrethe of Denmark in 1999, and he received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Vanderbilt University school of Medicine Department of Pediatrics in the same year.
Emily Fowler Omura, MD ’64, retired after 29 years on the faculty at University of Alabama Birmingham School of Medicine in dermatology and dermatopathology, followed by seven years in a private practice in dermatopathology in Birmingham. Dr. Omura is a docent at the Birmingham Museum of Art and travels to see grandchildren in New Paltz, N.Y. and Portland, Ore. She writes, “Although I didn’t graduate with my class at Northwestern (I transferred to Cornell after two years to marry my husband), I still feel a part of the NUMS class of 1964! I enjoyed my 50th college reunion a couple of years ago and am looking forward to possibly making the 50th reunions at both Northwestern and Cornell in 2014!”
David Kerns, MD ’68, of Napa, Calif., is mostly retired from physician life and is now pursuing the writer’s life. His debut novel, Standard of Care, was published in 2007. He is working on a second novel, Fortnight on Maxwell Street, a tale inspired by experiences at the Chicago Maternity Center as a senior Northwestern University medical student. He also writes regular pieces for the Napa Valley Register on musical performances.
1970s
Dan Gardner, MD ’73, is in the private practice of psychiatry and psychoanalysis in San Diego, Calif. He is a volunteer faculty member in the psychiatry department at University of California, San Diego, and serves on the board of directors of the San Diego Psychiatric Society and San Diego Psychoanalytic Society and Institute. He is also the medical director of a residential rehabilitation program for traumatic brain injury.
Gary Kravitz, MD ’77, gave a lecture on antibiotic stewardship at the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology meeting in Jacksonville, Fla., in April 2012.
Jeffry Lawrence, MD ’79, works for Ipsen Pharma, a French company, with its U.S. biotech hub in the Boston area. He is leading the development of a life-saving recombinant therapy for patients with hemophilia and inhibitors, which prevent them from responding to human factor VIII infusion. Dr. Lawrence writes, “Our drug, OB-1, is based upon the DNA sequence of porcine factor VIII, and since the patients’ antibodies don’t react with the pig factor VIII, their life-threatening bleeding has been stopped in all patients in our phase III trials so far. I enjoy my monthly trips to the headquarters in Paris, though, living in Boston is also very nice. For the past several years, the annual Hemostasis and Thrombosis Society meetings have been held at Northwestern. I love this opportunity to go back and see all the amazing growth and new building on the Chicago campus!”
1980s
Lydia Pleotis Howell, MD ’81, is serving as president of the American Society of Cytopathology during its 60th anniversary Diamond Jubilee this year. Dr. Howell is professor and chair of the Department of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine at the University of California, Davis School of Medicine, and is married to Feinberg classmate Stephen M. Howell, MD ’81. They are proud that their youngest daughter, Stacey, is following in their footsteps with a career in medicine. Stacey is currently a first-year medical student at UC Davis.
After working for 19 years in a physical medicine and rehabilitation private practice, Leland Berkwits, MD ’84, joined the staff of Greenville Hospital System/University Medical Group in Greenville, S.C. as a specialist in interventional physiatry and pain medicine in February 2012. Dr. Berkwits spent a number of years working on an “Atlas of Image-Guided Spinal Procedures” as co-editor. In addition to being lead author on two chapters, he was co-author on five chapters of the text that was finally published in April 2012. He and his wife live in Greenville.
Ralph Stewart, MD ’86, is the chief of the ophthalmology department at Kaiser Permanente of Ohio, where he has practiced for 19 years. He is a fellowship-trained medical retina specialist and about half of his practice consists of retinal diseases, while the other half is general and surgical ophthalmic care. Dr. Stewart is a former president of the Cleveland Ophthalmological Society and a past member of the board of directors of the Academy of Medicine of Cleveland/Northern Ohio Medical Association. He writes, “My wife Rachael and I have three children. Our oldest, Adam, is a Northwestern freshman and a member of the marching band. We also have two daughters, Talia in ninth grade and Carly in fifth grade.”
Stephen James, MD ’88, GME ’92, switched specialties from anesthesia to psychiatry, completing a psychiatry residency at Dartmouth. He now practices in Gulfport, Miss., treating adult psychiatric patients. He specializes in traumatic injury, including adult survivors of child abuse and survivors of Hurricane Katrina.
1990s
Jason Karlawish, MD ’91, professor of medicine and medical ethics and senior fellow of the center for bioethics at University of Pennsylvania, is the author of Open Wound: The Tragic Obsession of Dr. William Beaumont. Based on historical events of the early 19th century American frontier, an accidental gunshot leaves a young fur trapper severely wounded. He is saved from almost certain death by Dr. William Beaumont but suffers a remarkable injury: a hole into his stomach. The two become entwined in each other’s lives medically, financially, and even legally. Learn more about his work at www.jasonkarlawish.com.
Robert Ochi, MD ’91, currently subchief of neuroradiology at Kaiser North Valley in Granite Bay, Calif., met fellow classmates Kern Guppy, MD ’91, neurosurgeon at Kaiser North Valley, and Wayne Smith, MD ’91, physical medicine and rehabilitation at Kaiser San Jose, as participants at the annual Kaiser Northern California Advanced Spine Care Meeting in Oakland. Photo (L-R in photo: Drs. Guppy, Ochi, and Smith)
Richard Lim, MD ’91, GME ’96, has been chairman of the Department of Orthopedic Surgery at Advocate Christ Hospital and Medical Center (ACMC) in Oak Lawn, Ill., since 2009. He is co-director of The Bone and Joint Institute at ACMC and the Spine Program of the Neurosciences Institute at ACMC and has been a partner at Midwest Orthopedic Consults since 2000. He has three children and lives in the western suburbs of Chicago.
Scott LeMaire, MD ’92, is a professor in the Michael E. DeBakey Department of Surgery and the Department of Molecular Physiology and Biophysics and director of research in the Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. He also is currently serving as president of the Association for Academic Surgery and a member of the professional staff at the Texas Heart Institute at St. Luke’s Episcopal Hospital.
After working and living abroad in Dubai much of the last ten years, Ron Villejo, PhD ’93, is back home to his family and hometown of Chicago. Dr. Villejo writes, “I’m an entrepreneur (consulting firm, fine arts dealership) and a thinker (theory of algorithms, the core algorithm). I’m keen to reconnect, network, and support my alma mater. Please connect with me: LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and e-mail ron.villejo@gmail.com.”
Anne Peternel Lipton, MD ’95, is co-editor of the Clinical Manual of Alzheimer Disease and Other Dementias. The book is designed to provide invaluable information on the evaluation, diagnosis, and treatment of these illnesses for medical professionals, students, and other trainees. It was released in March 2012 by American Psychiatric Publishing, a division of the American Psychiatric Association.
Michael Edwards, MD ’97, and wife, Hayley, survived the first year with twin boys, Luke and Grant. Their brother, Reid, is getting accustomed to the role of “big” brother.
Ron Homer, MD ’98, and Suzanne Yoon, MD ’99, welcomed Lucia Sung Eun Homer, born February 21, 2012.
2000s
Marc Levsky, MD ’00, and Natalya Lvoff Levsky, MD ’02, welcomed their second son, Zack, on January 3, 2012.
Jennifer Keller, MD ’03, writes that Northwestern is making a mark in Washington, D.C. Dr. Keller has been appointed as residency director of the obstetrics and gynecology residency at George Washington University. Katie Chell Marko, MD ’06, GME ’10, is the associate director of the program. Dr. Keller says, “We look forward to working together and enjoy sharing Northwestern stories!”
Jeffrey S. Fronza, MD ’06, GME ’11, has accepted a position at Northwestern Surgical Associates starting August 2012. He completed his general surgery training at McGaw Medical Center at Northwestern University. He then pursued further training in advanced laparoscopic and gastrointestinal surgery at Oregon Health and Science University, under the mentorship of John G. Hunter, MD. He will be on the clinical faculty at Feinberg and will practice at Northwestern Memorial Hospital.
Christine Lee, MD ’06, is currently working with an underserved population as a pediatrician in the South Bronx and as an adjunct medical professor at the City College of New York. She recently completed a medical mission to rural Ethiopia with International Fund for Africa, an NGO working to improve healthcare and animal welfare in Ethiopia, as well as to promote veganism and sustainable agriculture.
GME
Joel Shalowitz, MD, GME ’80, is a Fulbright Senior Specialist and visiting professor at the Scuola Superiore Sant’Ana in Pisa, Italy.
Maria Weffer, MD, GME ’84, is a nephrologist and a professor at Carabobo University Medical School, in Valencia, Venezuela, South America. After finishing at Northwestern, Dr. Weffer spent two years from 1993 to 1995 in the Nephrology Division at the University of Utah Health Science Center completing postdoctoral training on molecular biology in kidney disease with Dr. Wayne Border. After this, she went home to Venezuela and became chief of the nephrology fellowship program. Dr. Weffer writes, “I have three kids, a boy and two girls. All of them graduated from university and are married. My son is an MD specialist in orthopaedic surgery, one of my daughters is a journalist, and the youngest one is a special education teacher. Now I have four grandchildren, two girls and two boys: Ana Sofia, Ariana Paola, Felix Gabriel, and Jesus Eduardo. Thanking God, I have a beautiful family and I am happily working still.”