Connection
ALUMNI
Tretbar Trio Got Cleveland Clinic Start The four practiced together and raised their own families in the same area. The cousins grew up hearing of the “Crile Clinic” in Cleveland, OH, where their fathers’ difficult cases were referred. Harvey Tretbar, M.D. “My father and my uncle were familiar with Dr. Crile’s reputation, and I read a lot about the ground-breaking work being done at the Cleveland Clinic during medical school,” says Harvey . “I was the first Tretbar to tread the halls. Harold (Hal), Harvey and Lawrence (Larry) Tretbar
The small farming town of Stafford, KS might seem an unlikely hometown for three Cleveland Clinic alumni, but it makes perfect sense to the Tretbars. The three boys grew up down the road from one another in a town settled largely by German immigrants like their grandparents. While their grandparents had arrived in Kansas in a farm wagon with almost nothing to their names, they had prospered. “In those days, you either worked on the farm or you went into a profession,” says Harvey Tretbar, M.D. (IM’56). “My grandmother insisted on her children being educated. She raised two doctors, a dentist and a daughter who married a dentist. “
“Those were remarkable times,” he remembers. “Being associated with a group practice of that size and caliber for training was remarkably stimulating. One epic day, someone said ‘that damn Effler stopped a heart today.’ It was the first time he had done a planned cardiac arrest.” (Donald B. Effler, M.D., was head of the Department of Thoracic Surgery from 1948 to 1975.) Although he came to Cleveland for training in internal medicine, Harvey says he “wrangled an extra year from Perry McCullagh, [M.D., (S’27)]” to study endocrinology, as there were no formal training programs in his field of interest at the time. “It was excellent training and the pathology was very unusual,” he says. When the board exam was developed in endocrinology, Harvey says he passed with no additional training. continued on page 6
Clinic Performs 1,000th Liver Transplant When David Vogt, M.D. (S’80, VS’81) transplanted his first liver in 1984, he couldn’t imagine the milestones that lay ahead for the then fledgling program. But on Dec. 30, 2006, Dr. Vogt was once again in the operating room to perform the hospital’s 1000th liver transplant. The patient, a 53-year-old man from Lima, OH, says, “As soon as I walked down the hall (after surgery) I knew I’d be o.k. It was like taking a monkey off your back. I got a little bounce in my step again.”
Dr. Vogt shared the patient’s sense of accomplishment. He remembers the Clinic’s earliest experiences with liver transplantation. Dr. Vogt was a junior staff member when his mentor, Robert Hermann, M.D., suggested that he travel to Washington D.C. for a consensus conference on liver transplants. Leading transplant surgeons from throughout the world discussed the current state-of-the-art in liver treatment, including medical and surgical therapies. Only a continued on page 7
Cleveland Clinic Alumni Newsletter
Volume XXVIII No. 1 | 2007
Dr. Cosgrove Retires From Surgery to Focus on Administration After serving in the Department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery of Cleveland Clinic for 30 years, Dr. Cosgrove elected to retire from surgery effective Dec. 31, 2006. He will devote all his energies to serving Cleveland Clinic as President and Chief Executive Officer. “All that I have accomplished is owed to Cleveland Clinic and its unique model of medicine where I have been able to realize my fondest dreams as a physician and surgeon,” says Dr. Cosgrove.
Closer to home, Dr. Cosgrove cites the opening of a new Health and Wellness Center in Palm Beach Florida on Jan. 5. Cleveland Clinic has plans to open a more comprehensive facility in early 2008 that may include an executive health program, wellness and prevention services, internal medicine, and several specialty areas yet to be determined. “We are excited about the Cleveland Clinic’s new presence in Palm Beach, which is a part of a larger, long-term commitment to South Florida,” says Dr. Cosgrove. “Palm Beach residents will soon be able to experience our personalized approach to health and wellness as well as the clinical excellence in medicine and specialty care that we’re known for across the country.”
Delos (Toby) Cosgrove, M.D.
As he looked ahead to a new and exciting chapter in his life, Dr. Cosgrove noted the important growth initiatives being pursued on our main campus, in the regional hospital system and abroad that will help ensure Cleveland Clinic’s future success. Among Dr. Cosgrove’s top priorities is the creation of a global health care brand. He describes the future opening of a world-class specialty hospital in Abu Dhabi, called Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi, as a “low risk proposition” with high return. “We’ve had inquiries from people in 50 countries wanting some relationship with the Cleveland Clinic,” says Dr. Cosgrove. “What they said is, ‘You know how to build a hospital, how to staff it, how to supply it, how to measure quality.’ We realized that we had a body of intellectual capital with value.” The government in Abu Dhabi offered to build the hospital, staff it and pay the salaries. What they sought was the Cleveland Clinic’s expertise to manage the venture. “Abu Dhabi will be the first American academic medical center outside of the United States with a full-service hospital,” says Dr. Cosgrove. “It’s new ground.” Money that comes back to Cleveland from the United Arab Emirates will help increase research and education here, as well as build new facilities.
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Dr. Cosgrove also says that his transition out of surgery will allow him to “devote more time and effort to community development and to driving the revitalization of Cleveland and Northeast Ohio.” “We are intimately tied to the future of Cleveland. Our home is here – always has been, always will be,” he says The growth in jobs in the health care industry provides an opportunity for the Cleveland Clinic to be a major force in the city’s revitalization. “The future could not be more promising,” says Dr. Cosgrove.
Cleveland Clinic is accepting job applications to staff Abu Dhabi hospital Cleveland Clinic signed a 15-year agreement last fall with Abu Dhabi government-owned Mubadala Development to develop the hospital. Expected to open in 2010, Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi began accepting applications at the Arab Health Exhibition Jan. 29–Feb. 1, 2007 in Dubai. The facility will need physicians, nurses, technicians, pharmacists and administrators and others to work in the United Arab Emirates. Information and applications can be submitted via the internet at www.clevelandclinicabudhabi.com. Alumni are encouraged to consider this opportunity among others throughout all Cleveland Clinic hospitals.
Top 10 Medical Innovations Unveiled More than 800 medical and business professionals convened on the Cleveland Clinic campus on Nov. 6, 2006 for the fourth annual Medical Innovations Summit. This year’s summit focused on neurosciences and included talks by Jeffrey Immelt, chief executive of General Electric; James Tobin, president and chief executive of Boston Scientific Corp.; and Larry Glasscock, chief executive of health insurer WellPoint, Inc. Christopher Coburn, executive director of CCF Innovations, describes the field of neurosciences as an area of exceptional opportunity in terms of new therapies, as well as investment. One highlight of the three-day summit was the announcement of the first ever Top 10 Medical Innovations list, highlighting technologies that will likely have a big impact on healthcare in 2007. The list of up-and-coming devices and therapies was selected by a panel of Cleveland Clinic physicians and scientists.. They include therapies for cancer, asthma, heart failure, age-related macular degeneration and vascular disease. “The use of state of the art technology and their leading role in evaluating next generation products has long characterized Cleveland Clinic physicians. Their passion for getting the best care for patients drives a continuous dialogue on what technologies are just over the horizon,” says Mr. Coburn. “The Top 10 is a result of a survey of dozens of Cleveland Clinic thought leaders offered to promote widespread discussion on innovation and new technology.” The Top 10 Medical Innovations for 2007 are: 10. Convection-enhanced delivery (CED) of drugs: This emerging drug delivery method is being used to administer medication directly to the site where it is needed, without exposing the rest of the body to a drug’s effects. 9. Left Ventricular Assist System (LVAS): This is the first implanted ventricular assist device (VAD) that senses when to increase or decrease the rate of blood flow. The device takes over most of the function of the left ventricle, the heart’s main pumping chamber, and helps generate the force necessary to propel oxygen-rich blood throughout the body. 8. Targeted cancer therapies: Using second generation, small molecule tyrosine kinase inhibitors to block or modulate disease and provide treatments for advanced cancers, such as renal cell carcinoma (RCC). Clear cell carcinoma is the most common type of kidney cancer and represents two percent of all adult cancers.
7. Endografting: A minimally invasive repair technique being used to treat vascular disease, such as thoracic abdominal aneurysms. 6. Ranibizumab: This drug therapy inhibits uncontrolled blood vessel formation in the eye, which is the primary cause of age-related macular degeneration, the leading cause of new blindness in older Americans. 5. Bronchial Thermoplasty (BT): This therapy is used to ward off asthma attacks. BT involves the controlled application of heat in the lungs to improve pulmonary function and reduce asthma symptoms. Approximately 20 million Americans suffer from asthma, according to the American Lung Association. 4. OCT (optical coherence tomography): This is a noninvasive imaging technology used in the treatment and diagnosis of eye diseases, such as diabetic retinopathy and macular holes. 3. Neurostimulation for Psychiatric Disorders: Neurostimulation, such as Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS), is emerging as a significant treatment option for millions of Americans who are suffering from Treatment Resistant Depression and Treatment Resistant Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. 2. Designer Therapeutics Using Selective Receptor Antagonists: Creating therapeutics to block receptor activation that leads to improved patients’ outcomes. Examples include therapeutics that: block the peripheral side effects, such as constipation and nausea, of opioid medications for pain which can adversely affect patients and lengthen hospitalizations; control the body’s stress response to mediate eating and smoking; increase good cholesterol using niacin. 1. Cancer Vaccines: These targeted therapies are being used to prevent cancer and treat patients more specifically according to the type of cancer they have. One example of a cancer vaccine is the HPV vaccine developed to prevent cervical cancer caused by human papillomaviruses. Marc Penn, M.D., Ph.D., (RES/BV’93, RES/CE’97, CARD’00) chair of the Bakken Heart Brain Institute, led the project and moderated the panel at the Summit. “2007 will be an exciting year for the introduction of new technologies in healthcare,” says Dr. Penn. “For patients and healthcare providers, the Top 10 list is an example of significant technologies that will help to fight many conditions for which there have been limited or non-existent treatment options.”
Marc Penn, M.D.,Ph.D.
Alumni Connection |
Michener Award’s First Recipient: Leadership in Action Working with her $3,000 William & Roxanne Michener Award for the Development of Leadership, general pediatric resident Alyssa A. Riley, M.D., is developing a new program to provide much-needed health information for Cleveland-area parents. As part of her training, 29-yearold Dr. Riley, a third-year resident at Cleveland Clinic, spends a half day once a week at Huron Hospital, a Cleveland Clinic hospital, in its outpatient pediatric clinic. That’s where the idea for her project was born. “Our clinic is unique,” says Dr. Riley, who will be next year’s chief Alyssa A. Riley, M.D. resident. “We serve a predominantly Medicaid insured pediatric population. East Cleveland is probably one of the most underserved communities in the Cleveland area. We realized that educating parents was crucial.” With the help of fellow resident Beth Nagy, M.D., who also is working with East Cleveland pediatric patients through funding from an AAP CATH grant, she identified a variety of topics that needed to be discussed with parents, includ-
The William and Roxanna Michener Award for the Development of Leadership He who would be a leader must be a bridge – old Welsh saying Alyssa A. Riley, M.D., pediatric residency program, is the first recipient of this prestigious award. This award is given to an individual whose peers and teachers identify in him or her, those attributes that embody true leadership qualities. The awardee must demonstrate a commitment to learning, superior communication abilities and a mastery of medical skills. The awardee also must embody the courage, integrity and compassion that represent the highest ideals of clinical medicine. The $3000 cash award is to be used to assist the recipient in community volunteerism and/or global relief work in line with their experiences and interests. The award is available to trainees in graduate level two or above with at least one year of Cleveland Clinic training remaining.
ing lead toxicity, educational achievement, the importance of prenatal care, pediatric care in general, vaccinations, normal growth and development, special needs, nutrition, obesity and diabetes prevention, safety at home and on the streets, and mental health issues. But early on in trying to organize a program, it was anticipated from the experience of past endeavors that local participation may be lacking. “I didn’t want to set up this program to fail,” Dr. Riley says. The perfect opportunity to ensure a receptive audience arose when a Head Start center, one of 16 in the Cleveland area sponsored by Cleveland Catholic Charities, brought in 8-10 of their kids for physical exams. This was a special program organized by Dr. Riley’s Huron Hospital preceptor, pediatrician Angelique Redus, M.D. “Through the Head Start representative at Catholic Charities (which serves about 850 kids in the Cleveland area) I found out that there are required monthly meetings for parent representatives from each of the Head Start centers,” says Dr. Riley. It was a guaranteed audience! So Dr. Riley now attends each of these monthly meetings to present various relevant medical topics. She also will begin visiting each Catholic Charities-sponsored Head Start location in the coming months to meet with parents. During question and answer periods at the end of her talks, Dr. Riley fields a variety of inquiries. “I was amazed about how afraid parents were to give their children prescribed steroids for asthma,” she notes. “They don’t understand the difference between long- and short-term use. They also have concerns about having kids tested for learning disabilities, because they worry that having an IEP (individualized education program) will stigmatize them. A lot of the inner city parents’ concerns are the same as those in the suburbs, really. “We are very, very excited about the program, and the parents are very excited to have us there,” she reports. Catholic Charities Head Start is so excited about the program, in fact, that they have invited Dr. Riley to sit on its board. New Cleveland Clinic pediatric residents will attend the Head Start parent meetings starting next year. Dr. Riley hopes to bring the program to the attention of the American Academy of Pediatrics to enlist their support. She is using her grant money to purchase parent handouts from AAP. She also hopes the program takes root, and that she can turn it over to another resident when she completes her training. “For a lot of us who went into pediatrics, this is the population we wanted to serve,” Dr. Riley notes. “We need to educate parents, teach them how to keep their kids healthy.” continued on page 5
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Children’s Hospital Welcomes Three New Chairs Gerard Boyle, M.D. has been appointed chairman of Pediatric Cardiology. Dr. Boyle attended medical school at the State University of New York in Brooklyn and completed his pediatric residency and cardiology fellowship at the Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh. He joined the Cleveland Clinic staff in 2004 as an expert in the medical evaluation and management of heart transplant patients. Dr. Boyle became interim chair of the Department of Pediatric Cardiology in 2006.
Gerard Boyle, M.D.
David Magnuson, M.D. has been appointed chairman of the Department of Pediatric Surgery. Dr. Magnuson earned his medical degree from the University of Minnesota and completed his internship and residency at the University of Washington. Dr. Magnuson was on staff at Cleveland Clinic from 1998 to 2001 before assuming the position of Chief of the Division of Surgery at Rainbow Babies and Children’s Hospital. He returned to the Clinic on Jan. 1. Dr. Magnuson has a special interest in minimally invasive surgery in children.
Michener Award (continued) Dr. Riley, who grew up in Toledo, graduated from The Ohio State University Medical School. As a medical student, she completed her fourth year studies at Cleveland Clinic. “Pediatrics here is a moderate-size program, with plenty of patients, but not too big that you don’t know everyone,” she says. Cleveland Clinic was her top choice for residency training. “The program and faculty are overwhelmingly supportive of residents and patients. Pediatricians teach all the time, and it is a very nurturing environment. I have been absolutely thrilled with my training here.”
David Magnuson, M.D.
Stephen Davis, M.D.
Stephen Davis, M.D., has been appointed chairman of the Department of Pediatric Critical Care Medicine. He also is the current vice chairman of the Cleveland Clinic Institutional Review Board and vice chairman of the National Cancer Institute’s Pediatric Central Institutional Review Board. Dr. Davis has been at Cleveland Clinic for 10 years and was previously the Vice Chairman of the Division of Pediatrics. He specializes in critical care medicine; earned his medical degree from the University of Vermont College of Medicine in Burlington; and completed a fellowship at Johns Hopkins Hospital.
New Emergency Chair Named Jonathan Glauser, M.D., has been named chairman of the Department of Emergency Medicine. Dr. Glauser graduated from medical school at Temple University and completed his internship and residency at Hennepin County Medical Center in Minneapolis MN. He joined the Cleveland Clinic staff in 1999.
Jonathan Glauser, M.D.
Dr. Glauser will lead the Clinic’s full-service emergency department, which sees about 58,000 adult and pediatric patients per year. In addition to the main emergency room, the department runs an urgent care area.
The Department of Emergency Medicine is a leader in the use of an ED based observation unit for the evaluation and treatment of patients with conditions that require more extended testing or treatment than can be done in the emergency department and has pioneered the use of the observation unit for the management of heart failure. “Dr. Glauser’s vision, knowledge of the community, experience, and tenure are outstanding,” says James B. Young, M.D., chairman of the Division of Medicine. “We are excited to have his leadership in this area.” Alumni Connection |
Tretbar (continued)
Care to share your own recollections from your Cleveland Clinic training? We’d love to hear from you in the Office of Alumni Relations, alumni@ccf.org.
After graduation, Harvey returned to Kansas to open a practice with a cardiologist friend in Wichita. He established a successful career in endocrinology and saw his practice grow into a group of 25. “It was a very nice way to practice medicine,” he says . Lawrence Tretbar, M.D. (IM’62, S’67) Dr. Larry Tretbar says his cousin paved the way for him at the Cleveland Clinic. “When I graduated from the University of Kansas School of Medicine, I wanted to move to Seattle or San Diego and live on a boat,” Larry says. “But I didn’t know anything about the training programs in either place. Since Harvey had gone to Cleveland Clinic, I thought maybe I could get in there!” He was accepted into the internal medicine training program and spent his first year in the hospital, “treating real patients with real diseases,” he says. But the second year, spent in the clinic, was much less interesting to him. “I ran into Barney Crile [George Crile Jr., M.D. (S’37)] in the hall and asked him if he needed a new resident,” he remembers. “He said ‘sure, you can start tomorrow!’” Larry particularly remembers his training with Edwin Beven, M.D. (S’62, VS’63), who he says “taught me how to hold the instruments and how to stitch.” Dr. Beven’s surgical skills, even as a resident, were legendary. He went on to serve as chairman of the Department of Vascular Surgery from 1973 to 1989. Because he had changed from medicine to surgery in the middle of training, Larry had to get in synch with the surgical training program. He gladly accepted an offer from Willem Kolff, M.D., Ph.D., head of the Department of Artificial Organs, to work in his lab. “During my stay, I actually had the chance to help design the first totally implantable artificial heart with Yukihiko Nose, [M.D., Ph.D. (RES’66)] ,” he says. “Here I was, a simple Kansan, helping design an artificial heart.” He fondly remembers an exchange with cardiothoracic resident Rene Favalaro, M.D. (TS’62. TS’65), which foreshadowed future greatness. “He said to me ‘Tretbar, I think the saphenous vein would work to bypass an obstructed coronary artery.’ And I said, ‘Rene, with all due respect, that is the vein that causes varicose veins,” he remembers. “I was just leaving for a post in England after seven years in Cleveland, and it was that summer that he did the first choreographed bypass surgery!” Later, when Larry served as president of the Cleveland Clinic Alumni Association in the 80s, he invited Drs. Kolff and Favalaro to return and address the staff. In his
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introduction, Larry took the opportunity to apologize to Dr. Favalaro. “If he had listened to me, there would be no coronary artery bypass surgery.” Like his cousin before him, Larry returned to Kansas. He established his practice in Kansas City, where he was the only surgeon offering the less radical mastectomy he had learned at the Clinic and perfected overseas. Later, he devoted himself to “phlebological interests,” for which he had a particular talent. Harold (Hal) Tretbar, M.D.(IM’64) Larry’s brother Dr. Hal Tretbar, says the Cleveland Clinic was a natural choice for training. “Harvey had spoken highly of the Clinic, and Larry was there forever,” he quips. Hal had just completed a general internship in Portland, OR, when his required military service came up. After serving as a battalion surgeon in the third armored division in Germany, he travelled to Cleveland for training in internal medicine. He was particularly impressed with the work of Arthur Scherbel, M.D., the first chairman of the Department of Rheumatology. “We didn’t have new treatments for arthritis until Art started trying chemotherapy to control inflammation,” he says. “His work was very leading edge and we were seeing results that no one else was reporting.” Although there was no formal training program in rheumatology at the time, Hal spent two years with Dr. Scherbel advancing his training. “The Clinic was a friendly place and the house staff was given a lot of responsibility,” he remembers. “It was very unusual to have to call an attending at night because they had complete confidence in us.” He says that their confidence was well placed. “When I took my boards in internal medicine, I really impressed the examiners,” he says. Hal so enjoyed the group practice environment at the Clinic, that he sought a multi-specialty group when he left. But the climate in Cleveland had no appeal to the young doctor. Between his time in Portland, Germany and Cleveland, he had seen enough of gray, drizzly, damp weather. “I loaded my wife, four kids and the dog in my Plymouth and headed to the southwest,” says Hal. “We found just what we were looking for in Tuscon, AZ.” Hal enjoyed a successful medical career in Arizona, while he pursued his “hobby” of photography. He worked with a travel writer for 20 years and continues to provide travel photography for the Arizona Trails.
1,000th Liver Transplant (continued) handful of centers could share results of liver transplantation, and none had a great deal of experience. Still, the conference concluded that liver transplant surgery was a viable option. Dr. Vogt returned to Cleveland to share what he had learned, and with full institutional support, he set out to learn all there was to know about liver transplantation. “In 1983, I went to Pittsburgh for 10 weeks to study with the nation’s leading expert in the field, Thomas Starzl, M.D.,” he remembers. “I rounded to learn how to take care of these patients, and scrubbed in whenever possible.” Returning to Cleveland, Dr. Vogt developed an appropriate team and operated on a half- dozen dogs before attempting the Clinic’s first liver transplant. “There wasn’t a long waiting list, since physicians weren’t willing to refer patients for such a radical and demanding procedure,” he remembers. “But we were ready when the first patient presented.” It was Dr. Hermann who prepared the first recipient for transplant, while Dr. Vogt successfully retrieved and implanted the first donor liver. “That was in November, and we didn’t do another one until spring,” he remembers. By the fourth transplant, Dr. Hermann was ready to relinquish his duties. “He told me that this was a young man’s operation,” says Dr. Vogt. They looked to Thomas Broughan, M.D. (S’84) to step to the plate. Dr. Broughan headed to Pittsburgh for training and came back ready to take Dr. Hermann’s place on the team. Dr. Broughan was succeeded by J. Michael Henderson, M.D., who worked in tandem with Dr. Vogt throughout the 90s. The Cleveland Clinic’s liver transplant team has benefited from several advancements in the field over the years. Dr. Vogt says that among the most important was the development of better preservation solutions. “In the early days, we had only 8 to 12 hours to restore blood flow to the liver after it had been removed from the donor. We frequently were starting surgery in the middle of the night, depending on where the organ was coming from,” he says. “We had to start surgery on the recipient before the organ was even on-site.” The newer preservation solutions give surgeons much more time and reduced swelling of the organ, making transplantation easier. The release of cyclosporine was a huge step forward for all organ transplants, Dr. Vogt says.
David Vogt, M.D. (S’80, VS’81) performed the first liver transplant at Cleveland Clinic in 1984 and the 1000th in 2006.
And improved training of surgeons, hepatologists, anesthesiologists, nurses and coordinators has further improved the outcome for those undergoing transplants today. Dr. Vogt is particularly proud of the steady growth of the Clinic’s Liver Transplant program, which is the largest in Ohio. A record-high of 125 liver transplants were performed in 2006. These days, Dr. Vogt says the program is in the capable hands of director of Liver Transplantation Charles Miller, M.D., and director of the Transplantation Center, John Fung, M.D., Ph.D., who he describes as “real” transplant surgeons. “They have completed specialized training in this field, which was just beginning to take shape when I got into it,” says Dr. Vogt. “It has been a privilege to be part of this program over the years and to see how it has continued to grow,” he continues. “I feel very lucky to have been able to stay here and develop the practice I have with the people I have worked with, and those I have trained.” If you’d like to re-connect with Dr. Vogt, e-mail alumni@ccf.org. Alumni Connection |
Research Roundup
Little Packages, Big Potential Nanotechnology Efforts Focus on Novel Therapies Two initiatives by researchers in Biomedical Engineering are focused on translating advances in nanotechnology into more efficient and less intrusive treatment options for patients with cancer and end stage renal disease. The Cancer NanoMedicine Program is a collaborative project with Cleveland Clinic’s Taussig Cancer Center to develop more efficient and targeted drug delivery systems for cancer patients. Nanotechnology refers to the engineering of functional systems at the molecular size scale of nanometers (nm), or one billionth (10-9) of a meter. The Innovation Center in Extracorporeal Therapy is a collaboration with the Cleveland Clinic’s Department of Nephrology and Hypertension. The first major project for this Center is to design and test a bioartificial kidney to replace traditional dialysis as a bridge to kidney transplant. “These initiatives are excellent examples of our continual efforts to find ways to translate laboratory-based research into novel therapies and treatments that improve patient care,” said Paul E. DiCorleto, Ph.D., Institute Chair. “Additionally, projects such as these enable us to recruit gifted researchers, which broaden the Institute’s expertise and contribute to the business and scientific climate of northeast Ohio.” The new programs also capitalize on an emerging and important area of biomedical research, said Peter R. Cavanagh, Ph.D., D.Sc., BME Chair. “Nanotechnology holds great promise in both diagnostic and treatment applications,” Dr. Cavanagh said. “These programs will build on the expertise of our research staff and add exciting new translational components to our research portfolio. The new collaborations with two major clinical areas in the Cleveland Clinic organization are also extremely important to Biomedical Engineering.” Cancer NanoMedicine Program NanoMedicine is broadly recognized as a next wave of medical innovation. The National Institutes of Health plans to spend more than $140 million in the next five years on the application of nanotechnology to cancer diagnosis and treatment. To compete for these funds and to provide new benefits to patients, the Cleveland Clinic has decided to raise its level of talent and resources in this area.
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Delos M. Cosgrove, M.D., Cleveland Clinic Chief Executive Officer and President, has committed the Cleveland Clinic to develop a Cancer NanoMedicine Program and charged Derek Raghavan, M.D., Ph.D., Chair, Taussig Cancer Center, and Dr. Cavanagh to launch this new initiative as a joint effort between the Taussig Cancer Center and BME. The thrust of the new program will be novel methods of drug delivery and imaging in cancer. On February 1, Vinod Labhasetwar, Ph.D., joined BME with eight of his team members from the University of Nebraska Medical Center to found a new program. He also is the editor in chief of the Journal of Biomedical Nanotechnology. It is anticipated that the new program will continue to grow and become a national leader in the application of this exciting new technology to the diagnosis and treatment of cancer. Innovation Center in Extracorporeal Therapy As the population ages, kidney failure, or end stage renal disease (ESRD), is becoming an increasingly prevalent and expensive clinical problem. In 2005, 343,000 of the 452,000 patients diagnosed with ESRD depended on maintenance dialysis to survive – a rate that has been increasing at 8 percent annually, putting ever-increasing financial pressure on the health care system. Transplantation, which extends survival and reduces cost, is limited because of a scarcity of donors. A bioartificial kidney using nanotechnology – a device perhaps no larger than a can of soda pop – could someday replace dialysis by separating waste products and toxins from the blood and providing metabolic functions lost in kidney failure. To achieve this goal, Martin Schreiber Jr., M.D. (GL-1’77, IM’79, HN’80) Chair, Nephrology and Hypertension, has integrated clinicians and engineers into the Innovation Center for Extracorporeal Therapy. The Cleveland Clinic recruited William H. Fissell, M.D., from the University of Michigan to lead the effort. While at the university, Dr. Fissell helped lay the pre-clinical groundwork for pioneering trials of the Renal Assist Device, the large scale bioartificial kidney, which has completed a Phase 1 trial at the Cleveland Clinic under Emil Paganini, M.D. (CF’79) Nephrology and Hypertension. Dr. Fissell also spearheaded a collabo-
Fiscal Fitness
Bequests Offer a Simple Option in Gift Planning ration between the university and Shuvo Roy, Ph.D., and Aaron Fleischman, Ph.D., Co-Directors of the BioMEMS Laboratory, to apply MEMS and nanotechnology to the development of a portable bioartificial kidney.
Making significant, meaningful charitable contributions is a creative process that adapts to the needs and wishes of each individual. Donors spend a great deal of time building an asset base through their dedicated hard work and sound financial investing. The time then comes to decide how to make the assets work for them. When a charity is directly supported, the tax collection is bypassed and the government is prevented from imposing its own allocation of assets.
A highly efficient nanoporous membrane will allow blood to be filtered so waste products can be eliminated using the body’s own cardiovascular system, rather than the pumps and tubing used in present-day dialysis. A surface has been tested that encourages cell growth – creating a bioreactor that replaces metabolic functions lost in kidney failure.
Bequests are one of the simplest options in gift planning. An outright bequest is the most common form of testamentary commitment. You simply direct in your will that a portion, or all, of your estate be transferred to a designated charity, such as Cleveland Clinic. Your estate will be entitled to a charitable deduction for the full fair market value of your gift.
A portable device would provide continuous renal replacement therapy, more analogous to the native kidney, and offer the potential for improved nutritional status and blood pressure control. This device also may facilitate more optimal water removal in patients with crippling heart failure who are resistant to diuretic therapy.
• A specific bequest is another simple way to benefit a charity. You designate specific property that you want Cleveland Clinic to receive. For example, a bequest of specified stock or a vacation home is a specific bequest.
This technology could lower hospitalization rates and provide help for the growing numbers of patients developing heart failure who may have died even a decade ago. Bioartificial kidney research has attracted the attention of the NIH, U.S. Department of Defense (to reduce deaths from renal failure caused by septic shock), and NASA.
An outright bequest can take various forms: • The general bequest is probably the most popular type of charitable bequest. You simply leave a specified dollar amount to Cleveland Clinic. For example, a bequest of $10,000 is a general bequest.
• A residuary bequest is used to give a charity all, or a portion, of one’s property after all debts, taxes, expenses and all other bequests have been paid. It can be used in addition to a general or specific bequest to the charity if the size of the estate allows, after ensuring that other beneficiaries receive their bequests prior to distribution to the charity. For example, giving Cleveland Clinic “the rest of the property that I own at my death” is a residuary bequest. • A percentage bequest can be expressed as a percentage of an estate or a residuary estate. For example, a donor might leave Cleveland Clinic 50 percent of the residuary estate. If fortune changes the size of the estate over the years, this bequest will change in the same proportion. • A contingent bequest is important to plan for the situation when a beneficiary dies before you or disclaims the property. To prepare for such an occurrence, consider naming a charity such as Cleveland Clinic as the contingent beneficiary. This will ensure that the property will pass to the designated charity rather than to unintended beneficiaries. An example of a bequest provision is: I bequeath to The Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Cleveland, Ohio, (the sum of $________ or _______%) to support medical research and education. Check with your legal or financial advisor or call Cleveland Clinic Institutional Development to see if making a bequest is the planning strategy for you. For further information on charitable gift planning, please call Cleveland Clinic at 800.223.2273 Ext. 41245 or 216.444.1245 or e-mail correta@ccf.org. Alumni Connection |
Controversies in Care
Stunting Growth for Ease of Care Paul J. Ford, Ph.D. Bioethics and Neurology Kathryn L. Weise, M.D., M.A. Pediatric Critical Care Medicine, Bioethics and Pediatric Palliative Medicine
A recent case report sparked a renewed debate about the appropriate level of control exerted on human growth and development by the medical community. Gunther and Diekema described a case of a 6-year-old girl whose parents requested medical attenuation of growth to keep their daughter the size of a child. In addition, the parents requested the removal of breast buds and a hysterectomy to arrest sexual maturation and improve hygiene. The parents maintained that because she had a permanent cognitive development equivalent to that of an infant, the requested procedures would allow for greater ease of care, reduced long term suffering for the patient, and a higher probability of being cared for in their own home. After extensive discussions with physicians and the hospital ethics committee, high dose estrogen therapy and surgery for the excision of breast buds and hysterectomy were performed (Gunther DF, Diekema DS. Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine, 2006). This case is but one example of a long history of medical interventions to manipulate size and development. In recent years this debate centered on the proper use of human growth hormone therapy. In particular, people questioned the appropriateness of giving growth hormone to children of short, but normal, stature. The idea of enhancing height or strength through the use of hormones and steroids dominated this debate about control of size and development. The above case of growth attenuation highlights the opposite end of this spectrum. There are many contemporary and historical examples of medicines attempting to control maturation and growth. These
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include attenuation of height for tall girls for psychosocial reasons, castration of young boys to preserve a high singing voice, hormone therapy to treat “precocious puberty,� and sterilization of those with severe cognitive disabilities to avoid procreation. As always, when evaluating an ethically challenging issue we need to understand what is at stake for whom. It is not sufficient to justify the appropriateness of an activity based on past or current practices. We need to carefully articulate how one procedure is morally different from another if we are going to disallow one but allow another. The perceived slippery slope is not a sufficient reason to reject the proposal since we as a community constantly draw lines of appropriateness based on careful deliberation of values and costs. We are well advised to prospectively develop safeguards that will protect against the transgression of those moral lines that will open our practice to abuse or create undue suffering. In evaluating the case of attenuating growth and sexual maturity, the benefit to patient, benefit to family, and harm to patient should be recognized and balanced. Further, we must be aware that these procedures may further support a broken social system that could unduly pressure those with disabilities to undergo procedures they otherwise would not. For example, society could become less tolerant and supportive of people with disabilities who do not have the surgery. Or, care centers could opt to give priority to those who are easier to care for through having surgeries. Finally, the matter of social justice must be addressed directly about funding for such procedures. If growth attenuation provides a fundamental benefit, then all individuals ought to have access regardless of their wealth level. Any medical center considering attenuating growth and maturation would be well advised to develop a robust, multidisciplinary process to provide careful deliberation that results in best medical care and respects family-centered decision making while avoiding potential abuses of vulnerable patients.
Campus Clips Ariel Feldstein, M.D., Pediatric Gastroenterology; Nizar Zein, M.D., Gastroenterology; and Lyssette Cardona, M.D., Internal Medicine at Cleveland Clinic Weston, presented current trends in prevention, diagnosis and treatment at the Eighth Symposium on Hepatitis and Infectious Diseases in San Juan, Puerto Rico, on Sept. 30. This is the first year Cleveland Clinic officially supported the symposium. In addition to the physician presentations, Cleveland Clinic also provided information about Global Patient Services, Health Advantage International and other physician/patient-oriented programs. Susan B. LeGrand, M.D., Hematology and Medical Oncology, presented two lectures at the first Pediatric Palliative Medicine Workshop in Brazil on Oct. 6–7. Dr. LeGrand presented on the integration of palliative care at the diagnosis of a life-threatening illness, particularly in children and also presented on the United States EPEC curriculum (Education in Palliative and End-of-life Care). Donald Jacobsen, Ph.D., Cell Biology, received a prestigious Method to Extend Research in Time (MERIT) Award from the National Institutes of Health’s National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute. Inside Business magazine inducted CEO and President Toby Cosgrove, M.D., into the Business Hall of Fame. Dr. Cosgrove was pictured on the cover of the October 2006 issue and featured in an article called “Miracle Worker” by Chrissy Kadleck. Cleveland Clinic Florida has earned institutional accreditation from the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education, making it the only accredited institution in Broward and Palm Beach counties. The private, nonprofit council evaluates and accredits residency programs to ensure and improve the quality of graduate medical education for physicians in training. More than 1,500 applicants compete annually for 23 residency and fellowship positions within Cleveland Clinic Florida’s eight graduate training programs in cardiology, colorectal surgery, gastroenterology, geriatrics, internal medicine, nephrology, neurology, and plastic surgery. Charis Eng, M.D., Ph.D., chair of the Genomic Medicine Institute at Cleveland Clinic, received the 2006 John Peter Minton Hero of Hope Research Medal of Honor from the American Cancer Society. Dr. Eng was honored for her significant discovery of PTEN, a gene involved in Cowden Syndrome, a difficult to recognize, under-diagnosed disorder associated with an increased risk of breast and thyroid cancers.
Cleveland Clinic is one of several Northeast Ohio research centers and bioscience companies that have partnered to create the Ohio Center for Neural Repair (OCNR), focusing on the development and rapid commercialization of innovative approaches to the diagnosis, prevention and treatment of severe neurological diseases, including Parkinsons’, Multiple Sclerosis and Stroke. The Center brings together the strengths of several of the region’s leading research capabilities, including the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine and the Cleveland Clinic’s neurological research expertise, the Case Neural Imaging Center, the Center for Neuromodulation, and the Center for Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine. “The World Health Organization expects neurologic diseases to exceed cancer as the number two cause of death by 2040,” says Robert Miller, Ph.D., Principal Investigator for the Center. “The creation of the Ohio Center for Neural Repair represents a truly novel partnership between industry and academia that will radically accelerate research development and market entry of therapeutic products in neurologic disease.” Cleveland Clinic has received a $2 million gift from William and Amanda Madar of Cleveland to establish an endowed chair within its new Neurological Institute. The William P. and Amanda C. Madar Endowed Chair and Professorship is the first chair created within the Neurological Institute for the support of patient care, teaching, research and other activities. “We are very grateful for the generosity of the Madar family,” said Michael T. Modic, M.D. (GL-1’76, DR’78, NR’79), chairman of the Neurological Institute. “The establishment of this endowment will assist in the recruitment of talented individuals and will help us bring investigators and clinicians together under one roof, resulting in improved access and outcomes for patients.” The Madar family has a long history of committing its time and financial support to medical advances at Cleveland Clinic. Mr. Madar has helped build a strong foundation for the Neurological Institute by establishing endowments for the Mellen Center in addition to the new Neurological Institute. He also served as a former trustee of Cleveland Clinic and is currently co-chairing the leadership board of the Neurological Institute.
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Campus Clips (continued) Cleveland Clinic has been named one of the best hospitals in the country for its quality of care and safety, according to the newly released “Leapfrog Top Hospitals” list. Cleveland Clinic made the list based on results from the first-ever Leapfrog Hospital Quality and Safety Survey, a national ratings system that assesses hospital quality and safety. Approximately 1,263 hospitals responded to the survey. Fifty-nine are listed on the Top Hospitals list. “Cleveland Clinic has had a longstanding focus on standardizing measures for quality care at a national level. Across our organization, we are committed to the highest levels of patient safety and quality care,” says Toby Cosgrove, M.D., CEO and President of Cleveland Clinic. Each of Cleveland Clinic’s clinical departments has published comprehensive reports to quantify and measure its care, he added. The Leapfrog survey and Top Hospitals List further validates our efforts to provide advanced health care in a safe and high-quality setting. John Fung, M.D., Ph.D., chairman of General Surgery and director of the Transplant Center, received the 2007 American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD) Achievement in Liver Transplantation Award, which is presented to individuals whose careers have shaped the course of liver transplantation. The $30,000 award recognizes Dr. Fung’s lifelong commitment to the field of liver transplantation and his contribution to the AASLD through service on numerous scientific committees over the years, says John M. Vierling, M.D., president of the AASLD. It is intended to support Dr. Fung’s continued research. “I am honored to have been selected for the Achievement in Liver Transplantation Award,” says Dr. Fung. “Throughout a 22-year career in liver transplantation, I have been fortunate to have worked side-by-side with very talented individuals who have helped shaped the development of this highly complex field. By taking heed of the advice of my mentor, I have held fast to the belief that continuous probing into the unknown is far more satisfying than making do with the status quo.” J. Javier Provencio, M.D. has been named chair of the Bakken Heart-Brain Research Council.
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Edward Benzel, M.D., chairman of the Cleveland Clinic Spine Institute, was honored by the North American Spine Society as one of seven “Pioneers in Spine Surgery.” Dr. Benzel has been awarded several U.S. patents in the area of spine surgery. Xiaofeng Wang, Ph.D., Biostatistics, was elected a member of the International Statistical Institute (ISI). Established in 1885, ISI is one of the oldest operating scientific associations. Members are elected due to distinguished contributions to the statistical field. Kristin Englund, M.D., associate staff in Infectious Disease, received a “Voices Against the Silence Award.” Since 1999 the AIDS Taskforce of Greater Cleveland has presented this award to individuals and institutions that have helped “break the silence” of HIV/AIDS. “This is an amazing group of people and institutions,” says Earl Pike, executive director of the ATGC. “Some of them are well known in the community; others do their work quietly, behind the scenes. But they have all made powerful contributions to improving the lives of people living with HIV/AIDS, or preventing new HIV infections.” Robert H. Silverman, Ph.D., Cancer Biology, presented at the 16th Annual Harold L. Stewart Lecture in Experimental Oncology. Dr. Silverman presented “Identification of the Gammaretrovirus XMRV from Human Prostate Cancers with a Mutation in RNase L” on Nov. 15 at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, MD. Paul DiCorleto, Ph.D., chair of the Lerner Research Institute; Serpil Erzurum, M.D., chair of the Department of Pathobiology; and Richard Rudick, M.D., chair of the Division of Clinical Research, were elected fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). Eight researchers, including three alumni/staff, at the Cleveland Clinic Center for Surgical Innovation Technology and Education (known as “cSite”), were awarded a continuation and extension of their grants in the amount of $1,764,000 from the Department of Defense and Telemedicine and Advanced Technology Research Center, TATRC. Congratulations to Anthony Calabro, Ph.D., Isador Lieberman M.D., Tomislav Mihaljevic, M.D., Tom Mroz, M.D., George Muschler, M.D., Joshua Polster, M.D. (MSR’04), Robert M. Savage, M.D. (CTA’90), and Guang H. Yue Ph.D. (RES/BE’94) for their successful project applications. These projects support the mission and vision of cSite and the institution.
Cleveland Clinic orthopedic surgeon Brian Donley, M.D., recently became the first surgeon in the United States to implant a new total ankle replacement. The device is being used as a potential alternative to traditional ankle fusion. Dr. Donley, along with an international team of surgeons, designed the prosthesis, which was recently approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. “Joint replacement is in high demand and patients want to remain active after surgery,” says Dr. Donely. “We designed this new technology with the goal of offering better natural movement and greater comfort with the active patient in mind.” The new anatomic ankle replacement implant is used to treat conditions resulting from debilitating arthritis and was created to better emulate normal ankle movement while preserving more of a patient’s original bone. This allows patients to have more natural motion and suffer less pain compared to other treatment options. Peter Weber, M.D., an ear specialist in the Head and Neck Institute, received the Distinguished Service Award from the American Academy of Otolaryngology and was elected president of the group’s board of governors. Scott Meit, Psy.D., MBA, vice chairman of Psychology, was elected a commissioner for the American Psychological Association’s Commission for the Recognition of Specialties and Proficiencies in Professional Psychology (CRSPPP). Cleveland Clinic recently performed a heart/liver transplant on a 50-year-old woman from Michigan. The procedure was the first heart/liver transplant for Cleveland Clinic and the first in Ohio. “Multiple organ transplants are complicated logistically and technically. Organs don’t fail at the same rate, but in this case, the patient was too sick to receive just one,” says Charles Miller, M.D., director of Liver Transplantation, who transplanted the liver into the patient. The procedure took 12 hours and involved several teams of surgeons – four surgeons to recover the heart and liver; and eight cardiac and liver surgeons to transplant the organs. “Our collaboration goes beyond the dramatic multiple organ transplantation,” says Nicholas Smedira, M.D. (CATS’95), surgical director for the Kaufman Center for Heart Failure, Cardiac Transplantation and Mechanical Circulatory Support, who transplanted the heart into the patient. “Most often, we see patients who need a liver transplant but may also need a heart valve replacement or bypass
Xerox Gives $400,000 to Lerner College of Medicine On February 28, Anne M. Mulcahy, Chairman of the Board and CEO of Xerox Corporation, presented a check to Cleveland Clinic CEO and President Delos M. Cosgrove, M.D., on behalf of the Xerox Foundation, to support the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine of Case Western Reserve University. The gift marks the beginning of a $400,000 commitment by the Xerox Foundation to the Lerner College of Medicine, to be fulfilled over the next four years. Their contribution will establish the Xerox Fund for Educational Diversity to provide the necessary resources to support talented students from diverse cultural, ethnic and financial backgrounds. This new fund will provide the means for these students to participate in the unique, five-year medical education program offered by the Lerner College of Medicine. The gift presentation coincided with Ms. Mulcahy’s visit to Cleveland Clinic as a featured speaker in the Ideas for Tomorrow Speaker Series. During her talk, Ms. Mulcahy, one of Fortune 500’s “Most Powerful Women,” candidly shared a range of invaluable leadership insights, including the importance of corporate support for education to tomorrow’s technology industry. Xerox Corporation, a leading global document management technology and services enterprise, is headquartered in Norwalk, Connecticut.
grafting. By performing both operations simultaneously, we safely give the patient the life saving liver transplant.” Cleveland Clinic, in collaboration with Fairfax Renaissance Development Corporation (FRDC) and more than 20 biomedical and academic institutions, will receive $60 million from the State of Ohio to develop a Global Cardiovascular Innovation Center (GCIC). The grant is the largest ever made under Ohio’s Third Frontier Project, the State’s billion dollar effort to expand Ohio’s high-tech research capabilities, promote innovation and create highpaying jobs. The GCIC will be designated as the “Wright Mega-Center of Innovation,” allowing the project to draw significant state financial support for operations and capital expenses. The funding will be granted over five years. The GCIC will develop and acquire new technologies for the treatment of cardiovascular disease and recruit experienced leaders and emerging companies to establish an internationally recognized cluster of cardiovascular expertise. It will build
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Campus Clips (continued) upon Cleveland Clinic’s unrivaled cardiovascular clinical expertise, its multidisciplinary approach to understanding the factors underlying heart disease and its history of innovation. Cleveland Clinic and FRDC will work together to promote economic development and growth locally. FRDC will build, own and manage the GCIC Accelerator, which will be the home for GCIC member companies and the base of operations for the GCIC. Findings from a study led by Allan Klein, M.D., director of Cardiovascular Imaging Research, were published in the Nov. 28 issue of European Heart Journal. The study found that patients who use self-administered blood thinners while undergoing treatment for atrial fibrillation may have better outcomes, including shorter hospital stays and improved heart rhythm. Findings from a study conducted by a group of investigators from Internal Medicine and Sleep Medicine were printed in the December issue of the Journal of Cardiovascular Surgery. The findings were released by Roop Kaw, M.D., assistant professor of Medicine, Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine, at the 18th Annual Congress of the European Sleep Research Society in Innsbruck, Austria. The report found that there is an increased risk of postoperative complications in patients with unrecognized sleep apnea who undergo cardiac surgery. The findings will be further investigated by an NIH-funded trial at Cleveland Clinic and Johns Hopkins University during the next three years. Nancy Foldvary, D.O., director of Sleep Disorders Center, will be the Principal Investigator at Cleveland Clinic. Cleveland Clinic announced the formal launch and funding of CSF Therapeutics, a Cleveland Clinic spin-off company that develops technologies to fight neurodegenerative diseases. Norwich Ventures, a national venture capital firm specializing in medical devices, will invest $4 million in the company. CSF Therapeutics will use the proceeds to further develop medical devices and therapies for people affected by neurodegenerative disorders and trauma, such as stroke, dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. The company has developed a novel device to treat for dementia. “The launch of CSF Therapeutics presents a significant opportunity to develop new medical devices and therapies to treat neurodegenerative diseases for which there have been limited treatment options to date,” says Christopher Coburn, executive director of CCF Innovations.
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CSF Therapeutics was founded upon the discoveries of Mark Luciano, M.D., Ph.D., Cleveland Clinic section head of Pediatric Neurosurgery. Stephen Dombrowski, Ph.D. (RES/NS’02) a Clinic researcher who works with Dr. Luciano, is co-inventor of the company’s device. The two have applied for a patent. “Neurodegenerative disorders affect millions of people worldwide and represent a vast area of unmet therapeutic need,” says Aaron Sandoski, managing director of Norwich Ventures. “We are pleased to provide CSF Therapeutics with funding to commercialize and further develop its therapeutics and products.” Tommaso Falcone, M.D., chairman of Obstetrics and Gynecology, recently was elected Vice President (Presidentelect) of the Society of Reproductive Surgeons, an affiliated society of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM). Cleveland Clinic urologist Charles S. Modlin, M.D., was recently honored with two prestigious awards for his exceptional community service in raising awareness for minority health issues. Both awards are named in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Dr. Modlin is founder and director of the Minority Men’s Health Center at Cleveland Clinic’s Glickman Urological Institute. He joined Cleveland Clinic in 1993. On Jan. 12, Dr. Modlin received the Distinguished Excellence in Medicine Award at the Southern Christian Leadership Conference’s Sixth Annual Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Dinner at the InterContinental Hotel on Cleveland Clinic’s campus. On Jan. 14, he received the Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Service Award from the Cleveland Orchestra/Greater Partnership in cooperation with the City of Cleveland at Severance Hall. “I’m incredibly honored to have received these awards, especially because they’re given in the name of Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. Considering everything he represented and continues to represent, this is a special tribute,” says Dr. Modlin. “Through Cleveland Clinic, I’ve been afforded the unique opportunity to develop the Minority Men’s Health Center and improve healthcare in the minority community. The team of health professionals and volunteers working with me equally deserve this award.”
Cleveland Clinic Press has published “Heroes with a Thousand Faces” by Laura Greenwald, manager of Physician and Consumer Communications in the Division of Marketing. Ms. Greenwald profiles nine people who were born with facial differences or deformities, or whose faces were changed forever as a result of injury or disease. She interviewed several Cleveland Clinic experts in the area of facial deformities, including Maria Siemionow, M.D., Ph.D., section head, Plastic Surgery Research; Katrinia Bramstedt, Ph.D., Bioethics; Thomas Cowper, D.D.S., Dentistry; Anthony Calabro, Ph.D., Biomedical Engineering; George Muschler, M.D., Biomedical Engineering; and Angela Noecker, Biomedical Engineering. “Heroes” can be ordered from Amazon.com or BarnesandNoble.com. A portion of the proceeds benefits programs to support people with facial differences. For more information, visit: www.heroeswiththousandfaces.blogspot.com. Suneel Apte, MBBS, D. Phil., Department of Biomedical Engineering, was awarded the Arthritis Foundation’s 2006 Philip S. Magaram Research Award. The designation recognizes his research proposal’s score of “outstanding” in national peer review and is the honorary distinction as the foundation’s number one researcher in fundraising. Robert Cain, M.D., Brunswick Family Medicine, was named a “Preceptor All-Star” for consistently receiving top ratings from his past medical students by The Ohio State University College of Medicine for the 2005–2006 academic year. In January, Cleveland Clinic surgeons performed two living donor kidney transplants resulting from a rare matching of paired donors from the Paired Donation Network. The donors and recipients were all women from Cleveland. Matched donation procedures are uncommon, and only about 50 have been done nationwide. This was the second time Cleveland Clinic surgeons performed a paired donation procedure. David A. Goldfarb, M.D. (U’90), and Stuart M. Flechner, M.D. (UT’81), led the surgical transplant teams; and Inderbir S. Gill, M.D. (RES’90, U/RT’91) and Charles Modlin, M.D., led the organ recovery teams. All the surgeons practice in Glickman Urological Institute. Paired donation is a procedure for people who wish to give a kidney to their loved one, but cannot because they are in-
compatible (due to a different blood type or antibodies). In paired donation, one donor and recipient pair are brought together with another incompatible donor/recipient pair and the kidneys are exchanged between them. This process allows both donors to donate and both recipients to receive a compatible kidney. Diana Galindo, M.D., a geriatrician at Cleveland Clinic Florida, became president of the American Medical Women’s Association (AMWA) during their annual meeting, March 23-25 in Lake Buena Vista, FL. Catherine Henry, M.D., an internist in the Cleveland Clinic Head and Neck Institute, is a past-president of AMWA. Alumnae, Margarita T. Camacho, M.D. (CATS’94) was a presenter at a symposium on Heart Disease in Women during the meeting; see the 90’s section of the “Contacts” column. Joanne Hilden, M.D., director of the Pediatric Hematology/Oncology Department at the Cleveland Clinic Children’s Hospital, has been appointed to serve on the Editorial Board for the Journal of Clinical Oncology, a multidisciplinary journal for cancer surgeons, radiation oncologists, medical oncologists, GYN oncologists and pediatric oncologists. Dr. Hilden’s three-year term began in January 2007. Ronald R. Krueger, M.D., of the Cleveland Clinic Cole Eye Institute, recently was honored with a Senior Achievement Award from the American Academy of Ophthalmology for his contributions to the Academy, its scientific and educational programs and to ophthalmology. Dr. Krueger, who has been with the Clinic since 1998, is a cornea and refractive surgery specialist. AAO is the world’s largest association of eye physicians and surgeons with more than 27,000 members worldwide. Scott Meit, Psy.D., MBA, Psychiatry and Psychology, received the Institute for Personality and Ability Testing’s 2006 call for papers award for his research publication, “Assessing medical students’ personalities: A parallel comparison of normed and perception-based metrics.” Donna Hansel, M.D., Ph.D., Anatomic Pathology, was awarded the F. Stephen Vogel Award by the United States and Canadian Academy of Pathology. The award is presented annually for the best paper in one of the Academy’s two journals, Modern Pathology or Laboratory Investigation, during the preceding calendar year.
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Calendar Contact Information Cleveland, OH 216.297.7330 | 800.238.6750 216.297.7345 (fax) www.clevelandclinicmeded.com Weston, FL 954.659.5490 • 866.293.7866 954.659.5491 (fax) www.clevelandclinicflorida.org
Alumni are entitled to a substantial discount on CME sponsored by the Cleveland Clinic Center for Continuing Education, Cleveland, OH, and by Continuing Medical Education of Cleveland Clinic Florida.
NOTE: All courses are at the spectacular state-of-the-art InterContinental Hotel & Bank of America Conference Center on the Cleveland Clinic campus in Cleveland, OH, unless otherwise noted.
March 28-31 17th Annual Art and Science of Health Promotion Conference - Integrating Health Promotion Into All Sectors of Society Special Invitation from Program Chair, Michael P. O’Donnell, PhD., MPH, MBA, Wellness Director, Cleveland Clinic Moscone Center San Francisco, CA Intensive Training Seminar Dates: March 26-27 and March 31-April 1 Contact: www. HealthPromotionConference. org; 800.228.4772 27- Comprehensive Anesthesiology 4/1 Review April 11-14 A Knee Innovation Summit: From Birth to Death
15 Dimensions in Cardiac Care 20-27 Cardiac CT Training Program Cleveland Clinic Main Campus 21 Pediatric Surgical Symposium Lerner Research Institute Cleveland Clinic 25-30 Innovations in Ophthalmology Los Cabos, Mexico May 2 10th Anniversary Moll Pavilion Cancer Symposium LaCentre Conference & Banquet Facility Westlake, OH 3
May Day Therapy–Dermatology Bunts Auditorium Cleveland Clinic
3-4 6th Retina Summit: Innovations in Vitreoretinal Diseases & Surgery
21-23 Neuromuscular Diagnosis and Decision Making 24-26 Epilepotology: Comprehensive Review and Practical Exercises Maumee Bay Resort Toledo, OH 27-29 17th International Epilepsy Symposium: Epilepsy Surgery 28-29 Epilepsy Surgery Techniques: Dissection Exercises August 3-9 Egyptian Spine Review & Hands-On Course Cairo, Egypt 10-14 Cleveland Clinic Peking Union Medical College Hospital Anesthesia Symposium Beijing International Hotel Beijing, China 15-22 Cardiac CT Training Program Cleveland Clinic Main Campus
12 Asthma Summit 2007
10-11 Pain Management and Procedural Sedation
19-23 Eight Annual Intensive Review of Cardiology
13 Major Airway Disease Summit
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24-26 Biologic Therapies for Autoimmune and Inflammatory Disease States
13-14 2nd Ambulatory Urology Symposium: The Changing Face of Urology 13-14 Heart-Brain conference Sponsored by the Cleveland Clinic Bakken Heart-Brain Institute (BHBI) and the Institute of Neurosciences, Favaloro Foundation (Argentina) The First Latin American Heart-Brain meeting Buenos Aires, Argentina Registration is FREE for Cleveland Clinic Alumni of South America. For more information please contact: info@favaloro.edu.ar.
12th Annual Diabetes Day 2007: Technology and Advancements
11-18 Cardiac CT Training Program Cleveland Clinic Main Campus
27-31 Pediatric Board Review
18-19 3rd International Symposium on Convection-Enhanced Delivery
September 4 Leadership Development for Women in Healthcare Leadership
June 3-8 19th Annual Review of Internal Medicine
6-7 Myelodysplastic Syndrome Summit
7-8 Heart-Brain Summit 15-16 Liver Disease in Women Summit 15-22 Cardiac CT Training Program Cleveland Clinic Main Campus
10-12 Perioperative Medicine Summit 27-28 Gastroenterology Update 27-29 Obesity Summit 2007 28– Cardiac CT Training Program 10/5 Cleveland Clinic Main Campus
For information on these events as well as an online CME, medical publications and how to register for free e-mail updates, please visit: www.clevelandclinicmeded.com 16 | Alumni Connection
October 4 Transcatheter Therapy for Structural Cardiovascular Disease 4-7 10th Annual Endocrinology and Metabolism Board Review 5-6 Diabetic Foot Care: Concepts and Controversies Hyatt Regency Bonaventure Fort Lauderdale, FL 5-7 10th Annual Endocrinology and Metabolism Board Review 13 35th Annual Dermatopathology Self-Assesment Workshop 14-17 26th Politzer Society Meeting 18-20 21st Century Treatment of Heart Failure: Synchronizing Surgical and Medical Therapies for Better Outcomes 26- Cardiac CT Training Program 11/2 Cleveland Clinic Main Campus November 28- Surveys of Current Issues in 12/2 Surgical Anesthesia Ritz-Carlton Golf Resort Naples, FL December 13-14 4th Annual Laparoscopic Colorectal Surgery Course 15-16 28th Annual Turnbull Symposium
Alumni Receptions, “Mini Reunions” and other Alumni Events: The Cleveland Clinic Alumni Association and various department chairmen are pleased to be sponsoring alumni gatherings at the following major national medical meetings and other venues. All local alumni, as well as those attending the meetings, are cordially invited to these Alumni Events with their spouse/companion. Watch your mail for more information, check the Alumni home page at www. clevelandclinic.org/education/alumni or contact the Office of Alumni Relations at 216.444.2487, toll-free, 800.444.3664, fax, 216.445.2730, or via e-mail: alumni@ccf.org
ALUMNI EVENTS March, 2007 26 United States & Canadian Academy of Pathology Manchester Grand Hyatt, Manchester “H” Room, 5:307:30 p.m., San Diego 26
American College of Cardiology New Orleans Marriott Hotel, Galerie 3, 7-9 pm
April 12 American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists Sheraton Hotel & Towers, Admiral Room, 3rd Fl., 7-8 p.m., Seattle, WA 16
American Association of Neurological Surgeons Grand Hyatt Washington Hotel, 6:30-8 pm Washington, D.C.
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American College of Physicians, American Society of Internal Medicine San Diego Hotel & Marina, Mission Hills Rm., 3rd Fl., South Tower, 6-8 p.m. San Diego, CA American Academy of Neurology Sheraton Boston, Jefferson Room, 5:30-7:30 p.m. Boston, MA
May 8 Association for Research in Vision & Ophthalmology Hyatt Pier 66, Crystal Ballroom, Sec. 1 & 2, 7:30-9:30 p.m. Fort Lauderdale, FL 20
American Psychiatric Association Dinner, Top of the Market Restaurant Fishbowl Room, 7 p.m. San Diego, CA
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American Thoracic Society Dinner, Fly Trap Restaurant 7 p.m., San Francisco, CA
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Digestive Disease Week JW Marriott Independence Room E, 6-7:30 p.m. Washington, D.C.
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American Urological Association Hilton Anaheim, Capistrano ‘A’ Room, 4th Fl., Concourse Level, 5:30-7:30 p.m. Anaheim, CA
June 5 American Society of Clinical Oncologists Chicago, IL 2
Class of 2007 Annual Graduate Recognition Reception and Awards Presentations HSA / HSSA End-of-Year Dinner Dance
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American Society of Colon & Rectal Surgeons Renaissance Grand Hotel St. Louis, Majestic Ballroom 6:45-8:30 p.m. St. Louis, MO
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Society for Vascular Surgery Renaissance Harbor Hotel Federal Hill Room 6:30-8:30 pm. Baltimore, MD
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Contacts | 40s |
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Charles P. Wofford, M.D. (IM’38, IM’40), of Johnson City, TN, was pleased to receive a call from the Alumni Office to wish him a happy 98th birthday, which he celebrated on Dec. 23, 2006 with his wife, Minnie. He remarked to friends, when asked how old he was, that he’s two days older than Jesus. Widowed twice, Dr. Wofford has two children, John and Mary. Minnie and her late husband, John Fuller, have two daughters and one son. The couple, who were members of St. John’s Episcopal Church, were encouraged by friends and family to marry after their spouses died within a short time of each other. They enjoyed eleven wonderful years entertaining, gardening and traveling before moving to an apartment at the Colonial Hill Retirement Center in Johnson City, TN.
Caldwell B. Esselstyn, M.D. (GL-1’72, S’66) preventive cardiology consultant for the Department of General Surgery at the Cleveland Clinic has authored a new book, Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease. The book is based on Dr. Esselstyn’s 20-year nutritional study – the longest of its kind ever conducted – and explains how we can end the heart disease epidemic by changing what we eat. The book is available online and at all major book retailers.
Dr. Charles & Minnie Wofford
| 60s | John A. Bergfeld, M.D. (GL-1’65, S’67, ORS’70), See Susan M. Joy, M.D., 00s, below. Wilma F. Bergfeld, M.D. (GL-1’65, D’68), head of the section of Dermatopathology at the Cleveland Clinic, has been awarded an honorary membership from the American Academy of Dermatology for her lifetime dedication and distinguished service to the academy and its mission. Dr. Bergfeld was the first woman elected president of the academy and first president of the Women’s Dermatologic Society. In 2001 she received the Cleveland Clinic Alumni Association Distinguished Alumnus Award. H. King Hartman, M.D. (OPH’67) writes that his Ophthalmology practice includes his two sons, King Jr. and Coby, in Greensburg, PA. Dr. Hartman is an avid art and train collector and enjoys playing in national tennis tournaments – at over 70 years of age. Dr. Hartman and his wife, Carol, have two other children: Cami, who has two daughters, age 4 and 3 months, and Brett, a 4th year surgical resident at Hershey Medical Center preparing to be a plastic surgeon.
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Anthony J. Furlan, M.D. (GL-1’74, N’77, EEGME’78), Christine S. Moravec, Ph.D. (RES’89), and Leopoldo J. Pozuelo, M.D. (P’97), have been appointed associate directors of the Bakken HeartBrain Institute of the Cleveland Clinic. J. Bruce Resnik, M.D. (TRS’75, IM’77, H/N’79) joined the Cleveland Clinic Independence Family Health Center staff in the Department of Internal Medicine effective Jan. 8, 2007. Previously he was with Brookpark Medical in Brooklyn, OH. Edward (“Eddy”) D. Ruszkiewicz, M.D. (IM’75, GE’77), of Toledo, OH, enjoyed a recent concert by his favorite country singer, Vince Gill. A grateful former patient who he referred to Cleveland Clinic happens to be the premiere country DJ in Toledo. “He is thankful to me and Cleveland Clinic for returning him to health from literally the brink of dying,” says Dr. Ruszkiewicz, who was invited back stage and got to meet the country legend. “Vince Gill is one of the nicest people that you can meet. On top of that, he loves to talk golf. I’ll never forget the evening.”
leg pain. Using local anesthesia, it “allows my patients to return home the same day with no more than a Band-Aid on their back,” said Dr. Schiffer. “With HydroDiscectomy, patients can walk out of our surgery center in about two hours feeling significantly reduced pain, or none at all.” An internationally recognized spine surgeon, he currently is on the clinical teaching staff at the University of California San Francisco Department of Neurosurgery. Frank Seidelmann, D.O. (GL-1’73, DR’76) was featured in The Plain Dealer in October for a career that has “mirrored the digital revolution in the radiology industry.” Dr. Seidelmann’s third start-up radiology businesses, Franklin & Seidelmann LLC in Beachwood, OH, specializes in transmitting digital images to a nationwide network of 35 highly specialized radiologists who report back to healthcare institutions nationwide. | 80s | Gordon R. Bell, M.D. (GL-1’78, ORS’82), See Eeric Truumees, M.D., 90s below. Joanne M. Ceimo, M.D. (IM’78, RES’79, CARD’81), board certified in Internal Medicine and Cardiology, completed a Geriatric Fellowship in 1997 at Duke University and the Sun Health/St. Joseph Geriatric Fellowship Program, Sun City, AZ, where she has since been a member of the faculty. She has served as director of the inpatient Geriatric Services at Boswell Memorial Hospital and is currently a staff physician at Sun Health Research Institute’s Cleo Roberts Center for Clinical Research. Dr. Ceimo wrote, “During the time that I was at CCF, I adopted my older son, Chris, from Sri Lanka and then, as a first year cardiology fellow gave birth to my younger son, David. Chris is now the president of our family foundation, which supports higher education for disadvantaged students, and has just been accepted at the W.P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University. David works in federal law enforcement, was married two years ago, and just made me a first-time Grandma with the arrival of his first child, Dominic.”
Vince Gill and Edward Ruszkiewicz, M.D.
Stanton Schiffer, M.D. (NS’70) of Fremont, CA, announced in late October, that he has performed his 100th successful herniated disc repair procedure using a breakthrough, minimally invasive outpatient technique called HydroDiscectomy, developed by Billerica, MA-based HydroCision Inc. The HydroDiscectomy uses a high-velocity waterjet to quickly and safely decompress herniated discs, providing relief to patients suffering from chronic back and/or
Dr. Ceimo dancing at son David’s wedding.
Philip M. Dorfman, M.D., FACC (CARD’83), See “boxed” Contact on page 24. Terry A. Gordon, D.O., FACC (CARD’87), See “boxed” Contact on page 24.
and readily displays a sense of humor that no doubt has contributed to her professional and personal success.
Philip H. Keyser, M.D., FACC (CARD’85), See “boxed” Contact on page 24. Eduardo P. Martinez, M.D. (GL-1’79, DR’82) of Avon Lake, OH, is the president of the radiology group, Drs. Russell, Berkebile & Associates in Lorain, OH and also is the chairman of Radiology at the Elyria Memorial Hospital Regional Medical Center. He and his wife, Susan, have two daughters, Christine and Jacqueline. Lolita McDavid, M.D. (GL-1’80, PD’82) was one of twelve women selected by Crain’s Cleveland Business honored at the annual Women of Note luncheon held Nov. 1, 2006 to spotlight Northeast Ohio’s rising female business leaders. After leaving Cleveland Clinic, she was a Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholar at Yale University. Dr. McDavid is currently the medical director of Child Advocacy and Protection at Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital of Cleveland. Her accomplishments include becoming the first head of the Division of General Pediatrics at MetroHealth Medical Center and heading up the Children’s Defense Fund’s Greater Cleveland Project, which aimed to improve and extend the Defense Fund’s programs in health, anti-poverty, preschool and child support in Cleveland. She restructured the Child Protection program that makes Rainbow a “No Hitting Zone,” a program that teaches parents appropriate nonphysical discipline. The program, adopted by the UC Davis Health System in Sacramento, CA, also requires educating the staff on how to deal with parents who spank their children at the hospital. “The majority of our staff didn’t feel comfortable intervening when somebody was whaling on their kids,” she said. Now, physicians acknowledge the parent and try to redirect them when necessary.” She has committed her career to providing a voice for the underserved. Dr. McDavid and her husband, Lee Trotter, have two grown children. Son, Laurence Trotter, graduates from the U.S. Naval Academy this year and daughter, Leslie Trotter, graduated from Miami University of Ohio in 2002 and is now living in New York City, and as Dr. McDavid, quipped, is “self-supporting. YEA!!” Dr. McDavid is a board member of Miami University
izes in liposuction for men. She will maintain her private practice, Aesthetic Dermatology of Dupont Circle, in Washington, D.C. Born in Chicago, IL, Dr. Toombs received her medical degree from Ohio State University and completed her residency at Howard University followed by an N.I.H. Dermatology Fellowship.
Dr. McDavid, now a Navy Football fan, is pictured with mascot “Bill the Goat”.
Christine S. Moravec, Ph.D. (RES’89), See Anthony J. Furlan, M.D., 70s above Martin J. Schreiber, M.D. (GL’1-77, IM’79, H/N’80), chairman of Cleveland Clinic’s Department of Nephrology and Hypertension, has been named the 2007 Man of the Year by the Kidney Foundation of Ohio. He was honored Feb. 10, 2007 at the Kidney Foundation’s Romance on the Red Carpet Gala Benefit. Dr. Schreiber was recognized for his outstanding leadership and commitment to serving the renal healthcare community and for his continued support and dedication to the mission and programming of the Kidney Foundation of Ohio. “Every year, the Kidney Foundation of Ohio honors someone who embraces our mission of serving individuals and families suffering from kidney failure. Marty was an obvious choice because his dedication and selfless commitment to the community are evident every time you speak to him,” said Alexis Fuerst, chairperson of the Kidney Foundation of Ohio’s Board of Directors. “As both a doctor and an advocate, he has spent countless hours helping the Foundation develop new programming to improve the lives of those we serve.” For his part, Dr. Schreiber is deeply honored to be receiving such recognition. “This is an especially meaningful award coming from an organization dedicated to helping patients who suffer from kidney disease in Cleveland and the surrounding areas,” Dr. Schreiber said. “I am very proud to be this year’s honoree.” Ella L. Toombs, M.D. (IM’84) was recently appointed director of the Ethnic Skin and Hair Clinic and assistant professor of Dermatology at Rush University Medical Center, Chicago. She special-
Dr. Toombs at the Cape of Good Hope, Spring, 2006
A. Roger Tsai, M.D., FACC (CARD’83), See “boxed” Contact on page 24. | 90s | Joseph J. Albanese, D.O. (IM”93, H/N’95) was appointed medical director of the Dialysis Unit at Jersey Shore University Medical Center in Neptune, NJ. Board certified in Internal Medicine and Nephrology, he started the private practice, Jersey Coast Nephrology and Hypertension Associates, and is now the managing partner overseeing offices in Brick and Toms River, NJ. He also is the vice chair of Medicine at Community Medical Center in Toms River and also vice chair at Ocean Medical Center in Brick, NJ. His wife, Belinda, did public relations work in Cleveland Clinic’s Department of Internal Medicine and was active in the House Staff Spouses Association during Dr. Albanese’s training. Their two children, Joseph, 16 and Hannah, 13, were born during their time in Cleveland, as well. Carol A. Burke, M.D. (GE’93), a member of the Gastroenterology & Hepatology staff at Cleveland Clinic and fellow alumnus, Feza H. Remzi, M.D. (S’96, CRA’97), Colorectal Surgery; and colleague, Aaron Brzezinski, M.D., Gastroenterology & Hepatology, presented the “Symposium of the Cleveland Clinic: Update in Prevention, Diagnostic and
Alumni Connection | 19
Contacts (continued) Surgical Treatment of Colorectal Cancer” on Nov. 14, 2006 at the XXX Pan-American Congress of Gastroenterology in Cancun, Mexico. The congress drew approximately 2,500 gastroenterologists. Bonita C. Coe, M.D. (IM’97) joined the Cleveland Clinic General Internal Medicine staff effective Jan, 8, 2007. Previously she was in a near-by practice with fellow alumnus, Gregory L. Hall, M.D. (IM’94). Inderbir S. Gill, M.D., M.Ch., (RES’90, U/RT’91) vice chairman, Cleveland Clinic Glickman Urological Institute, recently edited and published the “Textbook of Laparoscopic Urology” (Informa Healthcare, 2006). The book comprises 101 chapters written by 198 authors from around the world. Stephen M. Heupler, M.D., FACC (CARD’97), See “boxed” Contact on page 24. Michael M. Hughes, M.D., FACC (CARD’90), See “boxed” Contact on page 24. Todd M. Ivan, M.D. (P’95), former House Staff President (1994-1995) has been elected president of the Ohio Psychiatric Association for 2007-2008. He is director of Consultation & Liaison Psychiatry for the Summa Health System in Akron, OH. He and his wife, Brynda, live in Twinsburg, OH. Karen J. Jacobs, D.O. (P’92) joined the Psychiatry & Psychology staff at the Cleveland Clinic effective Nov. 1, 2006. Her areas of specialty are women’s issues, transitional stages, ADD (HD), mood and anxiety disorders, VNS, DBS & TMS. Cheryl D. G. Klein, M.D., FAAP (PD’99) is pleased to announce that she has been appointed to the position of assistant medical director, Pediatric Hospitalist Service at St. Vincent Children’s Hospital in Indianapolis, IN effective Jan. 1, 2007. Her duties include all scheduling for a nine-member employed physician group, coordinating resident education on the inpatient Pediatric rotation, participation in various hospital committees such as Service Excellence and Family Centered Care Council as well as overseeing all billing, coding and documentation initiatives. She also is a member of the core clinical faculty that is developing a new Pediatric Residency Program with the first class starting in July of 2007. She enthusiastically, adds, “Please feel free to refer any residents with an interest in Pediatric Hospitalist Medicine my way!”
20 | Alumni Connection
Joseph F. Pietrolungo, D.O., FACC, FSVMB (IM’88, CARD’93, VM’94), See “boxed” Contact on page 24. Ryan Ponnudurai, M.D. (IM’96) completed a Gastroenterology Fellowship in LaJolla, CA followed by a year in Toronto, ON, Canada, in an Advanced Endoscopy Fellowship. Before returning to Malaysia in 2001, he received EUS training in Hamburg, Germany. He has been leading the largest tertiary referral Endoscopy Center in Kuala Lumpur with a very active Internal Medicine program and Gastroenterology Fellowship. On Jan. 10, 2007, he accepted a position as head of Medicine and director of Endoscopy at Princecourt Medical Center in Kuala Lampur, Malaysia. He continues to teach Endoscopic Ultrasound and ERCP to fellow gastroenterologists at his previous hospital. Dr. Ponnudurai organizes a yearly Endoscopy course with participation from world renowned endoscopists, and has been invited as faculty for Endoscopy courses in many countries. Remaining active in the American Society of Gastroenterology, he was nominated by the ASGE as a committee member for international members. As an advocate of American post-graduate medical education and the president of the Malaysian Society of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, he is eager to enhance cross-cultural medical education. Dr. Ponnudurai married in 2005 and is happy to announce the birth of the couple’s first child, Aaron Jeyam, born, Dec. 28, 2006.
Ponnudurai Family
Leopoldo J. Pozuelo, M.D. (P’97), See Anthony J. Furlan, M.D., 70s above. Imad M. Najm, M.D. (N’96, NPHY’97), director of Cleveland Clinic’s Epilepsy Center, was given the Legacy Award at the annual Epilepsy Association Gala on Nov. 18, 2006 for his contributions to the treatment and research of epilepsy. Dr. Najm has been the principal investigator on multiple research studies funded by the National Institutes of Health, Epilepsy Foundation and other institutions, and has been a strong supporter of the services
and programs that the Epilepsy Association provides to the Northeast Ohio community. Cynthia M. Pordon, D.O., FACC (CARD’90), See “boxed” Contact on page 24. Feza H. Remzi, M.D. (S’96, CRA’97), See Carol A. Burke, M.D., above. David N. Rubin, M.D., FACC, FASE (CARD’97, CARD/I’99), See “boxed” Contact on page 24. Imad E. Shami, D.M.D., D.D.S., FACOMS (DENT/G’95, DENT/O’96) passed his written & oral Board Examination in Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery and is currently doing a Fellowship in Craniofacial Surgery at the Charleston Area Medical Center, Charleston, WV. He is focusing on treating patients with congenital and acquired craniofacial deformities, newborn babies with craniosynostosis and cleft lip and palate, as well as complex craniomaxillo facial trauma at a Level I Trauma Center. Dr. Shami would like to share his e-mail with everyone: ieshami@yahoo.com Jonathan C. Squires, D.O. (MSR’97) is now director of Musculoskeletal Imaging at Radiology Associates of Clearwater (FL) and chairman of the PACS Committee. He and his wife, Lisa Whims-Squires, D.O., an internist, pulmonologist and sleep disorders specialist, will celebrate their ninth wedding anniversary May 24 and have two sons, Jared, 4, and Alexander, 3. Eeric Truumees, M.D. (ORS’98) currently is a spine surgeon at William Beaumont Hospital, Royal Oak, MI. He has been appointed the new Editor-in-Chief of SpineLine, a widely read, bimonthly publication of the North American Spine Society covering medical and scientific advances as well as the ethical and economic aspects of Spine care. Dr. Truumees also will be on the faculty of a symposium on Spine Care for the General Orthopaedic Surgeon at the Mid-America Orthopaedic Association Meeting in Boca Raton, FL, directed by his mentor, Gordon R. Bell, M.D. (GL-1’78, ORS’82), April 11-15, 2007. Andrew B. Wickline, M.D. (AR’02), a board-certified total joint specialist, was accepted into the American Association of Hip and Knee Surgeons, based on nomination by other accomplished total joint surgeons and requiring a minimum of more than 50 percent of orthopaedic practice to the subspecialty of hip and knee replacement. Dr. Wickline is a partner in Genesee Orthopedic Surgery and Hand Associates in Utica, NY with active staff privileges at St. Elizabeth Medical Center.
Nche Zama, M.D., Ph.D. (RES’86, S’91), former chief of Cardiovascular & Thoracic Surgery at the Guthrie Clinic in Sayre, PA, is now with the Pocono Medical Center’s ESSA Heart & Vascular Institute, East Stroudsburg, PA. He will be the first cardiovascular/thoracic surgeon to practice in the Poconos area of northeast PA. The Pocono Medical Center previously has sent more than 1,500 heart surgery cases a year to hospitals outside the area and Dr. Zama is pleased to be able to provide needed services to residents there. A native of Cameroon, Africa, Dr. Zama earned a medical degree from the University of Cincinnati, and a Ph.D. in chemistry from Cleveland State University-Cleveland Clinic Foundation. He completed a residency in General Surgery at Cleveland Clinic and was senior resident in Pediatric-Cardiac Surgery at Harvard Medical School, Boston Children’s Hospital. He completed a Fellowship in Cardiothoracic Surgery at Harvard Medical School, Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital; and was a Fellow in Cardiac Valve Surgery at Hospital Broussais, Universite de Paris, France. He is board certified by the American Board of Thoracic Surgeons and the American Board of Surgery. He lives in Stroudsburg, PA. | 00s | Bryson D. Borg, M.D. (SP’01, DR’05, NR’06), completing his Neuroradiology Fellowship at Cleveland Clinic, where his 3 children were born, and his wife, Karen, asked to share their story with fellow alumni, staff and friends: “Now that Brody is 4, and Jack and Valerie are 2, it seems like a long time ago that we were visiting the NICU every day to see our children. But we are oh so thankful that we are not visiting their grave sites instead. Please help us help other families who have babies born too soon. Visit the link at the bottom of this message and give as generously as possible. It means so much to us that we have family and friends who understand what we went through. If it weren’t for others who gave to the March of Dimes many years ago we wouldn’t have our family today. Think of all the goodness you are helping to create for tomorrow! If you’d like to sign up as a member of our team please contact me at karenborg@yahoo.com. You can sign up to be a member of the team without actually walking. With love and gratitude, Karen, Bryson, Brody, Jack and Valerie Borg”. Feel free to visit their March of Dimes website at: www.walkamerica. org/karenborg.
Yves A. Gabriel, M.D. (VS’04) formerly with Arnot Ogden Medical Center in Elmira, NY, wrote to say he is now practicing vascular surgery with Cardiac Surgical Associates in Clearwater, FL. He added, “The Clinic will always have a special place in my heart and I want to ensure that I stay in touch throughout the upcoming years.”
Borg Family
Edwin L. Capulong, M.D. (SMF’05) joined the Cleveland Clinic Spine Institute staff on Dec. 1, 2006. Beate Diehl, M.D. (NPHY’99, N’03), of the Cleveland Clinic Epilepsy Center, was awarded the 2006 Early Career Physician Scientist Award at the annual American Epilepsy Society meeting. This prestigious award is given to foster the development of physicians with outstanding ability to perform translational research. Dr. Diehl’s research focuses on the development of imaging techniques of various anatomical networks in the brain of patients with temporal lobe epilepsy Samer K. Elbabaa, M.D. (PD/NS’02) and his wife, Dina, are happy to announce the birth of their son, Kamal, on April 28, 2006. The couple live in Chapel Hill, NC, where Dr. Elbabaa will start his chief residency year in neurosurgery at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in July, 2007.
Elbabaa Family
David P. Gurd, M.D. (ORS’05), and Ryan C. Goodwin, M.D. (ORS’03), members of the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, performed the first surgical dislocation of the hip at Cleveland Clinic. The new procedure was first developed in Switzerland and now is being performed at isolated centers in the United States. Brooke H. Gurland, M.D. (FCCRS’01) joined the Cleveland Clinic Colorectal Surgery staff effective Jan. 1, 2007. Previously, she was with in the department of Minimally Invasive Surgery at Maimonides Medical Center in Brooklyn, NY. Susan M. Joy, M.D. (PC/SM’00), director of Women’s Sports Health at the Cleveland Clinic was named one of Crain’s Cleveland Business magazine’s “Forty Under 40” highlighting local vibrant individuals under the age of 40, making a difference in the region. Born in Hartford, CT, Dr. Joy received her medical degree from the University of Connecticut, Farmington. She specializes in treating young athletes and has a specific interest in treating female athletes of all ages. In addition to her clinical and administrative duties, Dr. Joy is the Head Team Physician at Cleveland State University and team physician for Independence High School, Independence, OH. John A. Bergfeld, M.D. (GL-1’65, S’67, ORS’70) Cleveland Clinic director of Medical Affairs in Sports Medicine, told Crain’s that Dr. Joy’s interest in active women and their female-specific traits is unique in her field. He said, “She’s a pretty darn efficient person. I have tremendous respect for her.”
Dr. Susan Joy
Alumni Connection | 21
Contacts (continued) Victoria L. (nee Meier) Norton, Ph.D. (PD/ PSY’04) is director of the Hospital Consultation Service at Akron Children’s Hospital. She married John K. Norton Sept. 18, 2005 and the couple happily announced the birth of their first child, son Gabriel James, born Sept. 10, 2006.
Michael M. Hughes, M.D., FACC (CARD’90), former president of The Heart Group, Inc., Akron, OH is now co-chairman of Northeast Ohio Cardiovascular Specialists, Inc.(NEOCS), formed by the merging of The Heart Group Inc. and Akron Cardiology Consultants, Jan, 1, 2007. The new group includes 32 physicians, including alumni, Philip M. Dorfman, M.D., FACC (CARD’83), Terry A. Gordon, D.O., FACC (CARD’87), Stephen M. Heupler, M.D., FACC (CARD’97), Philip H. Keyser, M.D., FACC (CARD’85), Joseph F. Pietrolungo, D.O., FACC, FSVMB (IM’88, CARD’93, VM’94), Cynthia M. Pordon, D.O., FACC (CARD’90), David N. Rubin, M.D., FACC, FASE (CARD’97, CARD/I’99), Khaled Sleik, M.D., FRCPC (CARD/I’04), and A. Roger Tsai, M.D., FACC (CARD’83).
Michael M. Hughes, M.D.
The two practices merged to keep pace with sub-specialization, access and quality patient care issues. “The formation of NEOCS provides enhanced access and quality of care for our patients and the community, while operating more efficiently and effectively with its partner hospitals and physicians,” Dr. Hughes told Crain’s Cleveland Business in December 2006. He added “Physicians working in a practice that represents the major specialties are able to, within one organization, refer patients, seek professional consultation, and make decisions regarding patient care in a collegial, collaborative environment.”
The Norton Family
Khaled Sleik, M.D., FRCPC (CARD/I’04), See “boxed” Contact. Amy K. Windover, Ph.D. (HPSYO’04) and her husband, Steven M. Noble, along with big sister, Julia, who will be 3 years old, June 14, welcomed Benjamin Windover Noble, on Aug. 10, 2006. Philip M. Dorfman, M.D.
Terry A. Gordon, D.O.
Stephen M. Heupler, M.D.
Philip H. Keyser, M.D.
Joseph F. Pietrolungo, D.O.
Cynthia M. Pordon, D.O.
David N. Rubin, M.D.
Khaled Sleik, M.D.
A. Roger Tsai, M.D.
Windover-Noble Family
22 | Alumni Connection
| Future Alumni | Ryan Hedgepeth, M.D., chief resident in Urology and president of the House Staff Association (2006-2007), won the Bizarre and Interesting Case Award, given by the North Central Section Meeting of the American Urological Association, for his presentation entitled, “Is Blood Thicker than Water? Two Brothers with Bilateral Testicular Cancer and Identical Pathologies.” Aaron Viny, a third-year medical student in Cleveland Clinic’s Lerner College of Medicine, and Cleveland Clinic co-authors Joanne Hilden, M.D., chair of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology, and Anthony Stallion, M.D., Pediatric Surgery and Pathobiology, presented at the American Society of Hematology’s Annual Meeting in early December 2006. Hui Xaio, Ph.D., Immunology and Seetharam Chadalavada, Lerner College of Medicine of Case Western Reserve University, were named winners of the annual F. Merlin Bumpus Junior Investigator Award at the 26th Annual Cleveland Clinic Research Day on Nov. 30. The Bumpus Award was created to highlight excellence in research by graduate students and postdoctoral fellows in both basic and laboratory-based research. Runners up and finalists include: Ganapati H. Mahabaleshwar, Ph.D., Molecular Cardiology; Steven Sizemore, Cancer Biology; Liping Liu, Ph.D., Neurosciences; Ashish K. Bhattacharjee, Ph.D. (RES/CE’04), Cell Biology; Chang-Lin Ding, M.D., Pediatrics; and M. Noguera, M.D. and Ahmad Khairuddin M. Yusof, M.D., Nuclear Medicine. | Former Staff | Hans Lüders, M.D., Ph.D., retired Cleveland Clinic staff (July 1978 to December 2006) and former chairman (1990-2006) of the Department of Neurology, who pioneered the use of brain electrodes in epilepsy patients, has been appointed chief of University Hospitals Case Medical Center’s new Division of Epilepsy and will be a neurology professor at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. He will head the new Epilepsy Center within the Neurological Institute at UH, Cleveland, OH. Dr. Luders will work with neurosurgeons to create new ways to measure brain activity and develop new surgical techniques that lessen the effects of epilepsy for the 35 percent of patients who do not respond to medication. Dr. Luders, a native of Chile, and his wife, Ingrid, live in Chagrin Falls, OH.
Holly D. Miller, M.D., MBA has joined University Hospitals Case Medical Center as the new chief medical information officer, charged with implementing an $88 million electronic health record system. Previously, Dr. Miller, an internal medicine physician, was the managing director of eCleveland Clinic and Clinical Internet Systems, which encompasses the Cleveland Clinic’s electronic medical record system and online medical services, serving on staff for more than six years (October 1999 to January 2007). Richard H. Nodar, Ph.D., a Cleveland Clinic audiologist from 1975 until his retirement in 2001, had fun playing Santa Claus this past holiday season at Legacy Village in Lyndhurst, OH, on the weekends. | In Memoriam | Your lost friends are not dead, but gone before, advanced a stage or two upon that road which you must travel in the steps they trod. – Aristophanes Joseph N. Aceto, M.D. (DR’59), died in January at the age of 84. Born July 25, 1922 in Philadelphia, Dr. Aceto graduated magna cum laude from La Salle University before being drafted into the Army. In the service, Dr. Aceto completed an accelerated course of medical training at Thomas Jefferson Medical College (now Thomas Jefferson University), and interned at Philadelphia General Hospital. He then joined the United States Public Health Service, serving at Cushman Indian Tuberculosis Hospital in Tacoma, WA. Dr. Aceto came to Ohio in 1956 as the superintendent of the Trumbull County Tuberculosis Hospital. At age 34, he was the youngest superintendent of a medical facility in the state. Using state of the art treatment procedures and medications, Dr. Aceto reduced the patient census so dramatically that in 1957, the hospital was converted to an assisted living facility. Dr. Aceto was accepted into the Cleveland Clinic’s Radiology residency program, where he graduated in 1959. He accepted a position at the Ohio Valley General Hospital, where in 1978, he was named chief of the Department of Radiology. He later served as chief of Radiology at Sunbury Community Hospital and at St. Agnes Hospital in Philadelphia.
The Aceto family returned to Ohio in 1997, settling in Wooster. Dr. Aceto served on the Nick Amster Workshop Board from 1998 to 2000, a non-profit business that provides employment opportunities for adults with mental retardation and developmental disabilities. Dr. Aceto is survived by his wife of 60 years, Gertrude; five children, Linda Jo (William) Wolfe of Washinton, PA, Marcella (David) Zemancik of Homerville, OH, Laura (Lorraine) of Runnemede, NJ, Michael (Joan), of Oak Hill, VA, and Andrew of Wooster; eight grandchildren; and nine great grandchildren. Contributions may be made to the Nick Amster Workshop Board, 266 Oldman Road, Wooster, OH 44691. Marian Jean Antunez (nee Orqvist), wife of Antonio R. Antunez, M.D., former Radiology staff member (1963-1984), died Jan. 8, 2007. In addition to her husband, her son, Juan and his wife, Stephanie; grandchildren, Alexis and Spencer; two brothers; and a nephew survive her. She also leaves behind, a large extended family in Malaga, Spain. George M. Brown, Jr., M.D. (S’50), 85, of McAlester, OK, died Nov. 15, 2005 at his home. Born Feb. 15, 1920 in McAlester, he attended Northeastern State Teachers College at Tahlequah, graduating in 1940 and then received his medical degree from the University of Oklahoma College of Medicine in 1943. While at Northeastern, he married Velma Smith. He began his post-graduate training with the U.S. Medical Corp at the U.S. Naval Hospital in Bainbridge, MD. His U.S. Naval Service included Jr. Medical Officer on the U.S.S. San Saba APA 232, general surgeon at the U.S. Naval Hospital in Norman, OK, Medical Officer at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, MD and concluded in 1947 in general and plastic surgery at the U.S. Naval Hospital in Houston, TX. He then began his three-year Cleveland Clinic surgical residency and served as chief surgical resident in 1949 and 1950. He and his wife, “Tip”, then returned to McAlester where he began his private practice of general surgery at the McAlester Clinic. He spent 35 years there, including serving as chairman of the Department of Surgery from 1970 until his retirement in 1985. During his medical career he also served as chief of surgery at St. Mary’s, General West and McAlester Regional Hospital and was a surgery consultant for hospitals in five other Oklahoma cities. He was a Fellow with the American College of Surgeons (FACS) and
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Contacts (continued) Diplomat with the American Board of Surgeons and member of the Southwest Surgical Society. He held positions as visiting lecturer in surgery with the University of Oklahoma College of Medicine and was a board member of the Health System Agency, member of the State Health Coordinating Council, secretary of the Oklahoma State board of Medicine, Licensure and Supervision and in 1999, received the John H. Clark, M.D. Leadership Award. He also held positions on the State Medical Association Board of Trustees, the Southeastern Oklahoma Peer System Review Organization and was a delegate for the State Medical Association of Pittsburg County, OK. His wife, Velma (“Tip”) died June 17, 1987. He married Mary Beeson in 1989 and she also preceded him in death on Nov. 28, 2000. He also was preceded in death by son, Bruce MacMillan Brown (June 21, 1974); daughter, Quin Brown Sengel (May 23, 2001); and brother, Dr. Bruce H. Brown. Survivors include a son, Gary S. Brown, vice president of Support Services at Duncan (OK) Hospital and daughter-in-law, Julia Brown; four granddaughters, Tammy (Dr. David) Holland of San Antonio, TX, Kersten (David) Sharrock of Idaho Springs, CO and Dr. Amanda Sengel and Erin Sengel of Norman, OK; son-in-law Dr. Randy Sengel, of Norman, OK. Memorials are welcome to First Presbyterian Church of McAlester, 222 Washington Ave., McAlester, OK 74501. Earl Z. Browne Jr., M.D., a plastic surgeon who focused on performing and teaching reconstructive rather than cosmetic surgery, died Jan. 3, 2007 at Cleveland Clinic, where he had treated patients for more than 20 years. Dr. Browne, who specialized in peripheral nerve disorders, reconstruction and hand surgery, was known for his work in procedures that spared patients, particularly those with cancerous tumors, from having limbs amputated. “He was a master teacher in hand and reconstructive surgery,” James Zins, chairman of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery at the Clinic, said in a statement. “He was especially fond of one-on-one relationships and teachings of residents. His love was academic medicine.” Browne shared his surgical expertise with doctors in Cairo, Egypt in 1988 and Amman, Jordan, in 1992 as a volunteer with Physicians for Peace. His Egyptian mission took place before the formal founding of the humanitarian organization, which
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promotes international friendships by providing medical care and training. The son of a general surgeon, he graduated from Rhodes College in Memphis, TN. After earning a medical degree from Tulane University School of Medicine in his native New Orleans in 1961, Browne received additional training in his specialties at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City and Jewish Hospital in Louisville, KY. In the late 1960s, he served with the Army Medical Corps at the Army Hospital at Bad Cannstatt near Stuttgart, Germany. Browne served on the faculty at the University of Utah College of Medicine and headed the plasticsurgery division at Temple University Health Sciences Center in Philadelphia before joining the Cleveland Clinic staff in 1985. He belonged to such professional organizations as the American Society for Peripheral Nerve, the American and International Societies of Reconstructive Microsurgery and the American Society for Surgery of the Hand. For the last 18 years, Browne had spent Wednesday nights at the Cleveland Institute of Art, where he took courses in painting, sculpting and printmaking. He decorated his Clinic office with his original artwork. He is survived by his wife, Frances B. (nee Bondi), and children, René Elizabeth Browne of Alexandria, VA.(Cpl. William J. Cahir, USMC in Iraq) and Earl Zollicoffer Browne III of Long Island City, NY (fiancée Jyana Gregory). He was preceded in death by his sister, Gladys Elizabeth Browne. Contributions may be made in memory of Dr. Browne to Harvest for Hunger, 15500 S. Waterloo Rd., Cleveland, OH 44110. Thomas Cowper, D.D.S., who was on Staff with Cleveland Clinic Dentistry and served as Head of the Subsection of Maxillofacial Prosthetics, passed away on March 8. Dr. Cowper’s career as a maxillofacial prosthodontist can be described as one with supreme dedication and loyalty to his patients and to Cleveland Clinic. He was a gifted clinician with outstanding technical skills complemented with artistic abilities. Throughout his career he refined his skills as the practice of dentistry and prosthodontics continued to change. He gave his patients a new lease on life by giving them facial
prosthetic replacements such as eyes, ears, noses, mouths, and even half of a face when their medical condition for survival has meant that they must sacrifice what many people take for granted. Dr. Cowper was a presenter at local and state dental meetings. He was respected and admired by his colleagues and support staff alike. Above all, he was an extraordinary and empathetic dentist who has touched the lives of many. Dr. Cowper served as president of American Association of Maxillofacial Prosthodontists, American Dental Assn., Ohio Dental Assn., and the American College of Prosthodontists. A pilot for six years, he was a member of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Assn., and the Civil Air Patrol. He was a former member of the National Guard. Dr. Cowper was well recognized in his local community of Chesterland, OH, for his many volunteer activities. He served for six years on the board of the Littlest Heroes, a charity devoted to making life better for children with cancer. Dr. Cowper is survived by his wife Candace (nee McCormac); daughters Elizabeth Hilton (Michael), Megan Onderdonk (Tom deceased), Alexandra and Courtney Cowper; and grandchildren T.J and Maggie Onderdonk, Austen and Lukas Hilton. Contributions to Littlest Heroes, 8228 Mayfield Rd., Suite 3B, Chesterland, 44026 or www. littlestheroes.org would be appreciated. Halbert (Hal) E. Fillinger Jr. M.D. (FP’60), 79, Coroner of Montgomery County, PA, died June 11, 2006, after a long battle with Parkinson’s disease; he would have celebrated his 80th birthday on June 28th. Dr. Fillinger worked with many law enforcement agencies at the local, county, state and federal levels during his 14 years as coroner of Montgomery County. He was also an assistant professor at Temple University where he taught criminalistics, which encompassed all aspects of forensic pathology, evidence gathering and body chemistry. Prior to being elected as Montgomery County’s Coroner, Dr. Fillinger served for 28 years as an assistant medical examiner for the City of Philadelphia, PA and had been a coroner’s pathologist for Bucks Co, PA. Dr. Fillinger also lectured at Thomas Jefferson Medical School and many times for the FBI Academy in Quantico, VA as well as all branches of the Armed Forces. His work was so highly regarded that he was engaged as a consultant nationwide, including by the states of Texas, Michigan, Arkansas, Kentucky,
Georgia, New York, New Jersey and Colorado. In more than 40 years as a forensic pathologist, he was responsible for solving numerous high profile murder cases, including examining the mummified remains of Holly Maddux, in 1979, found in a trunk in boyfriend Ira Einhorn’s apartment, testifying in 2002 in the murder trial after Einhorn had spent years hiding in France. Among his many cases, Dr. Fillinger was the forensic pathologist determining causes of death for the high profile suicide of political activist Abby Hoffman, and for the accidental drowning of newswoman Jessica Savitch. Montgomery County District Attorney Bruce Castor said that Dr. Fillinger was as much detective as he was a pathologist. “In court, he was unflappable; defense attorneys were afraid to cross-examine him.” In 1974, Dr. Fillinger met Frank Bender, an artist who studied anatomy by sketching bodies in the Philadelphia morgue, discovering that Bender could help identify decomposed victims by reconstructing their faces with plaster. Both men became active in the Vidocq Society, an organization of professional crime-solvers who attempt to solve “cold case” homicides and deaths. Long-time friend, former Philadelphia Police Commissioner Joseph O’Neill, said, “Although he saw death on a daily basis, he did not have a gloomy personality, he kept his sense of balance and sense of humor.” Born in 1926 in Clinton, IN, he served as a pharmacist’s mate in the Pacific during World War II, earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Wisconsin and then enlisted in the Army, serving in Army Intelligence in Germany. He earned his medical degree from the University of Heidelberg in Heidelberg, Germany in 1955 and continued to serve in the Army Reserve until 1962. He served a pathology internship at St. Vincent’s Hospital in Toledo, OH, and a Forensic Pathology Fellowship at the Cleveland Clinic. He was highly regarded by his peers and received many accolades and recognition for his notable accomplishments. He kept a collection of fire engines and equipment on a farm where he once lived in Horsham, PA, and sometimes drove to crime scenes in a vintage fire marshal’s van that he had restored. He also collected antique firearms. Dr. Fillinger is survived by his wife of 12 years, Maggie (Mulhern) Fillinger; son Halbert E. Fillinger III, Harleysville and two daughters, Karen Thompson (Timothy) of Spotsylvania, VA and Elizabeth Fillinger of Ambler, PA; two grandchildren; one brother and two sisters; nieces, nephews and former wife, Rita Fillinger.
The family suggests donations in memory of Dr. Fillinger to the Nurse Development Fund at Abington Memorial Hospital Foundation, 1200 Old York Road, Abington, PA 19001. On June 22, 2006, the County Commissioners of Montgomery County unanimously passed a motion that the Montgomery County Morgue would, hereafter, be known as the Dr. Halbert E. Fillinger, Jr. Forensic Science Center. Jonathan C. Hale, M.D. (DR’88), age 48, of Bentleyville Village, OH, passed away March 1, 2007. Dr. Hale was a beloved colleague, teacher and member of the Cleveland Clinic Division of Radiology for more than 20 years. After graduating from Case Western Reserve University in 1980 and Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine in 1984, Dr. Hale began his career at Cleveland Clinic with his residency training in Diagnostic Radiology. After a special fellowship in ultrasound at Henry Ford Hospital, Dr. Hale returned to Cleveland Clinic and was on staff in the section of Abdominal Imaging. An expert in diagnostic ultrasound, Dr. Hale was always ranked among the best teachers in the division. Dr. Hale co-authored more than a dozen publications and many published abstracts, presentations and invited lectures. He was one of the unsung heroes of the department; he will always be remembered for his easy-going manner, sense of humor and selfless, tireless hard work. He leaves behind his beloved wife, Kathleen, and four children Christine, Andrew, Jenny and Bridget. He is preceded in death by his son Alex . “Dr. Hale was a wonderful person, and this is truly a great loss to our group as well as to his family and the community,” says Pauline Kwok, M.D. (TRS’95, DR’00, ABI’01), Radiology Alumni Specialty Director and staff. He will be dearly missed.” Donations may be made in his name to The Hale Children’s Fund at any KeyBank Branch or online at www.keybank.com. Robert H. Lamb, M.D. (ORS’51), 89, retired orthopaedic surgeon from Salt Lake Orthopaedic Clinic, Salt Lake City, UT, died at his home Aug. 31, 2006. Born May 18, 1917, he received his medical degree from Jefferson Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University (PA) in 1944. He is preceded in death by his first wife and survived by his wife Mary Alice and children, Juelle L. Fisher, Robin L. Rowe, Jennifer Lamb and Susan Sullivan.
Robert F. Peterson, M.D. (LMED’61), 74, Temple, TX, died May 25, 2006 in a Waco nursing home after suffering several years with Alzheimer’s disease. Dr. Peterson served as the vice president, Southwest Region, on the Alumni Association Board of Directors from 1987 to 1992. Born in Drummond, OK, June 25, 1931, he married Jacquelyn Mundell on Thanksgiving Day 1953 and received his medical degree from the University of Oklahoma in 1957. He completed an internship at Wesley Hospital in Oklahoma City, OK and while a resident at Cleveland Clinic, where the couple’s son and daughter were born, he received the William E. Lower Award for his winning residency thesis. After his Cleveland Clinic residency, he served as pathologist and chief of Laboratory Medicine with the U.S. Army Hospital at Fort Hood. He then began his pathology practice at Menorah Medical Center in Kansas City. He moved to Temple, TX in 1965 where he joined the staff of Scott and White Memorial Hospital. The following year, he was named director of the Tumor Registry. Additional positions at Scott and White included chief of the Section of Cytopthology, director of the Division of Anatomic Pathology, and Chairman of the Department of Pathology. He also served as director of the Pathology Residency Training Program from 1970 to 1980. Dr. Peterson served on numerous committees during his 37-year tenure and retired mid-1999. Board certified in anatomic and clinical pathology, Dr. Peterson also served as a professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the TAMUS HSC COM. Throughout his medical career, Dr. Peterson served a leadership role in several state and national medical societies. He was the first chairman of the Section Council on Pathology of the American Medical Association and served as the secretary and program chairman for the AMA’s Section of Pathology and Physiology. He also held leadership roles within the Southwest Oncology Group, the Texas Medical Association and the Bell County Medical Society. Active in the Texas Society for Pathologists, he served as president and chairman of the Board of Directors and Speaker of the House of Delegates for the TSP, remaining on the Board of Directors until 1993 and later appointed chairman of the Constitution and Bylaws Council and the Necrology chairman. After his retirement, he continued to serve as a delegate to the House of Delegates of the College of American Pathologists. His wife, Jacquelyn; son, Keith DeWitt Peterson of Houston, TX; daughter, Diane Lynn Peterson of Krugerville, TX; one sister and two grandchildren survive him.
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Contacts (continued) Marion “Rod” M. Sumner, M.D. (S’53, IM’56), 80, of Hutchinson, KS, died Nov. 15, 2006. He was born in Independence, KS on May 9, 1926. After a hardscrabble childhood during the depression, often going without dinner if the men in the family didn’t catch anything hunting or fishing that day, he graduated at the top of his high school class in 1944. He graduated with a college degree in Chemistry on scholarship and then received his medical degree from the University of Kansas School of Medicine, also at the top of his class. He met Dr. Joyce Lee Randolph in medical school and they married in 1950. Both Rod and Joyce R. Sumner, M.D. (AN’53, AN’56) spent their residencies at the Cleveland Clinic from 1952 to 1956, and served as surgeons in the American USPHS in Point Barrow, Alaska, and the Navajo Reservation in AZ, between 1954 and 1956, then moved to Hutchinson in 1957, to begin their medical practices. Dr. Sumner was one of six physicians who founded the Hutchinson Clinic in 1960. In 1961, the group built what is now the Medical Center West at the corner of 12th and Main in Hutchinson, KS. In 1978, as the group expanded and added specialists, they moved to the present clinic location adjacent to Hutchison Hospital. An active and respected member of the medical community, Dr. Sumner supported the merger of two hospitals, Grace and St. Elizabeth, into the present Hutchinson Hospital. Colleagues described Dr. Sumner as capable and always careful to do proper lab work and see all the bases covered. He was a good diagnostician, compassionate, quiet and nice and had a good rapport with his patients, spending a lot of time with them. In those early days doctors made house calls and this led to Dr. Sumner outfitting a room in the couple’s home where he saw patients after clinic hours. A half-bath just off the room made it even more convenient. “When patients called in the middle of the night, he would tell them to come right over just the way they were,” Dr. Joyce Sumner said. “He put on a bathrobe and sewed them up or took care of the sore throat, took care of the kids.” His patients appreciated the arrangement because they didn’t have the inconvenience or a wait at the emergency room, she added. Dr. Sumner was a diplomat of the American Board of Family Practice, a Fellow of the American Academy of Family Practice, and a member of the American College of Physicians, the American Society of Internal Medicine, the American Medical Association, the Kansas Medical Society, and the American Diabetes Association.
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Forced to retire in the early 1970s for health reasons, he continued to study medicine and honed his investment skills, and fed every bird and squirrel in the neighborhood. He loved animals and adored children, particularly his four grandchildren, on whom he doted. “Up until the last year, he kept getting his internal medicine and family practice journals,” Dr. Joyce Sumner, said. “He read them well.” The Hutchinson News wrote, “A notorious prankster, a stubborn curmudgeon, a bundle of contradictions, and an unfathomable mystery, Rod Sumner was a complicated and mercurial soul, and one who deserves the highest respect. A self-proclaimed Party Vegetable, Rod is somewhere, creating havoc and making folks laugh at his terrible jokes, which, believe it or not, we wish we could hear just once more.” Dr. Sumner was preceded in death by his parents, and a grandchild, Nicholas Lewis. Survivors include his wife; sons, Randy in California, and Steve, in Wichita; a daughter, Ann (Kevin) Lewis, in California; a brother; a sister; and four grandchildren, Ali, Parker, Callahan and Jake Lewis. Rod would be pleased if you would like to donate in his memory to the Dillon Nature Center, Hutchinson Community College, the First Presbyterian Church, Hospice House, or the animal assistance charity of your choice, all in care of Elliott Mortuary, 1219 N. Main, Hutchinson, KS 67501. Dougal (“Dougie”) Isabel Turnbull, 91, widow of alumnus and former staff, Rupert B. Turnbull Jr., M.D. (1913-1981), died in her home on Nov. 30, 2006, after an extended illness. A native of western Canada, Dougal moved to Montreal, Canada to attend the Royal Victoria Hospital School of Nursing. After graduation, she served as the surgical nurse for Dr. Wilder Penfield, “the Father of Neurosurgery,” a pioneering neurosurgeon, who founded the Montreal Neurological Institute and was among the first to investigate the cause and treatment of epilepsy. While in Montreal, she fell in love with a young American medical student from California who was attending McGill University, Rupert B. Turnbull Jr. (S’48, S’49). The two married shortly thereafter. During World War II, Dougal worked as an interpreter for the American military while her husband served as a field surgeon with the first Marine Division in the Pacific. After the War, their shared love of medicine brought the duo to the Cleveland Clinic, where Dr. Turnbull became another medical pioneer in colorectal surgery, supported by his wife’s undying devotion, grace, and support.
During the years in Cleveland, Dougal was intimately involved with volunteer and church organizations in the community and began a new career as an interior designer, decorating many homes in Shaker Heights and also the conference room at the Cleveland Clinic. After Dr. Turnbull’s retirement, the couple returned to California for a few short years before Dr. Turnbull’s death in 1981. Dougal moved to La Jolla and continued her interest in the arts, becoming an accomplished water colorist and supporter of the arts. Dougal will always be remembered for her grace and elegance, her sense of style, her beautiful smile and easy laugh, and the generosity of her heart. Victor W. Fazio, M.D. (S’73, CRS’74), Chairman of Colorectal Surgery, said “All who knew Dougie attested to her elegance and charisma. A wonderful hostess, she saved Rupe many a time with her encyclopedic memory of acquaintances reminding him of who the doctor in question was. She gave Rupe’s Presidential Address at the ASCRS (American Society of Colon & Rectal Surgeons) meeting in San Francisco when he was suddenly stricken with a heart attack. She is survived by three children; Robert W. Turnbull of Clearwater, FL; John B. Turnbull of La Jolla, CA; Dae Turnbull Hunt of Taylorsville, NC; seven grandchildren; and one great-grandchild. The family would greatly appreciate contributions in her memory to the Rupert B. Turnbull Jr., MD School of Enterostomal Therapy at the Cleveland Clinic. Checks can be made to “Cleveland Clinic” with a notation in memory of Dougal Turnbull and mailed to Cleveland Clinic, POB 931517, Cleveland, OH 44101-8713. Asa J. Wilbourn, M.D., staff member in the Department of Neurology, died on Feb. 6, 2007. Dr. Wilbourn joined Cleveland Clinic in 1973 after completing a residency in neurology at Yale University, and EEG and EMG fellowships at Mayo Clinic. He also spent three years as a Flight Medical Officer in Viet Nam in the 1960s during which time he received numerous awards and decorations. In 1973, Dr. Wilbourn founded the EMG laboratory at Cleveland Clinic. The EMG laboratory achieved both national and international recognition under his directorship. Dr. Wilbourn published and lectured extensively, but he valued his teaching of residents and fellows above all. Many of his train-
Singapore Alumni Meet ees have achieved prominent academic careers since finishing their training here. Memorial donations may be made to the Asa J. Wilbourn Memorial Lectureship Fund, and mailed to the Cleveland Clinic, 9500 Euclid Avenue, DVB, Cleveland, OH 44195. Alexander McBride Wright, M.D. (ORS’53), 81, of Brookline MA, died Sept. 27 of a heart attack outside his home, returning from walking his dog. The former chief of Spinal Surgery at New England Baptist Hospital, Dr. Wright is remembered for relieving the pain of patients ranging from the destitute to Boston Celtics star Larry Bird. Dr. Wright was raised in Vancouver, and graduated from the University of British Columbia. He served as a lieutenant in the Royal Canadian Navy and later graduated from medical school at McGill University of Montreal. He completed a fellowship in Orthopaedic Surgery at Cleveland Clinic in 1953. Dr. Wright taught at the University of Michigan before joining the staff at New England Baptist in the early 1970s. He became a U.S. citizen in the 80s, and although he had a strong affection for Canada, his wife says “his allegiance was here.” Dr. Wright is survived by his wife, Marcia; daughter Marissa of Toronto, and son Alistair of Sudbury, ON; and brother Richard of Vancouver; and a grandson. Memorial contributions may be directed to the American Heart Association, 20 Speen Street, Farmington, MA 01701.
Pictured are some of the 36 Singapore alumni who met with Cleveland Clinic leadership in Nov. 6, 2006 to discuss forming a “Singapore Chapter” of the Cleveland Clinic Alumni Association. Lead by alunnae Li Ling Lim, they are interested in clinical and/or research collaborations and building on the strong collegial ties fostered during their enriching residency and fellowship years in Cleveland. Standing from left to right: Drs. Colleen Kim Thomas (RH ‘02), Li Ling Lim (N ‘01, NEMG’02, N/SD’03), Raymond Ching Chiew Wong (guest
& incoming Cardiology Fellow), Jern Lin Leong (OTO/RH’05 ), Yeong Phang Lim (CARDPD’06), Jimmy Boon Wee Teo (H/N’06 ), Chong Hee Lim (CARD/ S ‘01), Kenneth Kwan Chung Ng (CARD/I ‘03), Raymond Lee (guest), and Janice Tan (guest from Singapore Economic Development Board). Seated from left to right: Drs. Alan London, Teong Ann Teoh (FCRS’94), Sivathasan Cumaraswamy (guest), Drs. Randall Starling, Cardiology and Andrew Fishleder (Gl-1’79, LMED’82), Education.
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Dr. Modic Appointed Chair of Neurological Institute Cleveland Clinic has announced the appointment of staff/ alumnus Michael T. Modic, M.D. (GL-1’76, DR’78, NR’79), as Chair of the hospital’s Neurological Institute. In this capacity, Dr. Modic will lead a multidisciplinary team of neurologists, neurosurgeons, neuroradiologists and behavioral sciMichael T. Modic, M.D. entists who specialize in the diagnosis and treatment of neurological conditions. Dr. Modic served as Interim Chairman of the Neurological Institute since its inception in June 2006. “Mike brings a tremendous amount of medical and research expertise, leadership and experience that will enable this highly ranked center of excellence to continue delivering world-class research and clinical care,” says Joseph Hahn, M.D., Chief of Staff at Cleveland Clinic. “As an institution, Cleveland Clinic is moving toward organizing its clinical areas around organ and disease systems, rather than individual specialties. This multidisciplinary approach is designed to put our patients at the center of care.” The Neurological Institute is one of the first Centers of Excellence at Cleveland Clinic to organize care in this manner. Dr. Modic’s appointment culminates an eight-month national search to select a permanent Chair to lead the Neurological Institute.
“I am thrilled to have the opportunity to chair an Institute with an outstanding reputation as a world leader in the diagnosis and treatment of neurological conditions,” Dr. Modic says. “The Neurological Institute has an extremely talented group of professionals who consistently place the needs of our patients as their highest priority.” Dr. Modic received his M.D. degree from Case Western Reserve School of Medicine in 1975. He completed his residency in radiology and fellowship in neuroradiology at Cleveland Clinic. A practicing neuroradiologist, Dr. Modic joined Cleveland Clinic in 1989. He spent a year as Assistant Professor of Radiology and as a staff neuroradiologist at University Hospitals in Cleveland from 1979-1980 and in 1980 returned to Cleveland Clinic as a staff neuroradiologist where he was appointed Head of the Section of Magnetic Resonance in 1982. In 1985, he returned to Case Western Reserve School of Medicine/University Hospitals as Director of Magnetic Resonance and Neuroradiology, positions he held through 1989. During that time, he also held the rank of Professor of Radiology, Neurology, General Medical Sciences and Neurosurgery. In 1989, Dr. Modic returned to Cleveland Clinic as Chairman of Radiology and in 1993 was appointed Professor of Radiology, Ohio State University. In 2000, Dr. Modic was named to the Cleveland Clinic Board of Governors, and in 2004, he was appointed Professor of Radiology, Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine.
Cleveland Clinic Alumni Connection A publication of the Cleveland Clinic Alumni Association. Produced for medical alumni and friends by the Division of Marketing, Cleveland Clinic Foundation, 9500 Euclid Avenue, Cleveland, OH 44195. 216.444.2487 | 800.444.3664 | fax 216.445.2730 | e-mail alumni@ccf.org CCF Alumni Association Board of Directors Scott A. Strong, M.D., President Lee M. Adler, D.O. Pauline Kwok, M.D. Kenneth W. Angermeier, M.D. Lucy Massullo LaPerna, D.O. Gary E. Barnett, M.D. James W. Lewis, M.D. Janet W. Bay, M.D. Andrew C. Liu, D.O., Ph.D. John A. Bergfeld, M.D. M. Deborah Lonzer, M.D. Edwin G. Beven, M.D. Careen Y. Lowder, M.D. Ronald M. Bukowski, M.D. Monique Ogletree, Ph.D. Joseph M. Damiani, M.D. Cormac A. O’Donovan, M.D. Gary H. Dworkin, M.D. David E. Martin, M.D. Zeyd Y. Ebrahim, M.D. William L. Proudfit, M.D. Kathleen Franco, M.D. Edward D. Ruszkewicz, M.D. Gita P. Gidwani, M.D. Raymond J. Scheetz Jr., M.D. Jaime F. Godoy, M.D. Leslie R. Sheeler, M.D. Lilian V. Gonsalves, M.D. Elias I. Traboulsi, M.D. Margaret J. Gorensek, M.D. Allison T. Vidimos, M.D. Ryan C. Hedgepeth, M.D. David P. Vogt, M.D. Robert E. Hobbs, M.D. Michael B. Walsh, D.O. Robert E. Hermann, M.D. . ..........................................Medical Director William M. Michener, M.D............................ Emeritus Medical Director J. Robert Quatroache, Ph.D. ................................ Alumni Development Sandra S. Stranscak . ..............................................Executive Director Marilyn Bryce ..........................................................Associate Director Michelle Gill-LaPresto ....................................House Staff Coordinator Marjorie Heines ...........................................................................Editor Cleveland Clinic is an independent, not-for-profit, multispecialty academic medical center. It is dedicated to providing quality specialized care and includes an outpatient clinic, a hospital with more than 1,000 staffed beds, an education division and a research institute.
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