Spring/Summer 2005 - University of Rochester Medical Center

ROCHESTERMEDICINE
UNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER MEDICAL CENTER • SCHOOL OF MEDICINE AND DENTISTRY SPRING/ SUMMER 2005
REACHING OUT TO THE COMMUNITY IN MANY WAYS
PROGRAMS AND IDEAS THAT ARE CREATING HEALTHIER COMMUNITIES

As an academic health center, the
University of Rochester Medical Center is in
the unique position to help its community
and to educate future leaders in the kind of
care and research that will ultimately benefit
numerous other communities. We have an
obligation to do so.
In this issue of Rochester Medicine,
you’ll read about programs that are changing
the lives of people in need today in the city
of Rochester, and people who are learning
how to make not just individuals but whole
communities healthier.
You’ll read about an area in Rochester
known as the Jay-Orchard Street neighborhood,
one of the poorest areas in the country but also
one with extremely dedicated and visionary
citizens working to turn it around. When the
Medical Center partnered with the neighborhood,
good things began to happen. People
who had no access to dental or health care
suddenly found themselves with a way to receive
treatment, and with a renewed sense of hope.
You’ll also read about the efforts of the
Pediatrics Department to establish one of the
nation’s first neighborhood health centers,
back in the 1960s, and how that work extended
to treating under-served populations such as
migrant workers. At one point, faculty members
set up makeshift clinics in a barn – whatever
it took to help get health needs met.
As an academic health center, though,
the benefits need to go both ways. So you’ll
also learn how experiences in the community
are helping our students and residents learn
to understand the health needs of whole
populations, not just individuals. One
partnership, with the Monroe County Office
of Public Health, has established the Center
for Rochester’s Health, an unusual level of
commitment that has led to numerous
successful programs and major grants that —
without the partnership — would not have
been won. That partnership, and a similar one
with the Rochester City School District, allows
the county to take advantage of our many
resources, while the Medical Center gains
access to the kinds of populations it most
wants to help.
We’re of course proud to have received
the latest Outstanding Community Service
Award from the Association of American
Medical Colleges. But we’re most proud of
the difference we’re making in our community,
and the individuals we’re teaching to be good
citizens in the fight to make all communities
healthier.
C. McCollister Evarts, M.D.
Senior Vice President and
Vice Provost for Health Affairs,
CEO, Medical Center and Strong Health
SPRING / SUMMER 2005 1

When the Association of American
Medical Colleges (AAMC) presented
the University of Rochester Medical Center with
its 2004 Outstanding Community Service Award
last November, it was a high point for our
institution. But it also was recognition of the
hard work and creative energy of numerous
individuals — students, residents, faculty,
senior leadership, and community partners.
The award recognized the remarkable
breadth of the people dedicated to community
service work here, both to help local citizens
and to give our students and residents the
kind of real-life experience that will help them
become effective practitioners.
We’re understandably proud of what
the award represents. And we’re grateful for
the kind words of the president of AAMC,
Jordan J. Cohen, M.D., who said in a press
release announcing the award that “URMC
is to be commended for its commitment to
produce culturally competent, compassionate
physicians. The entire institution’s community
involvement has had a profound impact on the
medically underserved residents of Rochester.”
We’re also aware that, in many respects,
this is simply “business as usual” here. The
School of Medicine and Dentistry was founded
with the hope of creating in Rochester “one
of the healthiest communities in the world,”
as designated by its largest benefactor, George
Eastman. The URMC philosophy — that a
healthy community is more than just the
absence of disease — is shared by the Medical
Center’s 400 medical students and 400 graduate,
public health and doctoral students.
The institution makes it a point to
recognize people who are aware of their role
in creating a healthy community. For example,
students who complete an additional 40 hours
of community service each year, beyond the
requirements of the fourth-year clerkship
focused on community service, receive a
“distinction in community service” honor on
their medical diploma.
As you read this special issue on some
of the community service initiatives that earned
us the AAMC award, remember that there are
far more programs here than we’re able to
highlight. Likewise, we know that our school
has produced scientists and physicians who are
doing equally important work in their own
communities. I’m proud to be a part of an institution
that encourages such work and training.
David S. Guzick, M.D., Ph.D.
Dean of the School of Medicine and Dentistry
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CONTENTS
ROCHESTER MEDICINE
FEATURES
4 ONE AWARD, NUMEROUS REASONS: Features introduction
6 A Real Education: Students and residents, out in the real world,
learn how to change it
11 In the Neighborhood: A sustained commitment helps
a struggling area help itself
15 A Department for All: Pediatrics sought out every area pediatrician
to help all children
21 Playing a Part Through Partnership
26 Medical Rounds
31 Alumni News
40 Class Notes
46 In Memoriam
DEPARTMENTS
Rochester Medicine is published by: The University of Rochester Medical Center,
Department of Public Relations and Communications, in conjunction with
the Department of Medical Alumni Relations and Development
Director of Public Relations
and Communications
Editor
Contributing Writers
Art Director
Photographers
Editorial Assistant
Director of Academic Development
Associate Director of
Medical Alumni Relations
Teri D’Agostino
Mark Liu
Travis Anderson, Lori Barrette, Christopher DiFrancesco,
Karin Gaffney, Leslie Orr, Germaine Reinhardt,
Tom Rickey, and Leslie White
Mitchell Christensen
Ken Huth and Vince Sullivan
Janet Mangano
Christopher Raimy
Christina Mancini
For questions or comments, contact:
Department of Alumni Relations and Academic Development
300 East River Road, Rochester, NY 14627
800–333–4428 585–273–5954 Fax 585–461–2081
E-mail address: RochesterMedicineMagazine@urmc.rochester.edu
SPRING / SUMMER 2005 3

One Award, Many
AAMC recognizes Rochester’s breadth of
community service efforts
Today’s health checkup for Rochester: Thousands of under-served
citizens are now receiving medical attention, immunization
rates are up, children who never before had oral care are
getting it, a growing Latino community has better access to
mental health services, medical students and residents are
taking on community health projects and learning about health
problems they never dreamed existed before.

Reasons
Those efforts, and about 65 other community service programs and
150 community-based research projects, are the reason the University of
Rochester Medical Center won the 2004 Outstanding Community Service
Award from the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC).
In describing the award, AAMC President Jordan J. Cohen, M.D.,
made clear that the point is not to honor any one service program or
individual, but rather to recognize an institution that develops a variety
of programs and initiatives responsive to community and social needs.
An institution doesn’t dazzle its way to the award with one stellar
program; it proves its commitment with the breadth of its community
involvement and the longevity of its work. At Rochester, faculty members
from 20 medical center departments help manage community service
programs and interventions. The Medical Center even has a formal
partnership with the county department of public health that, according
to its deputy director, is one of the few like it in the country.
The Medical Center relies on numerous sources to ensure
its programs are relevant. A National Advisory Board comprised of prominent
community health experts meets regularly by conference
call to provide URMC with information and expertise on national model
programs and best practices in community health. For strategic guidance,
the Medical Center looks to David Satcher, M.D., Ph.D. (R ’72),
16th Surgeon General of the Public Health Serivces, who serves as our
senior advisor for community health. Satcher himself was extremely
ambitious in community service work while an intern at Rochester.
Now, through consultation and site visits, he helps the Medical Center
continue to find ways to respond to the needs of the community.
On the following pages you’ll read about some of the programs and
ideas that are helping to create a healthier community, showing that an
academic medical center can reach outside its walls effectively if it takes
the time — and knows how — to listen to what the community truly
needs.
In Academic Medicine, AAMC president Jordan J. Cohen, M.D.,
wrote, “I hope that many academic medical centers will take notice and
consider emulating Rochester’s campaign. What better way not only to
articulate but to actualize our real commitment to improving the health of
the public”
Throughout our series of articles on the School of Medicine and
Dentistry’s community outreach efforts are display photos from
Children’s Vision & Voices, a book exposing problems in the
Jay-Orchard Street neighborhood, and “Take Pride in Our Neighborhood
Day,” an activity designed to address issues in that book.
SPRING / SUMMER 2005 5

a real education
Students and residents, out in the
real world, learn how to change it
It’s one thing for an academic medical center to incorporate community
service into its curriculum; it’s another when students and residents —
working around long shifts and all-night study sessions — set out to
volunteer and start their own programs.
Rochester has a long tradition of both. Students learn through
initiatives developed by the School of Medicine and Dentistry, such as
a fourth-year clerkship that focuses on community health improvement.
And they’re exposed to real-world community health, such as work they do
on health issues identified by the Monroe County Health Department.
Residents, too, have the opportunity to learn from community work,
including an award-winning program in Pediatrics that was conceived
by residents, for residents, and has now become an international model.
That’s on top of purely volunteer work by students. Rochester is one
Residents and kids interact, benefiting both, at the Saturday School program.
of the few medical schools in the nation with an official infrastructure
to coordinate, support and monitor the volunteer work of students. And even
though students are busy as ever, the Students for Rochester Outreach (SRO)
program successfully recruits about a third of students to participate in the
more than 30 volunteer programs the School of Medicine and Dentistry runs
annually.
Residents reach out
One of the most successful community outreach programs at Rochester was
conceived by people still in training.
It was in 1993, as their shift was ending, that three pediatrics residents
got to talking and came to a life-changing realization. They were seeing the
same children, over and over, coming in for the same reasons each time.
The residents felt they were getting great training in how to treat patients,
but they hadn’t learned how to attack the underlying problem repeatedly
bringing those patients into the hospital.
“We realized we didn’t know the community,” says Laura Jean
Shipley, M.D. (M ’90, R ’94). “We wondered, how do you break that cycle of
illness and promote health for these children and adolescents”
The answer, it turns out, was to start a new program with no model
and no money, but one that would end up linking pediatric and medicinepediatric
residents with numerous community agencies to help improve the
health of children in need. Pediatric Links with the Community (PLC),
which Shipley, Jeff Kaczorowski, M.D. (M ’91, R ’95), and Michelle Jones, M.D.
(R ’95) began as a humble, voluntary rotation, soon grew into
a required element of pediatric residency training at Rochester, and years
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efore community experience became required nationally. It has won
national awards and, just four years after becoming an official part of
the residency program, was one of six such programs nationwide to receive
a $2.5 million grant from the Dyson Foundation.
That grant in 2000 also enabled the creation of the Child Advocacy
Resident Education (CARE) track, a voluntary, two-year community-project
and leadership development program that has quickly gained remarkable
traction. This past year, a full two-thirds of pediatrics residents chose
to participate in the CARE track, and nearly half of residents who have participated
have received Institutional Review Board status to conduct research
as part of their projects.
These programs are helping to train pediatricians to care and
advocate for under-served and high-risk youth and their families as well
as children with chronic illness or special health needs, and they’re also
helping to bring community-minded residents to Rochester. Seventy-one
percent of entering residents in 2002 and 2003 stated that PLC/CARE was either
“ important” or “very important” in their decision to train in Rochester;
21 percent named it the most important reason.
It’s no wonder that the program grew so quickly. Once residents got
a taste of working in the community, they were sold on its importance.
In fact, it was residents who formed the Child Advocacy Interest Group to
discuss their PLC/CARE projects and lend each other support. Volunteerism
went way up, and so too did requests for even more time working in
the community. Shipley, Kaczorowski and Andy Aligne, M.D., M.P.H.,
co-directors of PLC/CARE, hear all the time from residents that the experience
puts them back in touch with why they went into medicine in the first place.
“Almost every site attempted to empower women and children …
PLC has been an enlightening experience,” wrote resident Joanne Pauliny in
Reflections, a collection of residents’ thoughts on the program. “I have been
in parts of town that I did not even know existed and I have been in homes
where I have been afraid to sit down … But most of all, through the knowledge
I have gained and the experiences I have had, I too have become
empowered to affect our community.”
The intense PLC block involves residents in health education at
community agencies, delivery of direct medical care at community health
centers and “safety net” providers, and work with multidisciplinary teams
on home visits as part of county health programs.
The success of this approach, both in helping community efforts
and in educating residents, convinced the Department of Pediatrics that
the novel idea also was a workable one. (Perhaps it was clear this was a
labor of love on several levels: Shipley and Kaczorowski, who worked closely
together to create PLC, also are married.) When PLC was made an official
part of the curriculum in 1996, it became the first of its kind in the nation
to be a required element of a pediatric residency program.
“At that time, people in other parts of the country were still arguing
about whether residents should even leave the hospital during their
training,” says Kaczorowski, now assistant professor in General Pediatrics.
While the national debate continued, PLC steadily expanded its reach
into the community (today, partners number more than 50) and began
gathering up honors: the Ambulatory Pediatric Association’s National
Outstanding Teaching Award; the American Academy of Pediatrics’ Resident
Section Child Advocacy Award to then resident Jamie Perry, M.D.;
the American Academy of Pediatrics’ National Professional Education
Award; finalist for the Robert Wood Johnson Community Health Leadership
Award; and, last year, the American Association of Medical Colleges’
Community Service Recognition Award to CARE resident Bridgette
Wiefling, M.D. (the only recipient nationally).
Recently the PLC/CARE program has served as a model for programs
at Stanford University, the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and other
institutions. Earlier this year, four Canadian hospitals asked the directors to
visit and explain the program so they could replicate it.
Still, it was the $2.5 million Dyson grant that helped the program
reach new heights, with the CARE track funded by the grant serving as
the ideal complement to PLC. By making CARE a full two-year commitment,
and by making it voluntary, the department was working to instill
a commitment to community service that would last through a career, not
just a residency. As Aligne puts it, “You can’t make people volunteer.” Future
leaders in community service will be those who choose to make a sustained,
self-motivated commitment, so the CARE track operates that way.
Residents have come to CARE with some truly ambitious ideas for
projects, including attempts to lower the number of teens who get into car
accidents, reduce delinquency and violence from a prevention angle, and
create health-education TV commercials that kids actually will like and
want to watch. The residents are encouraged to pursue whatever interests
them, based on the idea that a sustained commitment is best made to some-
SPRING / SUMMER 2005 7

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PLC/CARE students at work in the community.
thing one feels passionate about.
“It starts with something in their minds and hearts,” says Aligne,
who notes that many of the relationships with community organizations
were started by residents themselves.
The track begins with what Aligne calls “a dis-orientation, to get
attitudes out of the hospital and back to looking at people out in the
community.” Rather than looking at how to treat asthma, for example,
residents might research why some neighborhoods or even countries have
much higher rates of asthma than do others.
Residents then dedicate time each week to their project, with frequent
workshops helping to guide them. And they’re required to study their own
projects to see if there’s evidence that their work actually helped. The point
is not to define a project as a success or failure, though; it’s to teach future
physicians how to assess their work and understand what makes a successful
program. Again, the emphasis is on training future leaders to have the kind
of skills needed to make changes — to help a neighborhood association
design projects that will work, or serve on a board and select programs that
are most likely to succeed.
All CARE residents to date have presented their projects in conjunction
with an annual grand rounds devoted to community health, and a third
have presented at peer-reviewed national meetings. The ability to make such
presentations is a skill in itself — one that physicians can apply throughout
their lives.
“We’re starting to see our residents come out and have actual, practical
skills in how to deal with community health problems,” says Dr. Aligne.
And that, it turns out, is a big reason the community organizations see
PLC/CARE as so valuable.
“We’re fortunate to have many dedicated community organizations
in Rochester working on behalf of children and families,” says Dr. Shipley.
“ Our community partners say it means so much to them to help show physicians,
early in the formative years of their career, the needs of patients in the
community,”
The hope, of course, is that the experience will help the community
now while informing the careers of physicians for years to come.
Community in the curriculum
At Rochester, involvement in the community actually starts at the undergraduate
medical education level.
“Community health is introduced from the start,” explains David S.
Guzick, M.D., Ph.D., dean of the School of Medicine and Dentistry. “While
most medical schools stick with anatomy as their introduction to the fundamentals
of medicine, Rochester’s curriculum begins with the idea that
the even more fundamental skill is how to access, assess and interpret
the medical literature. Before they’re presented with medical information,
students should know how to master it.”
They do so with case studies in epidemiology and problem-based
learning sessions using actual cases and local data. In fact, this course,
titled “Mastering Medical Information,” is taught by the chair of
Community and Preventive Medicine and the chief of the Division of
Epidemiology, so students get immediate exposure to real-life, communitybased
medicine.
In the second half of their first year and throughout their
second year, students receive instruction in ambulatory care medicine.
SPRING / SUMMER 2005 9

efore reached by the clerkship, including migrant workers, the homeless,
and Rochester’s growing refugee population.
To McIntosh, the clerkship’s value reaches beyond immediate help to
the community. The experience teaches students other valuable skills that
they can use throughout their careers, from practice at communicating with
the public at large to how to summarize complex medical issues in the form
of sound bites for a TV camera.
McIntosh likes to tell students in the fourth-year clerkship that the
community is like a patient. He repeats the adage, “Listen to your
patients — they’re telling you what’s wrong with them,” then revises it to:
“ Listen to your community — it’s trying to tell you what’s wrong with it.
“They will be in a special position as doctors to be advocates for
health care,” he notes.
They produce a report on putting preventive medicine into practice, based
on observations in the offices of their community-based primary care
preceptor. And they take part in the Community Prevention Workshop, based
on local priorities established by the County Health Department. Students
work in groups to develop goals for local health improvement — again,
students are exposed to real-life community health issues, and they learn
how to approach real problems and work toward viable solutions.
It’s a firm foundation for the fourth-year Community Health
Improvement Clerkship, which began in 2002 as an elective but —
in recognition of the difference an academic medical center can make in
the community and also the educational value of community work —
became mandatory in 2004. The clerkship is supported, in part, by a grant to
the Office of Medical Education from the New York State Department of Health.
“We think we’re the only required fourth-year clerkship in the
country focusing on community health improvement,” says Scott
McIntosh, Ph.D., clerkship director and assistant professor in Community
and Preventive Medicine.
Initially, the steering committee developing the clerkship was
concerned there wouldn’t be enough projects. As it turns out, there are more
than enough. Medical students are working with the American Heart
Association, the American Cancer Society, the Rochester Police Department,
and many other groups. And they’re developing their own projects to
complement their work. One student developed a prostate cancer screening
survey for African-American men that’s now in use in the community.
Several students have presented posters on their work at conferences.
About a third of the projects are at School 17, in Rochester’s poorest
neighborhood. And in 2004, students made inroads with populations never
On their own time
Students looking for still more ways to help the community are finding
them through volunteer work. Students work in already established
community programs or ones they create from models based elsewhere in
the country. A mainstay of the Students for Rochester Outreach program is
The Mentoring Initiative, which addresses the needs of at-risk and underserved
children and teens. Medical, graduate biomedical science students,
and graduate nursing students are matched one to one with Rochester City
School District students to help them develop skills and knowledge in core
academic subjects such as math, science and English. While the children
and teens gain academically, the interaction with positive role models is just
as important.
A similar outreach, the Saturday School program, was created by
medical students and is funded through an AAMC grant. The program helps
more than 100 students at an inner-city elementary school who are at risk of
failing. School of Medicine and Dentistry students provide two hours of oneon-one
tutoring on Saturday mornings. The hope is that these intense
educational sessions will provide the at-risk children the boost they need to
succeed in their education. Once a month, health risk screenings and
education also are offered to parents of Saturday School students.
Graduate biomedical science students have a Saturday School
program of their own, working with middle and high school students rather
than elementary school students. As many as 20 graduate students are
involved.
And last year, a group of medical students started volunteering their
services at a neighborhood health center. Again, patients gain from
expanded hours and more care, and students get to know their community
— and some of the people in it who need them most.
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in the neighborhood
A sustained commitment
helps a struggling area help itself
SMILEmobile services give kids a healthy grin.
From the top floors of Rochester’s most prominent symbol of prosperity,
Kodak Tower, you can look out and see one of the poorest areas in the
country. The Jay/Orchard Street neighborhood has the highest rate of unemployment,
public assistance, teen-age births, crime and infant mortality in
the city, and in the most recent census was found to be among the dozen
poorest neighborhoods in the country. It is a community of boarded-up
windows and one-parent families, where the neighborhood school was once
overrun with graffiti and crime. The swings on the school playground used
to have bite marks in them, from drug dealers who would make their pit
bulls clench onto the seats and then swing as they held on, to strengthen
their bite.
At the same time, there were people in the neighborhood determined
to make things better, including a school principal who handed out his
pager number to everyone in the neighborhood so citizens could report
vandalism at the school even in the middle of the night.
That principal, Ralph Spezio, started turning things around at
School 17 in the 1990s, and he caught the eye of Robert Berg, M.D., former
head of the Department of Community and Preventive Medicine and now
emeritus professor. Berg knew all about the needs of underserved
citizens, dating back to the ’50s and ’60s and the Combined Staff Clinic,
where patients who couldn’t afford private doctors would get care —
and fourth-year students would get real-world outpatient experience. Berg
introduced Spezio to Thomas A. Pearson, M.D., M.P.H., current chair of
Community and Preventive Medicine, to see if the department could help
improve the neighborhood.
“The need was obvious,” says Pearson. Just as important, he says,
SPRING / SUMMER 2005 11

was “the passion and commitment” from people like Spezio and the leaders
of the neighborhood association. “You could see some opportunities there,
rather than just chaos.”
Community and Preventive Medicine decided to make a departmentwide
commitment to the neighborhood. Today, no fewer than eight Medical
Center departments and dozens of faculty and staff are actively involved in
community outreach efforts in the neighborhood. The Department of
Community and Preventive Medicine and the Local Government and
Community Relations office coordinate each initiative, to make sure the
work isn’t redundant. There are efforts that are bolstering the grassroots
neighborhood organization, some aimed directly at improving the health of
residents, and others designed to help revitalize the neighborhood and
change people’s attitudes.
Yet this wasn’t the first time the Medical Center worked to improve
health in that neighborhood. Another effort at School 17 actually began
30 years before, when a dental clinic on wheels hit the streets with a cute
name (SMILEmobile) but a serious mission: to tend to the dental needs of
underserved populations before those needs turned into emergencies.
That program expanded steadily and culminated, in 2001, in the opening of
an entire, community dental clinic on the grounds of School 17.
For people with plenty of health and dental insurance, it can be hard
to fathom just how significant this kind of outreach can be. But in this
neighborhood, the main priority is simply getting food on the table,
not finding a way to seek out medical and dental care. By bringing the care
to them, these programs are truly transforming lives.
Pain means no gain
Before the new dental clinic opened, some students at School 17 were in so
much pain from toothaches, they couldn’t listen to what the teacher was
saying. These weren’t small annoyances; they were major dental problems
from years of neglect.
“Very few poor or working poor have dental insurance for themselves
or their children, and we all know that good general health begins with
good oral health,” says Ralph Spezio, the former school principal.
“ The obvious consequence of this is that children rarely get to see the dentist
at all until there is a major problem.”
Even then, some still don’t get treated. Community Dentistry and
Oral Disease Prevention, the division within the Eastman Dental Center that
runs dental outreach clinics, sees cases where dental problems have gotten
so bad, they’ve affected the personalities of children in school. At one
outreach clinic at an area school, dental faculty met a boy who barely spoke
because his teeth had deteriorated so badly. He would spend the entire day
covering his mouth and looking down, never answering questions in class
because that would mean opening his mouth. But he wasn’t covered by
insurance, so he wasn’t receiving any treatment. When clinic dentists offered
to treat him for free, they found he had decay on every single tooth, leaving
all his teeth blackened along the gum line. After getting treatment from the
clinic, everything changed for him.
“His self-confidence was boosted, he felt better, and his schoolwork
improved,” says Holly Barone, senior operations administrator in
Community Dentistry and Oral Disease Prevention.
These outreach visits began in the 1970s, with one SMILEmobile unit,
then expanded with an additional unit in 1990 and a third in 2000,
purchased with a $250,000 grant from the Daisy Marquis Jones Foundation.
The SMILEmobiles travel to five schools each, parking for up to two months
at a time to handle all the extractions, fillings, cleanings and x-rays the
children need. Each unit has a dentist, dental assistant, hygienist, and clinical
coordinator on board, plus residents doing rotations. The department
also runs six outreach centers, both mobile and stationary (one, in rural
Livingston County, is in place because parts of that county have nonfluoridated
water).
Thousands of children are treated every year in these clinics, learning
the importance of good dental health in the process. It’s also a chance for
residents at Eastman Dental to learn. All residents in the Advanced
Education in General Dentistry, General Practice Residency, and Pediatric
programs carry out rotations in community settings, so they can gain an
appreciation for patients living in poverty and the challenges they face.
SPRING / SUMMER 2005 13

So as practicing professionals, they’ll already have extensive clinical
training in outreach programs for the underserved.
The SMILEmobile had made stops at School 17 for many years, and
Spezio saw the difference it made. He realized, in fact, that the whole neighborhood
could benefit from such services. He had already successfully
advocated for a community health clinic, run by St. Mary’s Hospital and
supported by numerous groups and businesses. So he started talking to
Eastman Dental about a clinic that could serve the community and be open
beyond school hours. In 2002, supported in part by a grant from the Daisy
Marquis Jones Foundation, the Eastman Dental Center opened a nearly
2,500-square-foot facility on school grounds, with five dental chairs,
an x-ray machine and a full lab. The clinic, named the Daisy Marquis Jones
Foundation Outreach Dental Center, turns no one away.
“In the first two years, we provided services to almost 5,500 patients
who wouldn’t otherwise have received care,” says Barone. “Providing
services in the community, where it’s more conveniently located, makes
a difference.”
The center is also designed to get people in the habit of seeking care
and receiving regular treatment. The center is hoping to add a sixth chair,
now that appointments are booked out months in advance.
Spezio was told story after story about how much the centers have
meant. As one mother of a student who received treatment told him, “This
place fell right from heaven into our neighborhood.”
Children’s voices heard
The neighborhood needs such miracles, because it has more than its share
of tragedies. In the same year the dental clinic opened, a 10-year-old boy,
straddling his bicycle outside his home, was killed by a stray bullet from
a nearby drug dispute. The horrific tragedy shocked people into action.
Vigils and marches followed, and activists starting making plans for
a memorial park. David Satcher, M.D., Ph.D. (R ’72), the former surgeon
general of the Public Health Service who is now senior advisor for community
health for the Medical Center, realized the importance of helping, as
well. But he wanted to get children, not just adults, involved in trying to revitalize
their neighborhood.
Satcher led a town meeting, where sixth-graders were asked to
discuss their community and what needed fixing. Then the students were
given disposable cameras to take pictures of things they saw that were
unhealthy in their streets and playgrounds.
The Medical Center compiled the photos, and essays students wrote to
accompany them, and produced a book titled Children’s Vision and Voices.
It is a sobering chronicle of littered streets, buildings crumbling as if in
a war zone, drug paraphernalia tossed on lawns, and makeshift memorials
to the dead along sidewalks the students walk on the way to school. The
photo book is all the more heart-rending because the scenes, and the words
lamenting them, are the views of children from their everyday lives.
Proceeds from selling the book went directly for school programs, but more
important was the awareness it raised — the bleak images were far more
effective than facts and statistics in raising awareness from local leaders.
The project also made national headlines in several newspapers, and the
Medical Center got calls from numerous groups wishing to replicate it.
In the last phase of the program, students were asked to brainstorm
continued on page 49
14
ROCHESTER MEDICINE

a department for all
Pediatrics sought out every area pediatrician to help
all children
Three weeks after Robert Haggerty, M.D. (Intern ’51), returned to Rochester to
begin as chair of the Pediatrics Department, race riots broke out in the inner
city and continued for three fiery days. It was 1964, and the National Guard
had to be called in — the first time it was dispatched to a northern city to
quell a race riot. When the upheaval was over, five people had died,
350 were injured, more than 900 had been arrested, and Rochester was left
shocked and on edge.
Typically, such developments wouldn’t unduly affect a chair of
Pediatrics. But Dr. Haggerty had no plans to be typical. He chose Rochester
in part because it was the only Pediatrics chair he was offered that had
a legacy of community service. Haggerty’s vision was to build on that
foundation, starting with the ambitious notion that his department was
responsible for the health of every child in the community.
After the riots, that community was in turmoil. Establishing community
service programs would have been challenge enough, but now there
were more complications.
“Certainly there was a sense that the community was divided,” says
Haggerty. “People in the inner city looked at the University as part of the
elite and the establishment. There was a lot of bottled-up hostility.”
At the same time, Haggerty had the conviction that people living in
the inner city had a right to the same level of health care that others
received, and he wasn’t easily dissuaded. As colleagues describe him,
he happens to be a gentle man with a very thick skin.
Haggerty set out to establish a unified, community-wide pediatric
service — something virtually unheard of in this country. So his first act as
the new guy in town would be an extremely tricky one: trying to convince
competing hospitals to shut down their pediatric services, since supply was
outpacing demand and duplication of services was wasting resources.
How Haggerty helped develop pediatric services in Rochester into a
community-oriented enterprise is testament to his skill and also the
commitment that existed here. Likewise, his efforts helped attract community-minded
talent to Rochester, which set the stage for even more
innovative programs later. Today, those people and programs have gained
national prominence, and the department continues its unique role as a
leader in cooperation and community commitment.
Wide reach, big faculty
While still an intern, Dr. Haggerty was sent out to help with a poliomyelitis
epidemic in a small community, where he saw outright hostility among
SPRING / SUMMER 2005 15

“
16
ROCHESTER MEDICINE

hospitals and between medical centers and community pediatricians.
“ It was one reason I didn’t go into private practice,” he says.
Haggerty felt that such cutthroat competition wasn’t good for
patients. He also knew that, while most community pediatricians competed
with medical centers and hospitals for patients, Rochester had the potential
for something different. In fact, one thing that had attracted him to
Rochester was a $20,000 grant awaiting the new
chair to be used to survey the need for pediatrics
in the community. The grant was offered by the
Patient Care Planning Council, a community
group headed by the formidable Marion Folsom.
The one-time treasurer of Kodak, Folsom served
as secretary of health, education and welfare
under President Eisenhower before returning to
Rochester.
Wisely, Haggerty hired a respected
consultant from outside the state to help develop
a community plan based on the survey results,
and also to take part in discussions with hospitals.
After many months, the community
reached an unprecedented agreement: Two
hospitals would close their pediatric services and
gain adult beds while three others would
combine their services under separate chiefs
selected by Haggerty. Pediatric residents would
begin rotating through all three — a welcome
change for hospitals that used to compete with
the University for residents. And, in the boldest step of all, the Medical Center
offered clinical appointments to every pediatrician in the community.
“It was very unusual,” says Haggerty. “Most university hospitals do
not put all pediatricians on staff.”
While no one could argue it was a step toward more cooperation,
some people were concerned that everyone would be on faculty, regardless of
skill level or experience. Dr. Haggerty’s response showed that he meant it
when he said the health of all children in the community should be the
priority. As he puts it, “If a physician is not up to standard, I’d rather have
that physician here, under our watch.”
The unified plan paved the way for new clinical research, and it
changed the way pediatric services are delivered in Rochester.
“It doesn’t matter where the child enters the health care system in the
community,” explains Elizabeth McAnarney, M.D., the current chair of
Pediatrics. “The care is coordinated.” Rather than have hospitals compete
by trying to match each other with redundant technology, for example, the
new model looked at pediatric services as one large system. So if a very sick
child comes to a community hospital needing intensive care, the patient can
immediately be transported to Golisano Children’s Hospital at Strong, which
houses the community’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit and Pediatric
Intensive Care Unit. And if pediatricians want to stay with their cases, they’re
If a very sick child comes to
a community hospital needing
intensive care, the patient can
immediately be transported to
Golisano Children’s Hospital
at Strong … and if pediatricians
want to stay with their
cases, they’re free to do so
because practically all are on
faculty at Strong.
free to do so because practically all are on faculty at Strong (a handful
declined clinical appointments).
“The relationship between the Department of Pediatrics and community
pediatricians in Rochester is unparalleled in the world,”
says longtime Rochester pediatrician Larry Nazarian, M.D. (M ’64, R ’66). The
practice where he worked for 35 years, Panorama Pediatrics, has had
“ a constant stream of residents and medical
students,” which he calls “an incredible benefit.”
With the new pediatric model in place,
the department began looking for ways to bring
care out into the community. Again, the
approach was based on solid research:
Community surveys showed that the majority of
problems that children — and thereby pediatricians
— faced were no longer disease-oriented
but behavioral. Aggression and depression were
replacing diphtheria and whooping cough as
childhood problems. Dr. Haggerty coined the
term “the new morbidity” and argued that the
field of pediatrics needed to shift its thinking
and help people deal with these new problems
that hadn’t, traditionally, brought patients in
to see doctors.
Part of that meant trying to get out into
the community to reach people who were slipping
through the cracks. The department would
get its chance quickly. In 1966, Haggerty essentially
stumbled upon a call for federal grant proposals for establishing
community health centers, just weeks before the deadline. The department
scrambled to get an application together, aided by Haggerty’s previous work
while on faculty at Harvard. At Children’s Hospital, Boston, he had launched
the Family Health Care program, which in many ways was a model for what
Pediatrics would propose for Rochester: a multi-specialty group of physicians
who could provide care, including dental and mental health services,
for the entire family.
Haggerty and his colleagues managed to apply in time and to win the
$3 million grant.
That turned out to be the easy part.
25,000 house calls
The idea of a community-based health center was, in a sense, a neighborhood-scale
version of the traditional general practitioner model. Haggerty’s
grandfather had been a GP in a small town outside Cooperstown, N.Y.,
and as a teenager Haggerty would go on house calls with him. He still
remembers the admiration patients had for his grandfather, and how they
would give him gifts to show their gratitude. Later, Rochester’s Mixed
Medical internship — the first of its kind in the country — reinforced
SPRING / SUMMER 2005 17

Physicians and residents bring care into the community at Anthony Jordan Health Center.
Haggerty’s interest in being a generalist, with time spent in internal medicine,
pediatrics, psychiatry, OB, and emergency surgery. Being a generalist
was good preparation for planning the community health center,
with its comprehensive array of services.
But progress was slowed by the University itself, when leadership grew
concerned that federal funding would dry up some day and leave the
University in the lurch. After months of deliberation, the go-ahead finally
came and the Baden Street Center — one of the first of its kind in the
country — was established at the site of a well-child clinic. The center’s
mission was to serve a population of 25,000 in one inner-city ward. Later,
a new building — the Anthony Jordan Health Center — was built and the
services were transferred there. Other centers followed.
Naturally, there was initial skepticism from citizens in the area.
Doubts came even from a few members of the community advisory board
who felt the project amounted to exploitation. To help overcome such resistance,
community health workers were hired directly from the
neighborhood. Their job, essentially, was to track down potential patients
among a population that had little concept of doctor visits and scheduled
appointments.
“They’d look for women in the community with bulging bellies and
ask if they had prenatal care,” says Haggerty. “They made home visits to
make sure people were taking their medications, and they reported environmental
problems, such as an apartment with no heat.”
These workers, of and for the community, helped build trust. So did
the public health nurses, who had a good understanding of the community.
And Ken Woodward, M.D., a black pediatrician who gave up his private practice
to become the medical director of the center, was instrumental.
“It was in large part due to his calm presence that most of the
tensions in the community over the University running the center were
abated,” Haggerty says.
Still, the work itself posed new challenges. According to Nazarian,
who worked part time at the Jordan Health Center for 15 years, “the needs
were many and great” in those neighborhoods. Nazarian, now clinical
professor of pediatrics and newly named editor-in-chief of Pediatrics in
Review, says the centers had to provide the kind of basic support the families
didn’t have inherently. Even the simple request that patients call the
next day to report on their progress wasn’t so simple: Most of them, he says,
didn’t have phones. Through its workers, the centers would provide translator
services, reminders about appointments, and medication and even
transportation to the health center if needed.
Within a few years, the centers had overcome initial doubts from the
community. A full 80 percent of the targeted population was treated in those
few years, and people changed their health care habits in the process.
Evan Charney, M.D., the principal investigator on the grant that enabled the
centers, led a study of hospitalization rates compared with similar neighborhoods
that didn’t have health centers. After two years, the hospitalization
rate among people in the ward had been cut almost in half, and their use of
the Emergency Department was reduced by 40 percent. In the neighborhoods
without community health centers, both rates stayed the same.
Papers about progress at the centers dominated national meetings of
the Ambulatory Pediatric Association for years. Meanwhile, at about the
same time, another community effort was making headlines of its own,
in true ’60s fashion.
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ROCHESTER MEDICINE

Barnyard medicine
In the mid 1960s, the Department of Community and Preventive Medicine
launched a health service for migrant workers, who were brought to
the farms along Lake Ontario every year during harvest season. These
workers received virtually no money and the same amount of medical care,
so the service was much needed. Eventually, the service was run by
John Radebaugh, M.D., of the Department of Pediatrics and the Department
of Community and Preventive Medicine. Haggerty remembers that staffing
it wasn’t always easy for Dr. Radebaugh.
“At 6 p.m., I’d be ready to go home and he’d grab me and say ‘I don’t
have any doctors today. Won’t you come down’ ” says Haggerty.
They’d drive out to the countryside and run a makeshift clinic in
someone’s stable, well into the night. Later, one of the farmers built a small
clinic for the service to operate in, and Radebaugh started bringing books to
the migrant workers’ children, since some had never attended school and
didn’t know how to read. Eventually he went even further, attempting to
help the workers unionize and fighting for better living conditions, enlisting
the help of then New York state senator Robert Kennedy, who caused a stir
when he visited to see for himself. The farmers, in turn, barred Radebaugh
from the clinic and threatened to shut it down.
Eventually, Radebaugh moved to California to work with Cesar
Chavez, founder of the United Farm Workers, for a salary of $15 a week,
treating migrant workers and fighting for better conditions for them. After
he left, James Perrin, M.D. (R ’69), took charge of the migrant service here
and got funding to make it a year-round clinic. Its successor, the Oak
Orchard Health Center in Brockport, N.Y., has expanded that original
outreach and is still in operation as a rural health center, open to anyone.
Awards and rewards
Beyond bringing care to people who needed it badly, the emphasis in
Pediatrics on working within the community changed the face of pediatric
clinical research. With community pediatricians serving as advisors and
partners, the department embarked on health services research and studies
of more common diseases — the kind of work that wasn’t getting as much
attention amid the trend of pediatricians to become subspecialists.
Nonetheless, it was the kind of research that was especially useful to
community pediatricians, and those pediatricians had a valuable pool of
subjects for studies.
This kind of research became a hallmark of general academic pediatrics,
and Haggerty became known as the father of the field, which led to
discoveries that had international implications. Studies on everything from
appointment systems that cut waiting times to whether strep throat patients
were completing their full prescriptions of penicillin (doctors were shocked
to learn that their patients weren’t) led to important changes among practicing
pediatricians.
In 1998, Haggerty’s work landed him the John Howland Award from
the American Pediatric Society, considered the most prestigious award in the
field. And within one action-packed week in October 2004, Haggerty received
Anthony Jordan Health Center
multiple honors: the dedication of the Robert J. Haggerty Child Health
Services Research Laboratories at the Medical Center, where pediatricians
will study topics such as school-based asthma management and the use of
telemedicine in day-care settings; the International Pediatric Association’s
inaugural Dogramaci Award for contributions to International Child
Health; and the 2004 Alfred I. duPont Award for Excellence in Children’s
Health Care in recognition of lifetime contributions to excellence in children’s
health care.
Even more important, Haggarty’s legacy in the department lives on.
Others after him have furthered the department’s commitment to the
community, with nationally recognized programs such as Pediatric Links to
the Community (see story on page 6).
That’s not to say he could have predicted where his vision would take
the department. As he tells people now in his Pediatric Interest Group,
which helps guide first-year medical students at Rochester with an interest
in pediatrics, “I didn’t plan this. I was given opportunities and I seized
them.”
SPRING / SUMMER 2005 19

20
ROCHESTER MEDICINE

playing a part through
partnership
University of Rochester Medical Center faculty members are working with
the Rochester City School District on everything from improving students’
mental health to making their lunches more nutritious – and they’re doing
so as fully engaged partners, not ivory-tower academics.
“They are there – in the trenches – walking the talk, getting their
hands dirty,” says Marjorie Lefler, coordinator of human services systems at
the Rochester City School District. “It is a very long, deep history and track
record. They’re a constant partner and resource for the school district,
students and families.”
Likewise, when the School of Medicine and Dentistry and the School
of Nursing partnered with the Monroe County Department of Public Health
to form the Center for Rochester’s Health, it represented a level of commitment
rarely seen.
“This collaboration is very uncommon,”
says Nancy M. Bennett, M.D., deputy director of
the Monroe County Department of Public Health
(pictured at right). “When I talk with people
around the country, there are very few models
like us. There are health departments that work
with medical centers on specific projects, but
very few have a memorandum of understanding
— a formal agreement — between them.”
That agreement, created in 1997, began
with one or two projects and grants and has
grown to about twenty. The projects are funded
mostly through the Centers for Disease Control
(CDC), New York State and foundations, and all
involve community health.
By building these partnerships for the long haul, the Medical Center
has been able to contribute to lasting improvements while making inroads
into places and populations in the community that can benefit from its
resources. And students involved in these projects learn a lesson in how two
very different cultures can work together to get the job done.
Sharing space and grants
Dr. Bennett believes that working with the Medical Center has been a boon
for the Department of Public Health, opening up new avenues for funding.
“I would never have been able to do the kind of work we’re doing
at the Center without the collaboration with the University,” she says.
“The Health Department doesn’t have the
breadth and depth of knowledge and expertise
that exists there. For the University, the benefit is
bringing the community perspective to the
University.”
A project she’s especially proud of is
helping to increase the immunization rate among
adults in Rochester. The project was modeled after
a pediatric study at the Medical Center that looked
at the problems of the health care delivery system
and came up with ingeniously simple solutions.
That pediatric study was led by Peter
Szilagyi, M.D. (M ’81, R ’84, MS ’89), professor of
general pediatrics, and Lance E. Rodewald, M.D.,
SPRING / SUMMER 2005 21

who received a CDC grant to find a way to raise the immunization rates of
children. At the time, urban poor children in Rochester had a 20 percent
lower immunization rate than children living in the suburbs, so Szilagyi
and Rodewald wanted to design a program to reach the urban poor.
In analyzing the problem, they realized it wasn’t a question of
apathy. Instead, parents simply weren’t aware of the vaccination schedule,
didn’t have transportation to the doctor’s office, or in some cases had
immediate problems more serious than lack of vaccinations. And doctors
themselves, Szilagyi found, often didn’t know which children had
all their shots and which were behind. Even many practices that tracked
their patients closely had no system for reaching the children and bringing
them in, especially given that full immunization requires six visits before
the age of two.
Working with the county, Szilagyi and Rodewald used a database
to track more than 2,700 children in nine primary care practices throughout
Rochester. Half the preschoolers in a control group were tracked but received
no outreach. The other half also were tracked, and if the child fell behind in
receiving immunizations, the family got a phone call. In the 10 percent of
cases where the child fell too far behind, an outreach volunteer made
a house call to find out why. Outreach workers were mostly recruited from
within the targeted neighborhoods to make the visits more comfortable
for the families. The outreach workers also were trained to assess what
kept families from bringing the child to the doctor and how to break down
those barriers.
After 18 months, immunization rates in the outreach group had risen
20 percent. In a follow-up study, inner-city children who received tracking
New research studies start with community service in mind
Two multimillion-dollar grants secured last year
by Rochester researchers have major community
service components, and people both in
Rochester and far from it could ultimately
benefit.
A $3 million grant is allowing researchers
to study ways to prevent obesity by influencing
people’s eating and activity habits in an actual
workplace. And a $3.5 million grant is leading to
the creation of the Deaf Health Research Center
– the nation’s first ever research center for
conducting health studies of individuals who
are deaf or hard of hearing.
Eastman Kodak Company, with 20,000
employees in Rochester, will serve as the
research site for the four-year obesity prevention
study. The proposal was one of 65 submitted
nationally to the National Heart, Lung, and
Blood Institute (NHLBI), a division of the
National Institutes of Health, and one of only
seven to be funded. According to Diana
Fernandez, M.D., M.P.H., Ph.D., principal investigator
for the obesity prevention study and an
assistant professor in the Department of
Community and Preventive Medicine, the
project will include some very common-sense
ideas for making food less calorically dense and
people less sedentary.
What makes the project unique is the aim
of addressing obesity in the workplace.
According to Fernandez, the NHLBI was interested
specifically in an intervention that
included an environmental modification —
some change to the workplace that would help
prevent obesity.
“Employees spend many hours at work,
where their behavior is influenced by well-established
communication systems, cafeterias and
opportunities for physical activity,” she explains.
The research team believed that input
from employees was crucial to the success of the
intervention, so the entire first year of the study
will be devoted to talking and listening to
employees to learn the barriers to staying in
shape and eating well and what they think
might help.
Ultimately, the study is designed to create
a model that other work sites can adopt to help
their own workers. An important feature of the
project is to make modifications that are easy
to implement and can lead to lasting improvements.
In other words, Fernandez says she’s not
about to lead any aerobics classes. Instead, the
project will incorporate healthy changes into the
workplace that researchers hope will remain in
place long after the study is complete.
To her, it’s a classic example of community
medicine.
“It’s the real world, where people work,”
she says. “That’s what, in Community and
22
ROCHESTER MEDICINE

and outreach had immunization rates nearly as
high as those of suburban children.
“We almost leveled the playing field
between the inner city and the suburbs,” says
Szilagyi. “That’s something almost unheard of
in the health field.”
Beyond immunizations, the study helped
find people who had been falling between the
cracks and get them into the health care system.
Tracking and outreach increased preventive care
visits by inner-city families and even raised the
proportion of children receiving needed lead
and anemia screenings.
This success led the County Department
of Public Health to adopt and expand the program in an effort to fully
immunize 90 percent of the community’s children. And in 2002, the Center
for Rochester’s Health was one of five sites in the nation to receive a CDC
grant to develop a model program aimed at eliminating disparity in olderadult
immunizations. The program, part of the CDC’s Racial and Ethnic
Adult Disparities in Immunization Initiative, is meant to develop models
School of Medicine students collaborate with staff at St. Joseph’s Neighborhood Center on the new
student-run clinic there providing free health care services to the uninsured or underinsured.
that can guide efforts across the country, with the ultimate goal of eliminating
older-adult vaccination disparities nationwide.
According to Bennett, Rochester received the grant because of those
past successes in boosting immunization rates. A community advisory board
comprised of 33 organizations — representing public health professionals,
physician practices and neighborhood health clinics, health systems,
Preventive Medicine, we want to do. We’re not
asking people to come here — we’re going there.”
Likewise, the Deaf Health Research
Center project was designed to reach out to a
population and comprehend it much better
than in the past. The work began last year with
community focus groups, to better understand
deaf and hard-of-hearing people. This in itself is
an important step: Medical literature shows that
aside from hearing loss itself, little is known
about the health status of the deaf and hard-ofhearing
population. Even rudimentary data on
health behaviors, risk factors and diseases is
unavailable, according to health experts.
Communication barriers may contribute
to the problem. Many deaf people use American
Sign Language (ASL), which has different
grammar and syntax from English. Others
communicate through speech-reading, writing,
speaking and other English-based methods.
But few health care providers are proficient in
ASL or understand how to communicate effectively
with deaf patients.
Deaf and hard-of-hearing people also
have less access to information from the
ambient environment — information that
hearing people often take for granted. So, for
example, deaf youngsters don’t benefit from
overhearing the advice pediatricians give to
their hearing parents, and they don’t get health
information through radio or TV broadcasts.
“Finally, we have a research center that
focuses on the overall health and wellness of
people who are deaf or hard of hearing, and not
just on their hearing loss,” says Matthew Starr,
M.P.H., who is deaf himself and serves as the
director of The Health Association’s Deaf & Hard
of Hearing Program. “Now, our voices can be
heard.”
T. Alan Hurwitz, Ed.D., vice president of
Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) and
dean of the National Technical Institute for the
Deaf (a college of RIT), predicts the project will
have a lasting impact.
“The results will dramatically improve
the quality of life for deaf and hard-of-hearing
people today and for future generations,” he says.
Rochester researchers will be at the forefront
of promoting health issues, investigating
special health needs, and solving health
problems — all within a community medicine
framework.
SPRING / SUMMER 2005
23

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ROCHESTER MEDICINE

insurers, and social service agencies — was formed to help implement the
program, which combines community outreach and education with
comprehensive intervention at medical clinics and physicians’ offices.
One reason the Center for Rochester’s Health has grown so quickly and been
able to attract major funding such as the CDC grant is its fully integrated
structure. This is a true partnership: The Medical Center provides the
administrative home, with central offices based in the School of Nursing’s
building. The county provides office space for University faculty working on
projects. The steering committee represents a University commitment on the
highest levels: the dean of the School of Nursing, Patricia Chiverton, Ed.D.,
R.N., F.N.A.P.; the dean of the School of Medicine and Dentistry, David Guzick,
M.D., Ph.D.; and the dean of clinical research and chair of the Department of
Community and Preventive Medicine, Tom Pearson, M.D., Ph.D. The director
of the Monroe County Department of Public Health, Andrew Doniger, M.D.,
also serves on the committee. In addition, 15 School of Medicine and
Dentistry and School of Nursing faculty members now are involved in work
at the center.
Working so closely with the county has enabled the Medical Center
to bring its resources to the community. The Healthy Living program,
an ongoing effort to increase physical activity, improve nutrition and
promote health in the inner city, recognized that the target audience wasn’t
about to make its way to the Medical Center to learn how to stay fit.
“This was a real community need,” Bennett says, “but there was no
place people felt comfortable to go to learn about these things.”
So the program reached out to city neighborhood centers and
churches to spread the word. Program organizers brought a 24-session
curriculum of physical activity and health education right to the heart of
inner-city Rochester, to neighborhoods where only 10 percent of people met
the surgeon general’s guidelines for aerobic activity. To encourage lasting
benefits, the program directs participants to existing resources in the
community, such as exercise programs at the YMCA. Participants learn how
to live a more healthy life and where they can get support to do it.
Numerous other projects, from sessions on how to prevent bullying to
research on youth health for the Adolescent Health Report Card, which the
city and county use to assess needs, speak to the spectrum of faculty
members who partner with the school district.
Some projects even get parents involved. Pieter LeRoux and Susan
Horwitz of the Department of Psychiatry run training programs in schools
so staff can better differentiate between mental health and disciplinary
programs in students. And they work with parents to identify the things that
trigger their children’s behavior problems. This way, children’s needs are
addressed both at school and at home.
One faculty member, Peter Wyman, is working with two elementary
schools on an intervention program for at-risk students. The Resiliency
Project, which includes materials tailored for the Hispanic students at
School 9, teaches resilience competencies to students. Wyman also is
working on a mentoring intervention as part of the project.
“It’s teaching community adults how to help children develop skills
for self-discipline, coping, and managing their feelings — things that are
predictive of lower rates of substance abuse and other problems and better
functioning in general,” Wyman says.
Some people might be surprised at the breadth of projects the Medical
Center is running in partnership with the community. But Lefler sees such
partnerships as part of a continuum dating back to the very founding of the
School of Medicine and Dentistry. In the 1920s, George Eastman became the
largest benefactor of the School only after being promised that the talents
and resources within the institution would be used to try to create the world’s
healthiest community. “The Medical Center has made good on that promise
to George Eastman,” Lefler says.
Going to school
Good community service, of course, requires finding the right communities
for your service. The Rochester City School District has proven to be an ideal
partner for projects and study.
“The Medical Center has been a leader in using schools as points of
access for urban youth needing various health and social services,” Marjorie
Lefler says.
The work dates back many decades. In 1957, the Medical Center and
the Rochester City School District formed an early intervention program
called the Primary Mental Health Project (PMHP). That project, which
recently has been expanded and fully incorporated into the early childhood
system in Rochester to promote school adjustment at the primary grades,
has been nationally recognized for preventing mental health problems early
in a child’s school career.
SPRING / SUMMER 2005 25

medical rounds
Rochester chosen to help coordinate
national Parkinson’s effort
by Tom Rickey
The University of Rochester Medical Center
has been chosen as home to a new
Parkinson’s Disease data and organizing
center, an administrative entity created
by the NIH to help coordinate information
from the growing number of Parkinson’s
studies being conducted around the nation.
Doctors estimate that there are anywhere
from 1,500 to 3,500 patients taking part in
more than 25 clinical studies of Parkinson’s
disease annually.
The new center will pool and manage
the data from 15 existing Parkinson’s disease
centers funded by NIH and aims to eventually
include information from all the clinical
studies of Parkinson’s that the agency funds.
In effect, data about all Parkinson’s patients
around the country who are taking part in
studies will pass through Rochester.
The new center, funded by NIH with
$5.7 million for the next five years, will help
doctors around the country work together
in seeking new ways to diagnose, treat and
prevent Parkinson’s disease. The team plans
to create a shared database that will make
it easier for researchers to combine and
compare results and spot trends.
“Pooling the data will add to the
power of our numbers, hopefully allowing
us to answer additional questions about
the disease that might otherwise go
unanswered,” says neurologist Roger Kurlan,
M.D. (M ’83), a Parkinson’s expert who leads
the new center.
Such a large body of data will be
useful in the search for a blood test or some
type of “bio-marker” to help doctors track the
progression of the disease. Doctors also hope
to narrow down exactly how various genetic
mutations contribute to the disease. Funding
will help doctors select standard rating scales
and help computer programmers develop
databases to encompass data from studies.
Pfizer signs license
deal with UR to
develop drug for
‘hot flashes’
by Chris DiFrancesco
The University of Rochester has signed
a license agreement with Pfizer that will
allow Pfizer to market a specific class of
non-hormonal drugs for the treatment of
hot flashes associated with menopause.
For tens of millions of women who
suffer from hot flashes, such a drug would
be a welcome alternative to hormone replacement
therapy, which has been linked to an
increased risk of heart disease and breast
cancer in some patients.
The University of Rochester was
granted a “method of treatment” patent in
2001 that covers the use of drugs that treat
hot flashes by targeting a specific group of
cells in the hypothalamus. The proposed link
between those cells and hot flashes was
suggested by Thomas Guttuso, Jr., M.D. (R ’00),
who had been conducting research in the
University of Rochester’s School of Medicine
and Dentistry as part of a fellowship program
in neurology.
Pfizer is developing a drug that quells
hot flashes by targeting the mechanism
covered by Rochester’s patent. Under the
terms of the nonexclusive license, Pfizer will
pay the University an initial fee, and two
clinical milestone payments to be made
when its drug clears important hurdles in
the development process. If the drug is
brought to market, Pfizer will pay royalties
to the University based on sales of the drug.
26
ROCHESTER MEDICINE

Some physicians avoid life-saving procedure
due to health ‘report cards’
by Karin Gaffney
Nearly 80 percent of interventional cardiologists
in New York State admit they have
avoided performing a risky but potentially
life-saving angioplasty on a patient, out of
fear that if the patient dies it skews the
doctor’s personal mortality “report card,”
according to a University of Rochester survey.
The anonymous poll was designed to
measure whether the state Department of
Health’s system of tracking doctors’ cardiac
death rates has an impact on how doctors
make treatment decisions — and what types
of patients they choose to accept. Results of
the groundbreaking study were published in
the Jan. 10 issue of Archives of Internal
Medicine.
New York is one of only a handful of
states to publish mortality data for consumers
in an effort to raise awareness about physicians’
and hospitals’ records, and more states
are considering adopting the practice. Many
medical professionals, though, have long
suspected that these report cards may
influence some physicians to avoid taking
critically ill patients to the catheterization lab,
even though the patient might benefit from
angioplasty, because of the possibility of
adding a potential death to their files, says
principal investigator Craig Narins, M.D.,
an interventional cardiologist and assistant
professor in the University of Rochester
School of Medicine and Dentistry.
The survey received an extraordinary
65 percent response rate. Among the respondents,
83 percent agreed or strongly agreed
that patients who might benefit from angioplasty
might not receive the procedure as a
result of public reporting of physician-specific
mortality rates. The scoring system attempts
to avoid penalizing physicians as much when
a more severely ill patient dies following a
procedure, yet 85 percent of those surveyed
believed that the risk adjustment model used
in New York is not sufficient to avoid
punishing physicians who perform higher risk
interventions.
The state reporting system may, as
intended, lead some interventional cardiologists
with low volumes or poor outcomes to
improve their performance or stop performing
the procedure. However, the unintended
effects of the scorecard system on patient
care decisions, as described in the paper, may
adversely affect outcomes for patients who
might benefit from angioplasty but are denied
the procedure.
“There is a fear among health care
professionals that as more states adopt
mortality data reports, insurers may direct
patients to hospitals with better scores,
even though better scores probably do not
correlate with better patient care,” Narins
says.
At the University of Rochester Medical
Center, protocol dictates that all patients,
regardless of their expected outcome, be
treated in the cardiac catheterization lab
if there is a chance they may benefit from
angioplasty.
“Our numbers, although at times
above the state average, reflect the deaths
of patients who came to us critically ill,”
says Fred Ling, M.D., director of the cardiac
catheterization lab. “We’re aware of the
potential outcome, but it is our duty as
physicians to treat patients to the best of
our ability.”
SPRING / SUMMER 2005 27

FDA buys UR technology that identifies drug toxicity to heart
by Leslie Orr
The University of Rochester Medical Center
has a new tool to assess whether a medication
might be harmful to the heart. The technology
addresses a major health issue — drug
toxicity — illustrated most recently by
Merck’s voluntary withdrawal of Vioxx from
the market after concerns that it may cause
heart attacks and strokes.
Jean-Philippe Couderc, Ph.D., a UR
biomedical engineer, and assistant director
of the Heart Research Follow-up Program,
developed a software program that provides
a simpler, more accurate way to analyze the
EKGs of people who volunteer for clinical
trials to test new drugs. The FDA purchased
a copy of the technology, called COMPAS,
which stands for Comprehensive Analysis
of Repolarization Signal. The University hopes
to license the copyrighted software to drug
companies and other institutions involved in
pre-market drug testing.
“Our program provides a more reliable
method to identify cardiovascular toxicity
at a time when the scientific community is
diligently seeking ways to address this
problem,” said Couderc.
More comprehensive testing of the
heart’s reaction to medications is not only
important for the success of any new drug, but
it became an FDA requirement two years ago.
Now, clinical trials require volunteer subjects
to undergo an extensive physical examination,
including a review of a patient’s 24-hour EKG.
The patient’s EKG data is loaded onto
a computer. Doctors look for abnormalities
related to the QT interval— the split-second
period that occurs from the time a heart beats
or contracts, through its recovery phase.
COMPAS was designed to accurately identify
EKG abnormalities, while taking into consideration
other factors that may influence a person’s
heart activity, such as eating, exercise or stress.
Many drugs have been pulled from the
market — or the FDA has limited their use —
due to the tendency to prolong the QT interval.
Usually this occurs, however, after millions of
patients have already suffered serious side
effects. Therefore, the goal among those who
are developing and testing new treatments is
to identify the cardiovascular risks to patients
at the earliest possible stage.
Daniel Ryan named new Pathology chair
by Germaine Reinhardt
Daniel H. Ryan, M.D. (R ’81) was named chair
of the Department of Pathology and
Laboratory Medicine. A long-time University
of Rochester Medical Center faculty member,
Ryan has been professor of Pathology and
director of Strong Health Clinical Laboratories,
which is responsible for processing over
3.6 million specimens annually.
Ryan led a major expansion of outreach
laboratory services to the Rochester community,
which increased clinical laboratory
workload by 60 percent. Under his direction,
key laboratory space has been renovated,
including the $5.8 million expansion to the
new surgical pathology suite on the ground
floor of the Medical
Center.
“Dr. Ryan
was a natural
candidate for this
position. He has an
in-depth familiarity
with the inner
workings of the
pathology department,
recognition
Daniel Ryan, M.D. as an investigator,
commitment to
the academic mission, and a thorough understanding
of how best to run clinical pathology
throughout the Strong Health network,” said
David S. Guzick, M.D., Ph.D., dean of the
School of Medicine and Dentistry.
Ryan came to the Medical Center in
1975 as a pediatric intern after receiving his
medical degree from Johns Hopkins medical
school. He completed his residency here in
pathology, including a one-year stint as chief
resident.
A member of five national and international
pathology and hematology associations,
Ryan has chaired the Clinical Laboratory
Hematology subcommittee of the American
Society of Hematology. He has published
more than 65 articles, and authored more
than two dozen book chapters.
28
ROCHESTER MEDICINE

Rochester in one of the largest Alzheimer’s studies ever
The Medical Center is taking part in one of
the largest Alzheimer’s studies to date,
a $60 million effort led by the National
Institute on Aging (NIA) to test whether new
imaging techniques and other technology can
be better used to assess and treat patients
with memory loss and dementia.
Pierre Tariot, M.D. (M ‘78), a psychiatrist
at the University, helped design the five-year
Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative,
which was scheduled to begin in April 2005
and will include 800 participants at 50 sites
around the nation and Canada, including the
Rochester area.
The Medical Center’s participation
should come as no surprise: Rochester was
recently recognized by the NIA as the lead site
for the nationwide Alzheimer’s Disease
Cooperative Study, enrolling more patients
than any other place in the country. Through
Dr. Tariot’s research efforts, more than 1,200
patients from the Rochester area have taken
part in Alzheimer’s studies since 1998;
Rochester is the only upstate New York
community taking part in the new initiative.
“Rochester has achieved nationwide
attention as a community of citizens
concerned about Alzheimer’s, dedicated to
helping to find answers,” says Tariot.
“ All of us, patients and possible future
patients alike, are grateful for this support.”
The new study will fill a gap in our
knowledge about how Alzheimer’s disease
progresses, giving researchers a clearer
picture, literally, of memory loss at its earliest
stages. Doctors and nurses will use sophisticated
imaging technology and other tests to
watch what happens in the brain when an
older person who has normal memory gaps
develops more serious cognitive problems or
even Alzheimer’s disease.
Physicians hope to develop a map
of sorts so doctors know what to expect at
various stages of the disease, helping them
evaluate disease-altering effects a new
medication might have. Scientists also will
take repeated positron emission tomography
(PET) scans to track the activity in the brains
of some of the participants, watching closely
how the activity changes or lessens.
“The initiative should become a
landmark study in the development of
neuroimaging and other biomarkers, helping
us to find biological changes early so that we
can identify the people at highest risk of the
disease and test the effectiveness of new
therapies more quickly and efficiently,” says
Richard J. Hodes, M.D., director of the NIA.
SPRING / SUMMER 2005 29

Alzheimer’s stroke researcher receives 10-year MERIT award
by Tom Rickey
A researcher exploring ways to keep brains
healthy against the ravages of stroke and
Alzheimer’s disease has been awarded a
rare 10-year MERIT award from the National
Institute on Aging.
Berislav Zlokovic, M.D., Ph.D., received
the award, worth approximately $5 million
in funding during the next 10 years, to further
his research. Zlokovic didn’t apply for the
award; rather, his peers at NIH selected him
based on the consistent high quality of his
work over several years.
Zlokovic specializes in studying the
crucial role of blood vessels in diseases like
Alzheimer’s, an approach that goes back to
the days when German physician Alois
Alzheimer first diagnosed the disease nearly
100 years ago. Zlokovic has brought the blood
vessel component of Alzheimer’s disease back
into prominence. He has shown that blood
circulation plays a key role in ridding the
brain of toxic amyloid beta, which speckles
the brains of Alzheimer’s patients.
Many of the ideas pioneered by
Zlokovic are being explored further
at Socratech Laboratories, a company he
founded in 2000. While healthy people continually
grow new blood vessels to meet the
brain’s need for oxygen and nutrients, the
system slows or stops in patients with the
disease. Socratech scientists are tracking
the genes that direct the formation and
growth of new blood vessels in the brain
in a bid to possibly boost blood flow in
patients with the disease.
In addition to Alzheimer’s disease,
Zlokovic’s research also has implications for
the health of the brain after a stroke. In the
last decade he has published a series of
papers showing that a compound now used
to treat sepsis, Activated Protein C or APC,
holds great promise in protecting brain cells
from the damage caused by stroke.
Zlokovic, who joined the University
in 2000, is a professor in the Department of
Neurosurgery and director of the Frank P. Smith
Laboratories for Neurosurgical Research.
Researcher receives AACR award
Aimee M. Johnson, B.S., University of
Rochester, a graduate student in the
Department of Pathology and Laboratory
Medicine, has received a Minority Scholar
Award in Cancer Research from the American
Association for Cancer Research (AACR).
Each year, the AACR presents awards to
minority scholars who have made an impact
in cancer research and who show potential
to continue to do so in the future.
Winners of Minority Scholar Awards
for participation in the Fall 2004 AACR Special
Conferences received a total of $80,000.
Johnson, who works in the lab of Jay
E. Reeder, Ph.D. (M.S. ’92, Ph.D. ’97), received
the award for work on early detection and
measurement of urothelial tumors in mice.
Grants for the awards are provided
by the Comprehensive Minority Biomedical
Branch of the National Cancer Institute.
Scientists are nominated and receive the
awards based on their qualifications,
references from mentors, and potential
professional benefit. Awardees are chosen
by an Advisory Committee of the AACR.
AACR Minority Scholar Awards in
Cancer Research go to full-time graduate
or medical students, residents, clinical
or postdoctoral fellows, or junior faculty
members. Recipients of the awards are
chosen on the stipulation that applicants
fit the National Cancer Institute definition
of groups traditionally underrepresented
in cancer and biomedical research. These
groups include African Americans, Alaskan
Natives, Hispanics, Native Americans, and
Native Pacific Islanders.
Zaffaroni
receives Bower
Award
Alejandro Zaffaroni (Ph.D. ’49 Biochemistry,
F ’51, H ’72), founder and director emeritus
of the ALZA Corporation, received the Bower
Award for Business Leadership from The
Franklin Institute Committee on Science and
Arts in April 2005. The committee awards
honor “scientists, innovators and entrepreneurs
who have made extraordinary scientific
achievements and benefited humanity.”
Past recipients include Albert Einstein,
Thomas Edison, Stephen Hawking and Jane
Goodall. Zaffaroni played a significant
role in the development of the birth-control
pill and transdermal patches.
30
ROCHESTER MEDICINE

alumni news
Alumni make
the health-care
power list again
Dennis O’Leary, M.D. (R ’68), and David
Nash, M.D., M.B.A. (M ’81), were voted
the 13th and 72nd most powerful people,
respectively, in health care in Modern
Healthcare’s third annual ranking of the
100 most powerful people in the industry.
A University of
Rochester School
of Nursing
graduate, Pamela
Thompson, R.N.,
F.A.A.N.was voted
the 37th most
powerful. The three
made the list last
year, as well.
Dennis O’Leary, M.D.
The list was
based on rankings
by readers of
Modern Healthcare,
the weekly publication
covering health care business news.
Both O’Leary and Nash were part of the
accompanying article, which focused
on the industry’s complex conversion to
information technology.
O’Leary, president of the Joint
Commission on
Accreditation of
Healthcare
Organizations
(JCAHO), was
quoted as saying,
“ There’s a lot of
excitement
because information
technology can David Nash, M.D.,
not only help
MBA
generate efficiencies,
but it also
makes possible the
achievement of some of our basic goals in
quality measurement and patient safety. It’s
critical.”
Nash, chairman of the Department of
Health Policy at Jefferson Medical College
of Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia,
was described in the article as “a leading
expert on quality initiatives.” Last year, Nash
became editor-in-chief of American Journal
of Medical Quality, the official journal of
the American College of Medical Quality.
Nash’s quality-improvement work includes
appointment to
JCAHO’s National
Performance
Council and to the
board of trustees
of the Foundation
for Accountability.
Pamela
Thompson is CEO
Pamela Thompson, of the American
R.N., F.A.A.N.
Organization of
Nurse Executives
(AONE), a subsidiary
of the American
Hospital
Association. Founded in 1967, AONE is a
national organization of nearly 4,000 nurses
who design, facilitate and manage care. Its
mission is to represent nurse leaders who
improve health care.
Samet receives Prince
Mahidol Award
Here’s an award fit for a king. Jonathan M.
Samet, M.D. (M ’70), was one of two physicians
to receive the 2004 Prince Mahidol Award,
bestowed in January by the King of Thailand
at the Grand Palace. The international
awards, with a cash prize of $50,000, are
presented to two individuals annually:
for outstanding performance and/or research
in medicine for the benefit of mankind and
for outstanding contributions in public health
for the sake of the well-being of the general
public.
The international award committee
called Samet, who is chairman of the
Epidemiology Department at Johns Hopkins
Bloomberg School of Public Health, the
“ world’s leading environmental epidemiologist,
especially on the health effects of air
quality.” According to the awards announcement,
Samet, “has carried out policy-relevant
research on critical air pollution and, importantly,
stepped
forward to assure
that the findings
from his work,
and that of others,
has benefited the
public’s health.
He demonstrated
the devastating
Johnathan M.
Samet, M.D.
impacts of ambient
air pollution and
smoking on health.
Professor Samet
and colleagues
developed the
research techniques to monitor time trends
and risks of ambient air pollution that have
been widely used around the world. He
played an especially important role in translating
sophisticated scientific data into
information readily understood by the media,
laypersons, regulators and policymakers.
Professor Samet’s work has sparked a global
movement for improving the air quality.”
Samet is credited with coining the
phrase “second-hand smoke.” His work in
a Minnesota court case, in which 39 million
tobacco documents were made public, helped
lead to the 1998 settlement in which the
tobacco industry paid more than $250 billion
to plaintiff states.
Samet joined fellow honoree Norman
Sartorius, M.D., a psychiatry professor at the
University of Geneva in Switzerland, who
established a classification of mental
SPRING / SUMMER 2005 31

disorders that has led to advances in
diagnosis, treatment and mental health
research worldwide. The two were chosen
from 60 medical practitioners and researchers
nominated from all over the world. The selection
process is held annually by the Prince
Mahidol Foundation, chaired by HRH Princess
Maha Chakri Sirindhorn.
John C. Morris
receives MetLife
Foundation Award
John C. Morris, M.D. (M ’74), was one of four
recipients of a 2005 MetLife Foundation
Award for Medical Research in Alzheimer’s
Disease. The award recognizes scientists
for their clinical research on early detection
and diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease (AD).
A total of $700,000 was shared by the winners
to further work in AD research.
Morris was recognized for his work in
developing clinical methods to identify the
earliest symptomatic stages of AD, evaluating
new drug therapies in the treatment of
dementia, and establishing phenotypes for
inherited forms of AD and other dementia.
Morris is the Harvey A. and Dorismae Hacker
Friedman Distinguished Professor of
Neurology — with adjunct appointments as
professor in the Department of Pathology and
Immunology and in the program of physical
therapy — at Washington University School
of Medicine in St. Louis, where he also
directs the Alzheimer’s Disease Research
Center, the Memory and Aging Project, and
the Center for Aging. He is a member of the
Board of Directors of the National Alzheimer’s
Association and serves on numerous advisory
and scientific boards for other organizations.
Established in 1986, the MetLife
Foundation Awards for Medical Research
in Alzheimer’s Disease recognize scientists
who have made significant contributions
to the understanding and treatment of
Alzheimer’s disease. At the heart of the
program is a belief in the importance of basic
research, with an emphasis on providing
scientists with an opportunity to pursue ideas
freely.
Richard Paris, M.D.
Richard Paris named
Family Physician of
the Year
The American Academy of Family Physicians
(AAFP) named Richard Paris, M.D. (M ’76),
the 2005 AAFP Family Physician of the Year.
Paris is a practicing family physician and
chief of the medical staff for Blaine County
Hospital in Hailey, Idaho.
Paris has been caring for patients
in his community for almost 25 years. In addition
to his patients in Hailey, Paris serves as
medical director of a rural health clinic
in Challis, a mountain outpost 130 miles from
Hailey. To reach some of his more remotempatients,
Paris hops in his small plane and
flies to them.
Back in town, Paris is known for his
work in merging two smaller, regional hospitals
into one facility with more advanced
services. He also teaches at the University
of Washington School of Medicine, including
a program for medical students advancing
into their second year of training and a rural
program for third-year students.
After receiving his medical degree from
Rochester, Paris completed a family practice
residency at the University of Arizona in Tucson.
Jack Caton receives
national periodontal
award
Jack G. Caton, D.D.S. (MS ’73), has won the
American Academy of Periodontology (AAP)
Gold Medal Award in recognition of his
outstanding contributions in periodontal
research, education and service. Caton
received the award, the AAP’s top honor, at
the 90th annual academy meeting held in
November in Florida.
Caton, clinical professor in the
Eastman Department of Dentistry and
program director and chair of the Division
of Periodontology, also received the
Academy’s Special
Citation for
co-chairing the 2003
Evidence-Based
Workshop on
Contemporary
Science in Clinical
Periodontics. He
has been on the
Jack G. Caton, D.D.S. Eastman faculty
since 1973. He
serves as director
of the AAP
Foundation Board.
Upon hearing
of the award, Cyril Meyerowitz, professor
and chair of the Department of Dentistry and
director of Eastman Dental Center, said,
“ I am extremely pleased that the Academy has
bestowed its highest honor on Jack Caton. He
has given 100 percent to his role
32
ROCHESTER MEDICINE

as educator and researcher over the past
31 years at Eastman. He is respected by
residents and faculty and maintains a consistently
high level of professionalism within our
Periodontics program as well as in the AAP
and all his national affiliations.”
Caton is a past president of the
AAP and past chair of the American Board of
Periodontology. He received his dental degree
from the University of California Dental
School and his periodontal specialty
certificate from Eastman Dental Center in
1973. He also earned his M.S. degree from
the University of Rochester in 1973. Canton
has been on the Eastman faculty since 1973
and has served as division chair and program
director since 1990. He and his graduate
students have conducted research in
periodontal wound healing, animal models,
diagnosis, and human clinical trials. He has
authored more than 80 publications.
Caton serves as associate editor of
the Journal of Periodontology; a commissioner
on the Commission on Dental
Paul Levy, M.D. (R ’86), at left, was honored at Convocation as the inaugural recipient of the Ralph
Prince Endowed Professorship in Medicine. He is with the award’s namesake, Ralph Prince, M.D.
(M ’43), and Bradford Berk, M.D., Ph.D. (M ’81, PHD ’81), professor of medicine and director of
the Center for Cardiovascular Research. The professorship, made possible by a gift from the Mary
Whipple Clark estate, was established to promote the practice and teaching of exemplary medical
care by supporting the efforts of an outstanding physician-education in primary care medicine.
The professorship honors Prince, a prominent physician in Rochester for many years, who had a clinical
faculty appointment in the Department of Medicine until his retirement in 1987. Levy, who joined
the faculty in 1989, is an associate professor and vice chair in the Department of Medicine. He
oversees clinical program development and the department's quality assurance activities. Levy
obtained his medical degree from Ohio State University and completed an internal medicine
residency at Strong Memorial Hospital, where he also served as chief resident in internal medicine.
Accreditation (CODA), chair of the Periodontics
Advisory Committee of CODA, and director of
the American Academy of Periodontology
Foundation Board.
Ezra Amsterdam
receives national
Gifted Teacher Award
The American College of Cardiology
presented Ezra Amsterdam, M.D., F.A.C.C.
(M ’62), with a Gifted Teacher Award at its
54th Annual Scientific Session in Orlando,
Fla., on March 7.
Dr. Amsterdam was honored for his
31 years of inspiration and mentoring to
thousands of students, fellows, residents
and practicing physicians as a professor in
the School of Medicine at UC Davis. He has
gained national recognition for the role he
played in developing the Chest Pain Center
concept, innovative medical school courses,
and research on such groundbreaking
subjects as acute coronary syndromes,
preventive cardiology, and heart failure
and exercise.
Over the years, Amsterdam has
received 15 teaching awards and citations
from his students at UC Davis and the
community. He has been named among
the “best doctors in America” five years
in a row and a “top doctor” in 2003 by The
Best Doctors in America, National Reference
Dictionary.
He also has promoted cardiology
education with more than 500 articles, book
chapters and editorials on cardiology, more
than 600 abstracts, and scores of educational
videotapes, books and monographs. He is
founder and editor-in-chief of Preventive
Cardiology and has served on the editorial
boards, or as an editor, for over 20 journals.
SPRING / SUMMER 2005 33

medical center rounds
Regional poison center
renamed in honor of
Ruth Lawrence
The Finger Lakes Regional Poison and
Drug Information Center celebrated its 50th
anniversary last November by renaming itself
after longtime director Ruth A. Lawrence, M.D.
(M ’49, R ’58).
Lawrence, the program’s medical
director since 1958, said the name change
is “an incredible honor. It is a humbling
experience to ponder that this remarkable
program would be renamed,” she said.
“ I’m very grateful to my colleagues.”
No one is more deserving, says
C. McCollister “Mac” Evarts, M.D., CEO, Medical
Center and Strong
Health:
“ Dr. Lawrence has
been a national
leader in the
toxicology field
for nearly 50 years.
During hard times,
she always has
done what is
Ruth Lawrence, M.D.
necessary and
right to keep this
tremendous public
service afloat. There
is no doubt that
renaming the poison center in her honor is
the right decision.”
Lawrence’s involvement with the poison
center dates back nearly five decades, almost
to its infancy. In 1954, local physicians with a
fascination for poison prevention were
preparing to do the outrageous … answer
emergency phone calls from the public.
Such a service was unheard of 50 years ago,
but thanks to visionary physicians in Rochester,
a call-center revolution was afoot. Upon its
inception, it was only the second poison center
in the nation; the original in Chicago accepted
inquiries only from the medical community.
During the next decade, hundreds of poison
centers — all answering calls from the
public — sprang up across the country.
Today, the Ruth A. Lawrence Finger
Lakes Regional Poison and Drug Information
Center — forerunner to the 64 other poison
centers throughout the nation — is celebrating
50 years of free community service.
During its first year, it received little more
than 100 calls. These days, a typical year
involves more than 25,000 public queries.
Rochester started its poison center at
the urging of state and federal governments,
which recognized the work being done at
the University of Rochester Medical Center.
Doctors there were positioning themselves as
international pioneers in terms of collecting,
organizing, and quickly dispensing lifesaving
information about potential poisonings.
In addition to her work in the field of
poisons and toxicology, Lawrence is a worldrenowned
expert on breastfeeding and
neonatology. In 1949, she became the first
female resident in the history of the Yale
University School of Medicine. In the late 1960s,
she helped colleagues place the first baby in
the world on a ventilator here in Rochester.
In 1995, Lawrence joined other health care
professionals on a trip to the Vatican to meet
with Pope John Paul II. Their mission was to
convince the Catholic Church to endorse
breastfeeding, which it did soon afterward.
Lawrence also founded the
Breastfeeding and Human Lactation Study
Center, based at the University of Rochester
Medical Center. She is the author of what
many consider the Bible of breastfeeding,
Breastfeeding: A Guide for the Medical
Profession, which has been printed in English,
Japanese and Spanish.
Orthopaedics
Department celebrates
30 years of growth
It grew from five full-time faculty members
to 49; from 5,000 patient visits a year to
120,000; from 700 operations a year to 9,000;
from virtually no research funding to $2.4
million. With statistics like that, it was high
time for a party.
The Orthopaedics Department at the
School of Medicine and Dentistry celebrated
its 30th anniversary during last fall’s Reunion
Weekend with a reception, dinner, scientific
sessions, and an announcement of a generous
gift from the family of former faculty member
John D. States, M.D. States’ daughter,
Katherine Burke, and her husband, T. Robert
Burke, established two endowments in his
honor: the $300,000 John D. States M.D.
Orthopaedic Trauma Research Fund and
Iain Currie, B ’82, Mary
Ann Kiely, Dean David
Guzick, Dr. Nathan
Cohen, ’57, Rebecca
Cohen, Dr. Todd
Wasserman, ’72, R ’73,
and Patty Wasserman
at the third annual
URMC Alumni
Reception in Boca
Raton.
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$50,000 for the John D. States M.D.
Lectureship in Orthopaedic Trauma Studies.
The heart and soul of the celebration
was a reunion, with alumni from all eras
converging on Rochester — even some dating
back to the 1960s, when Orthopaedics was
still a division, not a separate department.
Alumni got to take a tour of the new
Orthopaedics facilities at Clinton Crossings,
off the main campus of the Medical Center.
That, along with the event itself, was a
reminder of how far the department has come.
“It was a celebration of the growth
of a department from very modest beginnings
to now being one of the premier research,
educational, and patient care orthopaedic
departments in the country,” said Richard
Burton, M.D. (R ’64), professor of orthopaedics
and past chair of the department.
Dr. Burton points out that the department’s
full-time faculty and past faculty
include the president of the American
Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, the
American Orthopaedic Association, the
Orthopaedic Research Society, the American
Board of Orthopaedic Surgery, the American
Society for Surgery of the Hand, the American
Orthoscopy Association of North America,
the International Knee Society, and two
presidents of the Scoliosis Research Society.
And Rochester faculty boast 30 straight years
of having a director on the American Board
of Othopaedic Surgery and chairing the
Orthopaedic Residency Review Committee.
“I would submit that that is probably
unsurpassed,” said Dr. Burton. “I think it’s
unique in the United States.”
Office of Corporate
Alliances launched
at the Medical Center
The University of Rochester Medical Center
has announced the formation of the Office of
Corporate Alliances (OCA). Its mission is to
partner Medical Center biomedical research
strengths with corporate interests, helping
to facilitate the dynamic transfer of science
and technology from the academic laboratory
to the realm of medical advancement. OCA is
headed by Andrew Deubler, senior associate
vice president.
“OCA is solely focused on providing
an initial point of contact between Medical
Center scientists and corporations with wellvetted
matching interests and core values,”
said Deubler. “It represents a marketing
approach to achieving incremental funding
for the biomedical research enterprise.”
Today, even the National Institutes
of Health is encouraging “public-private
partnerships.” New mandates and shifting
paradigms in research are giving rise to a
new level of industry relations at leading
academic health centers across the nation.
“Though traditionally viewed as lowyield
ventures, partnerships between
academia and private industry are increasingly
attractive,” said C. McCollister Evarts,
senior vice president and vice provost for
health affairs, CEO Medical Center and Strong
Health. “Industry is drawn to academia’s
ability to manage upstream, broadly cast
research and development. And as science
advances at unprecedented rates, scientists
and universities are in need of non-traditional
revenue streams to support the exploration
and development of novel approaches to
disease.”
Forward-thinking universities and
corporations are leveraging each other’s
strengths and complementary interests. OCA
lends added marketing support to the highly
successful Medical Center Office of
Technology Transfer and the University’s
Office of Research Project Administration.
Numerous startup companies and licensing
agreements have been forged in recent years
with biotech, pharmaceutical, and consumer
products companies.
OCA’s immediate objectives are to
increase extramurally funded projects by
expanding the number of industry-sponsored
research projects; expand the utilization of
core resources; provide new streams of incremental
revenue; and increase the level of
venture funding in Medical Center technologies
and startup companies.
One critical resource for OCA is the
School of Medicine and Dentistry’s
“ Commercial Link.” An initiative of the Alumni
Council, Commercial Link matches experienced
alumni with faculty expertise, on an
as-needed voluntary basis. Alumni offer
counsel to faculty to advance the process of
creating viable private ventures, licensure
agreements, and opportunities for sponsored
research. Their role might be to advise on
research plans in relation to the needs of the
market or specific diseases, offer an assessment
of business plans, or make connections
with potential investors.
“Commercial Link taps the knowledge
and experience of scientists and physicians,
and we invite all of our fellow alumni
with particular areas of biomedical research
expertise to participate as registered
advisors,” said Robert Sutherland (Ph.D.’66),
Alumni Council Executive Committee member,
president of Varian Biosynergy, Inc., and vice
president of Varian Medical Systems.
To participate in Commercial Link,
complete the online survey at
www.urmc.rochester.edu/smd/alumni/
CommercialLink.htm or, contact the Office
of Alumni Relations at 800–333–4428 or
alumni@urmc.rochester.edu.
SPRING / SUMMER 2005 35

Alumni Generations
Reflections on Rochester as a family tradition
by James A. Gregg, M.D., Class of ’54
(son of Donald E. Gregg, Ph.D. ’29, M.D., ’45)
The University of Rochester medical school,
along with its philosophy and sense of
community, has been woven deep into my
practice and that of my father.
I graduated from Rochester in the
Class of 1954. Proudly, we have just recently
returned from our 50th medical school reunion
with my dear wife, Veronica, and daughter,
Lauren. While there for this event, I was able
to reflect on what Rochester has meant to me
and to my family.
My father, Donald E. Gregg, M.D., Ph.D.,
entered the first-ever medical school class
at the University of Rochester Medical
School. Finding his passion in physiology,
he decided first to complete his Ph.D.
at Rochester, transferring into the program
after his second year at the medical school.
From there, he went on to serve as
professor of physiology at Case Western
reserve in Cleveland, Ohio. He returned to
the University of Rochester medical school
to complete his M.D., from 1944 to 1945.
His life work was coronary artery research.
He was named the director of the
Cardiovascular Research Laboratory at Walter
Reed Army Hospital, in Washington, D.C.,
where he carried on a very active and internationally
acclaimed program. I enjoyed working
one summer in his lab. My father was a
Nobel Prize nominee, and in 1962 President
Kennedy awarded him the Presidential Award
for Distinguished Federal Civilian Service for
his work in cardiovascular research.
For as long as I can remember,
I wanted to be a physician. My father thought
so highly of the University of Rochester
School of Medicine and Dentistry that it was
my first choice. I feel fortunate to have also
had the opportunity to attend this school.
The faculty was remarkable first as individuals,
and also as excellent teachers who
truly, and deeply, loved their work.
In particular, I recall teaching sessions
with Dr. George Whipple. Dr. Whipple was
an incredible teacher in the truest sense of
the word and a kind and gentle man. He even
made my interview a positive experience.
I remember clearly being in the class where
he showed his slides and taught us pathology.
I feel very humbled to have known and
James A. Gregg, M.D. and his father,
Donald E. Gregg, M.D.
worked with him. I carry his sense of service,
inquiry and passion with me to this day.
Amazingly, both my father and I worked
with Dr. Whipple through our education.
Veronica and I had our first child,
Kathy Gregg, while I was at Rochester.
Veronica was remarkable in all she did to
make it possible for me to pursue medicine
and to raise our five children. It was wonderful
to go back to 80 Cook Street on our recent
50th reunion to see our first residence as
a family. I was filled with such wonderful
memories of our time together at Rochester,
where our unique Class of ’54 became like
a second family to us.
That is one quality I really admired
about Rochester — the ability to foster this
sense of community and shared responsibility
toward our profession, research and each
other. You do not have to look further than our
class to see all of the qualities that Rochester
instills and offers its students.
My career after Rochester brought me
to Philadelphia General Hospital, where our
son John was born during my internship and
brief residency in pulmonary disease prior to
being called into the Air Force for two years.
From there, I went to the Mayo Clinic for
more than 10 years, where my other three
children were born (James, M.D., Lauren and
David).
My life’s work has been in gastroenterology,
focusing on pancreatic and biliary
tract disease and research. Following my
work at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn.,
I went to the Lahey Clinic, in Boston. I feel
fortunate to have been involved in the early
development of gastrointestinal endoscopy,
particularly with endoscopic diagnosis and
treatment of benign and malignant disorders
of the biliary tract and pancreas, the study
of pure pancreatic juice and the development
of endoscopic sphincter of oddi manometry.
My passion for my life’s work was
always there, but the seeds of truly being
a researcher and a physician were gently
fostered at Rochester. We were challenged
to be our best, to serve others and to not only
ask questions, but to also take a role in
finding the answers. Although it wasn’t easy
at times, I believe I opened new doors to
pancreatic and biliary treatment and research.
Specifically, I was the first physician in
the United States to do endoscopic pancreatic
36
ROCHESTER MEDICINE

sphincterotomy, which now has become
a more mainstream treatment. I was also
one of the first to describe and define the
congenital anomaly pancreas divisum as an
obstructive disorder of the dorsal pancreatic
sphincter, commonly associated with indeterminate
pancreatic pain, with or without acute
or chronic pancreatitis and its relief by
endoscopic/or surgical sphincteroplasty of
the dorsal pancreatic sphincter.
My work extended into biliary sphincterotomies
in treating patients with biliary
sphincter disorders and/or common duct
stones, and the use of pancreatic and biliary
stents. The confidence to embark on these
uncharted waters rests largely with the
experiences and expectations that Rochester
afforded us as young physicians. I continue
to practice privately and enjoy the chance to
give back what I have been given and play
a role in the lives of those I serve.
After the Lahey Clinic, I spent most
of my career at the New England Baptist
and the New England Deaconess hospitals,
in Boston. It was here that my daughter
Lauren nurtured her own career in medicine.
She spent countless hours observing and
helping with research papers, past and
present, including a special paper we
co-authored. Lauren is currently an applicant
for admission at the University of Rochester
School of Medicine and Dentistry, having
recently had her interview there. She is a
bright, caring and talented individual (Olympic
Gold medalist in women’s soccer, with a
master’s in chemistry!) who embodies so
much of what Rochester is founded on.
If accepted, Lauren will be a third generation
of Greggs at the School of Medicine —
a tradition I know she is excited to share.
I am thankful for all that the University
of Rochester medical school has given me
and my family.
A gift of retirement fund
assets makes good tax
sense, says alumnus
Daniel J. Fink, M.D. (M ’74), enjoyed his years studying medicine at Rochester. He then completed
an internal medicine residency at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center, served as a Robert
Wood Johnson Foundation Clinical Scholar at the University of Pennsylvania and received an M.B.A.
in health care administration from the Wharton School. He has been medical director for case
management at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles for the last ten years.
“Despite my M.B.A., I’m not an investment guru, but a health care manager. A few years ago,
though, I read an article that said the IRS takes as much as 90% of tax-deferred retirement fund assets
in taxes upon the death of the owner,” says Dr. Fink. “I’d rather give 100% of that money
to Rochester than 90% to the government and only 10% to my children. I think that the UR School
of Medicine and Dentistry is a well-run institution, and that’s why I have chosen to designate it
as a major beneficiary of my retirement assets. It was easy to do, and I have described how the funds
should be used.”
Benefits of Making a Gift of Retirement Fund Assets at Death
• A substantial gift can be accomplished without forfeiting the income from your IRA or
other retirement assets during your lifetime.
• Assets that may otherwise be fully income taxable to your heirs in the year of receipt pass
to the University tax-free.
• Estate tax is avoided.
• You can designate how you want the School of Medicine and Dentistry to use your gift.
• All of this can be simply accomplished through a beneficiary designation form available through
your employer or retirement plan administrator.
Philanthropy Simplified
To learn more, please contact the Office of Trusts and Estates, 590 Mt. Hope Avenue, Rochester,
New York 14620; 585–273–5904, 800–635–4672, or kreckel@alumni.rochester.edu.
We also invite you to visit our Website at rochester.plannedgifts.org.
Yes, please send more information on
❑ Charitable Gift Annuities
❑ Establishing a Scholarship Fund at the School of Medicine and Dentistry
❑ Information about wills and other planned gifts
Name
Class Year
Address
City State Zip Phone
❑ I’ve already included the School in my estate plans.
SPRING / SUMMER 2005 37

Match day
The smiles from
Match Day
2005
38
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SPRING / SUMMER 2005 39

class notes
If you want to contact alumni,
use the Online Directory at
www.alumniconnections.com/URMC
to find address information.
Submit your class notes to your class agent or
RochesterMedicineMagazine@
urmc.rochester.edu.
Note: MD alumni are listed alphabetically by
class, graduate alumni are listed separately
in alphabetical order, and resident and fellow
alumni follow in alphabetical order.
MD ALUMNI
Class of 1949
Ruth Lawrence is likely the longest running
poison center director in America. She
became director of the center— only the
second such center to be founded in the
United States — in 1958. On November 18,
2004, the University of Rochester-based Finger
Lakes Regional Poison and Drug Information
Center was named after her (see story in
“Alumni News” section).
“Dr. Lawrence is considered one of the
pillars of the poison center movement,” said
Dr. Michael McGuigan, director of the Long
Island Poison and Drug Information Center.
In 2005, Lawrence was nominated for
the prestigious Athena Award, which recognizes
exemplary leadership and service in the
Rochester area.
Class of 1954
Class agent Chloe Alexson reports:
Jim Cotanche is very busy, not only working
at a local food pantry providing for about
120 families, but also caring for his orchid
collection. He has about 100 orchid plants
in his “small” greenhouse (how small can
it be with that many orchids) and also helps
care for the orchid collection at the Durfee
Conservatory of the University of
Massachusetts.
The Durfee is the home of the oldest
glass greenhouses in the country and has a
history going back to 1867. Jim, as a member
of the Amherst Orchid Society, has joined with
other volunteers to work with the collection of
five greenhouses, which includes a tropical
rain forest, a house with hundred-year-old
camellia trees, and about one hundred species
of orchids. He describes it as “a great place
for students to learn about all sorts of plants.”
Clif and Gladys Peterson have spent more
than forty years gathering a collection of
Oriental ivory sculpture. That collection is
now on loan to the Villa Terrace Museum of
Decorative Arts in Milwaukee until early 2006.
The catalog the Petersons published
for the exhibit is filled not only with fascinating
pictures of the sculptured pieces, but
also a scholarly, in-depth discussion and
interpretation of the stories behind the pieces,
the meaning of the symbols and figures on the
sculptures, and comments on the history of
this kind of Oriental art.
Bob Willkens, who spent almost his entire
professional career in Seattle, celebrated his
50th anniversary at the Harbor View Hospital,
where he is the division head of arthritis and
rheumatology and where he recently retired
from his position as clinical professor of
medicine emeritus and action section head of
rheumatology at Harborview Medical Center.
Willkens, who has been widely recognized
for his contributions to rheumatology,
has received such honors as recognition by
the American College of Rheumatology as
a Master in 1995, and that organization’s
Distinguished Rheumatologist Award in 1999.
In recognition of his contributions, the
University of Washington is establishing the
Robert Willkens Endowed Professorship in
Rheumatology.
Willkens has written an evocative reminiscence
about his days as an intern at King
County Hospital in 1954–1955. Any physician
Dr. David Kluge ’54,
Dr. Joseph Flatley
’54, William Ford,
Dr. Harold Brodell
’54, Dr. Brewster
Doust ’52 at a
URMC Alumni Event
on January 14.
40
ROCHESTER MEDICINE

Pauline Selbach,
Betty Schlemitz,
Adi Wester, and
Gustav Selbach ’58
at the third annual
UR Florida Medical
Dental Nursing
Alumni Meeting.
reading it is immediately transported back
to the days of endless shifts, personally done
lab work, venipunctures without end, and no
beepers or cell phones.
On Sunday, February 6, 2005, The Democrat
and Chronicle, Rochester’s daily newspaper,
published an editorial about Nat Hurst, our
classmate, who died in 2000. Written by
Dr. Donald Goldman, president of the Monroe
County Medical Society, it gave a full, warm,
and very complimentary summary of Nat’s life
and included a wonderful picture of Nat that
brought back many memories. In summary,
Goldman called Hurst “truly a 20th-century
American physician.”
Class of 1955
John P. Kelly of Rochester, N.Y., has been
elected vice president of the American
Society of Bariatric Physicians (ASBP).
The ASBP, headquartered in Aurora, Colo.,
is a national medical society of physicians
and allied health personnel who offer comprehensive
medical weight-loss programs in
the treatment of overweight and obesity as
well as their associated conditions. During
his term, Dr. Kelly will campaign for the
acceptance of obesity as a disease as well
as more recognition for the medical treatment
of overweight and obesity.
Class of 1956
Richard H. Pollen (M ’56, R ’60) writes,
“I am a senior partner in Potomac Physician
Associates (Kensington, Md., and suburban
D.C.), still working full time in internal medicine
and endocrinology, with no plans to
retire. I have five wonderful grandchildren!”
Class of 1960
William A. Peck (H.N.R. ’01) stepped down in
2003 after 14 years as dean of the Washington
University School of Medicine and executive
vice chancellor for academic affairs. But he
certainly did not retire. Last year he founded
the University’s Center for Health Policy.
As director, Dr. Peck leads the center’s study
and analysis of social disparities in access
to health care, the rising cost of health care
for businesses, and the impact of new health
product discoveries in and on the marketplace.
Class of 1963
Joseph L. Andrews writes, “In June I started
the half-time practice of internal medicine
and pulmonary medicine with a group
practice. I am now working two 10-hour days
with New England Allergy, Asthma and
Immunology Associates in North Andover,
Mass., about 30 miles north of where I live in
Concord. I am enjoying both the ambulatory
primary care and the specialist hospital
aspects of my new medical work. This new
arrangement gives me enough time to pursue
my vocational interests as well. I still direct
and guide for Concord Guides Walking Tours,
“Revolution, Renaissance and Renewal in
Concord” (www.concordguides.com). I am
writing a book about early Jewish American
history and doing public speaking about the
subject, to help commemorate the 350th
anniversary of Jewish settlement in America.
“My son, Joe, and his wife, Lesley, live
in San Francisco. Both work for Intuit, the
business software company in Mountain
View. My daughter Jennifer will start her
second year in the M.B.A. program at MIT’s
Sloan School of Management, where she is
part of the team that was runner-up in MIT’s
2004 $50 K Entrepreneurship Competition.
She is engaged to Adam Burke; they plan to
marry next summer. Her twin sister, Sara, just
graduated from Northwestern University Law
School and is about to start her legal career
working with Grey, Cary in San Francisco.”
Class of 1964
Robert Tatelbaum (M ’64, R ’69) was recently
appointed chief of obstetrics and gynecology
at Rochester General Hospital. Prior to that
appointment, he served as associate
professor for OB/GYN at URMC and for the
SPRING / SUMMER 2005 41

Starting at the head of the table: Dr. Harold Brodell ’54, Jean Brodell ’54,
Dr. David Kluge ’54, Beverly Kluge, Dr. Joseph Flatley ’54, Mary Flately,
Dr. Lee Ford, H ’00, William Ford, Dr. Brewster Doust ’52 at a URMC
alumni gathering.
last four years as associate and acting
chief of the OB/GYN department at Rochester
General Hospital.
Class of 1966
Frank W. LoGerfo of Cambridge, Mass.,
chief of vascular surgery at Beth Israel
Deaconess Medical Center, has been elected
to the Medical Center’s Board of Trustees.
Dr. LoGerfo is the William V. McDermott
Professor of Surgery at Harvard Medical
School. He is also an active member of the
University of Rochester School of Medicine
and Dentistry Alumni Council.
Class of 1970
California State Controller Steve Westly
named Philip A. Pizzo to the Independent
Citizen’s Oversight Committee, which will
govern the California Institute for
Regenerative Medicine established by
Proposition 71, where he will help oversee
stem-cell research in California. Dr. Pizzo has
been dean of the Stanford School of Medicine
since April 2001. Before joining Stanford, he
was physician-in-chief of Children’s Hospital
in Boston and chair of the Department of
Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School. He
also held several leadership positions at the
National Cancer Institute’s infectious disease,
pediatric, and clinical sciences divisions.
Jonathan M. Samet has been awarded
the Prince Mahidol Award in the field of
public health (see story in “Alumni News”
section).
Class of 1974
Gerald L. Strope has joined the Brody School
of Medicine at East Carolina University as
a clinical professor in the Department of
Pediatrics. Dr. Strope specializes in the care
of infants and children with lung diseases and
breathing disorders. His areas of expertise
include asthma, chronic lung disease, cystic
fibrosis, technology dependence, pulmonary
problems associated with disabilities, and
the treatment of apnea and sleep disorders
in infants and children.
John A. Vanek is a writer and poet with works
published in Heartlands, Natural Bridge,
Pebble Lake Review, Common Threads,
The Vincent Brothers Review, Tattoo Highway,
The Litchfield Review, Biker Ally, The Journal
of the American Medical Association,
Medical Economics, and Red, White, and
Blues— Poets on the Promise of America.
His poem, “The People’s Republic,” is part of
the permanent collection of the George Bush
Presidential Library and Museum.
Class of 1981
David B. Nash has accepted the position
of editor for American Journal of Medical
Quality, the official journal of the American
College of Medical Quality. He was also
named one of the top 100 influential people
in health care for 2004 by Modern Healthcare
magazine (see story in “Alumni News”
section).
42
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Class of 1994
Steven Pflanz was elected vice president
of the Academy of Organizational and
Occupational Psychiatry and was appointed
chair of the American Psychiatric
Association’s Committee on Psychiatry in
the Workplace. He remains in the USAF,
assigned to McGuire AFB in New Jersey.
Class of 1995
Lisa Plotnik writes, “In September I moved
to New Hampshire and have started with
Dartmouth Hitchcock Manchester in the
Departments of Internal Medicine and
Pediatrics.”
Class of 1996
Timothy M. Beittel writes, “Daughter Andrea
Alexis was born on October 3. She joins
daughter Elaina and wife, Rebecca, to make
my family of four. I continue as a family
physician with Chair City Family Practice
in Thomasville, N.C. I am on the Board of
Directors of the local hospital and my medical
group, president of the County Medical
Society, and chair of the Young Physicians’
Section of the State Society. I will take office
as chief of staff of Thomasville Medical
Center in 2005. I remain active in our church
as well.”
Benjamin A. Zerngast announces the birth of
his son, Zachary, on June 15, 2004.
Class of 2004
Jacqueline Guerrero recently established
a scholarship at her high school for graduates
who have decided to pursue a career in
medicine. She is doing an OB/GYN residency
at Kaiser Hospital in Los Angeles.
GRADUATE ALUMNI
Laurie (Griesinger) Ewing (M.P.H. ’04) married
Jon Ewing on October 2 in Binghamton, N.Y.
Laurie and Jon live in Chicago.
Robert A. Scala (M.S. ’56, Ph.D. ’58) chaired
an international panel for the federal
Interagency Coordinating Committee on the
Validation of Alternative Methods. The expert
panel was charged with the evaluation of the
current validation status of in vitro test
methods for identifying ocular corrosives and
severe irritants. The panel met at the National
Institutes of Health January 10–13. The final
report will be the basis for regulatory agency
consideration and possible acceptance of one
or more of the in vitro methods to replace
intact animal testing.
New York State governor George Pataki
recently appointed Buddhi Man Shrestha
(M.S. ’70, P.D.C. ’68, ’69) to the Rural Health
Council, an advisory committee of 26 health
professionals from communities across the
state that works to improve access to health
care for the state’s rural residents. Shrestha
holds several key positions in dentistry,
including director of the state’s first Oral
Health Technical Assistance Center, housed
at Rochester Primary Care Network.
Joseph M. Vitolo (Ph.D. ’00) was recently
appointed director of the Advanced Care
Clinic and director of the Advanced Training
in General Dentistry program at Marquette
University School of Dentistry in Milwaukee.
RESIDENT/FELLOW ALUMNI
Dahari Brooks (R ’01) has joined UMass
Memorial Medical Center as a spine surgeon
in the Department of Orthopaedics. He has
also been appointed assistant professor of
orthopaedics and rehabilitation at the
University of Massachusetts medical school.
A diplomate of the American Board of
Orthopaedic Surgery, Dr. Brooks earned his
medical degree at Cornell University Medical
College, completed his orthopaedic surgery
residency at the University of Rochester, and
held an orthopaedic spine fellowship at the
Syracuse University Health Science Center.
Samuel A. Frank (R ’01) has joined Boston
Medical Center as a neurologist and has been
appointed assistant professor of neurology at
Boston University School of Medicine. He was
an instructor of neurology at the University of
Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry.
John J. Fung (R ’84) has joined The Cleveland
Clinic as chairman of the Department of
General Surgery and director of the
Transplant Center. Dr. Fung, considered one of
the nation’s leading liver transplant surgeons,
comes to The Cleveland Clinic after 18 years
at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.
John Goldberg (R ’02) is a fellow in pediatric
oncology at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute
and Children’s Hospital Boston. He is to marry
Hillary Anne Michel Strong in October.
Berkshire Medical Center announces the
appointment of Andrew B. Lederman (R ’02)
as a specialist in minimally invasive surgery,
gastrointestinal surgery, flexible GI
endoscopy, and weight-loss surgery for the
treatment of severe obesity. Lederman is in
practice at Surgical Specialists of Western
New England, P.C.
Robert P. Margolis (R ’80), who teaches
clinical neurology at Washington University
School of Medicine, has joined Barnes-
Jewish St. Peters Hospital. After spending
25 years of practice in north St. Louis County,
he recently expanded his practice to
St. Peters.
C. Gregory Martin (R ’79) was appointed
interim president and chief executive officer
of Emerson Hospital, a full-service, nonprofit
community hospital serving a population of
more than 220,000 people in a 25-town region.
Dr. Martin has served on the Emerson
Hospital Board since 2003 and as a member of
the active medical staff for the past five years.
Jerry J. Marty (R ’79 ’82), a pathologist, has
joined Quest Diagnostics, Inc. of Las Vegas as
director of cytopathology and the fine needle
aspiration service, and as medical director
of the accredited School of Cytotechnology.
The Florida Panthers announced the appointment
of David A. Robbins (R ’93) to their
club’s All-Star Medical Team, a group of elite
members from the South Florida medical
community who will provide world-class
health care and services to the team.
Dr. Robbins will be the Panthers’ team
neurologist.
SPRING / SUMMER 2005 43

Kendrick Sears reports: The Class of ’59 held a mini 45th reunion
on Sanibel Island in Florida on March 8th. Clearly this could become
an annual affair. Should there be classmates who find themselves
in Southwestern Florida regularly for February or March, getting
in touch with the Cegelskis or Sommers’ could make it happen.
Right to left: Elise de Papp, Jack Sadd, Bob Sommer, Rick Sears,
Frank Cegelski, Val Sadd, Gracia Sears and Ann Cegelski.
CLASS AGENTS
1939
Dr. John Frazer
329 Orchard Park Blvd.
Rochester, NY 14609
585-288-4002
1942
Dr. Arthur Redmond
210 Hollywood Ave.
Rochester, NY 14618
585-271-2339
1943
Dr. Ralph Prince
17 Tobey Woods
Pittsford, NY 14534
585-586-9117
1944
Dr. Stuart Finch
20 Avondale Ave.
Haddonfield, NJ 08033
856-427-0772
spfinch@aol.com
1949
Drs. Ruth & Bob Lawrence
1836 Clover St.
Rochester, NY 14618
585-461-0018
ruth_lawrence@urmc.rochester.edu
1950
Dr. Theodore Vanzandt
79 Stuyvesant Rd.
Pittsford, NY 14534
585-385-1183
tedvz@aol.com
1951
Dr. George D’Angelo
3232 Westwood Estates Dr.
Erie, PA 16506
814-833-9065
gjdmd@adelphia.net
1952
Dr. Charles Lobeck, Jr.
4697 South Golden Arrow Drive
Green Valley, AZ 85614
520-399-9218
cclobeck@cox.net
1954
Dr. Chloe Alexson
57 Inglewood Dr.
Rochester, NY 14619
585-328-4193
drcgamd@aol.com
1955
Dr. Saul Milles
304 Hotchkiss Rd.
Orange, CT 06477
203-795-4019
docsaul@aol.com
1956
Dr. William Kern
109 Breeze Haven Ter.
Huddleston, VA 24104
540-297-2312
William.kern@prodigy.net
1957
Dr. C. McCollister Evarts
Univ. of Rochester Medical Center
601 Elmwood Ave, Box 706
Rochester, NY 14642
Dr. Jules Cohen
152 Burkedale Cres
Rochester, NY 14625
jules_cohen@urmc.rochester.edu
1960
Dr. I. Donald Stuard
1507 Greenhill Rd.
West Chester, PA 19380
610-429-4362
idstuard@alum.urmc.rochester.edu
1961
Dr. Hechmat Tabechian
3901 East Ave.
Rochester, NY 14618
585-385-2413
htab@rochester.rr.com
1962
Dr. Frederick Parker
310 Dewittshire Rd. S.
De Witt, NY 13214
315-446-8495
parkerf@upstate.edu
1964
Dr. Philip P. Bonanni
9 Prospect Hill Rd.
Pittsford, NY 14534
585-271-2632
philip_bonanni@urmc.rochester.edu
1966
Dr. Donald A. Grover
21 Countryside Rd.
Fairport, NY 14450
585-385-3639
dkgrover@frontiernet.net
1970
Dr. Philip A. Pizzo
Stanford University School of Medicine
300 Pasteur Dr., Suite M-121
Stanford, CA 94305
650-724-5688
philip.pizzo@stanford.edu
44
ROCHESTER MEDICINE

1971
Dr. Thomas McMeekin
300 White Spruce Blvd.
Rochester, NY 14623
585-385-1500
041745@msn.com
1977
Dr. Kathleen Gensheimer
130 Center St.
Bath, Maine 04530
207-846-1053
kathleen.f.gensheimer@state.me.us
Dr. James Powers
714 Darrow Dr.
Pleasant View, TN 37146
615-746-8917
James.Powers@Vanderbilt.edu
1980
Dr. G. Allen Power
150 Highland Ave.
Rochester, NY 14620
585-271-1680
apower@stjohnshome.com
1985
Dr. Jessica Justman
196 Villard Ave.
Hastings on Hudson, NY 10706
914-478-4631
justman@aecom.yu.edu
Dr. James Haley
9 Bordeaux Way
Fairport, NY 14450
585-425-8520
1990
Dr. Peter S. Reichard
25 Melrose Rd.
Mountain Lakes, NJ 07046
973-394-7995
lpreichard@msn.com
1999
Dr. Hans Stohrer
530 East 90th St., #2L
New York, NY 10128
718-458-1111
haifanhans@msn.com
2000
Dr. Ivette Motola
13 Linden Street, #3
Brookline, MA 02445
imotola@partners.org
2002
Dr. Pam Polashenski
1190 Canandaigua Rd.
Macedon, NY 14502
315-986-4380
ppolashe@mc.rochester.edu
Dr. David Maine
3900 N. Charles Street, #917
Baltimore, MD 21218
dmaine2@jhmi.edu
2003
Dr. Shana Katzel
60 Hollywood Avenue
Rochester, NY 14618
shana_katzel@urmc.rochester.edu
Members of the Alumni
Council Executive
Committee joined local
San Diego Alumni for
an event at the amazing
San Diego Zoo on
February 20.
Meet the Alumni Council
These dedicated alumni members meet twice
a year to plan programs to benefit current
Rochester students, coordinate volunteer
efforts (such as alumni mentoring of students)
and work on programs for the School and
fellow alumni. They’re the University of
Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry
Alumni Council, with members representing
all regions of the United States.
Robert Caldwell, M.D. (M ’61, R ’69),
serves as council president. Caldwell,
who lives in Rochester, is clinical associate
professor of surgery. Robert Scala, (Ph.D. ’58),
serves as vice president. Scala lives in
Tucson, Arizona.
The other members of the Council are:
MEMBERS-AT-LARGE
Dolores Bacon, M.D. Class of 1986
Natalie Bello (Class of 2005)
Robert L. Brent, M.D., Ph.D. Class of 1953,
Radiation Biology 1955
Mary Anna Friederich, M.D. (M ’57, R ’62)
Kathleen Gensheimer, M.D., M.P.H. (M ’77)
Allan Inglis, M.D. Class of 1955
Dennis Kraus, M.D. Class of 1985
Frank LoGerfo, M.D. Class of 1966
Luke Loveys, M.D. Class of 1990,
Resident 1996
Michael McKenna, Ph.D. Toxicology 1975
Robert Murray, M.D. Class of 1958
Carol Nadelson, M.D. (M ’61, R ’62)
Robert Sutherland, Ph.D. Biophysics 1966
Hechmat Tabechian, M.D., Ph.D. Class of 1961
Chad Teeters, M.D. (Resident in Internal
Medicine)
Jill Weimer (M.S. ’04) Ph.D. candidate 2005
Mark Weinstein, M.D. Class of 1969
EX OFFICIO MEMBERS
Chloe Alexson, M.D. Class of 1954,
Resident 1957, Fellow 1959
C. McCollister Evarts, M.D. Class of 1957,
Resident 1964
I. Donald Stuard, M.D. Class of 1960
Congratulations to our Student Alumni Council
representatives Natalie Bello & Jill Weimer as
they graduate!
SPRING / SUMMER 2005 45

in memoriam
Norman Ashenburg, M.D. (M ’53)
Courtesy of the Democrat and Chronicle
Lauren Stanforth, staff writer
(February 8, 2005) Hugh Irwin played golf with
Dr. Norman Ashenburg at the Locust Hill
Country Club for 20 years.
But it wasn’t until he read his dear
friend’s paid obituary Sunday that Irwin
learned the extent of Dr. Ashenburg’s contributions
to the Rochester community.
“He never boasted, whether on, or off,
the course,” said Irwin, 82, of Pittsford.
There was plenty Dr. Ashenburg could
have regaled his friends about while teeing
off the greens. Dr. Ashenburg, who was
sidelined from being a doctor until his late
30s because of military service and illness,
was Eastman Kodak Co.’s medical director
in the 1970s and became a champion of
environmental cleanup before there were
such champions.
Dr. Ashenburg, most recently of
Brighton, died Friday, Feb. 4, after years of
battling heart disease. He was 87.
Dr. Ashenburg grew up in East
Rochester in the 1920s and 1930s, the son of
a Hickey-Freeman tailor.
He was devoted to the University of
Rochester from the start. He started college
there at age 16. But when he got his bachelor’s
degree at age 20, the University said
he was too young to attend medical school.
So Dr. Ashenburg decided to get a
doctorate in bacteriology at UR in the meantime.
He was in the middle of his studies
when he joined the U.S. Navy in 1942.
Dr. Ashenburg, who became a lieutenant,
learned after returning from World War II
that he had become a different kind of
casualty — to the disease tuberculosis.
He spent a year at a sanitarium on
the Iola campus on East Henrietta Road.
His eldest daughter, Katherine Ashenburg,
who is an author and freelance writer from
Toronto, said her first memories as a toddler
were of visiting her father there. “The only
treatment was to eat enormously and rest.
He got very fat and did a lot of reading,” she
said.
Dr. Ashenburg was finally able to enroll
in medical school at UR; he graduated in 1951.
He worked in research at UR until 1956, when
he became a physician at Kodak.
In 1968, Dr. Ashenburg became assistant
medical director for the entire company,
and in 1972 he became director.
He served in that role until he retired
in 1982.
Regarding that promotion, Dr. Ashenburg
“got hundreds of letters from people at Kodak
saying ‘You deserve this,’” said his eldest
son, Pittsford resident Norman “Buzz”
Ashenburg, Jr., who is also a Kodak retiree.
“But there were so many other people who
said ‘Oh no’ because from that point on he
didn’t see any patients.”
Dr. Ashenburg was valued because he
had a knack for listening closely to everyone
he met.
“He was always willing to listen to
different viewpoints — that can be important
on issues where people can get emotionally
charged,” said Dr. Frank Browning, a fellow
physician at Kodak from 1965 to 1989. “He was
a calming influence and really paid attention
to everyone.”
Dr. Ashenburg’s work as an occupational
therapist also made him acutely aware
of how the environment might affect people’s
health.
He was chairman of the Monroe
County Water Resources Council in 1965,
chairman of the state’s Action for Clean Air
Committee in 1967, and member of the board
of directors for the Health Council of Monroe
County in 1969.
He also served as president of the
Rochester Academy of Medicine and on
several boards that dealt with another of his
interests — alcoholism and addiction.
In Dr. Ashenburg’s retirement, he
played golf at his beloved Locust Hill (he
began caddying there at age 10), traveled and
visited his five children and grandchildren.
In the last six years, Dr. Ashenburg took it
upon himself to care for his wife, Elsie,
who suffers from Alzheimer’s disease.
Dr. Ashenburg met his wife when she
was a student and he was a teacher in a
UR nursing class. They married in 1942.
“He always said, ‘I waited until I gave her an
“A” and then I began courting her,’” Katherine
Ashenburg said.
Other survivors include children Beth,
Carole and Robert; 12 grandchildren; and
three great-grandchildren.
Donald G. Langsley, M.D. (M ’53)
Courtesy of The APA
Arlington, Va. — The American Psychiatric
Association (APA) mourns the loss of Donald
Gene Langsley, M.D., past APA president,
who died peacefully on Jan. 13, at the age
of 79, in Evanston, Ill. Dr. Langsley, a leading
psychiatrist, educator, and nationally recognized
expert on professional accreditation
and licensing, served as APA president from
1980–1981.
“Dr. Langsley was a great psychiatrist,
teacher, mentor and friend. He believed in
the importance of ethics and was a role
model for medical students, residents, early
career psychiatrists and colleagues,” said
APA President Michelle B. Riba, M.D., M.S.
“We will miss his wit, warmth, experience,
intelligence and great sense of fairness and
balance.”
Born in Topeka, Kans., Dr. Langsley
grew up in Monticello, N.Y., as the oldest
of five children. He graduated from the State
University of New York, Albany, in 1949, after
serving in the U.S. Army from 1944 to 1946.
He completed his medical degree at the
46
ROCHESTER MEDICINE

University of Rochester School of Medicine
and Dentistry in 1953, and his internship with
the U.S. Public Health Service VA hospitals in
San Francisco. Dr. Langsley trained in psychiatry
at the Langley Porter Neuropsychiatric
Institute and Department of Psychiatry,
University of California, San Francisco.
Dr. Langsley became associate
professor of psychiatry at the University of
Colorado School of Medicine, and director of
the Colorado Psychopathic Hospital in Denver
in 1961. There his interest evolved in treating
patients with their families, instead of
removing them to institutions. His research
was published in the volume The Treatment
of Families in Crisis, for which he received
APA’s Hoffheimer Award. He completed his
psychoanalysis training with the Institute for
Psychoanalysis in Chicago in 1967.
In 1968, Dr. Langsley joined the
University of California at Davis School of
Medicine as the founding chair of the
Department of Psychiatry. He is credited for
building the psychiatry department from the
ground up into one nationally respected for
its excellence in teaching, research, and
clinical service. At the same time he served
Sacramento County as director of its mental
health programs.
Dr. Langsley was chair of the
Department of Psychiatry at the University
of Cincinnati from 1976 to 1981. There he
worked to bring a new vision of community
psychiatry to the school of medicine, and he
began to establish a setting for new research
in biological-based psychiatry.
As a recognized leader in training
and certification of medical doctors, he then
served as the head of the American Board of
Medical Specialties from 1981 until his retirement
in 1991. Dr. Langsley continued to work
for another 13 years after retirement, serving
as chief of the VA Lakeside Medical Center
Psychiatry Service. He served as assistant to
the president of the Northwestern Healthcare
Network and the Disciplinary Committee of
the Illinois Department of Professional
Regulation.
Dr. Langsley is survived by his wife,
Pauline Royal Langsley, M.D.; their three
daughters Karen Langsley, Dorrie Langsley
Runman, and Susan Langsley; and grandchildren
Zachary Norman, Kimberly Norman,
and Jennifer Adams.
Howard A. Spindler, M.D. (M ’38, R ‘43)
Courtesy of the Democrat and Chronicle
by James Goodman
(December 29, 2004) — Although Dr. Howard
A. Spindler delivered more than 8,000 babies
during his medical career, each delivery
seemed special to him.
He became known locally for popularizing
natural childbirth because he believed it
maximized the joy of bringing someone into
this world.
And his concern about his patients
carried over to everything he did as a doctor.
Dr. Spindler, who died of cancer Dec.
23 at the age of 91, is remembered by his
family and friends as a compassionate doctor,
skilled in his profession and always kind
toward his patients.
“His whole life was dealing with
patients and giving them extra care,” said
Dr. Allan “Scott” Law, who had known
Dr. Spindler for 50 years.
Dr. Spindler became a pioneer in the
use of natural childbirth here after reading
medical literature and observing his own
patients. Natural childbirth tries to minimize
the need for medical intervention in the
delivery, and he considered that best for
the mother as well as the baby.
That the Howard A. Spindler Birth
Center at Strong Memorial Hospital bears
his name is itself a measure of his influence.
The center opened in 1987.
Back then, he told the Democrat and
Chronicle that when he began his medical
career, the amount of medication typically
used for childbirth was “ridiculous.”
He went on to say, “Keeping the
mother anesthetized overlooks the tremendous
triumph a woman experiences when
she delivers a baby.”
Dr. Spindler, who specialized in obstetrics
and gynecology, was known for his
personal approach.
“He would listen to people. He was
very responsive to their needs,” said
Dr. Richard Fullerton of Pittsford.
Fullerton first met Dr. Spindler in 1952
as a resident at Strong.
In addition to having a private practice,
Dr. Spindler was a clinical professor at the
University of Rochester.
Fullerton became a partner in
Dr. Spindler’s Rochester medical practice
in 1956 and in the late 1960s — with five other
doctors — established the Westfall Park
OB/GYN Group in Brighton. Dr. Spindler
retired from practicing medicine in 1987,
Fullerton noted.
SPRING / SUMMER 2005
47

Dr. Spindler was born in Rochester,
graduated from West High School in 1931 and
earned a degree from the University of
Rochester four years later. In 1938, he
received his medical degree at UR.
He met his wife-to-be, Barbara, while
she was a nursing student. She died in 2000.
After a year’s residency at Vanderbilt
University, Dr. Spindler returned to complete
his residency at Strong.
In 1942, after the Japanese attack
on Pearl Harbor, Dr. Spindler enlisted in the
Navy. He spent much of the next four years
on the USS Cotten, said his son, Howard.
After the war, Dr. Spindler returned to
Rochester, where he and his wife raised three
children.
He also became active in the Rochester
and Brighton Rotary clubs.
“He was always service oriented,”
said his son.
In addition to his son, who lives in
Rochester, Dr. Spindler is survived by two
daughters, Kathryn Spindler-Virgin of New
London, Conn., and Jacqueline Spindler of
Washington, D.C.; eight grandchildren and
six great-grandchildren.
In Memoriam
Norman Ashenburg (BS ’38, MS ’40, MD ’51)
John P. Bader (BS ’55, PhD ’60)
Stanley Bolanowski (F ’82)
Willard B. Christiansen (MD ’62)
Patricia M. Clark (MD ’44)
Harold M. Clarke (MD ’39)
William C. Combs (MD ’49)
Benedict J. Duffy, Jr. (MD ’44)
James B. Dukes (MD ’46)
Tamara L. Fisk (R ’94)
H. Braden Fitz-Gerald (MD ’38)
John D. George, Jr. (MD ’35)
Richard S. Gilbert (MD ’52)
John R. Holmes (MD ’45)
Rollin M. Johnson (MD ’65)
Donald G. Langsley (MD ’53)
Edward J. Manwell (MD ’30)
Dorothy McLean (MS ’34)
Andrew McKane (MS ’57)
Robert E. Milani (MS ’54)
John H. Morton (R ’54)
George A. Platt (R ’54)
Warren E. Porter (MD ’47)
Richard P. Sexton (R ’50)
Howard A. Spindler (BS ’35, MD ’38, R ’43)
Donald E. Terwilliger (MD ’58, R ’62)
Robert L. Tuttle (MD ’47)
Ralph G. Victor (MD ’43)
Jaroslav J. Vostal (F ’68)
Thomas B. Watt, Jr. (Phd ’61)
Charles E. Weber (MD ’43)
Richard H. Williamson (MD ’41)
48
ROCHESTER MEDICINE

In the neighborhood
continued from page 14
on a project to address the issues depicted in the book. Rather than choose
a physical object such as a memorial statue, the students chose to organize
a “Take Pride in Our Neighborhood Day.” The students worked with area
organizations to pick up truckloads of trash, pull weeds, plant flowers and
install smoke alarms in people’s houses. Their goal was to change the way
people think about the neighborhood.
It’s impossible to measure if the students changed people’s minds.
But simply by taking part in these projects, they did their part in making
their neighborhood a better place to live.
Helping the helpers
Dr. Pearson believes the key to community outreach is maintaining
a healthy amount of humility.
“There’s always a trust-building,” he explains. “I think we had to
earn our stripes. You have to help the community help itself, not come in
and impose and say, ‘We know what’s good for you.’”
That’s one reason the Medical Center, and particularly Community
and Preventive Medicine, began working closely with the Jay/Orchard Street
Area Neighborhood Association (JOSANA) to support its work. When JOSANA
has needed something, faculty have listened and done what they could to
help — starting with office space in the dental clinic to give the association
a home base from which to operate.
Later, JOSANA convinced a neighborhood landlord to evict a troubled
bar to make room for a drop-in center where students can go after school.
The Medical Center helped manage the transition and provided furniture
and computers for the students to use. More than 20 laptops were donated
as well, so neighborhood “street captains” will soon be able to communicate
with each other over the Internet. Most recently, Dr. Pearson and his
department are helping JOSANA work toward achieving non-profit status –
a step that will allow the association to attract funding to support its work.
That’s on top of health research projects that M.P.H. students are
conducting in the neighborhood and the community practicums that give
students experience in helping the community.
Ultimately, the benefits have worked both ways. Students receive lessons
in real-world problem-solving, and the neighborhood has an advocate in
improving the health of its citizens — an advocate determined to act as a
partner. As Dr. Pearson puts it, “When you do things together, that’s the way.”
Become a “Commercial Link”
for Faculty
The Alumni Council invites alumni with biomedical research expertise
to register as Commercial Link advisors to SMD faculty.
As a voluntary Commercial Link advisor you may be asked to:
• Offer counsel on creating viable private ventures, licensure
agreements, and sponsored research partnerships
• Advise on the relevance of research plans to market needs or
specific diseases
• Assess business plans
• Make connections with potential investors
To register, complete the online survey at
www.urmc.rochester.edu/smd/alumni/CommercialLink.htm.
Or contact the Office of Alumni Relations at 800–333–4428 or
alumni@urmc.rochester.edu.
SPRING / SUMMER 2005 49

Alumni Weekend 2005
Join Us!
September 22-24
University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry
Alumi Weekend 2005, September 22 – 24
Weekend Highlights
• 34th Annual George Hoyt Whipple Society
Dinner.
• Alumni Association Luncheon with 54th
Annual Gold Medal Award and 4th Annual
Alumni Service Award presentations.
• 4th Annual George L. Engel memorial lecture.
• 3rd Annual Distinguished Alumnus Lecture
and Award presentation to Seymour I.
Schwartz, M.D. R ’57.
• Festschrift in honor of Jules Cohen, M.D. ’57.
• An Erie Canal boat tour
• Reunion class dinners
and much, much more!
For more information visit
www. rochester.edu/smd/alumni
University of Rochester
School of Medicine and Dentistry
601 Elmwood Avenue, Box 643
Rochester, NY 14642
NONPROFIT ORG
US POSTAGE
PAID
UNIVERSITY OF
ROCHESTER
Change Service Requested