12 minute read
Evening of Excellence
Honorees at the 2022 Evening of Excellence, G. Rainey Williams Jr., second from left, and Gregory L. Skuta, second from right, are pictured with Mary Zoe Baker, M.D., president of the OU College of Medicine Alumni Association, and John Zubialde, M.D., executive dean of the OU College of Medicine.
Skuta, Williams Honored at Evening of Excellence
Gregory L. Skuta, M.D., who served for 12 years as chair of the Department of Ophthalmology and president and chief executive officer of Dean McGee Eye Institute, and G. Rainey Williams Jr., chair of the University Hospitals Authority and Trust and chair of the OU Health Board of Directors, were the 2022 honorees for Evening of Excellence, organized by the OU College of Medicine Alumni Association.
This was the 37th year for the gala, which raises funds for researchers at the OU College of Medicine. Since the event began, the alumni association has awarded $3.7 million in grants to 162 researchers in the college. Each year, an early career researcher from the college speaks about the importance of the grants to build research programs and apply for larger grants. This year’s speaker was Shannon Conley, Ph.D., an assistant professor in the Department of Cell Biology, whose lab focuses on understanding the mechanisms of age-related diseases of the eye and brain.
“These grants from the College of Medicine Alumni Association support our research programs when they are the most promising, but also when they are most vulnerable — when we’re developing new projects in young labs,” Conley said. Conley, who is also active as an educator, spoke about the importance of basic science research for finding new treatments for disease. “The majority of the transformative treatments we have for diseases originated not from scientists specifically looking for drugs and treatments, but from scientists doing basic research designed to understand how biological systems work at the core level,” she said. “There is still much we do not understand about the ways our miraculous human bodies work, and then fail to work in disease and aging. As scientists, we believe the answers are there if we take time to ask the questions, and we believe that it’s only by investing in finding answers that we can develop lifesaving therapies.”
Researcher Shannon Conley, Ph.D., speaks during the 2022 Evening of Excellence gala. OU President Joe Harroz speaks during the 2022 Evening of Excellence gala.
G. Rainey Williams Jr., left, and Gregory L. Skuta, M.D., were the 2022 honorees at Evening of Excellence. In accepting his award, Skuta spoke of his 30 years at Dean McGee Eye Institute and the OU College of Medicine, as well as his excitement for the future as he passes the reins to Michael Siatkowski, M.D., to fill the roles.
“All the people in this room do what we do because, very simply, we want to make a difference,” Skuta said. “If this generous award signifies that what we together are accomplishing at DMEI and the Department of Ophthalmology is having even a small impact, then I will be forever grateful.”
Williams, noting the hard work and dedication of leaders who came before him, said they would be in awe of the OU Health Sciences Center campus today.
“We stand on the great foundation that those before us built, and in 20, 30 or even 40 years, leaders will look back and remember not the difficulties, but instead the perseverance of everyone involved to bring to bear the promise of better health for Oklahomans through education, research and clinical care,” he said. “Without a doubt, through a concerted effort we are advancing this mission one step at a time.”
Class Notes from Through the Decades
1950s
Bryce Bliss, ’57 M.D., served as director of laboratory for Tulane, Oral Roberts University, City of Faith, and St. John Medical Center. He continues to hold laboratory leadership roles for three rural hospitals. He worked in general practice in Tahlequah, Oklahoma, for five years.
1960s
Ron Orr, ’62 M.D., is retired after 52 years of providing pediatric care to families in Chickasha, Oklahoma.
1970s
Paul Davis, ’72 M.D., founded Primary Care Associates and HopeNet, a nonprofit organization providing mental health care and services to families in crisis.
William Downham, ’72 M.D., was in internal medicine/ infectious disease private practice in Oklahoma City from 1977 to 1994, then served in leadership roles at Spring Clinic in Tulsa, Harris Health System in Fort Worth, Saint Luke’s Health System in Kansas City, and several others across the United States.
Ross Hensley, ’72 M.D., practices full time at Hensley Dermatology in Lawton, Oklahoma, where he also is on staff at both local hospitals. He is a fellow of the American Academy of Dermatology and the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology.
John Tipton, ’72 M.D., served in the U.S. Air Force from 1975 to 1977 and helped start its family medicine residency. He then transitioned to family medicine solo practice in Tulsa for 17 years followed by 23 years on faculty at the OU-TU School of Community Medicine.
James Wendelken, ’72 M.D., is clinical associate professor of urology at the OU College of Medicine. Previously, he served as chief of staff and chair of surgery and urology at St. Anthony Hospital. He served as president and treasurer of the south central section of the American Urological Association from 1996-2001.
Jeffrey Cohen, ’77 M.D., is a neurologist at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, New Hampshire. Until 2021, he was also professor and chair of neurology at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth.
Ronald Zlotoff, ’77 M.D., practices gastroenterology parttime at Trinity Health of New England in Waterbury, Connecticut. Larry Chase, ’82 M.D., is medical director at CoxHealth Hyperbaric Medicine and Wound Care in Springfield, Missouri, and is a national accreditation surveyor for the Undersea and Hyperbaric Medical Society.
Kevin Faris, ’82 M.D., has been in private practice in internal medicine at Noble Family Health Care in Noble, Oklahoma, since 2006.
Joe Leverett, ‘82 M.D., practices internal medicine at the Jackson County Memorial Hospital Medical Clinic in Altus, Oklahoma. He is a fellow of the American College of Physicians.
Zachary Martin, ’82 M.D., is retired from the emergency department and family medicine private practice. He now serves as medical director, chief medical officer and chief of medical staff for the Sac and Fox Nation.
Brad Britton, ’87 M.D., is an ophthalmologist at Britton Vision Associates in Edmond, Oklahoma. He has been honored as one of the top 50 refractive surgeons in North America, is a fellow of the American Academy of Ophthalmology, and maintains memberships in the Oklahoma State Medical Association, Oklahoma Academy of Ophthalmology, and the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgeons.
David Harsha, ’87 M.D., practices at Hendricks Orthopedics & Sports Medicine in Danville, Indiana, and serves as team physician at DePauw University. In 2016, he served as team physician for USA Diving at the Rio Olympics.
Ronald Schlabach, ’87 M.D., has worked as a family medicine physician for the Baptist Health Family Medicine Clinic in Alma, Arkansas, since July 1990. He also serves as the volunteer team physician for the local school system.
1990s
Janet Arnold-Clark, ’92 M.D., is medical director of a DHS foster care pediatrics and child abuse evaluation clinic in south Los Angeles and a volunteer clinical associate professor of pediatrics at UCLA, teaching fellows in child abuse pediatrics.
Lamont Cavanagh, ’92 M.D., is in his 33rd year of service with the U.S. Air Force and has been a flight surgeon for an F-16 squadron since 1993. He is chair of the Department of Family and Community Medicine at the OU-TU School of Community Medicine.
Sherri Gordon, ’92 M.D., is a pediatrician at Pediatric and Adolescent Care in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
1980s
Ronnie Brownsworth, ’82 M.D., retired in July 2020 after a career in neurology. Bill Watson, ’92 M.D., has been an attending anesthesiologist at Ascension St. John Medical Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma, for 26 years.
2000s
Wendy Pitt, ’02 M.D., was a rural pediatrician in Texas until 2014, when she moved back to Oklahoma. She now practices pediatrics via telemedicine.
Christina Scifres, ’02 M.D., is director of the Maternal-Fetal Medicine Division at the Indiana University School of Medicine. She is also the principal investigator of a National Institutes of Health-funded multicenter clinical trial evaluating glycemic targets in women with gestational diabetes.
Laura Stearman, ’02 M.D., is a urologist with Integris Edmond Women’s Health and serves as medical director of the Tulakes Medical Clinic, a free clinical in northwest Oklahoma City. Nerissa Collins, ’07 M.D., is an assistant professor of medicine at Mayo Clinic Rochester, where she is also a consultant in the Division of Internal Medicine and emeritus section chief of consultative medicine.
Justin Gulledge, ’07 M.D., practices anesthesiology with Mercy Hospital in Oklahoma City.
Mina Sardashti, ’17 M.D., is a psychiatrist at LifeStance Health in San Diego, California.
In Memoriam
Laurence Altshuler, ’76 M.D., Tulsa, Oklahoma
Robert Barnes, ’54 M.D., Temple, Texas
David Brown, ’49 M.D., Oklahoma City
Jay Cannon, ’70 M.D., Nichols Hills, Oklahoma
Clint Chambers, ’59 M.D., Lubbock, Texas
Richard Coalson, ’74 M.D., Centerville, OH
Rebecca Deaton, ’79 M.D., Tulsa, Oklahoma
Harold Dunlap, ’55 M.D., Durham, North Carolina
Edward Esparza, ’59 M.D., Oklahoma City
Roger Etling, ’76 M.D., Oklahoma City
Kenneth Evans, ’67 M.D., Spring, Texas
Elwood Everett, ’63 M.D., Columbia, Missouri
Jerry First, ’72 M.D., Tulsa, Oklahoma
Helen Franklin, ’92 M.D., Wagoner, Oklahoma
Larry Goss, ’73 M.D., Lawton, Oklahoma
William Graham, ’71 M.D., Ponca City, Oklahoma
Larry Gurkowski, ’84 M.D., Tulsa, Oklahoma
James Hefner, ’63 M.D., Amarillo, Texas Linda Hunt, ’68 M.D., Chickasha, Oklahoma
Don Karns, ’60 M.D., Enid, Oklahoma
Noah Kimball, ’63 M.D., Sterling, Colorado
Donald Laasch, ’70 M.D., Morris, Illinois
Billie Lewis, ’59 M.D., Flint, Michigan
Jesse Little, ’59 M.D., Oklahoma City
Jo Mangone, ’59 M.D., Colorado Springs
John Marks, ’54 M.D., Oklahoma City
Stephen Mills, ’70 M.D., Hutchinson, Kansas
Blake Palmer, ’05 M.D., Fort Worth, Texas
Jack Pettett, ’67 M.D., Stonewall, Oklahoma
Sam Rice, ’65 M.D., Columbus, Georgia
Robert Ringrose, ’63 M.D., Oklahoma City
Charles Rockwood, ’56 M.D., San Antonio, Texas
Charles Seward, ’67 M.D., Amarillo, Texas
Charles Shaw, ’61 M.D., Georgetown, Texas
David Sockler, ’56 M.D., Charlotte, North Carolina
Luther Strickland, ’61 M.D., Oklahoma City
Robert and Diana Capehart
In his 50-plus years of practicing medicine, Robert Capehart, M.D. made many decisions about patient care. Some were simple, like black or white, others more difficult and mired deeper in gray areas. Those gray area questions would often lead him to examine his beliefs, his options and his obligations.
During his long career, Capehart was passionate about educating young physicians and medical students not only in clinical medicine but also in medical ethics and humanities. Now retired, he has had time to reflect on his career and how he approached situations and decisions, comparing and contrasting them to the environment, attitudes and morals that new doctors face today. The result of his introspection is the creation of a $2 million endowed professorship for medical ethics at the OU College of Medicine.
“In today’s climate, there are many medical issues and ethical issues that those in the medical field are encountering — be that as a physician, nurse or other provider,” Capehart said. “The OU College of Medicine did not have a professorship or program directly pointed toward medical/ethical problems, and with the medical school being a training center, I feel that this professorship will stimulate research on the ethics of human research, clinical practice, public health, and medical innovation, in addition to exposing students to these issues early in their training.”
Physicians are required to make challenging judgment calls and hold themselves to high medical ethics standards, which minimizes errors and fosters trust, accountability, and respect between physicians and their patients, Capehart said. “While making these challenging judgement calls, the physician must act within several strictures,” he said. “Number one: the legal stricture, the law, may dictate one way or another. They must decide what is acceptable and appropriate care from a medical viewpoint, and then what is acceptable from the patient’s viewpoint.
“You also have strictures within the hospital. The hospital may, in some cases, dictate what can happen in a medical situation. Finally, you have insurance companies, third-party carriers who may say ‘no, we won’t do this or that’ and they work to make a decision go another way because of money,” he added.
“All these things don’t always flow in the same direction. Those parties are often obtuse to each other. Still, any decision has to be in the strictures of what is legal. Then the decision comes back to the physician. … What does he/she do?” One of Capehart’s main goals in establishing the professorship is to simply call attention to an area that he felt was not being adequately addressed. “You need to have a very open discussion in order to come to a conclusion that is correct in a legal fashion, and in a medical fashion and in an ethical fashion,” he said. “It’s a tough area to be in because there are so many conflicting forces that are pulling in different ways.”
He also wants to take ethics discussions into the public arena. “I read a story about a physician in another state who said that if his patients did not take the vaccine recommended by the government, he would not see them as a patient any longer,” Capehart said. “Is that ethical? I don’t have an answer and you don’t have an answer, but it’s something we ought to have an answer to, and the only way you’re going to arrive at it is to have a discussion. There just needs to be more discussion and more involvement.”
The Capehart Endowed Chair for Medical Ethics will be established as part of the planned legacy of Capehart and his wife, Diana, a former surgical nurse. They live in Tulsa.
Capehart is a 1965 graduate of the OU College of Medicine. During his internship at St. John’s Medical Center in Tulsa, he decided to focus on colorectal surgeries. He was instrumental in building Tulsa Medical College, which became the OU-TU School of Community Medicine. He served as the first chair of the Department of Family and Community Medicine and the first program director for the family practice residency.
University of Oklahoma College of Medicine P.O. Box 26901 Oklahoma City, OK 73126-0901
