IlluminationsThe Magazine for the University of Utah School of Medicine Alumni and Friends

Volume 4 Number 1

White Coat Ceremony

PenicillinAlumni News

Education

Awards

Student Life

Fall/Winter 2008/2009

This would be a first for the medical school, and is not good news for the state at a time when Utah already ranks 44th in the nation for physician sup-ply. We have cut expenditures in every way that we can, including significant decreases in funding for our academic departments. Unfortunately this is not enough. If we are not able to get replacement funds for the lost Federal Medicaid funding, we will not have enough available monies to pay for all the faculty time that is required to teach 102 students per year, compro-mising our ability to provide the qual-ity of education we demand. Tuition hikes are likely. This creates additional financial hardship for our students who already carry excessive debt by the time of graduation. The average debt for our graduates is $132,170. While tuition will increase, our intention is to keep the tuition rate at the U in the middle of the pack compared to public medical schools in the country. We are doing our best to deal with this fiscal crisis and I will continue to keep you abreast of happenings in future com-munications from our office. On a brighter note, our School of Medicine continues to enjoy a great demand among prospective students. This year’s entering class of 102 came from a pool of 1,336 individuals, 889 men and 447 women. There were 458 applicants from Utah, with 108 from

Idaho and 770 from other states and countries. Our entering class of 102 students is made up of 81 Utah resi-dents, nine Idaho students and twelve students from other states or countries. Our overall entering average GPA remains high at 3.65, with an average MCAT composite of 30. Eight of our entering students have earned Master’s degrees and three have Doctorate degrees. Once again we feel we have a class of talented and committed people who are going to make a difference in medicine in the future.

In This Issue of IlluminationsThis year the School of Medicine Alumni Association inaugurated a Half-Century Club luncheon at Senior Vice President of Health Science’s Lorris Betz’s home. Out of that illustri-ous meeting of our 1957 and earlier alumni came the idea for our lead article for Illuminations. Speaking with graduates who started practicing medi-cine before the discovery of penicillin or the polio vaccine reaffirmed the huge impact of medical discoveries on world health during the past century. In this edition of Illuminations George G. Jackson, M.D. ’47 writes how the serendipitous discovery of penicil-lin changed disease outcome for the second half of the 20th century. The fall Alumni and Community Medical Weekend was memorable, from the Awards Banquet Thursday evening, celebrating the class of 1958

and Harmon Eyre, M.D. ’66 and The Spencer F. Eccles family as the Distinguished Award recipients, to a successful football game against UNLV! The weekend’s Continuing Medical Education conferenc brought together an illustrious group of experts who spoke on health care reform. Their program is archived for future view-ing on the Alumni Association Web site at: http://medicine.utah.edu/alumni/reunions/2008%20CME.htm The News Notebook section will update you on recent happenings at the School of Medicine, and the Alumni Notebook will catch you up on fellow graduates’ activities and successes. I would personally like to thank all of you for your continued interest and support of the School of Medicine. Looking to the future I am confident, in spite of the financial challenges ahead of us, we will continue to pro-vide the quality medical education that you knew and now cherish.

Best wishes for the New Year,

David J. Bjorkman, M.D., M.S.P.H.Dean, School of Medicine

Message from the Dean

EditorKristin Wann Gorang

PhotographyUniversity Medical Graphics

Illuminationsis published by theUniversity of Utah School of MedicineAlumni Relations Office

For editorial information or corrections, call (801) 585-3818

Send address changes to:IlluminationsOffice of Alumni Relations540 South Arapeen Drive, Suite 125Salt Lake City, Utah 84108-1298kristin.gorang@hsc.utah.edu

What’s Inside

1 Message from the Dean

2 Alumni President’s Message

3 Penicillin, Miracle Drug of the Century, Herald of a New Era

6 News Notebook

10 Alumni Weekend 2008 • Awards Ceremony • Alumni Events

14 Distinguished Awards

15 Student Life • Twain,Thailand and Tuberculosis • White Coat Ceremony

17 Becoming a Ballard Scholar

18 Alumni Board Welcomes New Members

20 Alumni Notebook • Highlights • News

25 In Memorium

25 Giving Corner

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IlluminationsThe Magazine for the University of Utah School of Medicine Alumni and Friends

University of Utah School of Medicine Alumni Association Board of Directors

Ex-Officio: Stephen Warner, Associate VP of Health Sciences for Development and Alumni RelationsDavid Bjorkman, Dean, M.D., M.S.P.H., 1980Kristin Wann Gorang, Director

Mark A. Johnston, M.D. 1990, PresidentFred F. Langeland, M.D., 1976, Past PresidentC. Hilmon Castle, M.D. 1957, House Staff, Vice PresidentRobert O. Hoffman, M.D., 1981, SecretaryLewis J. Barton, M.D., 1964Randall Walter Burt, M.D., 1974Christine A. Cheng, M.D. 1997, House StaffAli K. Choucair, M.D., 1984, House StaffDale G. Johnson, M.D., 1956August ‘Larry’ Jung, M.D., 1961Ronald M. Larkin, M.D., 1975Kirk M. Neuberger, M.D., 1963Ronald J. Ruff, M.D., 1981Kent M. Samuelson, M.D., 1971David N. Sundwall, M.D., 1969Hugh D. Voorhees, M.D., 1972Catherine J. Wheeler, M.D., 1991 House StaffH. James Williams, M.D., 1969

Medical Student Representatives:Lindsay Wilson, MSIVBen Johnson, MSIVJerry Chidester, MSIINick Kroll, MSII

Dean

David

Bjork

man, M

.D.,

M.S

.P.H

., 19

80

Bookmark our Web site:

www.medicine.utah.edu/alumniTo opt-out of Illuminations mailings email: kristin.gorang@hsc.utah.edu

School of Medicine Alumni Relations Staff

Kristin Wann Gorang, DirectorMelanie Osterud, Associate DirectorBaljit Kaur, Office Assistant

If you would like to submit a story idea about medicine or know of an alumnus/a who has had something remarkable occur in their life, or has made an outstanding contribution to medicine/society please submit the updates on line at http://app.medicine.utah.edu/SOMAlumni/index.htm by attaching them to the image link, or email kristin.gorang@hsc.utah.edu.

I am beginning to believe that change is one of the few

constants you can count on in today’s world. Last year at this time I

was writing you to share our hopes for expanding our medical school

class by thirty students; today, due to state budget cuts and the impact

of slashes in Federal Medicaid funding we are forced to consider the

possibility of cutting back on the size of our 2009 incoming class.

Alumni President’s Message

I recall thinking that each of these individuals had directly helped liter-ally thousands of patients during their careers and that the cumulative service of this one medical school class was truly remarkable. In a time when language is characterized by hyperbole and style seems often to be more important than substance, witnessing this ceremony was both an inspiration and a reminder of the importance of committing oneself to activities of true value. Organizations, like individuals, face decisions about their priorities and commitments. Alumni associations in particular must be concerned about whether their activities meaningfully serve the needs of alumni, students and their institution. Being asked in 1990 by Dean Samuelson to serve on the newly formed Alumni Board for the School of

Medicine, I have had a special opportu-nity over nearly 20 years to witness the commitments and priorities of the University of Utah SOM Alumni Association and to gauge its growth. In the earliest days, there were no full-time staff members, no student programs, no alumni services, no CME programs, no Web site and no regular newsletter to connect alumni. There was, however, a vision that the Association should be committed to creating specific services. There was also a remarkable succession of physicians who volunteered their time to bring about the many programs and resources that now characterize the organization. With an ongoing commitment to improving the programs and services provided by the Alumni Association, a strategic planning initiative was begun in early 2008. A variety of new pro-grams and program enhancements are in the offing including an expansion of web services to connect alumni with classmates, streaming of CME and

Grand Rounds programs, and an expan-sion of the HOST program for students to connect them with Alumni through- out the nation. We are also considering programs to improve our connection and service to house staff who train at the University of Utah. As always, we encourage your contact with us and any suggestions you have on how we might better serve our mission to support the School of Medicine, alumni, faculty and students.

Mark A. Johnston, M.D., 1990President, Alumni BoardUniversity of Utah School of Medicine jmresearch@qwest.net

3

Mark

A. Jo

hnston

, M.D.,

1990 It was my great pleasure this past September to attend

the awards ceremony honoring the University of Utah School of

Medicine graduates from the Class of 1958. It was wonderful to hear

a recounting of the professional and personal accomplishments of these

50-year graduates.

INTRODUCTIONThe Twentieth Century was a period of remarkable progress in medical educa-tion, knowledge, objective diagnosis and miracle products and procedures that completely changed the nature of hospitals and the practice of medicine. First and paramount among them was the discovery of penicillin, christened in the press as the miracle drug of the century. The achievement was para-mount as a force changing the discipline of medicine because it immediately salvaged innumerable lives by the cure of prevalent acute and chronic infectious diseases. In addition, its development, which initiated discovery of the series of natural molecules with antibiotic activity, enabled some of the most mi-raculous landmark achievements of the latter half of the 20th Century—organ transplantation, insertion of synthetic joints and prostheses, invasive diagnostic and radical surgical procedures, immu-nosuppressive chemotherapy, selective gene replacement, in vitro tissue, organ cultures and others. Coupled with the carryover contri-butions from the 19th century—ether

anesthesia, opiates, foxglove and early vaccines, and turn of the Century, X-ray images, the art of medical practice progressively transitioned to the art and science of medicine. The discovery of penicillin was the herald of things to follow. The accessible house call physi-cian and large charity hospitals with a high proportion of beds for people with infections transitioned to a more science based discipline, specializa-tion and smaller private hospitals. Life expectancy increased dramatically and concomitantly diseases associated with aging—cancer, type 2 diabetes, and chronic degenerative diseases increased proportionately. Accuracy of diagnosis, vastly better understanding of patho-physiology and increasing ability to in-tervene with specific treatment validated in double blind clinical investigations characterized the changes. Many believe the last half of the 20th Century was the golden age of medicine; combining the art of the personal, caring, compas-sionate, wise physician counselor with time to spend with the patient and the knowledge and technology developed in the science of medicine.

THE SERENDIPIDITY OF DISCOVERY BY THE PREPARED MINDIn 1928 Sir Alexander Fleming was a 47 year old physician lecturer of Scotch birth working at St. Mary’s Medical School of London University. His re-search focus was on the properties of the staphylococcus and the effects of natural products of the body that inhibited and/or killed it. Of particular interest was the cellular production of lysozyme. Agar plates were seeded with a lawn of hemolytic Staphylococcus aureus and its growth, or lack thereof, observed in relation to exposure to various products. Sir Fleming was not known to keep an overly tidy lab; a fortuitous feature in the discovery of penicillin. Returning from a long holiday many petri plates used in a forgotten experiment were found to be contaminated with mold. They were discarded to be disinfected. However, it is reported that some of them were retrieved for a discussion of his work with a visitor to the laboratory. The lack of bacterial growth around a contaminating mold on one or more of the plates was the observation that piqued the curiosity of an inquisitive

Penicillin, Miracle Drug of the Century, Herald of a New Era George Gee Jackson, M.D. ‘47, Professor of Medicine Emeritus

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abscess, purulent sinusitis and other sites of local respiratory infection followed. Other infections caused by organ-isms of somewhat less susceptibility to penicillin were treated successfully as doses of millions of units replaced the initial use of a few thousand. Decreased frequency, severity and fatality across the spectrum of the most common severe bacterial infections became an accepted expectation. . When penicillin was introduced in 1945, fatalities from rheumat-ic fever in the United States exceeded 2,000

per year. Within 25 years, with a much larger population, there were fewer than 100 recorded fatalities; today the fatality rate is less than 1 per 300,000 popula-tion. The reduction in the prevalence of acute rheumatic fever since the intro-duction of penicillin is estimated at 99.9% with an equally dramatic decline in rheumatic heart disease and other sequellae. Treponema pallidum, the cause of syphilis is among the most sensitive of microorganism to penicillin. Treatment of acute, congenital and neurosyphilis with penicillin yielded impressive cures in each of these syndromes. Latency, failed case detection and social behavior regarding sexually transmitted diseases, including gonorrhea, have combined to restrict the efficacy of effective treatment to eradicate or more completely dimin-ish their prevalence. A side effect of this success is a cavalier loss of fear of acquir-ing infection which has permitted cyclic increases in infection rates to continue.

Unfortunately human behavior is the first trump people have exercised in defeating the potential benefits of the miracle means of treatment and prevention of infections with susceptible bacteria.

IRRATIONAL EUPHORIAWith recognition of all its miraculous properties and the emergent capabil-ity of fermentation chemists began to produce large amounts of pure penicillin

cheaply, and the expansion in world wide use of penicillin proceeded at a whirlwind rate. Indications

for its use were broadened to include any whimper of

justification for treat-ment or prophylaxis of suspected bacterial infection. Within a quarter

century after the intro-duction of penicillin, more

than 90% of people in the developed countries ofthe

world had received one or more courses of penicillin;

it was found in sewer samples from urban

areas and in up to 10% of dairy milk samples, illustrat-

ing the spread of its use in veterinary medicine. Confidence in the drug was so high that even the placebo effect led some to the belief that in unknown ways penicillin was “just good for you”. The trend was an unquenchable social phenomenon with ineffectual academic restraints; some academic leaders even declared victory over infectious diseases, disbanding the academic specialty from their faculties. “Why take time in a crowded program and claim space in a building …for a field of medicine pres-ently regarded as having only historical interest?” This quotation from Rene Dubos in 1954 captured the irrational-ity of the euphoria that had penetrated academia and was prevalent in all of the society during the last half of the twenti-eth century. The fictional term, “antibiotic last rites”, captured the universality of confi-dence in miraculous results of antibiotic treatment. The interaction of medical practice and human desire for perpetual health and longevity has shown it has

consequences and lessons to be learned for application to the advances of the 21st Century. The short sighted detriment of the social attitudes of the period was effective in diminishing vigilance in the epidemiology of infectious diseases, and slowing acquisition of academic knowledge of primary host pathophysi-ology in susceptibility and immunity to infections of various types. With the high expectations that chemotherapy was sufficient to control infectious diseases the well developed state public health departments which informed and served the public in control of community epidemics were dismantled and fiscally starved to a shadow of their earlier prominence. Fear and need for preparations for continuing epidemics and pandemics is once again being real-ized and expressed. Perhaps the most severe ultimate cost of the irrational euphoria ignited by penicillin and its antibiotic sequi-tors, was prophylaxis and trial and error therapy, and a utopian aim to have broad antibiotic regimens that would prevent and/or cure the entire spectrum of human infections. It set the stage for the emergence of penicillin resistance and sequentially more extensive and complete resistance to other antibiotics that followed. That is the yield being harvested in the present era.

A NEW PERSPECTIVEThe antibiotic story of the 21st Century will not have the aura nor realize the fullness of the benefits, at least not with the same drugs, that were so miraculous-ly effective during the golden last half of the 20th Century. It is likely that new and perhaps equally miraculous che-motherapeutic agents can be developed using the advanced knowledge gained about the sophisticated molecular biol-ogy of bacteria, viruses and fungi and new capabilities in microbial genet-ics and combinatorial chemistry. The expectations and accepted patterns of their use will need to be more specifi-cally directed and general use against a broad spectrum of targets limited, if the medical profession and public learned the lessons from use of the miracle drug that heralded the 20th Century era--penicillin.

mind and subsequently led to a miracle drug and a Nobel Prize. The mold was determined to be from the Penicillium genus. Thus started the work that characterized penicillin and the effects on medicine that followed. Fleming’s work was published in 1929. It attracted little attention for about a decade. He continued his laboratory studies, but never considered the antibiotic effect of the mold as an opportunity for drug development. The small amount produced by the mold, problems of its recovery and purifica-tion appeared to him, quite correctly in his station, to limit its potential use in therapeutics of human infections.

FROM SCIENTIFIC CURIOSITY TO APPLICATION DURING WARTIMEFollowing a hiatus of nearly a decade, two other scientists, Ernst Chain and Howard Florey, working entirely independently in another London institution, became interested in further scientific study of penicillin. Chain, a chemist, developed methods to isolate and concentrate penicillin and with Florey, a physician with pharmaco-logic interests, began observations of the pharmacology of penicillin. With the background of World War II they carried on the work with the engage-ment of microbiologists in the US Department of Agriculture who sorted out and developed high penicillin pro-ducing strains of Penicillium. Following the bombing of Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1941, the US and UK governments collaborated in developing systems for mass production of penicillin. At the end of World War II enough penicillin was made in medicinal form to treat wounded soldiers of all allied forces. As with Fleming the fame that came to Chain and Florey was not the result of a determined goal to develop the laboratory curiosity into a practical drug, but the opportunity to extend scientific investigation of an interesting biologic phenomenon. The end result of the interest and endeavors of these astute, but ordinary biologic scientists following their academic curiosity, gifted the world the miracle drug of the 20th Century to the benefit of all mankind.

INTRODUCTION OF PENICILLIN INTO CLINICAL USE In 1945 I received my M.D. from the University of Utah and an appointment for internship on the Harvard Services of the Boston City Hospital. The sup-ply of penicillin had reached the level to satisfy the military need and was be-ing released for clinical trials in civilian practice. Chester Keefer, a professor of Medicine at Boston University School of Medicine, known for his interest and knowledge of infectious diseases, was appointed as “penicillin czar”. All petitions for its clinical use and the protocol for doing so were cleared through Dr. Keefer. At the Boston City Hospital, Maxwell Finland, my mentor, was a recognized leader in infectious diseases and an expert in research on pneumococcal pneumonia. My work with him and the early treat-ment of civilian cases led to my first scientific publication and shaped the destiny of my career path. The sterile vial of penicil-lin was not the soft white crystalline powder any recent physician would see, but a solid hard brown rock. Its solution in saline or glucose solution was not rapid, but possible. When later knowledge became available it was learned that the early preparations were composed of a group of isomers and racemic penicillin molecules, one of which was penicillin G, the form that became the standard penicillin. Intramuscular injection of 10,000 units (one unit being the amount to inhibit growth of a sensitive strain of Staphylococcus aureus) was the usual regimen. Patients with pneumo-coccal pneumonia, Osler’s, “Captain of the Men of Death”, often with the complication of bacteremia were among the early patients to receive treatment. The history of untreated pneumococcal pneumonia was if the patient survived for about a week, the time required for production of natural antibodies to appear, the patient would undergo a “crisis” with defervescence, but often with sequellae of empyema, meningitis or metastatic abscess formation. Movies of the time often played out this medical drama. Penicillin was indeed a miracle drug for the patients and their physi-cians, as those treated with it usually

recovered clinically in 24-48 hours and had a remarkable reduction in compli-cating sequellae. Frequent daily doses were necessary because penicillin was cleared from the blood stream with each single passage through the kidneys. Thus the half-life of the drug (the time for elimination of 50% of the dose) was only a couple of hours. In the very early days with the scarcity of the precious drug, urine of treated patients was sometime saved in order to recrystallize penicillin from

the urine, which was as rich a source as the liquor from the Penicillium growth. Designation of penicillin as a miracle drug was applied and justified again in its mechanism of antibacterial action In the chemotherapy of bacterial infections drugs were sought that had a favorable differential ratio of toxicity for bacteria and host cells.The penicillin binding protein was not present in any host cells. This mechanism of action endowed the drug with its miraculous toxicity ratio of all against the bacteria and none for host cells.

RESULTS AND EXPECTATIONSIn the early part of the 20th Century, the fatality rate from pneumococcal pneumonia was estimated to be about 40%. Specific antiserum and sulfon-amides reduced it substantially, but it remained a principal cause of death. Within a decade, the results of treat-ment with penicillin erased fear of the disease, permitted treatment without hospitalization and eliminated it as a significant cause of death. A decline in empyema, chronic bronchiectasis, lung

Benzylpenicillin model

News Notebook

76

John A. Moran Eye Center Ophthalmologist Dr. Geoffrey Tabin received the Outstanding Humanitarian Service Award at the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO) meeting in Atlanta, Georgia this past November. The Outstanding Humanitarian Service Award was cre-ated to recognize individuals involved in humanitarian projects, including participation in charitable activities, care to the indigent and community service. Out of a membership of more than 27,000 ophthalmologists, Dr. Tabin is one of only two physicians to receive this prestigious award for 2008. Dr. Tabin serves as the Director of the Division of International Ophthalmology at the John A. Moran Eye Center, University of Utah in Salt Lake City, Utah. He is a specialist in

corneal disease and refractive surgery. He is currently conducting interna-tional ophthalmology missions as part of the United Nations Millennial Villages Project in Bonsaao, Ghana, where he and Moran ophthalmologists Paul Bernstein, Alan Crandall, and Bob Hoffman, and a team of health care specialists, recently examined 4,600 people and performed 159 surgeries in a very remote and logistically difficult area. Dr. Tabin also founded the Himalayan Cataract Project in 1994, with Dr. Sanduk Ruit, a native of Nepal. Since the founding of the project, Drs. Tabin and Ruit have

directly restored sight to over 65,000 people. This year in Nepal alone more than 120,000 people will have their sight restored, due in large part to the extraordinary efforts of the Himalayan Cataract Project. Drs. Tabin and Ruit are working to develop other inter-national eye care programs in India, North Korea and other areas of Africa.

Geoffrey Tabin, M.D., Honored With American Academy of Ophthalmology 2008 Outstanding Humanitarian Service Award

University of Utah Physician Assistant Program faculty member, Kathy Pedersen, MPAS, PA-C has been ap-pointed to the Global Health Education Consortium (GHEC) Board of Directors for a term of 2 years. PA educators have been involved in GHEC for the past 10 years. The mission of GHEC is to foster international health medical education in curriculum, clinical training, career devel-opment, and international education policy. GHEC addresses health needs, human rights, and global workforce issues. Over 70 North American medical schools are represented in the GHEC. Ms. Pedersen’s background and interest area is studying, facilitating and cataloging the global development of physician assistants. “I have an interest in learning about the different processes, educational models, and intended out-comes of physician assistant (PA) educa-tion outside the United States.” She is

also interested in fostering international health medical education in cur-riculum, clinical training, career development, and international education policy. She has been on the faculty of the Utah Physician Assistant Program for 20 years, facilitated global electives in Papua New Guinea and Thailand, and has helped to host delegations from these countries, in addition to Russia and Ghana. She also has served on inter-national committees of the American Academy of Physician Assistants and Physician Assistant Education Association (PAEA) for the past 10 years.

She authored the PAEA White Paper on “International Physician Assistant Education”. Her Masters work included A Survey of International Activities of United States Physician Assistant Programs. The PAEA International Activities Committee has continued using this survey yearly since she conducted the original survey in 2003.

Kathy Pedersen, MPAS, PA-C Appointed to the Board of Directors of the Global Health Education Consortium

News Notebook

Utah Biomedical Informatics Department to Partner with University of Texas at Brownsville

A report from the Institute of Medicine published in April 2008, “Retooling for an Aging America: Building the Health Care Workforce” highlights the critical deficiency in healthcare providers with the training needed to provide care for older people. “As the population of older adults grows to comprise approximately 20 percent of the U.S. population, they will face a health care workforce that is too small and critically unprepared to meet their health needs.” The 7,000 geriatricians in the United States will not be able to meet these demands and older people will receive the majority of their care from the 220,000 primary care physicians. In response to these projections the University of Utah School of Medicine launched an innovative pro-gram, “Advancing Geriatric Education Through Quality Improvement” or “AGE QI” in 2006. The program is aimed at

helping primary care physicians in the state provide higher quality care for their older patients. The school is now using AGS QI, which is based on an initia-tive originally developed through the Michigan Geriatric Education Center to help more than two dozen clinical practices in Utah upgrade care for their aging patients. The program is funded by a grant awarded to the SOM by the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation “Aging and Quality of Life” program. Mark A. Supiano, M.D., professor and chief of geriatrics and executive director of the U of U Center on Aging, is princi-pal investigator for the $2 million grant that supports comprehensive projects designed to strengthen geriatrics training for medical students, residents and practicing physicians. Through the onsite educational program, a Utah medical school geriatrics

faculty member and a geriatric nurse educator work with the entire staff in a given primary care practice presenting a 2-hour geriatrics review, then help the staff develop, complete and analyze the outcomes of a quality improvement project focused on a common geriatric condition. Because more than a third of older people fall each year and many experi-ence significant complications resulting from fall-related injury, all ten University Health Care Community Clinics are participating in AGE QI and are direct-ing their QI efforts by conducting a fall prevention program. The fall preven-tion program systematically screens all Community Clinic patients age 65 years and older to identify those at risk for fall-ing. They then conduct an evaluation to identify strategies – such as home safety assessments or exercise programs – to decrease this risk.

Reynolds Foundation Grant Helps U Strengthen Geriatric Training and Care

Geoffrey Tabin, M.D., in Nepal

University of Utah’s nationally recognized doctoral program in Biomedical Informatics received a grant of $975,000 from the National Institutes of Health to foster a new partnership with their program and the University of Texas at Brownsville (UTB). This bridging partnership will:

1. Provide an interactive Master’s Program between UTB and the U of U which would adequately prepare minority students having an interest in the field of biomedical informatics for acceptance to the U of U BMI Ph.D. program; 2. Provide mechanisms for acceptance and funding by the U of U BMI Department for bridging students who satisfy the Ph.D. entrance requirements;3. Closely monitor students’ progress and provide activities as needed to fill gaps and promote their success in the program; and4. Provide an effective and measurable

means of evaluating the success of the program. Biomedical Informatics is a relatively new field of study, but it is growing very rapidly. It is now viewed as essential, not only to the delivery of high quality healthcare, but also to the advancement of all the biomedical sciences. Although most students and many faculty members at institutions of higher learning are still unfamiliar with the field of Biomedical Informatics, it offers many challenges for research, creativity and career opportuni-ties for individuals at the doctoral level.

Kathy Pederson and PA student Kelly Keller in Kikori Village in the Gulf Province of Papua New Guinea.

Organizations across the country have sent over 240 healthcare professionals to University Health Care Community Clinics to learn how patient-centered care is delivered through their Care by Design (CBD) model. Professionals from Loyola University Health System, Wellspan Medical Group, Mayo Clinic

and Cedars-Sinai Medical Group are just a few of the 47 organizations participating in the two-day training program called Learning Day. Community Clinics created and started implement-ing the CBD model in 2004, now called the “Utah model” by some people outside the state. This model, charac-terized by appropri-

ate access, a care team, and planned care, integrates acute, chronic, and pre-ventive care into a unified system. This redesign of primary care utilizes the skills of well-trained medical assistants to enhance the patient experience while improving the efficiency and effective-ness of the physician.

“Due to our redesign efforts, Community Clinics is now positioned to play a significant role in the national Patient-Centered Medical Home (PCMH) movement that is sweeping the country,” states Michael K. Magill, M.D., executive medical director of Community Clinics. “Recreating the delivery of primary care is critical to improving health and reducing health care costs.” Marlene J. Egger, Ph.D., with the Department of Family and Preventive Medicine, was recently granted the F. Marian Bishop award to examine how well the CBD model succeeds as a strategy to meet the national criteria for the PCMH. Areas to be evaluated will include patient access, informa-tion systems, coordination of care, and performance reporting. If you are interested in finding out more about Learning Day visit health-care.utah.edu/primarycare/learning.

What if doctors could search out and destroy the very first cancer cells that would otherwise have caused a tumor to develop in the body? What if a broken part of a cell could be removed and replaced with a miniature biological machine? What if pumps the size of molecules could be implanted to deliver life-saving medicines precisely when and where they are needed? These scenarios may sound unbelievable, but they are the long-term goals of the evolving field of Nanomedicine, which we anticipate will yield groundbreaking medical ben-efits within the next decade. Nanomedicine refers to highly specific medical intervention at the molecular scale for curing disease or repairing damaged tissues. A nanometer is one-billionth of a meter, too small to be seen with a conventional microscope. Biological molecules and man-made

materials and devices function at sizes of 100 nanometers or less. In collaboration with scientists and physicians worldwide, Dr. Margit M. Janát-Amsbury, M.D., Ph.D. and her colleagues are seeking solutions for the delivery of nanomolecules for the diagnosis and treatment of many condi-tions, including ovarian cancer. This work requires a detailed understanding of cellular structures in order to repair, treat or build novel “nano” structures that can safely operate inside the body. Dr. Janát-Amsbury trained clinically in Germany and the Netherlands. Her focus lies on women’s health with special interest in gynecologic cancers. She joined the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Utah after initiating the first clinical trial at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas, in which a nanoscale, polymeric delivery system delivered an immunomodulating agent to patients

suffering from recurrent ovarian cancer. Within her first year she has applied for funding from the NIH (pending) and received funding from the University based on her collaborative efforts with researchers from various basic science fields including pharmaceutical chemis-try and bioengineering. Fostering these interdisciplinary collaborations strengthens the USTAR Nanotechnology Institute and Center for Nanomedicine here at the University of Utah. It is widely anticipated that Utah’s programs in nanomedicine will result in new diagnostic tools and en-gineered nanoscale structures designed specifically for treatment of a number of conditions including ovarian cancer, as well as train the next generation of scientists and clinicians.

News Notebook

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Nanomedicine at the U: The Dawn of a New Era

Two Wyoming counties and one in Idaho have been added to the National Children’s Study (NCS), the largest investigation ever undertaken to assess the effects of environmental and genetic factors on child and human health in the United States. The 25-year, national study began in 2005 when seven vanguard centers, including Salt Lake County, were named to launch the effort. The University of Utah Department of Pediatrics, with the support of Primary Children’s Medical Center, was awarded the contract. Edward B. Clark, M.D., chair of pediat-rics and medical director of PCMC, was named principal investigator for the Salt Lake County Vanguard Center. In October 2008 Uinta and Lincoln Counties in Wyoming and Bear Lake County, Idaho were named among 39

new study locations. The three counties join Cache County, which was awarded in 2007, as part of the study center administered by the NCS team in the Department of Pediatrics. Authorized by the Children’s Health Act of 2000, the National Children’s Study is being conducted by a con-sortium of federal agencies, including the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The National Children’s Study will follow a representative sample of 100,000 children from before birth to age 21. Study volunteers will be recruited throughout the United States, from rural,

urban, and suburban areas, from all income and educational levels, and from all racial groups. The study will investi-gate factors influencing the development of such conditions as autism, cerebral palsy, learning disabilities, birth defects, diabetes, asthma, and obesity. Within just a few years, the study will provide information on disorders of pregnancy and birth, and because women will be recruited before they give birth, and in some instances even before they become pregnant, the study will provide insight into the causes and contribu-tors of preterm birth. Fully operational, the study is expected to include up to 50 study centers in the planned 105 study locations throughout the United States, according to Clark. “The National Children’s Study will benefit the nation’s children for generations,” Clark said.

National Children’s Study Adds Counties in Wyoming and Idaho to University of Utah’s Vanguard Center

Learning Day at University Community Clinics Goes National

News Notebook

The DFPM’s Physician Assistant Program (UPAP) has collaborated for two years with Ghana, to bring continu-ing medical education to their physician assistants. In Ghana, physician assistants (PAs) are called ‘medical assistants’ and developed 40 years ago to meet the primary care needs of underserved populations. Ghana is a country of 22 million people with only 2000 physicians and 500 medical assistants; the country has long suffered from a ”brain drain” where roughly 2 of every 3 M.D.s trained in Ghana emigrates to work in the United States or Europe. This leaves over 70% of primary care services in the hands of medical assistants. Clinics are located in remote areas with non-existent Internet

access. Clinicians practicing in these areas have difficulty updating their continu-ing medical education. The focus of the Ghana Clinical Medicine Service Experience is to improve the education of medical assistants. This effort has been carried out in conjunction with the Ghanaian Ministry of Health, the KNUST Medical School, and the Kintampo Rural Health Training School where medical assistants receive their education. A ‘teaching the teachers’ approach was determined to be the most effective model to bring sustainable edu-cational support to the Ghanaian health care system. UPAP faculty and students host a 4-day CME conference during the two-week trip. Recordings of the classes are provided to faculty and practicing medical assistants for dissemination to their colleagues.

This service experience has included more than 25 volunteer Utah M.D.s and PAs specializing in Family Medicine, OB/Gyn, Infectious Disease, Internal Medicine, Gastroenterology, Pediatrics, Dermatology, and Emergency Medicine. Over 500 Ghanaian faculty and medi-cal assistants have attended the seminars scheduled every summer semester. In 2009, Utah students and faculty will participate in a Women’s Health Initiative designed to bring preven-tive health care to rural communities. Training in cancer screening will be provided to the medical assistants with follow-up on outcomes planned in one year. If you are interested in learning more about this global health experience, contact Nadia Miniclier M.S., P.A.-C at 585-3050.

Department of Family and Preventive Medicine (DFPM) Teaches the Teachers in Ghana

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Care by Design model in use at Centerville Clinic

11Class of 1993

Class of 1988

Class of 1978

1978

1988

199310

2008Alumni WeekendConnecting With U

Class of 1958

Class of 1963

Class of 1968

1958

19631968

Back Row (Left to Right): Glenn L. Johnston, Clayton R. Gabbert, Ward H. Hedges, Richard M. Hebertson, John

E. Meyers, Herbert B. Spencer, Harry L. GibbonsFront Row (Left to Right): C. Gary Loosli, Barry A.

Clothier, Arthur F. Budge, James O. Mason, Joseph M. Heath, Joseph H. Nelson, E. Ute Knowlton

Back Row (left to right): Kent Pomeroy, A. Mason Redd, Donald Reay, Thomas Caine, Robert Duncan Wallace, Robert GibbonsFront Row (left to right): Alvin Cobabe, Kirk Neuberger, Joseph Knight, Walker Ashcraft, Kenny Ashby

Back Row (left to right): Bruce McIff, Nathaniel Matolo, Curt

Kaesche, Edward Heyes, Richard Wallin, Andrew Grose

Front Row (left to right): Bruce Irvine, Reed Heywood, Jon Ord,

Lawrence Astle, Jon Lloyd

Paul Larsen; Robert Christiansen; Eliot Brinton; Kristina Hindert; Garner Meads; Brent Jackson; Jeffrey Labrum; Michael Lahey; Jeffrey Mathews

LeeLee Colter; Peter Novak; Tim Wolfe: Eric Vanderhooft;

Sheryll Vanderhooft; John Hardy; Michael Measom: Bart

Johansen; Teresa Ota; Ivan Flint; Ken Nielson;

Steve Roberts; Bryan Timmins; Brian Heaton: Dan Hammon;

Lisa Burton; Craig Foley

David Sabir,; Jay Clark; Neil Callister; Wendell Johnson; Sheila Garvey; Matthew Hughes; Trent Jones; Ryan Evans; Richard VanLeeuwen

Continuing

Education

Alumni WeekendThe Alumni Weekend 2008 continues to expand to include not only M.D. graduates of the School of Medicine, but also former house staff graduates, other School of Medicine graduates, and community medical members. This year celebrated the 16th year the Alumni Association has hosted an Awards Banquet, celebrating the 50-year classes’ achievements and recognizing a Distinguished Service member and Distinguished Alumni mem-ber of the school. These awardees are nominated by their peers and voted upon by the Alumni Association board each year. (See page 24 for 2009 nomination information).

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1998

Awards

Class of 1998

Medical Alumni Awards Banquet

2008 Alumni Weekend

Back Row (left to right): Carmen Ar-kansas Nations, Ed Peterson, Raphael Allred, Jim Reynolds, Michael Mar-tineau, Michael Pingree, Tom Clark, Chris Jones and Trent Holmberg.Front Row (left to right): Trena Bonde, Gina Cox, Marc Johnson, Sarah Maulden, Stephanie Carney, Janell Jager, Brian Fukushima, Tammy Park Fukishima, Jennifer Brinton, Mark Sheffield.

Nicole Lynd Draper, Jennifer Holmes, Jon Martin, Ryan Stewart, Rebecca

Hendryx, Robert Christensen

Class of 2003

2003

Robert H. Ballard, M.D. ‘44, Alumni Association President Mark Johnston, M.D. ‘90, and Alumni Relation Director Kristin Wann Gorang

Class of 1958 Honorees

Stephen Warner, Associate V.P. of Health Sciences Development and Alumni, Tom Caine, M.D. ‘63, and Richard Boyer, M.D. ‘73.

CME Audience listened intently to topic “Health Care in Crisis: History, Challenges, and Opportunities.

Virgil Parker, M.D. ‘57, and Carol Fay at CME conference

Greg Poulsen, Sr. Vice President, IHC presents Health Reform Issues.

Panelist Jay Jarvis, M.D. ‘82, speaks as Greg Poulsen and Jay Jacobsen, M.D., listen.

Friday morning eight different School of Medicine departments sponsored breakfasts and programs for alumni followed by a “State of the School” address by Dean David Bjorkman. Friday night 220 alumni closed down Little America as they celebrated their reunions, laughing, reminiscing and renewing friendships.

Saturday the annual CME conference drew over 100 attendees from both alumni and the greater community as the topic Health Care in Crisis: History, Challenges and Opportunities was present-ed. That presentation is currently available on the SOM Alumni Association web site www.medicine.utah.edu/alumni.

Saturday ended with a tailgating party at the Alumni House and a 42-21 football victory over UNLV. We encourage many of you to make plans now to attend the 2009 Alumni and Community Weekend on September 24-26.

15

Harmon Eyre, M.D. recently retired as Chief Medical Officer and Executive Vice President for Research and Cancer Control Science at the American Cancer Society. As an American Cancer Society volunteer for over 22 years and National President in 1988, he has been in-strumental in developing the Society’s priorities, including efforts to decrease smoking, improve diet, detect cancer at the earliest stage, and provide the criti-cal support cancer patients need. Dr. Eyre guided efforts to enhance and focus the Society’s research program, upgraded its advocacy capacity, and

oncentrated community cancer control efforts in areas where they were most effective. Previously he had a successful academic career as a medical oncolo-gist at the University of Utah, where he served as Associate Chairman of Internal Medicine and Deputy Director of the Huntsman Cancer Institute. He has been recognized for his service to numerous professional societies, govern-ment groups, and voluntary health agencies in the United States and abroad.

The first major gift to the University of Utah Health Sciences from the Spencer Stoddard Eccles family was a gener-ous bequest given in 1965 to construct the Spencer S. Eccles Health Sciences Library. This original family gift was followed up with annual contribu-tions to the library from the Spencer Fox Eccles and Nancy Eccles Hayward families, that resulted in an endow-ment that has been used to support the collection, introduce technology and provide seed money for innovative proj-ects and programs. In 1975, the Eccles families provided a gift to the hospital for the construction of the Hope Fox Eccles Clinical Library and have made annual gifts to support an endowment. More recently the Nancy Eccles Hayward

Family donated $100,000 to provide an endowment for the library’s Open Reserve Collection, which includes core health sciences textbooks. In 2005 the family continued its generous support for the Health Sciences in Utah by Spencer and Cleone making a personal gift of $7 million to provide major funding for the Spencer F. and Cleone P. Eccles Health Sciences Education Building. This facility provided much needed classrooms, labs, and training facilities for the medical school and for all

other students in health sciences specialties. This state-of-the-art build-ing has greatly benefited the training of the next generation of health care providers for Utah.

Distinguished Alumni Award

This award is presented annually to a graduate of the School of Medicine who exemplifies the practice of medicine. Achievement is recognized through excel-lence in clinical practice, academic activities and research accomplishments.

Distinguished Service Award

This award recognizes individuals, both alumni and non-alumni, who have made outstanding contributions to the school, the community, and the practice of medicine.

DistinguishedSchool of Medicine Distinguished Awards 2008

Student Life“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness . . . Broad, whole-some, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one’s lifetime.” Such words written by acclaimed American author, Mark Twain have also proven their relevance in the study and practice of medicine. “Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men” is what is needed today for success in the medical profession and frequently “prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness” is still the platform upon which resistance to progress is launched. Many of the international pro-grams at the University of Utah, including The Thailand International Elective (TIE5), are founded on these ideas and strive to instill training in medical open-mindedness in their participants. The director of TIE5, Dr. Han Kim, repeatedly reminded me and the other traveling students that his objective was to make us uncomfortable. While he certainly succeeded, he never told us that in our discomfort we would come to love with a first hand knowledge the complexity of the human experience that makes medicine so rewarding. Thailand was the full-blown produc-tion of the script that is required reading for all first and second year medical students. Our trip brought questions and discussions to the statistics of social medicine, faces to the viruses of microbiology, and an urgency to the understanding and appreciation of pharmacology. In Thailand the facts of medical school came alive in real

world presentations. The implications of life-style related illness was made poignantly clear during a stroll through the Red Light district in downtown Bangkok where STDs are being traded like baseball cards in elementary school. Our visit to the AIDS hospice became a devas-tating, yet unforgettable pictorial encyclopedia of the opportunist infections inflicting the victims of this viral assault. The experience of cachexia, which meant little to me as a two-dimensional word in a microbiology syllabus, is now burned into my brain as the very definition of suffering. Diseases which I had deemed only of historical significance were brought to the forefront of my concern as I learned how to diagnose leprosy in a young woman standing frightened in the clinic. The gurgle of expectorated sputum, the crackling of fibrotic lungs, and the droning monotony of an ongoing Buddhist prayer have become my new association with Tuberculosis; my previously learned triad of fever, night sweats, and weight loss now

seems somewhat less impressionable. Diseases became more significant because of their devastation and, I realized, cannot be fully understood in a context devoid of their implications on an individual body and soul. Our days in Thailand pro-vided this context. Our trip to Thailand presented us with an under-standing of the depth of the public

health challenges facing today’s population, but the Thais were determined not to leave us without solutions. It was inspiring to ob-serve a unique health care system from the legislative, theoretical, religious, and clinical angles. The Thais have structured their health care system on ideals of individual responsibility, equality, and efficiency, while relying on a vast network of community volunteers who educate, test, and advise their neighbors. Our month in Thailand was shaped by countless bus rides in which issues such as those mentioned above were discussed and debated regarding their value, relevance, and relation to the United States health care system. In many cases we were able to see the problems and possible solu-tions of the American health care system in a new light. TIE5 was not a month of comfort and ease. It was a time to explore the founda-tions of our future professions and the systems in which we will operate. It was a time to feel sad, angry, grossed-out and uncomfortably sticky from sweat, but also a time to feel inspired by individuals and their personal triumphs. Just as Mark Twain implicated travel as a means of overcoming narrow-mindedness, so too can medicine open our minds and our hearts–but only if we embrace the vulnerability, humility and awkwardness of the situations in which it may place us. Our experience in Thailand helped us to do just that.

Twain, Thailand, and TuberculosisBy Anne Bennett (MSIV)

AIDS Hospice

Author at Thai orphanage

Sr. V.P. of Health Sciences, Lorris A. Betz, M.D., Dean David Bjorkman, M.D., and Harmon J. Eyre, M.D. ‘66

Award

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Spencer F. Eccles family representing the Spencer Stoddard & Hope Fox Eccles Family

SERVICE AWARDDi

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Ballard

White Coat Ceremony

Scholars

n the Fall of 2008 the second two Robert H. Ballard and Dorothy Cannon Ballard scholars for the

University of Utah School of Medicine were named. This award, generously endowed by Robert H. Ballard, M.D. ’44 in 2007 is given to the two most outstanding candidates of each incoming medical school class based on grades, test scores, research, and service to the greater community. This year’s recipients were Michael S. Enslow and Christopher “Todd” Sower. Michael graduated from the University of Utah with a B.S. in Health Promotion and Education with a minor in Chemistry. Along with his school work he volun-teered for the Special Olympics, served as an emergency room and nursing home volunteer and as a football coach for Alta High School. He was a group coordina-tor and health educator in La Paz, Bolivia, raising over $20,000 and soliciting donated medical supplies for the trip. His research has included studying familial resemblance in body composition in Tongan-Americans and testing ventricular assist devices in calves with the hope of being able to use them in people in the future. Christopher “Todd” Sower graduated with a B.S. in Human Development and Family Studies and a minor in Chemistry from the University of Utah. As an under-graduate he received a Colleen Cluff Caputo Honor Scholarship and served as a teaching assistant. He spent time as an emergency

room volunteer, tutored inmates at the Salt Lake County Jail and taught basic first aid to 5th graders through the American Red Cross. He volunteered at Primary Children’s Hospital and researched echocardiographic measurements of pulmonary regurgitation. We welcome them to this prestigious group of scholars and look forward to their future accomplishments. In the year and a half that has passed since the first two Ballard scholars began medical school they have taken the opportu-nity to reflect on what receiving the Ballard Scholarship meant to them. Griffin Jardine, MSII wrote: “I feel overwhelmed when I think of how much this scholarship has helped my family this past year. My wife and I had our first child the week before my first year of medical school started. Our financial situation changed dramatically in the course of that week – I stopped working com-pletely in order to focus on school and my wife significantly cut back on her hours to take care of our daughter. This scholarship made all the difference during that stage of transition. We have been able to focus on the things that are most important to us without being burdened or distracted by ex-cessive debt. This will continue throughout our lives because my medical school loans won’t dictate my career choice. I have also felt empowered this past year to try to live up to Dr. Ballard’s legacy because of how he has benefited me and my family. Having

my education funded by this incredible act of kindness has been inspiring. Among the many legacies Dr. Ballard has left through-out his career, this endowed scholarship is a tribute to his generosity. It will impact the course of my entire career and life. Thank you Dr. Ballard.” Mitchael Steorts, MSII wrote: “Receiving the Robert H. Ballard and Dorothy Cannon Ballard Endowed Scholarship has already significantly impacted my medical school education. It has made me a better student by pushing me to ‘live up’ to the honor of receiving this scholarship. My wife and I feel less stress about the financial aspect of medical school, and because of this, I have been able to focus less on finances and more on course work. However, I strongly feel that the greatest impact this scholarship will have on me and my family will not be fully realized for years to come. The one thing I don’t think I really understood before starting medical school is just how many options there are for practic-ing medicine. It seems to me that there is a field of medicine as broad or specific as any physician’s interests. However, with the cost of medical school, it is all too often the case that debt repayment becomes a driving force when selecting a career path. I am pro-foundly grateful for this scholarship because it ensures that the only factor influencing the field of medicine I practice in will be my personal desires.”

n August 22 the seats of Kingsbury Hall on the campus of the University of Utah filled

with proud family members and friends as the 102 members of the Class of 2012 were initiated into the profession of medicine by being cloaked with a medi-cal white coat. 2008 marked the 12th year that the University of Utah’s School of Medicine has celebrated this event. Richard Sperry, M.D., Ph.D., Associate Vice President of Health Sciences, and Director of the Governor Scott M. Matheson Center for Health Care Studies gave the keynote address, focusing on how the increased technology of medicine should never overshadow the importance of the caring tradition of medicine and the ability to see each patient as a fellow human being. Students recited the Hippocratic Oath, publicly acknowledging their new responsibilities and their willingness to assume the obligations of their new profession. Dr. Fred Langeland, M.D., outgo-ing President of the Alumni Association, presented each incoming student with a Littman III Cardiac Stethoscope given to them as a personal gift from a medical school alumnus/a.

Student LifeThe Cloak of Compassion-2008 White Coat Ceremony

2007 Ballard Scholars Griffin Jardine, and Mitchael Steorts with Robert H. Ballard M.D. ‘44

Class of 2012 prepares to recite hippocratic oath

Richard Sperry, M.D., Ph.D. addresses White Coat recipients

Incoming students Carlos Casamalhuapa, Joseph Cho, Heather Wark, Roberto E. Montenegro, and Marie Flores

Dr. Bjorkman cloaking Roberto E. Montenegro

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BECOMING A BALLARD SCHOLAR

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Dale G. Johnson, M.D. ‘56

Christine A. Cheng, M.D. ‘97 House Staff

Alumni NotebookAlumni Highlights

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Alumni Notebook

Dr. Cheng is a board certified plastic and reconstructive surgeon in pri-vate practice. She is original-ly from Kansas and attended the University

of Kansas on a music scholarship (violin), obtaining a B.A. in Human Biology. She then attended Duke University Medical School, graduating in 1990, and followed this with five

years with the Duke Department of General Surgery Residency Program. She moved to Utah, having matched for a plastic surgery fellowship at the University of Utah, finishing that program in 1997. Currently, she is completing a four-year membership of the Lakeview Hospital Board of Trustees, is a UMA delegate for the Utah State Plastic Surgical Society, is a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons, and a member of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons. Her interests also include her

family, pickup soccer, hiking, running, biking, cooking, books and movies. Plastic surgery has been a wonder-ful opportunity to meet outstanding patients, work with skilled colleagues and realize a lifelong dream. Dr. Cheng feels that being a board member of the University of Utah SOM Alumni Association is a privilege and an opportunity to work with some of the true leaders in medicine. She hopes experience gained from her private practice and other professional activities will contribute to Alumni board goals.

Dale G. Johnson, M.D. joined the surgery faculty at Utah in 1971, following recruit-ment from fac-ulty positions at the University of Pennsylvania and the Children’s

Hospital of Philadelphia, (CHOP). A native of Salt Lake, Dr. Johnson graduated with Utah’s medical class of 1956. General surgical training at the Massachusetts General Hospital was followed by three years of research at the Walter Reed Army Institute and the U. of Pennsylvania’s Harrison Department. Dr. C. Everett Koop sponsored additional fellowship train-ing in pediatric surgery followed by promotion to faculty associate at CHOP.

Dr. Johnson stepped down as Surgeon-in-Chief at Primary Children’s Medical Center in 2002, retired from active surgical practice in 2006, and currently enjoys Emeritus Faculty status. Career highlights include presidencies of the American Pediatric Surgical Association and the Pacific Association of Pediatric Surgeons along with membership in 25 professional organizations including The American Surgical Association. Visiting professorships have involved multiple institutions in Europe, Asia, Australia, Africa and the United States. Dr. Johnson is anxious to help in developing more efficient methods for communication between medical alumni along with improved access to ongoing developments at the Medical School. Dr. Johnson believes such class and school ties are important for maintaining physician identity.

Dr. Sundwall feels honored to serve on the SOM, especially because he never felt quite worthy to even have been admitted to

the school in the first place. During his student days he never would have guessed he’d have had this opportuni-ty. Dr. Sundwall completed his Family Medicine internship and residency at Harvard teaching hospitals in Boston and found that he had received a very fine medical education at the U of U and could certainly hold his own with peers trained in prestigious schools

throughout the country. He returned to Utah, and had two relatively brief stints on the faculty of the School of Medicine (1975-77, and 1978-80) but maintained his ties with the school and to his knowledge holds a world record, for the longest continuous “leave of absence” ever granted a medi-cal school faculty! He kept his position as an Associate Professor, tenure track, in the Department of Family and Preventive Medicine, from 1981 until 2004, when he returned to Utah and regained active status. He is proud of our school, and knows of its reputa-tion nationally and the contribu-tions it has made to our state and the Intermountain West. Dr. Sundwall hopes to lend support for its contin-ued success and an expanded role in medical education.

Alumni board welcomes new members

Ali K. Choucair, M.D. ‘84 House Staff

A native of Beirut, Lebanon, Dr. Choucair started his undergraduate edu-cation in Germany and graduated Magna Cum Laude in Biochemistry from Rice University, where he was the recipient of the National Science Foundation stipend for undergraduate research in Biochemistry. He earned his M.D from the University of Calgary School of Medicine (1976-1979), and completed training in Internal Medicine (University of Calgary 1979-1981), Neurology (University of Utah 1981-84), and Neuro-oncology (University of California San Francisco’s Brain Tumor Research Center 1984-86). As a founding member of the Society for Neuro-oncology he currently serves on its International Outreach and Award committees. He was on the faculty of the Marshfield Clinic for 15 years where he founded the Cancer

Pain Program as well as the Division of Neuro-oncology, which he chaired until his resignation in December 2000 to return to Utah. He is currently adjunct Professor of Medicine and Neurosurgery at the University of Utah, an Associate Member of the Division of Medical Ethics and Humanities, on the faculty for the Cultural Competence and Mutual Respect in Healthcare course for the Health Sciences, and on the teaching faculty for the combined Internal Medicine residency training program at Intermountain Medical Center. Dr Choucair serves as the Medical Director for Neuro-oncology at Intermountain Healthcare. As a physician citizen of the State of Utah and a graduate from one of its training programs, Dr. Choucair believes in having ownership in supporting the mission of the University of Utah SOM,

especially when it comes to medical education. He believes it is an important responsibility to invest in the educa-tion of our graduates both inside and outside the classroom. Having the privilege to serve on the SOM Alumni Board is an opportunity to pay back for the indebtedness of having a life generously blessed and shaped by so many dedicated teachers in Lebanon, Germany, Canada, and the United States. It is part of our mission to maintain our students’ connectivity to the mission of the SOM, to be our ambassadors to the greater community.

H. Ja

mes W

illiams,

M.D. ‘6

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David N. Sundwall, M.D. ‘6919

As a native of Salt Lake City, Dr. James Williams (Jim) received his undergraduate and medical school education from the University of Utah (’69). He completed his residency training in internal medicine at Duke University in North Carolina before returning to the University of Utah School of Medicine as the chief medical resident. Following two years of service in the U.S. Army at Fort Riley, Kansas, he returned to the University of Utah for training in Rheumatology and to join the faculty at the medical school. In addition to his practice as a rheumatologist, he was involved in clinical research and also served as associate chairman of the Department of Medicine and chief of the Division of Rheumatology. He was the program director for the internal medicine training program for 14 years. He has also served as the governor for the Utah Chapter of the American College of Physicians. He retired as a profes-sor in 2004 when he was called to preside over the Denmark Copenhagen Mission for his church but returned to part-time practice at the University of Utah Medical Center in 2007. He and his wife Janet have seven children and 12 grandchildren. This is his second stint on the Alumni Board and he hopes to continue the high quality of the CME conference on Alumni weekend.

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Dr. Rita Leavell of Abt Associates, Inc. was recognized in the Women Making a Difference spotlight in USAID Health for her work in Jordan to improve the early

detection of breast cancer, the second leading cause of death for women in that country. A pediatrician with an MBA, Dr. Leavell has worked in international health for 22 years, 17 of which were focused on using the private sector to achieve sustainable health goals.

Under Dr. Leavell’s leadership as project director, the United States Agency for International Development’s (USAID) Abt Associates-led Jordan Private Sector Project for Women’s Health (PSP Jordan) helped establish the Jordan Breast Cancer Program. Its five-year goal is to detect at least 70 percent of breast cancer cases in the early, curable stages. The program encourages all women to regularly have clinical exams and women ages 40 to 60 to receive annual mammograms. Through her leadership Dr. Leavell has been instrumental in fostering part-nerships with PSP Jordan. She worked with the King Hussein Cancer Center, the King Hussein Cancer Foundation and the Ministry of Health (MOH) to launch the Pink Ribbon communication campaign that informed women and health officials that “early detection of breast cancer saves lives.” From this partnership was born a draft plan for the nation and the Jordan

Breast Cancer Program. Community health workers from PSP Jordan’s door-to-door outreach program have met more than 770,000 women ages 15 to 60 to in-form them about breast cancer and teach them how to perform self-exams. They also communicated through TV and radio spots, brochures, and posters, encouraging women to see their doctors and check for breast cancer. In October 2007, just one year after the launch of the Pink Ribbon Breast Cancer Campaign, local initiatives were expanded to enhance its effectiveness. During the initiative, more than 31,000 women received checkups for breast can-cer, a remarkable increase from the 12,000 women who had them in 2006. In ad-dition hotline calls increased tenfold over 2006, with four times as many women willing to have a mammogram.

Rita Leavell, M.D. ’81 featured in USAID Health News

Many individu-als in Utah know orthopaedist Lonnie Paulos and his research and clinical expertise on the knee. He has worked on more than 100 studies

in orthopaedic research and holds 20 U.S. patents, the majority being brac-ing devices and procedures for the knee. He received national attention for his work on the left knee of Carson Palmer, the former Heisman Trophy winner and Cincinnati Bengals quarterback, in 2006. He is now the newest big name to join the Andrews Institute for Orthopaedics and Sports Medicine in Gulf Breeze, Fla. He is partnering with Andrews to create the Andrews-Paulos Research and Education Institute at the Andrews Institute.

Lonnie Paulos, M.D. ’73 creates Andrew-Paulos Research and Education Institute

How often does it occur that you deliver a baby and over 30-years later that baby takes over your practice when you retire? That is what happened to Norman Fawson, M.D. ’66 and Curtis Carter, M.D. ’03. In 1975 Dr. Fawson de-livered Curtis Carter at the St. George Clinic; now, 33-years later Dr. Fawson found in Dr. Carter a perfect fit for

someone to replace him. “I’m sure it happens, but personally I don’t know of anybody else,” Carter says of replacing the doctor who

delivered him. With his practice in good hands Fawson now plans to work at the St. George Doctors’ Volunteer Clinic, teach violin and viola for the

school district, and take care of his apple orchard.

Recruiting from Past Deliveries

Alumni NotebookAlumni Highlights Alumni Notebook

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Weber Medical Society names Lyle Archibald, M.D. ’71 Doctor of the Year

Every fall Utah Business magazine names community health care heroes in seven categories, Lifetime Achievement, Health Care Provider-PhysicianHealth Care Provider-Non-Physician, Volunteer, Community Outreach, Administrative Excellence and Corporate Achievement. This year four M.D. graduates from the University of Utah School of Medicine were recognized for their achievement.

Lifetime AchievementScott D. Williams, M.D.,’82, M.P.H., ‘89Scott Williams, M.D. has spent 23 years working in every sector of health care. Currently he is Chief Medical Officer of HCA’s MountainStar Division and was formerly an executive director of the Utah Department of Health. He has spent his career focusing on improving preventive health care services to patients, stating, “If we focus resources at the early end of health care problems, we’ll prevent people from having more complications and improve their health now. They won’t need as much treatment down the road, which saves money later on too.” He focuses on the dissemination of electronic health records (EHR) which updates patient records and reminds phy-sicians when preventive services are due

for individual patients.Community OutreachTamara Lewis, M.D., ‘89With one in four Utah children over-weight and nearly one in ten obese, the threat of early onset diabetes and other problems associated with overweight is cre-ating a crisis in healthcare among today’s youth. Tamara Lewis, M.D., her associ-ate Pauline Williams, and Intermountain Healthcare decided to educate adolescents by directing LiVe, a public education campaign aimed at kids ages 11 to 15, with the goal of making eating healthy and staying active cool for kids. The program uses television, radio, and print ads, outdoor public service announcements, and an interactive Web site (intermoun-tainlive.org) to reach out to kids. In 2008 a high-energy school assembly program explaining how to make healthy choices was shown at 75 junior high schools across Utah, with plans to increase the number to reach more than 30,000 Utah students in the next few years.

Robert B. Clark, M.D. ‘82In 1990 Robert Clark became involved with the Neonatal Resuscitation Program, a low-tech and highly effective program used by doctors and midwives on babies who can’t breathe at birth. In 1991 Dr. Clark obtained a Thrasher grant, which helped spread the program not only throughout the U.S., but also to China, Vietnam, Russia and Indonesia, where it has influenced health initiatives, programs

and outreach efforts. “Whether at home or abroad, the health needs of people always exceed the resources available for their care,” Clark says. “At home, I have been privileged to follow many of my patients from their birth through childhood, adolescence, adulthood, marriage and the birth of their children. Overseas, I have been privileged to help establish systems that allow large numbers of newborns to have a healthy start on life, and hopefully attain the same goals.”

Health Care Provider-PhysicianScott Albert Leckman, M.D. ‘83Scott Leckman was recognized not only for his role improving the quality and safety of patient care at St. Mark’s Hospital, but also for his extensive volun-teer efforts around the world. He served for a month aboard the USNS Mercy providing medical relief for survivors of the 2004 tsunami in northern Sumatra, Indonesia and for years has been involved with RESULTS, a grassroots citizens’ lobby group dedicated to ending hunger. Serving on the board of directors of RESULTS has taken him to Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, El Salvador and Capitol Hill to work on hunger issues. In 2001 he assisted in initiating the Health Access Project which has provided nearly $2 million in donated health care to qualified individuals through a network of 600 physicians and nine hospitals affiliated with the project.

School of Medicine Health Care Heroes Named

Lyle Archibald, M.D. has practiced as a surgeon in Ogden, Utah since 1976, performing approximately 25,000 surgi-cal procedures and played a major role in developing the McKay-Dee Hospital trauma program. He has also served on the Utah State trauma task force, was chief

of surgery at McKay-Dee Hospital and chairman of McKay-Dee’s medical staff. He is a member of the American College of Surgeons, Southwest Surgical Society, Ogden Surgical Society, the American Society of Breast Diseases and the Utah State Medical Association and is currently

the medical director for the surgical clini-cal program at Intermountain Healthcare. In 2008 he was recognized as the Weber County Doctor of the Year by the Weber Medical Society for all of his contribu-tions to the community.

Curtis Carter, M.D. ‘03 and Norman Fawson M.D. ‘66

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John E. Meyers, M.D. Dr. Meyers prac-ticed Aviation Medicine in the airforce as a flight

surgeon since 1960, until he retired in 1989; he currently works for NASA. Dr. Meyers considers work as his hobby and raising three successful children as one of his biggest achievements. He felt the training he received at the U of U Medical School prepared him to practice medicine as well, if not better than, any school in the country.

Stanley N. Mogerman, M.D. Dr. Mogerman has been hap-pily married for fifty-two years

to Barbara, who he met his freshman year at the U and married his junior year. They have three daughters and six grandchildren. He and Barbara enjoy ballroom dancing and make every attempt to go dancing as often as they can fit it in. They also enjoy cruising and have been on twenty-eight cruises so far!

Joseph H. Nelson, M.D. Dr. Nelson retired in 1998. He has six children and twenty-six grand-

children. He has been honored with a Medal of Commendation from the US Army and was the Utah Doctor of the Year and President of the Logan, Utah Kiwanis Club. His hobbies are wood-working and pen making. He served a medical mission to Ukraine from 1998 to 2001.

Ronald F. Read, M.D.Dr. Read worked for over 30 years as a staff psychiatrist at Community Mental Health in San Diego. Music has always been an important part of Dr. Read’s life. For over 50 years, he was a tenor soloist and a member of various choirs, performing in numerous productions and programs. He was also the publisher of the San Diego Seagull, a newspaper committed to the interest of members of the LDS Church in San Diego for 18 years.

Lawrence E. Reichmann, M.D. Dr. Reichmann retired in 1992. He has four

wonderful children. He is a Diplomat in the America Board of Anesthesiology and enjoys studying family history in his free time.

James G. Smith, M.D. Dr. Smith served as Chief of the Department of OB/GYN at

Kaiser Hospital/Permanente Medical Group in Vallejo California for 17 years, in which time it grew from three to 14 doctors, plus four nurse practitioners and one nurse mid-wife. He also established a rotating residency in OB/GYN with Travis Air Force Base in Fairfield and the Contra Costa County General Hospital in Martinez, California. He served as an LDS Area Medical Advisor in Chile for 18 months supervising medical care for 1800 Missionaries throughout eight missions in Chile.

Herbert B. Spencer, M.D. Dr. Spencer still assists his partners in surgery once a week, but is “al-

most” retired. He served as the mission president for the LDS church in Sweden and as a regional representative of the Council of the Twelve. He has survived three coronary by-pass procedures start-ing in 1980 but continues to be active working and adopting seven children, currently ages four to nineteen, whose mothers are meth addicts.

John Robert Stewart, M.D.Dr. Stewart recently retired from the University of Utah where he taught ra-diation oncology for decades. He was in-volved in the planning for the Huntsman Cancer Center at the University and currently serves as a “Spirit of Caring” volunteer at LDS hospital. Dr. Stewart’s wife Ann died in April 2006 after over fifty years of marriage.

1963

Walker J. Ashcraft, M.D. Dr. Ashcraft is the Medical Director of Hospice and a member of the

Board of Trustees at the Marcus Daly Hospital in Montana.

Michael S. Clement, M.D. Dr. Clement is the author of the book Children at Health Risk and an

editor of ten other books on preparing for passing board exams. He is a medical photographer and has work displayed in numerous textbooks. He is also a consultant to the Arizona Prenatal Trust, Maternal and Child Health with the Arizona Department of Health Services.

Robert B. Gibbons, M.D. Dr. Gibbons is a Master in the American College of Physicians,

a Clinical Professor of Medicine at the University of Colorado School of Medicine and the Chairman of Medicine at Exempla Saint Joseph Hospital in Denver. He has also served as Treasurer of the American College of Physicians, President of the Rocky Mountain Rheumatism Society, and Governor of the Colorado Chapter of the American College of Physicians.

Kendrick O. Morrison, M.D. Dr. Morrison is married and has five children and 17 grandchil-

dren. He retired as Chairman of the Department of Surgery at Cottonwood Hospital in Murray, Utah. He has served a medical mission for the LDS Church and has a private pilot license, flying a single-engine twin instrument plane.

Kent L. Pomeroy, M.D. Dr. Pomeroy lives in Scottsdale, Arizona and practices

Orthopedic and Rehabilitation and Pain Management Medicine. He lost his first wife Brenda, in September 2005 from metastatic breast cancer and recently remarried another wonderful redhead, who is keeping him young since she was born two years after he graduated from medical school! He is listed in Who’s Who in America, Who’s Who in the World, Who’s Who in the West, Who’s Who in Science and Engineering and Who’s Who in Medicine.

Donald T. Reay, M.D. Dr. Reay is recently retired as chief medical examiner in

Seattle – King County, WA. He is also an emeritus professor of pathology at the University of Washington.

A. Mason Redd, M.D.Dr. Redd worked as a Psychiatry faculty member at the University

of Utah following his residency training until he retired in 1999. He and his wife, Karen, then served an LDS mission as Area Medical Advisors in the Asia North Area for a year and a half and had a great experience traveling around that area caring for missionaries. They will celebrate their 50th anniversary in 2009 and hope to gather their seven children and seventeen grandchildren together for a party and a family picture.

Paul Sondrup, M.D. Dr. Sondrup lives in Virginia where he is retired as President and

CEO of Professional Resource Services.

Otto S. Shill Jr., M.D.Dr. Shill retired from Otolaryngology in 1995 and lives in Mesa, Arizona. He presided over the Florida Jacksonville Mission from1995-1998 and has served two other medical missions.

Alumni Notebook

1945

A. Hamer Reiser, Jr. BA, M.D. Dr. Reiser has been a specialist in internal medicine

for more than 60 years, retiring from full-time practice in Salt Lake City in 1987. Since 1990 he has provided medical services for missionaries of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and continues to maintain his li-cense in order to make pro bono publico house calls for those in need. He and his wife, Betty Jo, also served for years as volunteers at the Utah State Prison and received the Salt Lake County Medical Society Auxiliary’s Distinguished Physician Award. In 2008 he received the University of Utah’s Emeritus Alumni Board Merit of Honor Award for his distinguished service to the University, his profession, and the community.

1958

Maurice G. Baker, M.D. Dr. Baker practices family medicine and is currently working

at St. Mark’s Hospital in Salt Lake City, Utah. He has also served as a mission president for the LDS church. He is happily married to his lovely wife Laura Baker.

Eugene L. Bellin, M.D.Dr. Bellin loves playing violin and feeding people at the Bowery Mission in New York City. In the past he worked with International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (which won the Nobel Prize for peace in 1990). He was also a member of the Innocence Project of the Cardozo Law School in NYC and helped 180 innocent people get off of death row through the use of DNA testing.

Kay H. Blacker, M.D. Dr. Blacker served for many years as the Chairman of

the Department of Psychiatry at the University of California, Davis School of Medicine. He is now semi-retired.

Arthur F. Budge, M.D. Dr. Budge retired in 1990. He spends his spare time gardening,

fishing and traveling. He was President of the Ogden Surgical-Medical Society in 1987. He is also active in the LDS Church and Boy Scouts of America, having been registered in the Boy Scouts for over 36 years.

Barry A. Clothier, M.D. Dr. Clothier re-tired in December of 2008. He is looking forward

to spending his spare time bird watch-ing and writing a book on medical mnemonics. He taught part time at Scottsdale Family Practice Residency Program.

Rodger K. Farr, M.D.Dr. Farr retired in 2006. He is a Distinguished Life Fellow and a Gold Medal recipient of the American Psychiatry Association and the founder of Skid Row Clinic for the homeless mentally ill in Los Angeles. He still enjoys teaching and finds gardening relaxing in his spare time.

Clayton R. Gabbert, M.D. Dr. Gabbert retired in 1998 from practic-ing Orthopedic

Surgery. Since retirement his interests have included trap shooting, golf, bridge, walking and trading commodi-ties. He also likes observing and nam-ing wild flowers. He is in “Who’s Who in the West” and has been honored with a Mosby Book Award.

Harry L. Gibbons, M.D. Dr. Gibbons is semi-retired and still serving as a consultant

in Aerospace Medicine. He was the Director of Salt Lake County Health Department for 22 years. Dr. Gibbons

has been awarded two international awards for achievements in aerospace. He has received many honors for his service to medicine, including the Distinguished Alumnus Award from the University of Utah School of Medicine in 1998.

Joseph M. Heath, M.D. Dr. Heath was very active in his family medicine specialty his

entire career. He was President of the Utah Academy of Family Practice from 1974-1975 and was an active lobbyist for establishing and funding the Family Practice Residency at the University of Utah; plus served on the Department of Family and Community Medicine faculty. He has been on three missions to Brazil with his wife and likes fishing and traveling.

Richard M Hebertson, M.D. Dr. Hebertson was involved in the University

of Utah OB/Gyn department and the Residency Training Program in OB/Gyn at LDS Hospital much of his professional life. He introduced fetal monitoring at LDS Hospital and co-developed the fetal monitoring system that is currently used in the IHC system. He has been married for 56 years and has five children, twenty-three grandchildren and thirteen great grandchildren. Besides being a volun-teer in the LDS Church he likes writing poetry, painting, traveling, gardening and spending time with his family.

Ward H. Hedges, M.D. Dr. Hedges retired from the practice of Psychiatry

in 1997. He has nine children and fourteen grandchildren. He is a fly fishing instructor and enjoys studying botany. Along with psychiatry his professional interests included ENT and Dermatology.

Glenn L. Johnston, M.D. Dr. Johnston is recipient of the 1996

Norman S. Anderson, M.D. Award for distinguished service to community mental health. After his retirement Dr. Johnston moved to Montana and built a new home on an 700-acre ranch near Kalispell. He has been very active with management of the farm and timber-land and is involved in projects to pre-serve and enhance a wildlife sanctuary along one mile of the Flathead River. He was honored with the Audubon Conservation Achievement Award in 2008 for his conservation efforts.

E. Ute Knowlton, M.D. Dr. Knowlton retired in 1996 and is enjoying his time with

eight children and twenty- nine grandchildren.

C. Gary Loosli, M.D. Dr. Loosli is re-tired and spends his spare time coaching square

dancing, teaching high school tennis, competing in senior track and field, playing pickleball and horseshoes and hunting and fishing.

Harold Markowitz, M.D., Ph.D.Dr. Markowitz retired from laboratory medicine and medical research in 1985. He has been married to Peggy Markowitz for 55 years and has four children. Two became physicians and all are in some area of medicine. For the past twelve years Dr. Markowtiz has been in poor health, but continues to dearly love his family.

James O. Mason, M.D. Dr. Mason spent most of his career in the service of public health. He

was the head of the Utah Department of Health, served with the United States Public Health Service and was a mem-ber of the World Health Organization Executive Board. Besides spending time with his wife Marie, children, grandchildren and great grandchildren, Dr. Mason likes family history research, gardening, reading and traveling.

Alumni NewsDue to the large response from alumni, this edition of Illuminations is

featuring alumni highlights submitted by members of the classes of 1945 through 1969. The Spring/Summer 2009 edition will feature

submissions from the classes of 1970’s to 2008. You may go on-line at http://medicine.utah.edu/alumni to view all submissions.

www.medicine.utah.edu/alumni

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24

We Want to Hear from YouAlumni Notebook

D. Ray Thomas, M.D. Dr. Thomas retired in 2002 from 36 years of private practice as a pediatrician

in Holladay, UT. He has a great wife, seven children and 35 grandchildren. He served a church assignment in the Philippines from 2003 to 2006 and is currently serving at the BYU Jerusalem Center taking care of students.

1968Elijah Reed Heywood, M.D.Dr. Heywood retired as Chairman of the OB-GYN department at Women and Children’s Hospital in Charleston, W.V. in 2002. His son took his place as the residency program director and he oc-casionally consults with the department about educational issues. He went on a three year mission as President of the San Jose Mission for the LDS Church. He is recovering from back surgery but is getting around well with a cane.

Wayne “Curt” Kaesche, M.D.Dr. Kaesche was a U.S. Navy Lt. Commander from 1970 to 1972. He was in private orthopedic practice from 1976-2002 and also worked as an Associate Clinical Professor at the Oregon Health Sciences University.

Jon C. Lloyd, M.D. Dr Lloyd is a Senior Clinical Advisor at the Plexus Institute in

Pennsylvania where he coordinates a 60-hosptial PD/MRSA prevention network. From 2005-2007 he was the co-principal investigator for a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation grant supporting six beta site hospitals in using Positive Deviance (PD) to prevent MRSA healthcare associated infections. Dr. Lloyd and Jacqueline have been married for 46 years and have two children Hilary, age 35, and Hardy age 31.

Nathaniel M. Matolo, M.D. Dr. Matolo officially retired on December 31, 2007. However, a month later,

he went back to work on a part-time basis two or three days a week teaching surgery residents and medical students at the University of California Davis/Sacramento VA Medical Center and San Joaquin General Hospital. He belongs to over 20 surgical and professional societies and is widely published. He enjoys for-eign travel, golf, swimming and hiking in the Sierras and around Lake Tahoe.

E. Bruce McIff, M.D.Dr. McIff retired from neuro/inter-ventional radiology practice on June 30, 2008. In his long career he served as President of the Utah Medical Association from 1985-86 and was selected as Utah Doctor of the Year in 1987. He is very grateful for an unbeliev-able 40 years in medicine.

Craig H. McQueen, M.D.Dr. McQueen has had a busy and fulfilling career in Orthopedics and Sports Medicine. From 1973 to 1990 he served as a team physician for the University of Utah and from 1980 to 2008 as the team physician for Highland High School’s football and rugby teams. He’s also worked with the Salt Lake Trappers, Buzz, Stingers and Bees. He was Chairman of the Sports Medicine Committee of the United States Figure Skating Association from 1998-2000 and the team physician to one Jr. World and two World figure skating teams.

Anthony R. Temple, M.D. Dr. Temple has spent his career in pediatric clinical pharmacology

and medical toxicology. He taught at the University of Utah College of Medicine for eight years, then worked for McNeil Consumer Healthcare for 29 years. He semi-retired in 2005 and moved from Pennsylvania to St. George, UT in 2008. He has been married to Mary K. since the start medical school in 1964 and has four children and seven grandchildren.

The University of Utah School of Medicine Alumni Association Distinguished Awards

call for Nominations

The School of Medicine Alumni Association Board invites you to nominate your colleagues and class-mates for consideration for the 2009 Distinguished Alumni and Distinguished Service Awards. School of Medicine alumni, faculty and staff, as well as other professional colleagues, may submit nomina-tions. Complete nominations should include:

• A letter stating for which award you submit the nomination, outlining in detail the nominee’s qualifications.

• The nominee’s curriculum vitae, including current address and phone number.

• Secondary letters or materials in support of the nomination, if available.

Submit to: Kristin Wann Gorang, Director, SOM Alumni Relations, 540 Arapeen Drive, Suite 125, Salt Lake City, UT 84108. E-mails are welcome at: Kristin.gorang@hsc.utah.edu

Deadline: Postmarked February 28, 2009

A list of past awardees is available at: www.medicine.utah.edu/alumni/network/ awards/index.htm

Distinguished Alumni Award

This award is presented annually to a graduate of the School of Medicine who exemplifies the practice of medicine. Achievement is recognized through excellence in clinical practice, academic activities and research accomplishments.

Distinguished Service Award

This award recognizes individuals, both alumni and non-alumni, who have made outstanding c ontributions to the school, the community, and the practice of medicine.

In Memoriam

MAKING TAX-FREE LIFETIME GIFTS FROM YOUR IRA

If you are 70 and ½ and re-quired to take your minimum IRA distribution that you don’t really need, it might be time to consider what the recently extended charitable IRA legislation can do for you.

This legislation continues to al-low individuals aged 70 and ½ or older to make outright gifts through direct transfers from their IRAs to the University of Utah without paying income tax on the distribution. You can make gifts of up to $100,000 in 2008 and 2009. If you are able to take advantage of this opportunity, you can improve your overall tax situation while helping us continue to achieve our vision for the future.

This opportunity applies only to IRAs and not other types of retirement plans. Owners of ineligible plans, such as 403(b)s and Keoghs have the option to roll over amounts into an IRA and then make an eligible gift from that account.

You can make a direct transfer if:1. You are 70 ½ or older on the day of the gift.2. You make the gift on or before December 31, 2008 and December 31, 2009.3. You transfer funds directly from an IRA.4. Your transfer is to the University of Utah or other qualified charities.5. You can give $100,000 or less per year in 2008 and 2009. (Your spouse also can give up to $100,000 from his or her IRA if 70 and ½).

It is simple to do and creates a lasting legacy such as a named endowed scholarship in the school of medicine. Call your IRA administrator to make the transfer, or contact Jeff Paoletti, Executive Director of Planned Giving at the University of Utah, 801-581-3726.

Save The Date

Connecting with U2009 Medical Alumni WeekendSeptember 24-26

Thursday, September 24Awards Banquet and 50-Year Class Celebration

Friday, September 25School of Medicine Department EventsDean’s State of the School AddressClass Reunions: 1959, 1964, 1969, 1974, 1979, 1984, 1989, 1994, 1999, 2004

Saturday, September 26Continuing Medical Education ConferenceTopic: Infectious DiseasesTailgating Party at Alumni HouseU of U Homecoming Football Game versus Louisville Sa

ve The D

ate

www.medicine.utah.edu/alumni

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Joseph R. Carlisle, M.D. M.D. 1951 15 Nov 02

Joe Lawrence Lara, M.D. M.D. 1976 02 Nov 08

John Hal Marsden, M.D. M.D. 1948 14 July 08

Charles C. Sorensen, M.D. M.D. 1968 03 Jan 08

Jeff Paoletti

Giving Corner

540 South Arapeen Drive Suite 125Salt Lake City, Utah 84108-1298

Nonprofit OrganizationU.S. Postage Paid

Salt Lake City, UtahPermit No. 1529

Bookmark our Web site! www.medicine.utah.edu/alumniTo opt-out of Illuminations mailings email: kristin.gorang@hsc.utah.edu

Welcome Class of 2012