Temple Medicine, Spring 2010

temple

Medicine

A Publication of Temple University School of Medic i ne

SPRING 2010

OUR NEW MEDICAL EDUCATION AND RESEARCH BUILDING IS OPEN

“A FOUNDRY FOR DREAMS.” —John Daly, MD ’73, Dean

“The Wow Committee: That’s what we called the GROUP that planned the building’s public space—because that’s what we wanted people to say when they saw it. Our wish came true.”

—Stephen Permut, MD ’72

temple

Medicine

A Publication of Temple University School of Medicine

Contents

EDITOR / P RINCI PA L W RITER

Giselle Zayon Director, Alumni Affairs

Features

A rt D i r e c t i o n / D e s i g n

Cover Story

Meet MERB, Our New Medical Education and Research Building 2 Service-Learning in Medical School: Reaching Out and Reflecting 12

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page 26

page 34

SPRING 2010

Departments News and Notes of Honor 16 Narrative Medicine: Using Writing to See the Human Being 22 Temple Family Ties: The Papacostas Family 25 Tales of Temple Medicine: Notes from a Dinosaur, a Recently Retired Graduate from the Class of 1974 26 Philanthropy Notes 28

Gail Starr Temple University Creative Services [377-0809]

e d i to r i a l a s s i s ta n c e

Kenneth R. Cundy, PhD CONTRIBUTo r s

Whitney Alexander Megan Chiplock Renee Cree JoAnne DeSanto-Bonewicz Beth Galinsky Kathleen Harmer Rebecca Harmon Sandy Harmon-Weiss, MD Eryn Jelesiewicz Rosalind Kaplan, MD Hannah Ravreby Kathleen Reeves, MD Ingrid Spangler Gerald Sterling, PhD Laura Wortman Philip Zeidner, MD P HOTO G R A P HERS

Personal Perspective: Sandra Harmon-Weiss, MD ’74 32 The Student View: The Center for Urban Bioethics and Humanities 34 Class Notes 36 In Memoriam 38 Whatever Happened To? Concetta Harakal, PhD 40

Ryan Brandenberg Joseph V. Labolito Elizabeth Manning Mark Stehle DE A N

John M. Daly, MD ’73 A SSISTA NT DE A N , institutional a dva n c e m e n t

Eric J. Abel

P RESIDENT, A LUMNI A SSOCI ATION

Anthony Giorgio, MD ’73 CORRES P ONDENCE

Temple University School of Medicine Institutional Advancement 3500 N. Broad St. Philadelphia, PA 19140 215-707-4850 800-331-2839 e-mail

supportmed@temple.edu medalum@temple.edu

Copyright © 2010

by Temple University Temple University is committed to a policy of equal opportunity for all in every aspect of its operations.

The university has pledged not to discriminate on the basis of race, color, sex, age, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, marital status or disability. This policy extends to all educational, service and employment programs of the university.

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MEET MERB Temple university school of medicine’s education and research building

“ Like a giant cruise ship in full sail.”

—Richard Goldhahn, MD ’64

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Meet MERB, our new Medical Education and Research Building.

It is the first new building for the medi-

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“Every day as I walk into the building, I am amazed.”

—James Ryan, PhD, professor

cal school in 40 years and the largest capital project in university history.

We broke ground for it in 2006.

In 2007, we placed its final steel beam.

Beforehand, hundreds got a chance to sign it. “A dream come true,” wrote Dean John Daly, MD ’73.

In May 2009, we completed its final construction touches.

In June 2009, faculty and staff began moving in.

In August 2009, we opened MERB’s doors to students, including our newest group, the Class of 2013.

And from October 29 to 31, 2009, we hosted the building’s official opening. More than a thousand people came to campus for the milestone event.

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“What a beautiful statement about Temple’s commitment to education, research and community.”

—Derrick Russell, library staff member

“It’s going to make the uninitiated stand and take note!”

—Paul Hermany, MD ’82

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We celebrated MERB’s opening with guided tours featuring the Simmy and Harry Ginsburg Health Sciences Library and Freeman Biomedical Information Center; the E. Ronald Salvitti Grand Stairwell; the Maurice J. Stone Commons; the Kay and Hime Poliner Café; the John D. Sprandio Lobby; the M. Prince Brigham Admissions Suite; the Robert

“What a positive environment, what an amazing place for learning. It’s even greater than I hoped it would be.”

—Daniel Nesi, MD ’63, alumnus and major donor to the building

Nesi Memorial Dining Lounge; the John W. Lachman and Wendy and Solomon Luo auditoria; the William Maul Measey Institute for Clinical Simulation and Patient Safety; the Alumni Bridge; the Lombardi Student Lounge; the Michael Clancy Conference Room; the Babcock Conference Room; the Cephalon, Inc., Neuroscience Research Floor; the Independence Blue Cross Cardiovascular Research Center; the Lindsay A. Rosenwald Research Floor; the John M. Daly and William N. Parkinson Dean’s Suite; the Cundy Suite for Institutional Advancement — and so much more.

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Excitement builds in the Maurice J. Stone Commons as the ribbon is cut.

MEET MERB continued The three days of festivities began with

ease and cardiovascular disease, includ-

open-air research labs, smart classrooms

a day devoted to research. Princeton

ing John Niederhuber, MD, director of

and a virtual learning anatomy lab, the

University President Shirley M.

the National Cancer Institute of the NIH.

480,000-sq. ft. structure is now home to

Tilghman, PhD ’75 — a world-renowned

At the end of the day, attendees enjoyed

more than 800 students and 550 scien-

leader in the field of molecular biol-

wine and cheese while perusing more

tists, academics, researchers and staff.

ogy and Temple University School of

than 500 posters on research studies by

Medicine alumna — kicked off daylong

Temple researchers.

symposia.

MERB has four and a half floors dedicated solely to research, with two more

It was standing-room only Friday as

to be equipped in the near future. As

Insights and Innovations in Biomedical

Temple welcomed dignitaries including

attendees toured the 11-floor building,

Research showcased investigators from

Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter to

they were dazzled by the awe-inspiring

Temple and around the country, in the

cut the ribbon on the gleaming $160.4

structure, which opened on time and

fields of AIDS, cancer, neurological dis-

million medical complex. Boasting

within budget.

The ribbon is cut! (L-R): Brian McDonough, MD ’85 (master of ceremonies), E. Ronald Salvitti, MD ’63 (Chair, TUSM Board of Visitors), John Daly, MD ’73 (Dean), Ann Weaver Hart (President, Temple University); Patrick O’Connor (Chair, University Board of Trustees), Daniel Mueller (student), and Mayor of Philadelphia Michael Nutter.

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Princeton University president and TUSM alumna Shirley Tilghman, PhD ’75, research symposia keynote speaker, is named an alumna fellow of the university by Provost Lisa Staiano-Coico, PhD, and Dean John Daly, MD ’73.

Luo Auditorium benefactors Solomon Luo, MD-Res ’86, and Wendy Luo with their alumna daughters Betsy Luo, MD ’06, and Stella Luo, MD ’07.

Guests returned to MERB on Saturday

Luo, MD-Res ’86, who endowed

The tributes continued with a scientific

to celebrate Temple’s commitment to

the Wendy and Solomon Luo, MD,

program commemorating the late

service-learning (see page 12) with

Auditorium. Dr. Luo is a volunteer

orthopaedic surgery chair and alumnus

an Education and Community Service

clinical professor of ophthalmology,

John Lachman, MD ’43, and the many

Showcase. The day opened with hun-

TUSM Board of Visitors member,

other alumni and faculty who’ve made

dreds gathering to honor Solomon

and university trustee.

significant contributions to orthopedic

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Dr. Schneck with Vince Moss, MD ’98, and Vance Moss, MD ’98, ABC News People of the Year, 2008.

“ It’s creating a real community. We never had a gathering place like this before. Everyone comes here: residents, students, faculty. We’re all together.

It’s great.”

—Hannah Ravreby, student

MEET MERB continued surgery and sports medicine. “Latch”

student) Stephanie Schneck Jacob,

physicians and Army reservists have car-

continues to have a lasting impact, and

MD ’87, delighted Schneck fans with

ried out three humanitarian aid trips to

MERB’s third-floor auditorium is rightly

“inside information” about her dad

Afghanistan with their own resources.

named in his honor.

during the dedication of his portrait and

They riveted the audience with stories,

the gross anatomy laboratory. This legacy

films and photos of the Afghani civilians

ensures that Dr. Schneck will continue to

they endured such risk to help. In recog-

impact future physicians for generations

nition of their work, ABC News named

to come. The Schneck lab and portrait

them News People of the Year, 2008.

Also leaving his mark on MERB is anatomy professor and two-time alumnus Carson Schneck, MD ’59, PhD ’65, who has been teaching at Temple continuously for 50 years. More than

dedication inspired a standing ovation.

To cap off the weekend, officials honored

a thousand former students and friends

Saturday morning’s speakers Vince Moss,

four alumni with achievement awards

donated over $1.25 million to name

MD ’98, and Vance Moss, MD ’98, shared

during a black-tie banquet Saturday night

the Schneck Gross Anatomy Laboratory

experiences that have thrust them into

at the Westin Hotel Philadelphia. See

in his honor. His daughter (and former

the international spotlight. The twin

page 16 for details.

Kent Duffy, MD ’80, dedicated a room in MERB in honor of his parents.

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Applauding Dr. Schneck at his portrait and gross anatomy laboratory dedication, Richard T. Goldhahn, MD ’64, and Charles Dick, MD ’64 (center).

“More than just a collection of class-

Temple University School of Medicine

medical school at Temple yearly, and

rooms and labs,” said Dean John Daly,

has been on a trajectory of remarkable

the credentials of those we accept

MD ’73, “our new building is a foundry

growth. We have brought on hundreds of

become more impressive each year.

for dreams.”

new, world-class faculty. We have

And we accomplished all of this before

been awarded millions in grants from

moving into this building.

Incredible potential will be unleashed by it, he said, because it is designed to spark discovery.

the National Institutes of Health for cutting-edge research programs. More than 9,000 people apply for admission to

“The best,” says Dean Daly, “is yet to come.”

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“An oasis, a sanctuary.”

—Laurence Goldhahn, MD ’07

The Ginsburg Health Sciences Library set for fine dining.

Hats Off to Our Opening Celebration Partners CHAIR AND BENEFACTOR: Sandra Harmon Weiss, MD ’74, with Richard Weiss, DMD OFFICIAL HOTEL: The Westin Philadelphia RESEARCH SYMPOSIA PARTNER: Genesyn IP Ventures, LLC GOLD PARTNER: Cephalon, Inc. SILVER PARTNER: Tibotec Therapeutics BRONZE PARTNERS: Genentech Inc., Ingenix, Main Street Vaccines, Nighthawk Radiology Services, Post & Schell PC Staff Care

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Among the 1,000+ Who Helped Us Celebrate • Faculty of the No.1 People’s Hospital of Chang Zhou and Capital Medical University in Beijing, TUSM affiliates • Jordan Cohen, MD, Past President of the Association of American Medical Colleges • Former TUSM deans, Drs. Martin Goldberg, Leon Malmud, Allen Myers and Roger Sevy • Neighbors from the surrounding community • Representatives of community organizations, such as the COLT Coalition, Tioga United, the HERO community center, and Zion Baptist Church • Patrick O’Connor, Chair of the University Board of Trustees, and former Board Chair Daniel Polett • The building’s architects: Ballinger, Inc. • Edmond Notebaert, Senior Executive VP and President/CEO, Temple University Health System • Alumni, faculty and friends, like our longtime friend Ken Cundy, PhD, who collectively donated more than $2 million to make MERB a reality

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Service-Learning in Medical School Reaching Out, Reflecting

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by Kathleen Reeves, MD, Associate Dean for Student Affairs, and Gerald Sterling, PhD, Senior Associate Dean for Education Service. It’s been inseparable from the teaching and learning of medicine since Temple’s earliest days.

We continue to attract students and faculty eager to make a real difference in the health of individuals and communities, near and far.

“Temple isn’t just about making great doctors; it’s about developing great people who serve their communities,” says Neil Rellosa, MD ’06, a pediatric infectious diseases fellow at Children’s National Medical Center in Washington, D.C. “You see this from class to class, from generation to generation. Temple people make a difference.”

The standards call for students to engage in service-learning in response to communityidentified concerns. The point is for students to learn about the context in which the service is provided and to connect service with their roles as medical professionals.

“What makes the experience meaningful is the reciprocal benefit,” says Dr. Rellosa. “The people you are serving are also your teachers. Everyone is part of the learning experience.”

The LCME expects medical schools to make sufficient opportunities for service-learning available to students, and to encourage and support their participation.

While the teaching and learning of medicine through the provision of service has long been part of the modus operandi of many schools of medicine, “service-learning” is now formalized in the national standards for medical education set by the Liaison Committee for Medical Education.

This is not a problem at Temple. In fact, the variety of service opportunities is almost overwhelming. We have more than 25 student-run organizations (see pg. 15) that offer service components. At any given time, about 75 percent of our medical students are participating in one form of service or more.

The LCME defines service-learning as a structured learning experience that combines community service with preparation and reflection.

Most importantly, the major thrust for student participation comes from the students themselves. As faculty we merely encourage, facilitate and oversee.

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TUSM students transformed a vacant lot in North Philadelphia into a community garden with an Alumni Association grant.

“The service ethic that pervades the student body is a very prominent component of the culture,” says Stella Luo, MD ’07, who is now a resident in ophthalmology at Temple. “The opportunities for service-learning are a major reason many students come to Temple,” she says.

The services provided by students help define what Temple really is—a family of generous people who work above and beyond to influence positively the lives of others. Year after year, we watch with pride as students organize blood drives, clothing drives and tournaments to raise funds for people in need.

As noted in the box at right, volunteer (extracurricular) opportunities for service-learning at TUSM are more than plentiful.

Service in School and Out

Support for Service

A unique aspect of service-learning at Temple is that in addition to offering volunteer opportunities, we build it into our curriculum as well, in both required courses and electives. In fact, the LCME has commended us for our service-rich culture.

Many of Temple’s service-learning opportunities, both curricular and volunteer, are financially supported by stipends, foundation grants and donations from TUSM’s generous alumni.

The Bridging the Gaps Community Health Internship is a good example of a curricular opportunity. About 20 medical students yearly take advantage of this eight-week servicelearning experience between their first and second years, partnering with community agencies that work with youth, the elderly, the homeless, and those afflicted with HIV/AIDS. The Temple Emergency Action Corps (TEAC) is another example. Initiated by students and supported by a grant from a foundation with ties to alumnus William Greenfield, MD ’69, TEAC provides students an educational foundation in disaster response. Students first take two sequential electives that teach the basics of emergency response and medical care (delivering vaccinations, assessing dehydration, etc.). Once they have completed these electives, students are then eligible to take part in a funded trip to an area that recently sustained a natural disaster. Last year TEAC traveled to Bolivia in response to extensive flooding. After completion of the trip, students present their experiences to faculty, other students and members of the funding foundation.

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Other curricular options include electives connected with service work in HIV prevention, hospice care and drug rehabilitation. SNACWell (Student Nutrition Advocacy & Community Wellness) is another example. This elective enables students to learn about the health issues surrounding nutrition and the food industry affecting inner-city communities. The outreach portion of this program is held in conjunction with AmeriCorps for the benefit of students at a North Philadelphia elementary school.

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Through its annual student service grant program, Temple’s Alumni Association Board of Directors plays a crucial role in promoting service-learning. In 2008 when he was a fourth-year student, Bradley Hayward, MD ’09, a resident in internal medicine at Temple, traveled to India with a group of students with funding from the Alumni Board. Dr. Hayward and other students worked alongside Indian health care workers to deliver vaccines and medications, and educate children about healthy nutrition and HIV/AIDS. “We witnessed firsthand the stark realities of poverty, illiteracy, disease and their devastating effects,” he said.

Hundreds of TUSM students have engaged in service projects, near and far, with funding from the Board. See the article on page 30 for more.

Lessons in Reflection Students can reap many benefits through the provision of service. A big point is to expose students to the contextual issues of health and health care.

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Health and health care are influenced by the patient’s community, culture, expectations, beliefs and mindsets. The attitudes and actions of the care provider are enormous influences, too.

By developing awareness and understanding of these factors, students learn to extend themselves in ways that are appropriate and effective. It’s a complex world. Such lessons are not easy to learn. Thus, the LCME standards pay homage to the need for service-learning to include a reflective component to help students develop and mature.

Reflection can take many forms. Perhaps it’s journaling, or a small group discussion about what service means, how it affects both the patient and the care provider. The narrative medicine workshop run by former resident and internist Rosalind Kaplan, MD-Res ’86, is a great vehicle for students to reflect on their own professional and personal development.

See the article on page 22 for more.

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Givers are Getters “Physicians understand that service is a privilege,” says Albert Alley, MD ’64, who received a 2009 Alumni Achievement Award from TUSM. An ophthalmologist in central Pennsylvania, Dr. Alley founded World Blindness Outreach, a group that treats correctable blindness all over the world.

“The most valuable compensation a person can get,” he says, “is to give in a meaningful way.”

Temple medical students know this. As members of the faculty and dean’s staff responsible for their education, we feel a bit like their families and friends must feel: extremely proud.

Dr. Sterling and Dr. Reeves.

27 Ways to Learn through Service at TUSM 1. Join Temple CARES (Community Advocacy, Referral & Education Services), a student-run health clinic in North Philadelphia.

2. Check out TUSM’s Boricua-Latino Health Organization and help organize a bone marrow donor signup drive in the Latino community.

3. Help out Al-Shifaa,TUSM’s Muslim student group, which holds a Fasta-Thon during Ramadan that raises thousands yearly for hunger relief.

4. Join Big Friends, a tutoring/mentoring program for the children of Kenderton Elementary School, in the medical school’s backyard.

5. Help TUSM’s Asian Pacific American Medical Student Association give flu shot clinics at a local Hindi temple.

6. Join TUSM’s Community Service Outreach group, which coordinates a host of community/hospital service projects yearly.

7. Help out student members of Physicians for Social Responsibility, who do everything from lobby for gun control to build low-income housing.

8. Join the Pediatric Interest Group, which runs a reading program for pediatric patients, and hosts Alex’s Lemonade Stands to benefit pediatric cancer research.

15. Join Voices, a Spanish-language group that offers interpreter service at Temple University Hospital.

9. Volunteer with Prevention Point/ Street Side Health Clinic and conduct sterile syringe exchanges for IV drug abusers.

And there’s more:

10. Accompany the Musicians in Medicine group, which holds an annual concert to benefit ALS research.

17. Babcock Surgical Society

11. Hang out with TUSM’s Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual People in Medicine and volunteer at a community outreach center that provides STD testing and referrals.

16. American Medical Student Association

18. Emergency Medicine Interest Group 19. Family Medicine Interest Group 20. Internal Medicine Interest Group 21. Jewish Student Union 22. Orthopedic Interest Group

12. Cut off your hair for Locks of Love— benefitting patients with hair loss from illness—with the members of TUSM’s American Medical Women’s Association.

23. SNACWell (Student Nutrition Advocacy & Community Wellness)

13. Plan a medical mission with TUSM’s International Health Organization.

25. Student National Medical Association

14. Ride with the Temple University Emergency Medical System, a bike-based EMS response group.

27. Students Interested in Psychiatry

24. South Asian Health Student Organization

26. Students Interested in Ob-Gyn

To volunteer with a student group, contact the Alumni Office: 215-707-4485; giselle.zayon@temple.edu

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News and Notes of Honor Alumni Service Award: Sandra Harmon-Weiss, MD

2009 REUNION AWARDS

The 2009 Alumni Service Award was given to Sandra Rhoads Harmon-Weiss, BA ’71, MD ’74, for her longstanding service and generosity to TUSM.

Four alumni were honored for special achievements during the 2009 Class reunion weekend

A retired family physician/geriatrician and insurance executive, Dr. HarmonWeiss credits her education for “influencing my life profoundly, enabling me to choose among promising career paths and giving me excellent role models and mentors,” she says.

Alumnus of the Year: Philip Gildenberg, MD, PhD “The field of human stereotactic surgery was born at Temple, and I had the great fortune of working with its parents, Drs. Ernst Spiegel and Henry Wycis,” says TUSM’s 2009 Alumnus of the Year, Philip L. Gildenberg, MS ’59, MD ’59, PhD ’70.

“I fell under the spell of these two pioneers while a medical student, and their influence dominated my professional life throughout my career,” he says.

A world-recognized authority in minimally invasive neurosurgery, Dr. Gildenberg holds several patents for the design of techniques and tools for the biopsy and resection of brain tumors.

He was the first chief of neurosurgery at both The University of Arizona College of Medicine and The University of Texas Medical School at Houston, founded the Cleveland Clinic’s stereotactic surgery service, and traveled to more than five dozen universities and medical centers around the world as a visiting professor and lecturer.

Co-author of the Textbook of Stereotactic and Functional Neurosurgery (McGraw Hill, 1994) and editor of Stereotactic and Functional Neurosurgery from 1975 to 2002, Dr. Gildenberg has perhaps contributed more to professional leadership in the field than anyone. His leadership roles include presidencies of the World Society for Stereotactic and Functional Neurosurgery, and the American Society for Stereotactic and Functional Neurosurgery. The latter named its 16

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annual resident research award The Gildenberg Prize and awarded him its Distinguished Service Award for lifetime contributions to the field in 2003.

Today Dr. Gildenberg is scientific director of Houston Stereotactic Concepts.

“Our mission is to improve stereotactic surgical techniques by developing and incorporating new, imaginative and clinically relevant technology, and to extend such techniques beyond the field of neurosurgery,” he says.

Dr. Gildenberg’s fascination with stereotactics and neurosurgery began when he was a first-year medical student in the spring of 1956. When he met Dr. Spiegel and Dr. Wycis they were reviewing 8-mm movies of Parkinson’s disease patients they had treated with their new technique of stereotactic pallido-ansotomy. Young Philip was smitten with the science that would captivate his career.

To express her thanks, Dr. HarmonWeiss has served TUSM and Temple University in dozens of volunteer roles large and small through the years.

In addition to having served on the University President’s Advisory Board since its inception, she is a member of the Board of Visitors of TUSM, and chairs the advisory board of the university’s Center for Women’s Health Research, Leadership and Advocacy. She is also a leading benefactor.

Dr. Harmon-Weiss and her husband, Richard Weiss, DMD, a longtime member of the Kornberg School of Dentistry at Temple, support numerous Temple causes. Of key importance is their creation of the Emma C. Weiss Memorial Scholarship, an endowed scholarship for medical students planning careers in primary care.

“I had the unique perspective of joining this new specialty just nine years after its birth and being intensely involved through the present time, 53 years later, a witness to unbelievable strides,” he says.

“The influence that Temple had on my career is unique and immense,” he says.

“I am grateful.”

Dr. Harmon-Weiss and her husband, Richard Weiss, DMD

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Widely known in both organized and clinical medicine, Dr. Harmon-Weiss is frequently consulted for her expertise in physician compensation and capitation, geriatrics, end-of-life care, managed care, and health care legislation and regulation.

In addition to testifying at congressional hearings, she has served as advisor, member and reviewer for various initiatives of the Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health, American Geriatric Society, and other agencies.

Among other honors, she is recipient of the 2005 Service Recognition Award of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Kellogg Foundation.

“At Temple I became engaged in a lifelong search for learning, open to innovation and new challenges. I have fully enjoyed ‘giving back’ to Temple,” she says.

Honored Professor Award: Carson Schneck, MD, PhD Carson Schneck, MD ’59, PhD ’65, recipient of the 2009 Honored Professor Award, has been teaching anatomy at Temple since 1960. Thousands of physicians and scientists who studied with him don’t hesitate to use words like “amazing” and “revered” to describe him.

Dr. Schneck is known for his enthusiastic Socratic teaching style and his practice of memorizing freshman names and faces prior to the start of class each year. He has served as course director for human gross anatomy continuously since 1969 and has taught a slew of other courses for learners both novice and advanced.

Carson Schneck, MD PhD

Albert Alley, MD

that Dr. Schneck has humbly accepted over the years, including four Skull yearbook dedications, 16 Golden Apple awards for teaching excellence, and the very first national Golden Apple.

including India and Mexico, to perform thousands of cataract, corneal transplant, glaucoma and strabismus surgeries on people in need. His organization has also donated supplies and equipment worth tens of thousands of dollars to local clinics in these countries—microscopes, slit lamps, projectors, surgical instruments, trial lens sets—and has trained dozens of health professionals.

And thanks to the generosity of generations of thousands of Schneck fans who donated more than $1 million in his honor, the gross anatomy laboratory in TUSM’s new building is now named for him.

Dr. Schneck’s portrait, painted by John Ennis, was presented during the new building opening celebration, which coincided with Dr. Schneck’s 50th medical school graduation reunion.

“I could have been a dry-waller for the rest of my life,” he says, remembering his days happily working construction after high school. Lucky for us, he became a prodigious expert on human construction instead.

Alumni Achievement Award: Albert Alley, MD

In addition to his appointment in anatomy, Dr. Schneck has a secondary appointment as professor of diagnostic imaging and is a recognized authority on the anatomic correlates of ultrasound, CT and MRI.

“Physicians understand that service is a privilege—and derive deep satisfaction from doing what’s right,” says Albert Alley, MD ’64, an ophthalmologist based in Lebanon, Pa., recipient of TUSM’s 2009 Alumni Achievement Award.

“Our primary responsibility is to motivate students to educate themselves,” he says.

Dr. Alley is founder of World Blindness Outreach, which organizes trips to poor and remote nations to treat correctable blindness and preventable eye disease.

Since 1990, he and a team of volunteers have traveled to more than 25 countries,

The 2009 Honored Professor Award is now added to a mile-long list of honors

Dr. Alley is also founder of the Alley Family Center for the Development & Disability Services of Lebanon Valley, and a founding member of Mission Cataract Lebanon Valley.

Numerous organizations have honored Dr. Alley for his efforts. He has received the Humanitarian Service Awards of the Pennsylvania Academy of Ophthalmology and the American Academy of Ophthalmology, plus the Rotary International Foundation’s Service Above Self Award.

He and his daughter, Cynthia Alley, MD ’00, also an ophthalmologist, created the Alley Family scholarship for medical students at TUSM. “We feel very good about helping young people start their medical careers,” says Dr. Alley. “The scholarship has been a reward to me.”

“To give in a meaningful way is the most valuable compensation a person can get,” he says.

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Sprandio and Lewis Named to Gallery of Success

Nancy L. Lewis, MD

John D. Sprandio, MD

Richard Roberts, MD

Each year, two alumni of each of Temple’s schools are inducted into the Gallery of Success, a showcase of photos and biographical sketches seen by thousands on Main Campus each year. The School of Medicine’s inductees this year are Nancy Lewis, MD ’94, and John D. Sprandio, MD ’80.

1994 ranked second in the friendly class fundraising competition.

Richard Roberts, MD ’59, Tenafly, N.J., has been named dean of Trinity School of Medicine, based in St. Vincent and the Grenadines. Dr. Roberts accepted this post following a long career at New York-Presbyterian Hospital/ Weill Cornell Medical College and The Rockefeller University. The many roles in which he has served over the years include appointments as professor of medicine, chief of infectious diseases, vice chair of medicine, and associate dean for affiliations.

An educator, researcher and clinician, Nancy L. Lewis, MD ’94, is an oncologist based at Cooper University Hospital in Voorhees, N.J. She focuses on genitourinary and gastrointestinal malignancies and is establishing a Phase I clinical trials program there. After completing her fellowship at Fox Chase Cancer Center, Dr. Lewis remained there as associate director of the Phase I program plus served as site director of the residency and subinternship.

She has served on national boards, such as the United States Pharmacopeia Information Expert Committee, and is a reviewer for Cancer and other leading journals. Her publication credits include dozens of articles and abstracts, plus eight chapters in oncology textbooks.

A member of TUSM’s adjunct clinical faculty and a true Temple fan, Dr. Lewis was the brainchild behind TUSM’s class pride campaign to name the gross anatomy laboratory in Temple’s new building in honor of Dr. Carson Schneck. Last July, when that million-dollar goal was surpassed, Dr. Lewis and the Class of

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A leader in Delaware Valley medicine, John D. Sprandio, MD ’80, is chair of medicine and chief of hematology/ oncology at Delaware County Memorial Hospital (Darby, Pa.), and medical director of the Delaware County Regional Cancer Center. He has served on the boards of several area health care organizations, including Crozer-Keystone Health System, and the faculties of Thomas Jefferson University and University of Pennsylvania. Primary investigator on several clinical research trials involving treatments for cancers of the breast, lung, esophagus, colon and pancreas, Dr. Sprandio’s findings have been published in Journal of Clinical Oncology and other leading publications.

Dr. Sprandio has a special association with Temple. He was born at Temple University Hospital in 1954, met his wife at Temple in 1978, and received his medical degree at Temple 1980. His sister graduated from Temple’s nursing school in 1966 and his aunt, also a Temple nursing graduate (1928), worked at Temple for 50 years. His son John is also a TUSM graduate, Class of 2008.

To honor his family ties to Temple, Dr. Sprandio made a major gift to dedicate the lobby of Temple’s new building in the Sprandio family name last year.

Wright Named Board Chair of New Medical School Robert Wright, MD ’65, Clarks Summit, Pa., has been named chair of the Board of The Commonwealth Medical College, a new medical school based in Scranton, Pa., with campuses throughout the region.

Professor of medicine at TUSM and founder and longtime director of the Scranton Temple Residency program in internal medicine, Dr. Wright was integral to TCMC’s development. Founded to increase physicians’ supply in northeastern Pennsylvania, TCMC opened in August 2009 with 65 medical students, 13 candidates for the Master of Biomedical Sciences program, 113 full-time employees, and 557 clinical faculty members.

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Briefly Noted • John Daller, MD, PhD, professor of surgery and director of the Abdominal Organ

Transplant program at Temple, has been elected to the Medical Advisory and Policy Board for the Gift of Life Donor Program.

• William Van Decker, MD, associate professor of medicine and director of nuclear

cardiology at Temple, has been installed as the 148th president of the Philadelphia County Medical Society.

• Howard Warner, MD ’53, professor emeritus of medicine, cardiology, has received

a national honor: The 2009 Gifted Educator Award of the American College of Cardiology, in recognition of his outstanding characteristics as educator and clinician.

Steven Houser, PhD

Steven Houser, PhD ’78, chair of physiology at TUSM, is recipient of a 10-year National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute Method to Extend Research in Time award. This award is given to investigators whose research contributions are distinctly superior. Dr. Houser, who trained at Temple and stayed on as a faculty member in the Department of Physiology, has been continuously funded by the NIH for more than 25 years. In addition to his role as chair, he is the Laura H. Carnell Professor of Physiology and director of the Cardiovascular Research Center.

Carabello Honored Blase Carabello, MD ’73, Bellaire, Texas, recently received the American College of Cardiology’s Distinguished Scientist Award for major contributions to the advancement of knowledge in cardiovascular disease. Dr. Carabello is chief of staff at the Michael DeBakey Veterans Administration Medical Center in Houston, and the Moncrief Professor of Medicine and vice chair of medicine at Baylor College of Medicine. Recipient of numerous honors, including TUSM’s 2003 Alumnus of the Year Award, Dr. Carabello returned to Temple last year to give the annual Alpha Omega Alpha lecture: “Physician: The Greatest Job in the World.”

• Scott Faro, MD, vice chair of radiology and director of clinical MRI and functional

brain imaging at Temple, has been elected president of the American Society of Functional Neuroradiology. One of the world’s leading experts in functional neuroradiology, Dr. Faro is senior editor of Functional MRI: Basic Principles and Clinical Applications (Springer, 2006), and is working on his second major textbook, Functional Neuroradiology: Physical Principles and Clinical Applications.

• Charles Cutler, MD ’74, chief medical officer of the American Association of Health

Plans, has been elected chair of the Board of Governors of the American College of Physicians. During the past two decades, he has served in leadership capacities for the ACP, the American Medical Association, and other organizations. “If physicians don’t have the passion to move the profession forward, non-physicians will do it,” he said. Recently Dr. Cutler and Lawrence Ward, MD, MPH, assistant professor of medicine and associate program director of Temple’s internal medicine residency program, created a new local chapter of the ACP Council of Young Physicians. Dr. Ward was among the first group of physicians to receive a LEAD award (Leadership Enhancement and Development) from the ACP last spring.

• John Esterhai, MD ’72, professor of orthopaedic surgery at University of

Pennsylvania and chief of orthopaedic surgery at the Veterans Administration Medical Center of Philadelphia, received the 2009 Leonard Tow Humanism in Medicine Award presented by the Arnold P. Gold Foundation.

• William Frankl, MD ’55, retired clinical professor of medicine at Temple, is recipi-

ent of the Edward S. Cooper Humanitarian Award of the American Heart Association, Southeastern Pennsylvania chapter, for his significant contributions to health and welfare in greater Philadelphia.

• TUSM has been awarded a five-year, $500,000 National Institutes of Health training

grant for a program to increase the number of minority students in the biomedical research pipeline: Short Term Education Program for Undergraduate and Predoctoral students. Raul DeLa Cadena, MD, associate professor of physiology and thrombosis research, is principal investigator.

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Temple-St. Luke’s Medical School

Clinical Currents • Stereotactic body radiotherapy, a new technique to treat lung cancer at Temple,

might double a person’s chances of surviving without a conventional radiation regimen or surgery. “This is a big trend in radiation oncology for early-stage lung cancer patients who can’t undergo surgery or refuse it,” said Curtis Miyamoto, MD, chair of radiation oncology at TUSM. “With the success of this technique, we’re now questioning whether we’ll even be doing surgeries on these patients in the future.”

• Temple has opened the Temple Spine Center on the campus of Jeanes Hospital in

the Fox Chase section of Philadelphia. The center offers a complete range of services, including spinal fusion, artificial disc replacement, and innovative procedures such as microdiscectomy and X-STOP® surgery to alleviate sciatica. Jeanes has also opened a new cardiac catheterization/electrophysiology laboratory offering a full spectrum of cardiac, peripheral vascular and aortic procedures; structural heart disease interventions; and device implantations, ablations and lead extractions.

• Temple is the only heart transplant program in Philadelphia—and one of only four in the nation—to have performed more than 1,000 heart transplants. Temple performed the Delaware Valley’s first heart transplant in 1984 and first heart-lung transplant in 1988. The program has trained dozens of the nation’s top heart transplant surgeons and been associated with many of the advances made in the treatment of cardiovascular disease during the last 25 years.

• The Temple Cancer Center recently earned commendations for excellence in cancer

care and a three-year approval from the American College of Surgeons Commission on Cancer. Only 39.9 percent of programs nationally have received CoC approval with commendation. In addition to demonstrating a commitment to quality care and public accountability for care and services provided, Temple was recognized for good rates of participation in clinical trials and availability of multiple screening and early-detection programs.

• A study recently published in Diabetes Care, authored by researchers at Temple,

Brown University and other centers, reported that sleep apnea goes widely undiagnosed among obese individuals with type 2 diabetes. Nearly 87 percent of participants in the multicenter trial reported symptoms, but were never diagnosed. “The high prevalence of undiagnosed, untreated sleep apnea among obese patients with diabetes constitutes a serious public health problem,” said Gary Foster, PhD, lead author and director of the Center for Obesity Related Research and Education at Temple. Funding came from the National Institutes of Health.

• Temple recently became the first in the world to participate in the Counterpulsation to Reduce Infarct Size Pre-PCI for Acute Myocardial Infarction clinical trial. The procedure entails the insertion of an intra-aortic balloon pump into the infarcting heart. With the balloon in place, an angioplasty is then performed to open the blockage. While the intra-aortic balloon pump has been used since the 1970s to assist the heart in pumping the oxygenated blood to the body, this is the first time it is being tested as an intermediate step prior to emergency angioplasty. The worldwide study will enroll 300 patients at 30 sites in the U.S., Europe and Australia.

• Jeanes Hospital, part of the Temple University Health System, earned the Gold Seal of Approval™ from The Joint Commission for Primary Stroke Centers. Jeanes was also recently named a Hospital of Choice by the American Alliance of Healthcare Providers, one of only 18 hospitals across the United States so honored.

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In October 2009, TUSM and St. Luke’s Hospital and Health Network, Bethlehem, Pa., announced plans to create the Lehigh Valley’s first medical school. Thirty students will be accepted into the inaugural class in August 2011.

They will complete their first year at Temple in Philadelphia, then move to St. Luke’s campus in Fountain Hill for the final three.

In 2006, St. Luke’s, an educational affiliate of TUSM for 30 years, became a TUSM clinical campus, where thirdand fourth-year students could perform their clinical rotations. In the new arrangement, St. Luke’s will function as a medical school instead—an arrangement considerably less expensive than founding an independent medical school, which can cost tens of millions of dollars. The price tag for the Medical School of Temple University/St. Luke’s Hospital and Health Network is estimated at $5.5 million.

Moreover, the initiative addresses the call to increase the number of trainees in the medical school pipeline in response to the physician shortage.

Pennsylvania’s Lehigh Valley is already experiencing physician shortages in a number of specialties, including family medicine, general surgery, gastroenterology and otorhinolaryngology. The new program will help, as both Temple and St. Luke’s have solid retention rates for keeping graduate fellows in Pennsylvania.

The combined Temple/St. Luke’s school of medicine will need the national accreditation of the Liaison Committee on Medical Education.

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New Chiefs at Temple Kevin Williams, MD, has joined TUSM as professor of medicine and chief of endocrinology. He comes to Temple from Thomas Jefferson University, where he was professor of medicine, professor of biochemistry and molecular biology, and served as a member of the Center for Human Virology and Biodefense.

Dr. Williams’ groundbreaking work on lipoproteins and atherosclerosis has contributed greatly to our understanding of the development of atherosclerosis, identifying potentially exciting new therapies. With 11 patents to his credit, he has been published in top journals and serves as a consulting editor for Journal of Clinical Investigation.

John Krouse, MD, PhD, has joined Temple as professor and chair of otolaryngology­–head and neck surgery.

He comes to Temple from Wayne State University, Detroit, where he was professor and vice-chair of otolaryngology– head and neck surgery. A specialist in rhinology and allergy, Dr. Krouse’s publications include numerous textbook chapters and five textbooks, and his research and clinical interests span allergic and nonallergic rhinitis, chronic rhinosinusitis, endoscopic sinus surgery, and allergic rhinitis and sleep. He is a past president of the American Academy of Otolaryngic Allergy and received its 2008 President’s Award for Leadership.

Kevin Williams, MD

John Krouse, MD, PhD

National Award for Cortese Denis Cortese, MD ’70, Fountain Hills, Ariz., has received the 2009 National Healthcare Leadership Award of the National Center for Healthcare Leadership for his contributions during his 30-year career. Past president and chief executive officer of the Mayo Clinic, Dr. Cortese is widely respected for his outspoken role in the national health care reform debate. NCHL president and CEO Marie Sinioris called Dr. Cortese “an extraordinary leader and teacher” whose “innovative tenure at Mayo Clinic has included cutting-edge programs in information technology and medical records, using new discoveries in genomics to customize patient-specific treatment strategies, and emphasis on bedside nursing to improve patient care.”

Rappaport Awarded Jay Rappaport, PhD, professor and vice chair of neuroscience at TUSM, received a 2009 Temple University Faculty Research Award for his research in seeking to identify and characterize the reservoirs of HIV in the brain.

Dr. Rappaport, who once worked with HIV co-discoverer Dr. Robert Gallo, demonstrated that the major cellular reservoirs of the virus actually enter the brain through the bloodstream. These cells may turn out to be a target for therapy. In addition to working at NIH, prior to coming to Temple in 1999 Dr. Rappaport held appointments at such institutions as The Wistar Institute, University of California, San Diego, and Mount Sinai School of Medicine.

Denis Cortese, MD

Jay Rappaport, PhD

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Narrative Medicine

Using Writing to See the Human Being

by Rosalind Kaplan, MD-Res ’86

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came to writing when I was in my thirties, already established in a career in medicine. I had been all about the study of science and of people, and I’d avoided writing classes in school. In fact, I’d avoided anything that hinted at creativity, believing myself to be an observer and researcher, not an artist. But I did read. Avidly. I always had a leisure reading book at my bedside or in my bag.

As a young physician, I discovered books by physicianwriters. Works such as Oliver Sacks’ The Man Who Mistook His Wife For a Hat and Rachel Naomi Remens’ Kitchen Table Wisdom subtly affected my work and my emotional life. Still, it never occurred to me to write down any of my own stories. I didn’t write. That is, until Ellen came along.

Ellen was about my age, mid-thirties, a freelance writer and writing teacher at a local college. I’d been practicing general internal medicine for almost 10 years then. Ellen came to see me for some painful, somewhat mysterious symptoms that several other doctors had dismissed as “imagined” or resulting from anxiety or depression.

She was fairly certain this wasn’t so. I think these doctors weren’t really listening to her story, and as my best teachers always told me, “It’s all in the history.”

Here is a tricky situation for doctors, the question of self-disclosure. I probably take more risks than many, but I will also say that this particular interaction did not feel risky.

“You’re right,” I told Ellen. “It ended a few years ago, but went on for a long time with a lot of uncertainty. I had some bad experiences with the medical system and I wasn’t very good at being a patient. I wouldn’t want anyone else to feel some of the things I did about the care I received.”

I encouraged the students

to read and write in this

genre as a way to see

the human being in their

patients and in themselves.

“I don’t know, Ellen. I wouldn’t know how to start.

I skipped that part of school.”

After a couple of visits, she and I figured out what was wrong, and came up with a treatment plan that gave her relief. At Ellen’s third or fourth follow-up visit, she was gathering her things to leave when she turned to me and said, “I think you must have been sick once.”

“Then let me help you. You’ll see. I sense a great story and it will be cathartic.”

“Who’s the doctor now?” I laughed. But when I thought about Ellen’s idea, there was no reason not to try it.

I can’t describe the feeling I had at that moment.

Surprise doesn’t cover it. In the first instant, it was panic, as though I’d been caught in some sort of lie or crime. Then I felt a sort of gratitude, for being seen, for being known, but mixed with surprise, because I didn’t understand how she had guessed.

And at the same time, I knew her statement was important, and I needed to acknowledge it in some way.

Ellen and I got together once a week for about a year, and I worked on the story of my illness and recovery. Then she moved out West to pursue an academic position. We stay in touch periodically. She says I changed her life with my medical care, but I know she changed my life much more.

“Why do you think that?” I admit I was stalling, but it was crucial information.

“Because of the way you listen, the way you treat me.

I think you must know what it feels like to be here, on this side.”

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“Wow,” Ellen said. “Have you written about it?” I was again a bit confused. “No. I don’t write,” I told her.

“Yes, you do,” she said. “Everyone does. If you speak, you write. You speak with a distinct voice, so you’d write with one. I can tell there’s a story to be told in the little bit you said to me. You should write it down.”

My story turned into a book that has been revised several times, and is soon to be published, but that’s not the point. I’m a writer now, because the definition of a writer is someone who shows up to pursue the art of writing. I attend a weekly workshop and write for a while every day.

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Best of all, I’m teaching a group of medical students at Temple about writing their stories down, particularly their stories about learning to be doctors, how they have experienced themselves as student doctors and as patients in the past, and about what they see and hear around them in medical school.

Our group meets monthly—at a coffee shop, away from the tension of the medical school and hospital. We write for about 40

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minutes, guided by a cue that I give, something I take from what the students have been working on that week—for instance, if they’ve been learning anatomy of a certain organ I might ask them to write about their associations to that body part. We then read aloud what we’ve written, and give gentle, constructive commentary. Often a student will protest that what she has produced is not worthy of sharing. While no one is ever forced to read, I always encourage students to take the risk, assuring them that each piece of writing is more than worthy.

This group began with an invitation to give a lecture at Temple about narrative medicine during the first-year Doctoring course, an eclectic set of lectures imparting skills, wisdom, and ideally, humanNarrative medicine explores ism to young doctors-to-be. the experiences of health care In my lecture, I explained what narrative medicine is: providers, patients, the medical the genre of literature that system, and their relationships explores the experiences of with one another. doctors and other health care providers, patients, Rosalind Kaplan, MD-Res ’86, the medical system, and an internist with a private practice in Ardmore, Pa., their relationships with one authored a book soon to another. I encouraged the be published by Kaplan Press, students to read and write New York (no relation): The Patient in the White Coat. For in this genre as a way to see more, visit www.drrozkaplan. the human being in their wordpress.com. patients and in themselves.

Rita Charon, MD, professor of medicine and director of the narrative medicine program at the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Columbia University, pioneered the idea of teaching medical students to write about their experiences. She has her students keep two “parallel” patient charts, a standard medical chart and a narrative chart telling the patient’s human story, the story of caring for the patient, including whatever feelings and interactions transpire between student-doctor and patient.

Dr. Charon found in her own practice that her ability to understand deeply a patient’s “story” made her a better doctor, and she realized that the story was more than a standard medical chart could contain. I wanted to offer the students a bit of what Dr. Charon has been teaching. So I offered to pilot a narrative medicine workshop.

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Some of these pieces move me deeply. In response to my cue to write about “matters relating to the heart,” one student wrote about a heartbreaking experience with such rawness and beauty of language that I was in tears at the end. In response to a cue I used to write about giving or receiving a physical exam, another student wrote a description of an unexpected exam she underwent that was both harrowing and hilarious.

The narratives we share in our writing group are not confined to the page. Sometimes students share personal stories with me, small traumas they are experiencing, or deeper concerns. Frequently, I find myself answering with my own anecdotes—how it was for me, how I got through.

It isn’t group therapy. But the stories the students tell are a way to expose wounds they are collecting, and the stories I respond with are often a salve.

I don’t know if our narrative medicine group is going to make a difference. I have no way to measure. But I think so. Even when these students no longer have the time to come to meetings, I think they will have the writing and reading of these stories as a tool to express, reflect and gain perspective. Writers learn to dig deep for meaning, use all the senses in description, and be uncompromising in the quest to write down the truth. With these skills, how can a patient not be seen as a whole person?

How can compassion for self and others be completely lost?

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A Student Essay from the Narrative Medicine Workshop:

The Crimson River

by Whitney Alexander, Class of 2012 Whitney Alexander dedicates this story to her brother-in-law Jeff, who died in June 2009, and to her brother Joe, who is the basis for Little Boy One. Whitney is originally from Portland, Ore. She plans to go into emergency medicine and complete a wilderness medicine fellowship.

An avid climber, she would like to be a base camp doctor on Mt. Everest and perhaps even summit the tallest peak in the world some day.

The giant conifers rustled in the slight June breeze. These giants surrounded everything. They hugged the earth and protected this land. Always green, always present.

Almost ancient, they had seen many things. Many people had come and gone but they remained. They were sad for all they had lost, but wise for all they had learned.

Perhaps this is how they grew, from each loss and gain, the lessons etched in the rings of their trunks. On this day they would lose another. It would be a sad day for the conifers here.

Laughter pierced the silence in this land between the mountains and the river.

Young laughter. Carefree laughter. Little boy laughter. No more school, just fun in the mountains among the trees and the water for three whole months. The trees had never witnessed such pure, honest, unconditional joy. The land loved these two little boys and the boys loved the land right back. Little Boy One and Little Boy Two ran and jumped and swam and rode under the protection of the conifers.

“Follow me,” said Little Boy Two. “I don’t think we should,” said Little Boy One. But off they went to a place where they should not have been. Mistake one.

And they picked up cold steel playthings they should not have picked up.

Mistake two.

And Little Boy Two put a finger on a trigger he should not have put a finger on.

Mistake three.

And Little Boy One had a crimson river at his feet. A river that, like the one through the giant conifers, continued to flow and flow and flow until there was no more.

Then Little Boy One was no longer amongst the mountains and the trees, no longer with natural things. He lay under lights that were not the sun and on a hard table that was not the earth. The healers tried to make the crimson river change its flow.

The healers stood over Little Boy One like the great conifers and tried to protect him, their hands inside his body, massaging his empty crimson heart over and over again. But like the river in the mountains, this river refused to change its tide.

The youngest healer began to cry. Like the youngest conifers, she had few rings.

Unlike the ancient conifers and the elder healers, she had not lost many things. She was not as wise. So she cried. She had not yet learned that there would always be another loss but also another gain. She had not learned what the swaying conifers knew: That Little Boy One had jumped and played and run and laughed. For today, the young healer saw only that day’s fleeting moment of sadness.

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The PAPACOSTAS FAMILY “Donning my two sons with their white coats in the fall of 2007, exactly 30 years after I received mine, was one of those moments I’ll always remember,” says Frank Papacostas, MD ’77.

The Papacostas family tree has deep roots at Temple. They began growing in 1955 when the late Charles Papacostas, PhD, signed on as faculty at TUSM’s Pharmacology Department, where he taught for 30 years.

Charles and his wife Catherine (who resides in suburban Philadelphia) had four children—all of whom received multiple degrees from Temple: Arthur Papacostas (BA CST ’72, MA CLA ’75, PhD CLA ’89), Frank Papacostas (BA ’73, MD ’77, Res ’79), Elaine Papacostas Sandilos (BA CLA ’75, EdM ’77, EdM ’82, PhD ’85), and James Papacostas (BA ’80, MA ’84).

Two of the four are employed at Temple. Arthur is vice president and chief information officer for the Temple University Health System, and James is executive director of the university’s technical support desk.

Frank Papacostas, MD ’77, with his sons Mike (left) and Nick (right), both Class of 2011.

Frank Papacostas, MD ’77, is a pediatric endocrinologist who practices with the Lahey Clinic in Danvers, Mass. His three children have carried on the Temple tradition as well: Katherine Papacostas (BS ’09), Nicholas Papacostas (BS ’05, medical student, Class of 2011) and Michael Papacostas (medical student, Class of 2011).

“I enjoy hearing stories about my grandfather from faculty who taught here when he did,” says Nick. “They give me a window into his life through their memories.”

Although the brothers are classmates, Mike is two years younger than his brother Nick, who spent two years getting his master’s in earth sciences while studying environmental public health issues at Dartmouth before coming to TUSM. Mike is considering going into pediatrics or surgery. Nick is planning on going into emergency medicine or pediatrics.

Mike plays on TUSM’s soccer team and helped found the group SNACWell, which stresses the importance of exercise, nutrition and wellness among medical students, and teaches local kids about making healthy snack and meal choices. Nick was coleader of Temple CARES last year, a student-run health clinic that provides free medical care, educational talks, and health screenings weekly at a local church and women’s shelter.

The Papacostas Family (standing, L-R): John Papacostas (brother), Michael Papacostas, Frank Papacostas (father), Nicholas Papacostas, Arthur Papacostas (uncle), Katherine Papacostas (sister); (seated, L-R): James Papacostas (uncle), Jane Papacostas (aunt), Elaine Sandilos (aunt), Bill Sandilos (uncle).

“I loved Temple medical school from day one,” says Mike. Both brothers describe Temple as a place where “students are upbeat and enthusiastic about learning.”

“When we visited other medical schools, the students looked worn out and disgruntled. The faculty stress student wellness at Temple, which yields a happier, healthier learning environment—a trait we were looking for in a medical school.”

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Tales of Temple Medicine

Notes from a Dinosaur, a Recently Retired Graduate of the Class of 1974

by Phil Zeidner, MD ’74 The look on the ER nurse’s face said it all. “What kind of an idiot is this intern,” it said, “how do I deal with this?”

She had called me about an hour earlier to come see a 14-yearold boy with abdominal pain. She wanted to know if she should also call a surgeon. I told her that I would prefer to evaluate the patient first.

The first clue came after listening to the boy’s parents’ description of the course of the illness. Rather than starting with vague GI symptoms, the child had initially become ill with an acute febrile episode.

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I examined the child. While listening to his chest, I heard accentuated expiratory sounds in one of the lower lobes, looked up, and said, “this boy has a pneumonia.” Clearly not the diagnosis of appendicitis the nurse had expected.

I ordered chest and abdominal films along with a basic CBC and urine. When I saw the bronchogram in the lower lobe on the chest film, I was comfortable with the evaluation.

By the next morning, after re-hydration and IV antibiotics, our patient was clearly better. Not that this made the diagnosis absolutely definitive, but considering that we were located

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in Frobisher Bay, Northwest Territories, Canada, a ruptured appendix and septic peritonitis would have been rough.

This simple case, not an exotic diagnosis, has always served as a vivid reminder of the basic principles instilled in me in learning the practice of medicine at Temple.

First of all, we were taught to listen. Time after time, the vast majority of the information needed for an accurate diagnosis would come from a careful history elicited from the patient.

The physical diagnosis would add additional information to the puzzle, and the laboratory findings would confirm what you already knew.

To me, the exceptional aspect of learning medicine at Temple was the emphasis on the clinical and the practical. Before my internship and residency, I was unaware of the uniqueness of this approach. During rounds as a resident at The Montreal General Hospital, I was asked the normal range of a certain laboratory value. I replied that we were taught not to memorize normals. A common-sense approach at that time, as normal values could vary from laboratory to laboratory. Common sense perhaps, but met with scorn from that particular attending, who placed a rather high premium on memorization.

During my residency there were times when it seemed that knowing the citation of an article was more important than knowing the information the study contained. Of course it is important to know from where information comes. All studies are not created equal. An anecdotal tale doesn’t carry the same weight as a double-blind study. Yet isn’t it important to teach prospective physicians how to use information, as well as how to evaluate its strength? In a showdown between different approaches to exotic problems, it might be pertinent to evaluate the reputations of different authors, but in general, shouldn’t information be blind to personalities?

That said, there are times that the clinical practice of medicine does become intensely personal. My youngest daughter underwent a partial bowel resection for intusuception as an infant.

Three years later, during a family vacation in a rural area, she complained of a severe stomach ache. Mindful of the possibility of a bowel obstruction, we took her to the emergency room of the small local hospital. I asked the ER doc to make sure that we could get a view of the chest along with the abdominal film. Yes, my daughter had a pneumonia, not a bowel obstruction.

At this point I can hear you saying, “Yes, but you can’t practice that way these days.”

Indeed, seven- to 10-minute visits are not conducive to taking a full history. But there are creative ways to get around some of the problems. A good history taken by a nurse or physician

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extender can serve as the starting point for further questioning, not just the starting point for ordering lab tests to rule out the most arcane illness. Fears of medical malpractice have led many into practicing such extreme defensive medicine that no possible lethal disease goes undiscovered. Yet, what harm is done in chasing down false positive data?

While there is no ultimate solution, I still value the clinical approach that we “grew up” with at Temple. The aphorisms that permeated my clinical days have served me well in medical practice and in life.

“See one, do one, teach one” works well in learning an anesthetic block of the brachial plexus. It also works when you’re teaching teenagers how to sample oxygen levels in water columns in Bellingham Bay. Another favorite: “If what you’re doing is working, keep doing it; if it isn’t, stop; and if you don’t know what to do, don’t do anything.” This is great for the operating theatre and sage advice for gardening, child rearing and group practice administration.

Generations of Temple-educated physicians have not been taught all the answers. Instead we’ve been taught something more valuable: how to find the answers—answers that can change as medical science evolves.

Remember, when I went to elementary school, dinosaurs were cold-blooded and stupid. Turns out they were probably “lukewarm”-blooded and very smart. Too bad they couldn’t get out of the way of that asteroid.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR—Philip Zeidner, MD ’74, practiced anesthesiology in southeast Alaska for 14 years and pain management in Bellingham, Wash., and at University of Washington, for 10 years. He is now retired in Koloa, Hawaii, where he is busier than ever.

Dr. Zeidner under water.

TALES OF TEMPLE MEDICINE—Do you have a story about medicine taught or practiced the Temple way to share with readers? Contact Dr. Zeidner at philzeidner@yahoo.com.

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In this section, we highlight recent and longstanding benefactors.

* AN AUTO SURGEON “One of the proudest days of my life was in the spring of 1960 when my father handed me my diploma upon graduating from Temple medical school,” remarks Frederick Anthony Simeone, CST ’56, MD ’60, a Philadelphia-based neurosurgeon and member of TUSM’s Board of Visitors. “My father, Anthony Simeone, MD ’32, was one of the major reasons I chose Temple. He was a Temple undergrad and medical school graduate, and my best buddy.”

Medicine and cars—repairing, restoring and collecting them—are passions that Dr. Simeone and his late father shared.

Recently retired, Dr. Simeone is one of the leading neurosurgeons in the country and coauthor of Rothman-Simeone: The Spine (Elsevier), one of the definitive texts in the field.

Today he is executive director of the new Simeone Foundation Museum, a collection of some of the rarest and most significant racecars ever built.

Leading automotive writer Winston Goodfellow calls the museum, located in a converted factory near the Philadelphia International Airport, “the best collection of sports car hardware in the world.”

Dr. Simeone says it took about a year to convert the building, an old engine-rebuilding factory, then seven months to design and construct the racing-scene displays surrounding the cars.

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In addition, he completed a 300-page book detailing each car in the collection with images by world-renowned photographer Michael Furman. The book includes not only historical and mechanical data, but also the fascinating stories about how Dr. Simeone came to acquire each car.

The museum’s slogan, “the Spirit of Competition,” was crafted to appeal to people who are not necessarily “car people,” but who can appreciate the desire to win. Dr. Simeone says it was also selected to inspire young people, particularly high-school age males who seem to lack a certain competitive spirit in recent generations.

“If you can get a hook in them with something like a hot sports car, maybe you’ll get their attention, which is not easy to do,” states Dr. Simeone, a supporter of youth development and many leading “causes,” including Temple.

In April 2007, Dr. Simeone made a $50,000 leadership gift in support of the TUSM Board of Visitors’ challenge to fund the pedestrian bridge connecting the new building with Kresge Hall across Tioga Street. And last spring, Dr. Simeone invited TUSM to use his beautiful new museum as the venue for the school’s annual Conwell Society celebration for leading benefactors. With near record attendance, the rare cars proved an excellent draw. Visit www.simeonefoundation.org for a full list of his collection.

Dr. Simeone (right) invited TUSM to use his fabulous new race car museum for the 2009 Conwell Society celebration.

He’s pictured here with Temple University President Ann Weaver Hart, Dean Daly, and Adrian King Jr., Esq., university trustee.

Howard Ginsburg, MD ’71, named the new library in honor of his late parents, Harry and Simmy Ginsburg.

* SIMMY & HARRY GINSBURG HEALTH SCIENCES LIBRARY “My father always defined himself as an old-fashioned doctor,” says Howard Ginsburg, MD ’71, an orthopaedic surgeon based in Phoenix, Ariz. “He was a family practitioner who provided total medical care to his patients and the community surrounding Broad and Olney streets in North Philadelphia for more than 50 years. He was very proud of serving multiple generations of the same families.”

“It was those old-fashioned ideals and adept clinical skills I witnessed in my father that anchored me to North Philadelphia and attracted me to Temple University for medical school,” says Dr. Ginsburg, who specializes in spinal surgery at St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center in Phoenix.

“My mother was a huge supporter of education and was instrumental in my academic success,” says Dr. Ginsburg.

To honor the memory of his late parents, Dr. Ginsburg made the second-largest single gift made thus far to the campaign for the new medical school building: a $2.5 million gift to name the beautiful new Simmy and Harry Ginsburg Health Sciences Library.

“Looking back, both my father and I were more than pleased with the education and training that I received at Temple,” says Dr. Ginsburg. “Having my parents’ name associated in perpetuity with Temple University School of Medicine is an honor.”

The stunning, 53,857-sq. ft. Simmy and Harry Ginsburg Health Sciences Library supports education, patient care and research at Temple University, serving the information needs of the schools of Medicine, Dentistry and Pharmacy, the College of Health Professions and Temple University Hospital.

“As the hub of academic excellence and achievement, the library seemed like the most appropriate place to give back and make a lasting impression on the educational lives of many,” reflects Dr. Ginsburg.

With seating for nearly a thousand, wireless technology, and beautiful natural light beaming in through its glass walls, the Ginsburg Health Sciences Library is fast becoming the hot hangout on campus.

*TWO GRAND GIFTS E. Ronald Salvitti, MD ’63, chair of TUSM’s Board of Visitors and a leading ophthalmologist, recently made two significant gifts in support of TUSM’s new building.

One is a pledge of $250,000 to help underwrite the “The Unseen World” sculpture, soon to be installed in the building’s soaring Commons. Designed by Philadelphia artist Kate Kaman, the dynamic, LED-lit, 55-piece sculpture will be suspended from the ceiling of the three-story space. It depicts one of the most plentiful and ancient microscopic life forms: bacteria.

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A great Temple benefactor, E. Ronald Salvitti, MD ’63.

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TUSM students joined forces with neighbors in North Philadelphia to create a community garden, with funding provided by the Alumni Board.

Dr. Salvitti’s second gift, $200,000, names the E. Ronald Salvitti, MD ’63, and Jennifer Salvitti Davis, MD ’00, Grand Stairwell in Simmy and Harry Ginsburg Health Sciences Library. Its unique circular design makes it an architectural keystone connecting all three floors.

A leading benefactor and volunteer leader at Temple for many years, Dr. Salvitti is founder and medical director of the Southwestern Pennsylvania Eye Center, located in his hometown of Washington, Pa. An innovator in the field of ophthalmic surgery, Dr. Salvitti has contributed to the advancement of cataract instrumentation technology, and is a consultant in research and development for leading companies.

“I am dedicated to giving back to the school that invested in me,” says Dr. Salvitti. “Temple helped me strive for excellence, stay committed and adopt a good work ethic, all of which have remained top priorities in my career and throughout my life.”

“The new medical school building is a great opportunity for expansion in academia and research, and I feel fortunate to have a role in that change,” he remarks.

*ALUMNI BOARD’S STUDENT SERVICE GRANT PROGRAM “As medical students we have progressive visions for improving health in our communities and beyond, but usually don’t have the funds to turn those visions into reality,” says Chris Baumert of the Class of 2011. “I feel both fortunate and proud that the support of Temple alumni has helped to fill that void,” he says.

Five years ago, recognizing what project funding could mean to Chris and so many TUSM students, the 58-member TUSM Alumni Board geared up to lend a hand. The board created an

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annual service-grant program specifically for TUSM students.

Chris and several other students submitted a proposal to collaborate with North Philadelphia residents to create a community vegetable garden.

The board’s service-grant program was conceived to provide meaningful, mission-based engagement between board members and students, as well as to demonstrate the importance of alumni leadership and philanthropy. Each academic year, the board raises funds among themselves and issues a request to the student body to solicit proposals, then judge and select projects to fund.

During the program’s first four years, 16 service projects were funded (five in the Philadelphia region, seven throughout the U.S., and four overseas) and 225 students became grant beneficiaries.

Board members donated nearly $40,000 to the grant fund, and last year, the university provost, impressed by the program, directed an additional $20,000 of university funding to it.

“The service-grant initiative caused a spark of energy and enthusiasm in the alumni board members, and brought us together under a common objective,” says Anthony Giorgio, MD ’73, Alumni Association Board president. “The program has fused a connection between alumni and student that did not exist before.”

Paul Lyons, MD, professor of family and community medicine, has served as program advisor to several student groups that were awarded board grants. “By participating in service-based learning and outreach, Temple medical students are getting a chance to interact with various disadvantaged communities in a positive manner to fulfill a common goal,” he says. “That, in itself, is invaluable to them as future physicians.”

For more on service-learning, see page 12.

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Access to Excellence: THE GOAL WAS $70 MILLION. THANKS TO YOU, WE RAISED $77 MILLION, SURPASSING OUR GOAL IN FOUR CATEGORIES! New and Renovated Facilities

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TUSM’s five-year, $70 million Access to Excellence campaign came to a close on December 31, 2009. Although we surpassed our campaign goals, your support is needed for student scholarships, endowed chairs for our faculty, and the new buildingenhancement fund to complete and outfit two shelled research floors that require an additional $20 million.

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Personal Perspective Glimpses into a Personal Journey

by Sandra Harmon-Weiss, MD ’74

“ Truth and certainty in medicine is an unattainable goal; and the healing art…is far inferior to the practical experience of a skillful and thoughtful physician.”

— Rhazes (A.D. 860–932) Persian physician and philosopher from the cover of the 1974 Skull

At 160 strong, my class, the Class of 1974, was the largest ever to graduate from Temple University School of Medicine.

Our class was also less traditional than previous classes. Many of us had other careers prior to realizing that we wanted to become physicians. This was unusual for medical students in 1970, but is a well-established trend today. As Dean Daly says, “Temple is a Mecca for medical students who are exceptional and unconventional.”

difficulty on the marital front, I returned to Pennsylvania and got divorced. The problem was that I had not completed my undergraduate work. I was a single parent and needed to work.

I found a position as a laboratory technician doing research in medical mycology at Temple’s Skin and Cancer Hospital. My experiences there were fascinating. We had a vigorous and well-funded research proSandra Harmon, 1974 gram under Fritz Blank, PhD. I grew lots of fungi (on purpose) and we published many My classmates and I were a new generapapers. We isolated a new keratinase (the tion of medical students, young and idealenzyme that allows fungus to digest hair) istic. We needed to get to know ourselves before we could minand obtained a patent for it. We sold the patent rights to Temple ister to others. We understood that there was a person in front University for $1. of us, not a disease entity. These viewpoints seemed unique and It was clear to me that I needed to move forward with my forprecedent-setting. But as we view medicine across the centuries mal education, so I became a Temple Owl in the true sense, and across cultures, it’s clear that these driving, formative ideas attending classes at night to complete my undergraduate degree. remain timelessly true.

Temple’s Health Sciences campus presented a smorgasbord of The path to becoming a “skillful and thoughtful” physician, in educational opportunity. I mulled over the idea of getting a PhD the words of Rhazes, is a personal journey. Each of us who has (well funded at the time) or an MD (little money for scholarhad this exceptional opportunity can muse about the various ships). It appeared that if I earned a PhD, I would be locked turns that brought us here. into a research career. However, if I earned an MD, I would My journey was circuitous and long, as I felt compelled to make garner maximum flexibility to do research or practice clinical many stops along the way to “smell the roses.” After high school medicine. I chose the latter. in suburban Philadelphia, I went to Antioch College in Yellow Even though I had never studied physics in high school or colSprings, Ohio. While there, I married and had a daughter and lege, I took the MCATs and scraped by with a score worthy for transferred to Ohio Northern University. After a few years, with 32

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admission to medical school. With physics still looming out there as a prerequisite for medical school, I took the full year during summer school.

Since I was a single parent with limited geographic mobility for babysitting (and even more limited finances), I applied to medical schools only in Philadelphia. An older female student and a single parent, my position was rather unique, certainly outside the usual parameters for medical students at that time.

Hahnemann informed me that they did not accept Temple’s “night school” credits. Unhappy with that answer, I waged a campaign to demonstrate that night school was just as demanding as day school. Hahnemann capitulated and changed its policy on this matter, but I withdrew my application anyway.

For Penn, I requested almost full scholarship for their gigantic tuition, but they were not willing.

When I applied to Temple, I was interviewed by a psychiatrist who asked about my views on the Vietnam War. This seemed like a dangerous topic on which to voice an opinion, but I was confident that the point was if I could articulate a cogent argument. Times were different in the 1970s.

When I was accepted to Temple University School of Medicine, it was a life-transforming experience. Medical students at Temple were told that we would be successful and become physicians. What a welcoming environment to one such as me—a deer in headlights. As I found out later in my career, this was not the prevailing attitude of other medical schools. An additional benefit was that Temple became state-related the year that I enrolled. This meant tuition was cut in half, making life infinitely easier. Later, when I started my residency, I was spending more to send my daughter to private elementary school than I paid to go to medical school.

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I will always think of my medical school experience as an exceptional opportunity, guided by excellent teachers and staff—true mentors. Temple teaches an open-minded, gritty approach to problem solving, a tenacity that accepts no partial solutions. This pragmatic approach, coupled with Temple’s promotion of lifelong learning, has served me well throughout my career. It helped me to run a successful family practice in a small town in Pennsylvania, and later prepared me to move into the health insurance arena.

In industry, I had the opportunity to negotiate with the government about health care benefits for care-needy populations. It is important to have a physician at the table with bureaucrats at such times. When I presented ideas to congressional committees, I stressed that health care needs are social, not just medical. You cannot address one without the other if you intend to have successful outcomes. The passion for helping patients and populations in need that I had developed at Temple was a great catalyst for preparing testimony. Nothing can substitute for hands-on experience when it comes to understanding people’s real needs.

This fall my classmates and I celebrated the 35th anniversary of our medical school graduation. During the reunion banquet, I was presented with the 2009 Alumni Service Award by the Alumni Association and the dean. What a delight to be recognized for the “giving back” I have so enjoyed.

But what remains perhaps the most distinctive honor of all is to have achieved an MD degree from Temple, with the fine edge of excellence it signifies. And this is an honor that thousands of alumni share.

Widely known in both organized and clinical medicine, Sandra Harmon-Weiss, BA ’71, MD ’74, is a member of Temple University President’s Advisory Board and serves on TUSM’s Board of Visitors.

In recognition of her long service and generosity to TUSM, she was selected as our 2009 Alumni Service Award recipient. See page 16 for more.

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The Student View The Center for Urban Bioethics and Humanities is Born

by Hannah Ravreby, Class of 2010

Forty years ago, there were neighborhood physicians who knew their patients— everything from what their allergies were to what types Hannah Ravreby of houses they lived in—and altered their approaches accordingly.

Today, for the most part, doctors don’t live where they work. We expect patients to come into our world. Further, there’s “productivity” pressure. Sometimes we have only 15 minutes to figure out a treatment and send the patient on his way. These limitations make it harder to understand patients’ situations and struggles. Is this patient not taking his meds because he’s stubborn? Or doesn’t understand his condition? Or can’t afford the prescription?

backing, the Center for Urban Bioethics and Humanities was born. Since then, we have worked with faculty members and community constituents to address the issue at the core of everything: understanding and treating the whole patient, not just his or her disease.

Given the current climate of health care in the United States and all-too-frequent marginalization of humanistic patient care, the emphasis on bioethics and humanities as staples of medical education can change the ways in which caregivers approach care.

Drawing from the full range of arts and sciences, the Center offers an interdisciplinary approach to teaching and

research. One week, for example, scenes of human suffering in an art history lecture might inform a medical student’s understanding of human nature. Next week, that student might accompany a Temple journalism student to interview a North Philadelphia resident and learn something else that will enable him to be a better physician.

“The Center will enrich medical students, physicians, health professionals and citizens of the Philadelphia region,” says David Roby, MD, clinical associate professor of neurology and co-chair of the Center. “The tools to do this are embedded within the disciplines of humanities and bioethics.”

Physicians need to have a deeper understanding of our patients’ lives. It’s this quest for a return to more communitycentered health care that has driven us to create a center at Temple that will help train future physicians to tune in more closely to their patients’ worlds.

The idea has been gaining momentum for the past few years. We started by creating a steering committee of several students and faculty members to bring the concept to life. Thanks go to Kathleen Reeves, MD, associate dean for student affairs at TUSM, for helping to guide the process and hone our vision.

In October of 2008, our committee presented ideas to Dean Daly. With his

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Bradley Hayward, MD ’09, and Amy Ost, MD ’09, have helped leave a legacy for future students: the Center for Urban Bioethics and Humanities.

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Dr. Roby’s co-chair, John Travaline, MD, professor of medicine, says that Temple’s densely populated, low-income urban environment “not only offers challenging and unique ethical quandaries for the practice of medicine, but also provides the practitioner with rich and diverse cultural knowledge.”

Amy Ost, MD ’09, and Bradley Hayward, MD ’09, were at the helm of the effort to create the Center. They eagerly anticipate what the future has in store.

“I am familiar with the special needs of an underserved community, as my father has practiced at a pharmacy at Front and Lehigh for the past 27 years,” says Dr. Ost, now a resident in pediat-

rics at Columbia University. “The North Philadelphia community resonated with me, created a passion to make a change.

I’m hopeful that I can continue to spread the urban bioethics movement to the neighborhoods surrounding Columbia University,” she says.

“I found a home at Temple and in North Philadelphia,” says Brad Hayward, MD ’09, now a medicine resident at Temple and originally from rural Beaver Falls, Pa. “Most TUSM students aren’t from this neighborhood. It’s an entirely new environment and patient population, and we need to make a concerted effort to understand it,” he says.

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It’s the community right in the university’s backyard that the Center will focus on.

“You can go all over the world to find people lacking basic health care, but you can also find the same thing right here,” Dr. Hayward says.

By learning patient care within a context that deals with the entirety of individuals, we’ll be better people, more effective physicians.

By integrating academic initiatives with community service, we’re working within the moral compass of medicine: the humanistic and ethical treatment of individuals—which is the ultimate goal of the Center for Urban Bioethics and Humanities.

K. Aletha Maybank, MD ’00, MPH, assistant commissioner, New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, moderated a workshop at Temple’s recent showing of “The Deadliest Disease in America,” a nationally recognized program that aims to promote culturally competent medical care.

Inspired by the personal experiences of filmmaker Crystal Emery as a patient with muscular dystrophy, the program features a documentary about four individuals who experienced racism in seeking medical care, then continues with workshops on topics such as “What Racism Looks Like in Health Care Delivery and Why You Should Report It.” The Temple showing, which was attended by students, faculty, alumni and community members, was sponsored

by TUSM’s Center for Minority Health and Health Disparities, the Black Women’s Health Alliance, the Nicetown Community Development Corporation, and The College of Physicians of Philadelphia’s PhillyHealthInfo.org.

Filmmaker Crystal Emery is executive director of URU, The Right To Be, Inc., a nonprofit that utilizes the arts to foster communication and understanding among diverse racial, social and economic groups.

Dr. Maybank has held numerous leadership roles in coalitions aimed at improving health outcomes for minority communities. She says she is pleased to help bring “The Deadliest Disease in America” program to venues nationwide. Last fall the Association of American Medical Colleges featured the program at its national meeting.

For more, visit http://www.urutherighttobe.org.

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Class Notes ’60s

Charles Lusch, MD ’61, Reading, Pa., is medical director of The Reading Hospital Regional Cancer Center. A member of the medical staff since 1968 and chief of hematology/oncology there since 1974, Dr. Lusch is also director of Continuing Medical Education.

He was recently appointed to the Pennsylvania Medical Society’s Commission on Continuing Medical Education.

’70s

Matthew Wikler, MD ’75, Rancho Santa Fe, Calif., is chief medical officer of the Institute for OneWorld Health based in San Francisco. The first nonprofit pharmaceutical company in the U.S., OneWorld develops products for neglected diseases of the developing world. Prior to accepting this post, Dr. Wikler held senior-level positions at numerous large and small pharmaceutical companies, including SmithKline, Burroughs Wellcome, Johnson & Johnson, BristolMyers Squibb, and Peninsula Pharmaceuticals.

Donald Lewis, MD ’77, Dixon, Ill., an otolaryngologist, is president of the medical staff at Katherine Shaw Bethea Hospital.

Robert Maguire, MD ’77, Doylestown, Pa., is vice president for clinical development at Wyeth Pharmaceuticals.

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Prior to this appointment, he held positions in global medical affairs and clinical research and development at Wyeth.

Between 1987 and 1995, Dr. Maguire worked for Cytogen Corporation in Plainsboro, N.J., where he served as vice president for medical affairs and was responsible for clinical investigation, regulatory sciences and medical affairs.

’80s

Ginger Kessler Constantine, MD ’81, Malvern, Pa., has been appointed to the Board of Directors for Savient Pharmaceuticals. Dr. Constantine is vice president of women’s health and bone repair medical research at Wyeth Research, a division of Wyeth Pharmaceuticals. Savient, a specialty biopharmaceutical company, develops products for unmet needs in rheumatology and other specialty niche markets.

Theodore Jones, MD ’82, Bloomfield Hills, Mich., is interim chair of the Wayne State University department of obstetrics and gynecology, where he also serves as director of the division of maternal fetal medicine.

L. Scott Levin, MD ’82, Philadelphia, Pa., has been appointed chair of the department of orthopaedic surgery at University of Pennsylvania.

Prior to accepting this post, he was professor of both orthopaedic surgery and plastic surgery

at Duke University School of Medicine, where he was also chief of the division of plastic, maxillofacial and oral surgery, and directed Duke’s human tissue laboratory and anatomic gifts program. His areas of expertise include the hand and upper extremities, reconstructive microsurgical techniques for extremity reconstruction, and limb salvage. His research interests include extremity soft tissue reconstruction and composite tissue allo-transplantation.

Howard Fleishon, MD ’82, Paradise Valley, Ariz., has been elected council vice speaker of the American College of Radiology. Dr. Fleishon chairs the ACR Practice Leaders’ Committee and is a member of several key ACR groups, including its Commission on Membership and Communications. Dr. Fleishon is a radiologist at John C. Lincoln Hospital North Mountain in Phoenix.

William Thoms Jr., MD ’85, Cartersville, Ga., is medical director of the Hope Center in Cartersville, Ga., where he also serves as director of radiation oncology. He was recently inducted as a fellow of the American College of Radiology.

Audrey Uknis, MD ’87, Richboro, Pa., has been elected to the Board of Directors of the American College of Rheumatology. She also chairs the College’s Continuous Professional Development

Committee. Dr. Uknis is associate dean for admissions and professor of medicine at TUSM.

’90s

David Hoffman, MD ’90, Bozeman, Mont., serves as the primary physician for walk-in and urgent medical care at the Focused MedCare Clinic in Butte. The clinic is part of the Great Falls Clinic, a multispecialty group medical practice emphasizing primary practice care, related secondary-level medical specialties and urgent care. Founded in 1917, it is the fourth-oldest medical clinic west of the Mississippi and the largest independent group of physicians in Montana.

David Nathan, MD ’97, Salt Lake City, Utah, completed his neurosurgery residency at The University of Vermont, then a fellowship at Stanford University’s Neurosurgery Spine Biomechanics Lab. Dr. Nathan has been with the Neurosurgical Clinic of Utah in Salt Lake City since September of 2006. He has staff privileges at Salt Lake Regional Medical Center and is credentialed to treat patients with CyberKnife®.

Michael Weaver, MD ’98, Philadelphia, Pa., assistant professor of neurosurgery at TUSM, has been named one of Philadelphia’s “rising stars” among physicians age 40 and

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under. Dr. Weaver is interested in the virology and molecular basis of brain tumor development and growth. He hopes to see brain tumor diagnosis improved by fast-track imaging, same-day tumor evaluation, and prompt decisions on surgical options.

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Emily Scattergood, MD ’00, Haddonfield, N.J., is a pediatric radiologist based at Cooper University Hospital in Camden with a special interest in pediatric neuroradiology. She has received several honors, including an Excellence in Teaching Award from Robert Wood

A NOTE ON OUR NEWEST CLASS

Johnson Medical School and recognition as a Top Pediatric Doctor by South Jersey Magazine and a Philadelphia magazine “rising star” physician (ages 40 and under).

Daniel Dongin Eun, MD ’01, Philadelphia, Pa., assistant professor of surgery/urology at the University of Pennsylvania Health System, was recently named one the Philadelphia region’s “rising stars” among physicians age 40 and under

by Philadelphia magazine.

Dr. Eun, who completed his residency and fellowship at Henry Ford Hospital’s Vattikuti Urology Institute under Dr. Mani Menon, a pioneer in

“True to Temple form, the Class of 2013 is impressive both academically and experientially,” says Dean Daly.

• 196 students representing 106 different undergraduate colleges, with some coming to us with master’s degrees in biomedical engineering, biomedical informatics, education, physiology and public health • 95 students (48%) from Pennsylvania, with 23 other states represented

robotic prostatectomy, recently assembled an “augmented reality” 3-D operating teaching suite at Penn for use with the da Vinci robotic console.

C. Katarina Biller, MD ’04, MPH, has accepted a pediatric surgery fellowship at Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital, affiliated with New York Presbyterian/Columbia University Medical Center. Dr. Biller is the first Temple resident to match in pediatric surgery in 23 years. The Morgan Stanley program accepts one fellow per year. On average, nationwide, only 50 percent of those who apply for pediatric surgery fellowships match each year.

• 26 students (13%) were born outside of the U.S., in countries such as Belarus, Cuba, Great Britain, Hong Kong, Haiti, India, Nigeria and the Ukraine • 85 students (43%) speak a language in addition to English, and one student is fluent in American Sign Language • 15% represent populations underrepresented in medicine, women make up 44% of the class, and 13% are children of alumni and faculty

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Contact the Editor: giselle.zayon@temple.edu (215) 707-4485 Toll-free outside Pa.: (800) 331-2839

• 58% have professional work and/or volunteer experience, such as one student who spent two years with the Teach for America Corps and another who was awarded a Davis 100 Projects-for-Peace grant for a teaching program in Uganda “Year after year, we are awed by our students’ accomplishments and ambitions,” says the dean, “And year after year, we strive to impress them with our commitment to their education and development.”

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In Memoriam

Angelo M. DiGeorge, MD ’46, BA ’43

Charles Norris, MD ’39, MS ’44

Jay Spiegelman, MD ’40

Angelo M. DiGeorge, BA ’43, MD’ 46, died on Oct. 11, 2009, at the age of 88. A lifelong Philadelphia resident and a world-renowned pediatric endocrinologist, Dr. DiGeorge gained international recognition in the mid-1960s for his discovery of the role of the thymus gland in human immunologic function. Initially presumed rare, DiGeorge Syndrome, the congenital absence of the thymus and associated abnormalities, is now one of the most common genetic disorders known, occurring in more than one in 4,000 live births. Dr. DiGeorge joined the Temple faculty in 1952, became professor of pediatrics in 1967, and emeritus in 1991.

He served as chief of endocrinology and metabolism at St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children from 1961 to 1989 and was director of its Pediatric Clinical Research Center from 1965 to 1982. He trained more than 40 pediatric endocrinologists, authored more than 230 publications, lectured worldwide, and received dozens of awards. In 2006 St. Christopher’s dedicated the Angelo M. DiGeorge Teaching Center in his honor. A lover of all things Philly and all things Italian, Dr. DiGeorge was a compassionate physician, a superb diagnostician, a great teacher, a masterful lecturer and storyteller—and above all, a kind-hearted, fair-minded person. He is survived by his wife, three children, six grandchildren, and a sister. One of his sons is also a TUSM alumnus, Anthony DiGeorge, MD ’79, as is his son-in-law, Neil Brister, MD ’83, PhD. Contributions may be made in his memory to The DiGeorge Excellence in Pediatrics Award Fund, Temple University School of Medicine, Office of Institutional Advancement, 3500 N. Broad St., Philadelphia, PA 19140.

Robert Campo, PhD, former faculty member at TUSM, died on July 13, 2009. He was 79. Dr. Campo came to Temple in 1963 as a faculty member in the Department of Biochemistry and in 1970 transferred to the Department of Orthopedic Surgery. A nationally known NIH-funded researcher, Dr. Campo studied proteoglycans and collagen in cartilage, bone and the growing epiphyseal plate. He is survived by his wife, five children, 14 grandchildren, and several nieces and nephews.

Charles Norris, MD ’39, MS ’44, longtime professor and former chair of laryngology and bronchoesophagology at Temple, died on Aug. 21, 2008, at the age of 93. An exemplary clinician educator, Dr. Norris achieved prominence for his pioneering contributions to the treatment of diseases of the tracheobronchial tree and larynx. He assumed numerous positions as leader in the profession including the presidency of the American Head and Neck Society in the mid 1970s. From 1961 to 1984, he served as director of TUSM’s Chevalier Jackson Clinic and was recipient of the American Bronchoesophagological Assocation’s Chevalier Jackson Award. He received many other honors, including TUSM’s Alumnus of the Year award in 1954.

Dr. Norris is survived by his wife, two sons, and four grandchildren.

Charles Omdal, MD ’61, associate professor emeritus of pediatrics at TUSM and longtime staff member at St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children, died on Aug. 21, 2009, at the age of 73. In the beginning of his career, Dr. Omdal lived in Hong Kong, where he created the Gau Yan Medical Clinic for Pediatrics in Kowloon and treated poor children, especially Chinese refugees. In 1972 he returned to St. Christopher’s as director of emergency services. His patients and coworkers admired his devoted, down-to-earth style. He is survived by his wife, three children (a fourth child predeceased him), a sister and nine grandchildren.

William Rodgers III, MD, associate professor of family and community medicine at Temple, died of cancer on Dec. 5, 2008, at the age of 75. In 1972, Dr. Rodgers was a founding member of the family medicine residency program at Montgomery Hospital (Norristown, Pa.), a program he directed until the late 1990s.

A devoted practitioner and teacher, Dr. Rodgers continued to practice and make house calls until shortly before his death. Dr. Rodgers was awarded numerous honors during his career, including the Pennsylvania Academy of Family Physicians’ 2005 Family Physician of the Year Award. In addition to his wife, Dr. Rodgers is survived by a daughter, two sons and 10 grandchildren.

Jay Spiegelman, MD ’40, died on Dec. 2, 2008, at the age of 92. An allergist-immunologist, Dr. Spiegelman achieved popularity in Philadelphia as the physician who, for more than 20 years during ragweed season, collected pollen samples on a rooftop of Albert Einstein Medical Center and supplied the daily pollen count reported in The Philadelphia Inquirer. During his years in Philadelphia, Dr. Spiegelman was on staff of several area hospitals and was a clinical faculty member at TUSM. For the last 23 years of his career, he practiced in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. A generous benefactor of TUSM, Dr. Spiegelman created an endowed scholarship fund for medical students. He is survived by two sons, a sister and four grandchildren. His wife of 64 years died in 2006.

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In Memoriam continued ’30s

James A. Whitaker, MD ’33 12/19/06 James M. Flood, MD ’35 3/23/08 Henry Abrams, MD ’37 1/25/09 Martin A. Blaker, MD ’37 3/21/08 Luther M. Whitcomb, MD ’38 9/26/07 Esther M. Buchanan, MD ’39 5/19/09 Abraham Freedman, MD ’39 11/30/09 Carl F. Geigle, MD ’39 6/19/09 Charles M. Norris, MD ’39 8/21/08 Norman G. Schneeberg, MD ’39 3/1/09 Frank Sharps, MD ’39 3/17/07

’40s

Jay Spiegelman, MD ’40 12/2/08 Joseph H. Reno, MD ’41 10/29/08 Robert C. Brown, MD ’42 5/2/09 Beatrice Connelly, MD ’41 8/12/09 Glenn W. Corbett, MD ’42 11/1/07 Morton E. Schwab, MD ’42 6/30/08 Edward F. Wieck, MD ’42 6/12/08 Claude H. Byerly, MD ’43 1/20/08 Roscoe E. Dean, MD ’43 10/27/09 Adam E. Gamon, MD ’43 6/1/07 Harle B. Grover, MD ’43 9/26/08 William F. Hanisek, MD ’43 7/11/09 Morton Marks, MD ’43 7/16/09 George P. Matthew, MD ’43 3/31/09 Philip F.H. Pugh, MD ’43 3/6/09 Bernard I. Siman, MD ’43 11/4/09 Edward M. Sivick, MD ’43 9/10/08 H. Glenn Thompson, MD ’43 1/19/08 Andrew B. Adams, MD ’45 3/15/08 W. Thomas Burns, MD ’45 6/15/08 William L. Dorrance, MD ’45 12/19/07 Wesley Harline, MD ’45 8/19/09 George T. Raper, MD ’45 3/9/09 Gale R. Richardson, MD ’45 2/20/08 Marshall U. Rumbaugh, MD ’45 12/30/08 Samuel S. Shorter, MD ’45 6/8/08 Angelo M. DiGeorge, MD ’46 10/11/09 Robert S. Le Masurier, MD ’46 12/3/07 Lewis L. Levy, MD ’46 2/18/09 Myron J. Talbert, MD ’46 3/8/09 William C. Adams, MD ’47 10/29/08 Jane Smiley Burgoon, MD ’47 10/7/08 Jay W. Hammer Jr., MD ’47 6/29/09 Seymour Ledis, MD ’47 4/21/09 Laurence M. Currier, MD ’48 8/13/08 Alvin W. Finestone, MD ’48 6/4/08 Guenther Hans Heidorn, MD ’48 1/2/09

William E. Judson, MD ’48 Paul Y. Tamura, MD ’48 Stanley A. Tauber, MD ’48 Harold F. West, MD ’48 Nancy Small Eshenaur, MD ’49 Robert F.R. Freeman Sr., MD ’49 Allen B. Kendall, MD ’49 Rodney L. Kirk, MD ’49 Richard D. Young, MD ’49

11/21/07 5/31/08 8/1/08 7/18/08 4/22/09 10/24/07 12/10/07 12/28/07 7/28/08

’50s

Stewart J. Petrie, MD ’50 6/17/07 King Roger Snyder, MD ’50 2/27/08 Donald G. Albert, MD ’51 12/6/08 James A. Flagg, MD ’51 2/24/08 Enrique Gonzalez-Jimenez, MD ’52 5/22/07 Thomas L. Koury, MD ’52 10/5/07 Francis G. Meidt, MD ’52 7/22/07 John S. Tobin, MD ’52 10/21/09 Beach A. Brooks, MD ’53 7/9/08 Thomas L. Evans, MD ’53 8/7/09 Roselise Holmes Wilkinson, MD ’53 5/27/09 John E. Brown, MD ’54 3/29/09 Howard A. Lovett Jr., MD ’54 6/11/06 Nicholas D. Petruccilli, MD ’54 1/10/09 John K. Thomas, MD ’54 6/13/09 Thomas H. Allen, MD ’55 11/29/07 Marvin E. Haskin, MD ’55 3/1/09 Sol Seltzer, MD ’55 9/14/07 Leroy Byerly, MD ’56 2/4/09 Gilbert A. Friday, MD ’56 10/22/09 Thomas L. Geib, MD ’56 1/11/09 Galen E. Keeney, MD ’56 2/3/08 Anthony J. Puleo, MD ’56 11/3/08 Alexander Rein, MD ’56 6/27/09 George C. Arnas, MD ’57 8/5/09 Warren L. Early, MD ’57 1/24/08 William K. Frankenburg, MD ’57 4/3/09 Harvey Goldman, MD ’57 4/6/09 James J. McDevitt III, MD ’57 5/21/08 Harold C. Hardenburg Jr., MD ’58 4/11/09 John H. Bleacher, MD ’59 7/5/09 Robert S. Kepner, MD ’59 1/20/09 William H. Rodgers III, MD ’59 12/5/08

’60s

Jack H. Marshall, MD ’60 Charles A. Omdal, MD ’61 Richard E. Crane, MD ’62 Rodger B. Haglund, MD ’62 Dean J. Sell, MD ’62

12/12/08 8/21/09 4/9/09 11/8/07 9/26/08

Patricia J. Middleton, MD ’64 Todd F. Boff, MD ’65 Milo L. Johnson, MD ’65 Robert S. Kish, MD ’65 Ali M. Samii, MD ’65 Edward R. Stevens, MD ’66 Walter F. Janusz, MD ’67

’70s

Brian A. Miller, MD ’71 E. Keith Hansen, MD ’72 Thomas H. Dittman, MD ’73 Ralph S. Sando, MD ’73 W. Dayton Shelly, MD ’73 James E. Milder, MD ’74 Alan H. Stein, MD ’76

6/30/08 6/24/08 1/27/08 2/10/08 9/13/08 9/23/07 10/12/07 4/1/09 5/10/08 2/21/09 10/13/07 4/11/08 3/3/07 12/27/07

’80s & ’90s

Frank H. Carr Jr., MD ’80 5/1/09 Kenneth D. Fleming, MD ’80 5/28/09 Chas A. Horan III, MD ’80 7/2/08 Desiree N. Bennett, MD ’82 9/2/09 Eric A. Cederstrom, MD ’82 5/3/08 Bruce I. Kane, MD ’82 6/19/08 Kenneth J. Simcic, MD ’82 2/3/08 Andrew S. Toto, MD ’82 7/21/09 Allen R. Garrett, MD ’89 11/25/08 Bradley Youse, MD ’89 11/30/09 Adaora Chikwendu Henry, MD ’99

10/19/09

RESIDENTS

Theodore G. Balbus, MD-Res ’54 6/13/09 Martin A. Bashoff, MD-Res ’70 2/24/07 Robert D. Bosak, MD-Res ’81 3/25/07 William T. Burns, MD-Res ’46, ’57 6/15/08 Norman A. Goldstein, MD-Res ’69 8/27/09 Frederick R. Haase, MD-Res ’54 10/7/07 Brandon Hart, MD-Res ’65 10/24/06 Stuart H. Lewis, MD-Res ’59 4/14/07 Rodney B. Martin, MD-Res ’73 5/6/09 John R. McGreevey, MD-Res ’63 6/29/08 Ernest L. McKenna Jr., MD-Res ’59 2/6/08 William F. Neth, MD-Res ’56 12/19/08 Robert E. Paul, MD-Res ’56 12/9/07 Jorge E. Pezzutti, MD-Res ’66 6/9/09 Vernon E. Pocius, MD-Res ’96 4/16/09 Harvey N. Rubin, MD-Res ’60 1/2/08 William F. Zuber, MD-Res ’64 9/28/08

in

memoriam

39

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U n i v e r s i t y

S c h o o l

o f

M e d i c i n e

Whatever Happened To?

Dr. Harakal in 1980 with Dean Leo Henikoff, MD (left), Associate Dean Hugo Smith, MD (right), and former faculty colleague Benjamin Price, MD.

Dr. Harakal today.

Concetta Harakal, PhD “People always ask me why I stayed at Temple for my entire career,” laughs Dr. Harakal. “My response is simple: If you like the place, you stay.”

A beloved faculty member since 1962, recently retired Concetta Harakal was a teacher and researcher of high academic standards.

A humanist, too—committed to people—especially students.

Dr. Harakal was born in the Abruzzo region of Italy, immigrating with her family to the U.S. at the age of eight. She grew up in Philadelphia, completed her AB at University of Pennsylvania in 1945 and her MS and PhD in pharmacology at Temple in 1950 and 1962, respectively. She then joined the faculty. She also served on the admissions committee at the medical school since 1978. She had a gift for selecting the right Temple students, say her colleagues.

“On the first day of class, she would tell her students that if they need help, run to her office, don’t walk,” says Gerald Sterling, PhD, senior associate dean for education. “Her kindness, warmth and dedication make her someone everyone remembers fondly.”

The students dedicated the 1983 Skull yearbook in her honor.

Woodrow Wendling, MD ’78, PhD ’87, professor of anesthesiology and associate professor of pharmacology, first worked with Dr. Harakal as a graduate student in 1978. “She is a wonderful human being,” he says. “Like the fictional teacher Mr. Chips, she never had children of her own, but in essence her “children” are the thousands of medical students she has mentored down through the years.”

40

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to ?

“The faculty and students are what make Temple wonderful,” says Dr. Harakal.

Phyllis Perkins, MD ’76, MPH, currently residing in Linwood, N.J., as an ob/gyn, met Dr. Harakal the summer before she started medical school, then worked under her guidance for three consecutive summers. “She always showed a genuine interest in the progress of my studies and the direction I was headed,” says Dr. Perkins. “She understood my drive to discover something and gave me the independence I needed to excel and thrive as a young researcher.”

Today, Dr. Perkins’ son Louis M. Capecci is a second-year student at TUSM and was a student of Dr. Harakal’s. This is the kind of longevity and dedication that have won Dr. Harakal the respect of so many people over the years. Little wonder she has received so many teaching awards, including 13 Golden Apple Teaching awards, the Lindback Foundation Award for Distinguished Teaching, the Sowell Memorial Award for Excellence in Basic Science Teaching, and an Honored Professor Award.

Dedicated to Temple as well as to her community, Dr. Harakal is active in her church congregation in Haverford, Pa., where she dutifully serves as a postal minister, corresponding with parishioners unable to attend church in person. Prior, she belonged to Philadelphia’s Saint Donato Church and was a member of the choir for 50 years, plus served as a Eucharistic minister for the chronically ill.

“Incredible potential will be unleashed by OUR NEW BUILDING, because it is designed to spark discovery. “ —Dean John Daly, MD ’73

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