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Alan H. Weigand, 79, of Jupiter, Fla., died June 26, 2013. After graduating from Jefferson, he attended law school at Temple University. He later completed a residency in rehabilitation medicine at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York. He and his wife, Tina, shared a successful private practice in Ho-Ho-Kus and Ridgewood, N.J. Weigand became head of rehabilitation medicine at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey and was nationally recognized as the “Best Electromyographer on the East Coast.” He trained residents to detect and treat neuromuscular diseases. He also served as director of rehabilitation and physical medicine at the VA Hospital in East Orange, N.J., for 20 years. Weigand was an accomplished musician who wrote music and played the piano, violin and accordion. His greatest love, though, was the Hammond organ; whenever he played, his Italian greyhound Pinot Grigio, the “canine tenor,” would accompany him loudly. In addition to his wife, Weigand is survived by his
daughters, Kathryn and Angela; and his granddaughters, Emily, Reagan and Aine.
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Charles Markosi, Jr., 76, of Hamburg, Pa., died April 25, 2014. Markosi served his internship at Fitzgerald Mercy Hospital in Darby, Pa., and later worked in the emergency room at Allentown General Hospital. He was a U.S. Navy veteran of the Vietnam War. While serving in the military, he was a physician at Chelsea Naval Hospital in Boston. Markosi was in private practice at Tannersville Family Practice for 25 years, later working for the penal system in Pennsylvania and then for Wernersville State Hospital. He was a member of the American Medical Association and a life member of Cambridge Who’s Who; in 2011, he received the Professional of the Year Award in Family Medicine from Cambridge Who’s Who. He also was inducted into Elite American Physicians in February 2013. He was a member of St. Mary Roman Catholic Church and loved to
fish and work in his garden. Markosi is survived by his wife of 51 years, Irene; one son, Charles III; three daughters, Lauren, Tanya and Mary; and six grandchildren, Tara, Stefanie, Charles IV, Anastasia, C.J. and Damon. He was predeceased by a sister, Lorraine.
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Philip Henry Geetter, 68, of Pipersville, Pa., died Aug. 12, 2012. Geetter completed his internship at Mercy Hospital and Medical Center in San Diego, later returning to Jefferson for his ophthalmological residency. In 1974, he founded Bucks Mont Eye Associates in Sellersville, Pa. He was active on the medical staff of Grand View Hospital, St. Luke’s Quakertown Hospital and Wills Eye Hospital. Board certified in ophthalmology, he was a fellow of the American and the Pennsylvania Academy of Ophthalmology and the American Implant Society. He was past president of the Grand View Hospital medical staff and the InterCounty Ophthalmic Society
as well as a member of the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery and an honorary member of the Wills Eye Society. Geetter shared his love of travel with his family, taking his children and grandchildren on special excursions every year. He loved spending time in his garden, fishing, chasing hurricanes and relaxing in his hammock. He is survived by his wife of 42 years, Helene; four children, Erik, Todd, Chad and Courtney; three grandchildren, Audrey, Zachary and Troy; his father, Nathan; a sister, Diane; two nephews, David and Joshua; two grand-nieces, Isadora and Lillian; and two dogs, Gracie and Carly.
The names of Steven A. Katz, MD ’84, and Jonathan S. Daitch, MD ’84, were misspelled in the spring issue of the Bulletin. The Bulletin regrets any inconvenience this may have caused.
Mitochondrial Disease and the MitoCare Center at Jefferson In January 2014, Jefferson launched the MitoCare Center for Mitochondrial Imaging Research and Diagnostics, a new research center focused on characterizing the role of mitochondrial dysfunction in disease. Housed in the Department of Pathology, Anatomy and Cell Biology, the Center employs cutting-edge technology and multidisciplinary researchers to examine how changes in mitochondrial biology can contribute to a wide range of diseases.
Mitochondria have an evolutionary history that derives from ancient organisms that adapted to permanent residence in eukaryotic cells, bringing more efficient energy management and the coordination of diverse cell functions including decisionmaking related to survival and death. When mitochondria break down, a cell and its related tissues lose much of their capacity to produce energy and fail to function efficiently.
Recent research suggests that malfunctioning mitochondria contribute to many common ailments in adults and older individuals including neurodegenerative diseases, metabolic diseases, heart disease and cancer. MitoCare Center scientists are working closely with faculty from Wills Eye Hospital, the Kimmel Cancer Center, the Center for Translational Medicine, and the departments of neurology, neuroscience,
emergency medicine and biochemistry. For facts about mitochondrial disease, see By the Numbers on the following page. For more information about the MitoCare Center at Jefferson, contact Gyorgy Hajnoczky, MD, PhD, at gyorgy.hajnoczky@ jefferson.edu.