BUILD THE VISION CAMPAIGN, UB MEDICINE
SUMMER 2017 » VOL. 3, NO. 1
A Gift Made in Gratitude DANIEL ALEXANDER, MD ’99, AND WIFE, GAIL, GIVE $1 MILLION TO SCHOLARSHIPS By Mary Cochrane
IT HAPPENED DURING A 911 CALL regarding an injured homeless man.
—DANIEL ALEXANDER
“The man said he used to be a professor, but developed schizophrenia and found himself on the street,” Daniel says. “He had hurt his wrist and was in poor condition. I talked to him for a short time about his life.’” Then, as the ambulance was about to leave to take the man to a hospital, “he grabbed me by the collar and said, ‘You, sir, should be a doctor!’” “That lit a fire in me to go back to school and become a doctor,” Daniel says. The man’s words posed yet another challenge in a lifetime of challenges for Daniel Alexander, who as a child lived with his parents and seven siblings in a two-bedroom, 600-squarefoot house in Buffalo. “We were poor, but I grew up with a lot of love,” Daniel recalls. “My mother didn’t give us material possessions, but she taught us the value of education.” After graduating from Hutchinson-Central Technical High School, Daniel enrolled at UB as an English major. In his
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Daniel Alexander, then a member of the Buffalo Fire Department and an emergency medical technician, responded to the call.
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“My mother didn’t give us material possessions, but she taught us the value of education.”
junior year, at age 20, he left UB to become a Buffalo firefighter, the youngest in the city’s history. After working for seven years as a firefighter—and his encounter with the homeless man—Daniel realized it was time to follow his heart and become a doctor, so he enrolled in night classes at UB and completed his English degree and science prerequisites for medical school. During this time, he met his wife, Gail, who grew up on Grand Island and was earning a degree in finance and marketing. The couple married in 1989 and began a family. Each worked: Gail as an accountant, and Daniel as a firefighter. continued on page 2
New School Downtown Nears Opening “REMARKABLE SYNERGISM” WITH HEALTH CARE PARTNERS
BUILD THE VISION Campaign Committee Members
IN HIS 11TH ANNUAL STATE-OFTHE-SCHOOL ADDRESS, Michael E.
Rose Berkun, MD ’92 John J. Bodkin II, MD ’76
Cain, MD, vice president for health sciences and medical school dean, provided updates on construction of the new medical school building on the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus as it nears completion.
Jeremy M. Jacobs, AAS ’60, LHD ’96 Nancy H. Nielsen, MD ’76, PhD Charles R. Niles, MD ’83 Kenneth J. Roth, MD ’83 Robert G. Wilmers, LHD ’04
Moving should begin in October, with the building in full operation by January 2018. continued on page 2 View from Allen Street of terra cotta façade installation.
buffalo.edu/giving/build