SPRING CLINICAL DAY AND REUNION WEEKEND 2016
WNY MEDICAL SCHOLARSHIP FUND RECIPIENTS
Alumni came from around the country this spring to celebrate with classmates, friends, faculty and students. More than 400 people joined in the festivities, which included an alumni cocktail party, dinners, tours of the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus, Spring Clinical Day and Medical Residents’ Scholarly Exchange, and presentation of the Distinguished Medical and Biomedical Alumnus awards and Volunteer of the Year Award. (Turn to pages 22 and 28 for related coverage.) The weekend was sponsored by the UB Medical Alumni Association and the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences.
First-year medical students Jessica LaPiano and Christine Robertson are the 2016 recipients of the Western New York Medical Scholarship Fund award. The award provides four-year tuition scholarships to select local students who attend the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences. The Western New York Medical Scholarship Fund is an independent community organization founded last year by UB medical school alumnus John J. Bodkin II, MD ’76, who is co-chair with David M. Zebro, principal of Strategic Investments & Holdings. They teamed up with local organizations to create the fund to keep locally trained physicians in Western New York to help address the physician shortage. In order to accept the scholarship, students must pledge to stay in Western New York to practice for at least five years. Each awardee will receive a minimum of $30,000 annually for each of the four years of medical school. To be eligible for the scholarships, UB medical students must meet highly select criteria: They must have graduated from a high school within the eight Christine Robertson, left, and Jessica LaPiano. counties of Western New York, excel academically and have a demonstrated financial need. “I love the city of Buffalo and have always wanted to remain here,” says Robertson, who is from Williamsville, N.Y. “The city and its people are going through an incredible renaissance right now and it is so exciting to be part of that progress. It is such an honor to have been awarded this scholarship.” LaPiano, from Lancaster, N.Y., says: “I am very excited to know that I will be part of Buffalo’s rising medical community. Buffalo has been and always will be the city that I call home. I am grateful for the opportunity this scholarship provides me to give back to the community that has inspired and mentored me.” The 2016 scholarships are being funded by the John R. Oishei Foundation, Roswell Park Alliance Foundation and West-Herr Automotive Group. If you would like to contribute to this fund, contact Eric Alcott at 716-829-2773, or email medicine@devmail.buffalo.edu.
From left, Laszlo Tomaschek, MD ’76, Geraldine K. Kelley, MD ’76, and Shin Y. Liong, MD ’76
From left, Eric Southard, MD ’89, Kathylynn C. Pietak, MD ’91, John Gelineas, MD ’91, and Scott Williams, MD ’96 PhD
Photo by Sandra Kicman
U B M E D V I TA L L I N E S
Photos by Joe Cascio
WHITE HOUSE LISTS UB AS A LEADER IN OPIOID EPIDEMIC
From left, Anthony Alan IV, Gregory W. Branch, MD ’91, John John, MD ’91, and Mark Mancuso, MD ’91
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From left, Terence M. Clark, MD ’71, Charles F. Yeagle III, MD ’71, David M. Rowland, MD ’71, and Molly Rowland, MD ’71
According to a fact sheet released by the White House, the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences is among medical schools nationwide at the forefront of fighting the opioid epidemic. The fact sheet was issued in conjunction with President Obama’s announcement this spring about steps being taken by medical schools and other organizations to combat the misuse and abuse of opioids. “Long before opioid addiction became a front-page issue, faculty in the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences were leaders in developing formal curricula to teach medical students, residents and fellows how to prevent and treat addiction,” says Michael E. Cain, MD, vice president for health sciences and dean, Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences.
Those efforts were led in large part by Richard D. Blondell, MD, professor of family medicine, who founded the Department of Family Medicine’s addiction medicine fellowship in 2011—one of the first of its kind to be accredited by the American Board of Addiction Medicine Foundation (ABAMF). There are now 40 such fellowships throughout the U.S. and Canada. In 2013, Blondell was appointed director of the National Center for Physician Training in Addiction Medicine. In March 2016, addiction medicine was approved as a subspecialty by the American Board of Medical Specialties in response to an effort led by Blondell and his colleagues in the field.
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