CHIRONIAN 2017
Kevin Holcomb, M.D. ’92 A Surgeon Who Thrives on Connecting with Patients
BOARD OF TRUSTEES Dr. Mark Hasten Chairman of the Board Alan Kadish, M.D. Robert Alter, M.D. Mr. Gary Barnett Howard Baruch, M.D. Ben Chouake, M.D. Dee DelBello Rabbi Menachem Genack Gary Gettenberg, M.D. ’83 Mr. Moshe Lichtenstein Mr. Joseph Mark
ALUMNI PROFILE
Stephen Nicholas, M.D. ’86 Mr. Martin Oliner Mr. Eliot Peyser Mr. Ronald F. Poe Mr. Joseph Popack Mr. Stephen Rosenberg Henry Saphier, M.D. ’61 Joseph Schwartz, M.D. Rosalyn Esther Stahl, M.D.
BY ANDREA KOTT, M.P.H.
SCHOOL OF MEDICINE ALUMNI ASSOCIATION BOARD OF GOVERNORS OFFICERS Charles W. Episalla, M.D. ’88 President
Adelaide G. Nardone, M.D. ’83 Secretary
Joseph L. Giamelli, M.D. ’02 President Elect
Jay D. Tartell, M.D. ’82 Archivist
Jay Y. Lee, M.D. ’86 Vice President and Acting Treasurer
Henry I. Saphier, M.D. ’61 Immediate Past President
BOARD OF ADVISORS Martin Katzenstein, M.D. ’78 Chairman of the Board Sabra Brock, Ph.D. Bill Camera Edward Chew, M.D. ’03 Steven Cho, D.D.S. Eric Choe, M.D. ’88 Raymond Conta Kathleen Finzel, M.D. ’87 Moshe Hirth, M.D. ’88 Moira Imperial Rebecca Marcus, M.D. ’06 Norman Maron, M.D. ’70
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C H I R O N I A N 2017
Neal Mittman, M.D. ’77 Anne Negrin, M.D. Leonard Newman, M.D. ’70 Rebecca Newman, M.D. ’05 Stuart Paris Isaac Perle, D.M.D. Eliot Peyser Steven Topfer, D.O. Vincent Vigorita, M.D. ’76 Patricia White, M.D. John Zimmerman, M.D. ’78
W
hen Kevin Holcomb, M.D. ’92, entered medicine more than 20 years ago, he knew that any specialty he chose would have to satisfy his brain, his hands and his heart. “I really liked internal medicine because it was cerebral. I enjoyed the Sherlock Holmes aspect of figuring out diagnoses,” Dr. Holcomb begins. “But I have the personality type that needs fast answers. I like instant gratification.” Plus, the associate professor of clinical obstetrics and gynecology at Weill Cornell Medical College likes getting to know his patients over time. “Caring for women with gynecologic cancer is all those things,” he notes. “The acuity of illness is high, the complexity is great, the potential for research is huge and I can be involved in people’s lives.” Growing up in a lower middle class neighborhood in Queens, N.Y., Dr. Holcomb always wanted to be a doctor. And, from his earliest days at NYMC, he gravitated toward oncogenesis. “What stimulated me the most were my first pathology lectures on cancer,” recalls Dr. Holcomb, who directs gynecologic oncology and minimally invasive surgery at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center, where he is also associate director of the gynecologic oncology fellowship program. NYMC was also where he discovered his passion for hands-on patient care. “As third-year medical students, we were sewing up stab wounds during our general surgery rotation at Lincoln Hospital in the South Bronx,” he recounts. “We were involved in care in the very early stages of our education. It wasn’t just theory. It was hands-on taking care of people.”