CLASSES OF 1974 AND 2004 STEP UP TO HONOR MEMORIES Class gifts name seats in the new medical school a success, with 43 individuals giving more than $27,000 to name a seat in the new medical school. Like her fellow alumni, PleskowWeisman says, “I was happy to donate.” She also was proud to be a member of one of the two classes that stepped forward during the 2014 Reunion Weekend to make gifts that named medical school seats. The other was the Class of 1974, to Julie Baker which another Pleskow—Heather’s father, Sanford Pleskow, MD, a staff physician at Invision Health, Williamsville—belongs. The Class of 1974 gave a total of $25,000 in gifts from 37 individuals. “Many of my classmates contributed because this was our 45th reunion, and we wanted to give back to the medical school,” Pleskow says. “It was worth the effort. I was not surprised that we accomplished this because we are all proud to be UB medical school alumni.” “These two classes rose to the occasion, supporting the tradition of reunion giving and acknowledging how important gifts are to the new medical school,” says Jennifer Britton, director of constituent and alumni engagement for the school.
Photo by Joseph Cascio
Everyone can call to mind a memorable classmate from his or her medical school days. For the Class of 2004, this person is Julie Baker, MD, PhD—someone who was admired and befriended by many, but now is missed. When members of the Class of 2004 first met to organize a class gift for the new UB medical school, Michael Gough, MD, suggested naming the gift in memory of Baker, who died in 2011. Gough and his fellow reunion committee members committed to making donations themselves to kick off the class gift effort. “Once it was suggested, everyone thought it was a great idea,” recalls Heather Pleskow-Weisman, MD, an allergist/immunologist in Niagara Falls. Baker, a native of Buffalo, began her medical school career with the Class of 2004, but earned her degree in 2007, having taken off several years to complete her doctorate in epidemiology. She was completing her residency in obstetrics and gynecology at Women and Infants Hospital at Brown University when she died of complications of H1N1 and pneumonia at the age of 39. Baker would have graduated that June and was planning to return to Buffalo to work as a physician-researcher for women’s reproductive and mental health issues. Before completing an MD/ PhD, she earned bachelor’s degrees in economics and nursing and a master’s in epidemiology, all from UB. She already had received more than a dozen honorary awards for clinical and scientific work and had authored more than 20 peer-reviewed scientific publications. The campaign for gifts to the Class of 2004 Julie Baker Fund was
Class of 2004 reunion committee members, from left: Jason Pacos, MD, Jason Hoffman, MD, Nicole Gothgen, MD, Penelope Blackman-Lawson, MD, Heather Pleskow-Weisman, MD, Michael Gough, MD, and Anthony Winkowski, MD
WINTER 2015
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