Alumni News
1960s
Antonio (Tony) Gotto, M.D., ‘65, BA ‘57, received the 2015 American College of Cardiology Lifetime Achievement Award and the National Medical Fellowship’s Excellence in Academic Medicine Award.
Richard Johnston Jr., M.D., ‘61, HS ‘63, BA ‘57, was honored by the Institute of Medicine for his outstanding service during the IOM’s 44th annual meeting in Washington, D.C.
1970s
Ben Byrd, M.D., ‘77, HS ‘81, FE ‘83, FAC, professor of Cardiovascular Medicine, recently finished his 2013-2014 term as president of the American Society of Echocardiography, while his brother, Thomas Byrd, M.D., ‘81, an orthopaedic surgeon, just completed his presidential year with the Arthroscopy Association of North America.
Aubrey Hough, M.D., ‘70, HS ‘75, has been named a University Professor at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS). He is the first UAMS faculty member to receive the honor, which is conferred only to active faculty in recognition of an extended period of exemplary service to UAMS.
Roger Jones, M.D., ‘77, HS ‘80, has been named chief of staff for the Tennessee Valley Health Care System.
John Lea, M.D., ‘77, a retired cardiac and thoracic surgeon, will serve as chief medical officer for the National Scout Jamboree in 2017. He recently received the prestigious Buffalo Award for his tireless service and dedication to the Boy Scouts of America.
William Mattingly Jr., M.D., ‘73, HS ‘77, and his wife, Sally Mattingly, M.D., ‘72, HS ‘77, traveled to East Africa with other Vanderbilt alumni with the Travel Program’s Tanzania Migration Safari earlier this year.
Robert Schell, M.D., ‘74, HS ‘79, BA ‘70, has retired after practicing surgery in Owensboro, Kentucky, for 36 years. Over the years, Schell specialized in vascular surgery, specifically, abdominal aortic aneurysms.
Richard (Rick) Stahl, M.D., ‘76, has been appointed senior associate dean for strategic relationships at the Frank H. Netter MD School of Medicine at Quinnipiac University.
Anthony (Tony) Urbanek, M.D., ‘79, HS ‘77, FE ‘78, has invented the Explain My Pain (EMP) medical device, which eases jaw inflammation. He is a board-certified oral and maxillofacial surgeon.
1980s
Ken Berovitz, M.D., ‘85, has joined OSF HealthCare in Peoria, Illinois, as senior clinical vice president for the cardiovascular service line.
Joel Landzberg, M.D., HS ‘88, has been elected president and governor of the New Jersey Chapter of the American College of Cardiology.
Gregory LeMense, M.D., ‘89, HS ‘92, a board-certified pulmonologist, has joined Blount Memorial Hospital’s medical staff and sees patients at East Tennessee Medical Group.
John Neylan, M.D., HS ‘82, a nephrologist, transplantation specialist and biopharmaceutical executive, has been named chief medical officer for Keryx Biopharmaceuticals, Inc.
James Segar Jr., M.D., HS ‘87, FE ‘88, has been named the inaugural professor and director of Reproductive Science and Women’s Health Research, a newly established division of the Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.
Valerie Short, M.D., ‘85, BA ‘81, is running for governor of Mississippi. She is a U.S. Air Force veteran having served for 10 years, three of those as an OB/GYN. Short recently completed her Master of Public Health degree at the University of Southern Mississippi.
Mark Werner, M.D., ‘84, HS ‘88, has joined the Chartis Group as national director of clinical consulting where he will work with clients on innovation around the design and implementation of health care delivery and clinical integration models capable of producing value for patients, members and providers.
1990s
Derek Abbott, M.D., ‘00, Ph.D., ‘98, has received the Arline H. and Curtis F. Garvin M.D. Professorship in Medicine at Case Western University School of Medicine where he is an associate professor with tenure in the Department of Pathology.
Ted Anderson, M.D., ‘93, Ph.D., ‘85, HS ‘94, FAC, has been elected treasurer for the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.
Jeffrey Balser, M.D., Ph.D., ‘90, vice chancellor for Health Affairs and Dean of the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, was named to the board of directors for the Center for Medical Interoperability.
Andrea Carlsen, M.D., ‘99, has joined the board of directors of the Vincent Smith School. She is board-certified in adult and child and adolescent psychiatry and is the medical director of North Shore TMS (Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation) in Huntington, New York.
Sarah England, Ph.D., FE ‘95, a professor of obstetrics and gynecology, has been named an inaugural Alan A. and Edith L. Wolff Professor of Medicine at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.
Mark Fox, M.D., Ph.D., ‘97, has been appointed director and associate dean of Indiana University School of Medicine – South Bend. Fox is an expert in community health.
Katrina Gwinn, M.D., ‘91, HS ‘92, led a team that won the highest award given to any website for the U.S. government. The NINDS Parkinson’s Disease Biomarkers Program Data Management Resource received the 2014 Best Overall Excellence.Gov award.
Thomas Johnston, M.D., ‘88, HS ‘92, was appointed to Nashville’s TriStar Centennial Medical Center’s board for a three-year term.
Sam Marzo, M.D., HS ‘97, has been named chair of the otolaryngology department at Loyola University Medical Center.
Gary Margolies, M.D., HS ‘90, certified in internal medicine and rheumatology, has joined Saint Thomas Health in Nashville.
Omer Shedd, M.D. ‘98, HS ‘01, is an electrophysiologist in North Carolina and recently was elected vice president of Promise for Haiti.
Kathryn Teng, M.D., ‘97, HS ‘99, has been named division director/chief for general internal medicine and community internal medicine at Metro Health Medical Center, the county hospital affiliate of Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine.
Benjamin (Ben) Van Voorhees, M.D., ‘90, HS ‘94, has been named interim chair of pediatrics at the University of Illinois-Chicago.
Eden Wells, M.D., HS ‘92, director of the University of Michigan School of Public Health’s Preventative Medicine Residency in Ann Arbor, was named chief medical executive for the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services.
2000s
Sarah Bourne, M.D., ‘13, and Alexander Bick were married on April 30 in Boston. Bourne is a second-year neurosurgery resident at Massachusetts General Hospital.
Zach Brewer, M.D., ‘11, won the American Association for Thoracic Surgery (AATS) Top Gun Resident Competition, a simulated coronary anastomosis. Brewer is a fourth-year resident at Stanford.
Christopher Carey, M.D., HS ‘11, has joined the general surgery team at Integris Medical Group. He received the Harwell Wilson Award, given to the chief resident who epitomizes the ideals of dedication to patient care, research and teaching.
Jillian Copeland, M.D., ‘08, has been named chief resident of psychiatry at New York University.
Robert Chagrasulis, M.D., HS ‘01, has joined Franklin Health Surgery in Farmington, Maine.
Titus Daniels, M.D., FE ‘06, MPH ‘07, MMHC ‘11, FAC, has been named executive director of the Vanderbilt Medical Group and COO of Adult Clinical Operations. Daniels has worked at Vanderbilt for nearly 10 years, most recently as associate professor of Medicine and vice chair for Clinical Affairs.
Brett Donegan, M.D., ‘11, BE ‘06, recently matched into a fellowship position in interventional radiology at Emory University for the 2016-2017 year.
T. Mark Earl, M.D., HS ‘09, MSCI ‘07, a board-certified general surgeon who performed the first pancreas transplant in Mississippi, has been elected to the Diabetes Foundation board of directors.
David Eskind, M.D., ‘12, HS ‘15, an internal medicine resident, married Megan Dickson, RN, on Sept. 27, 2014.
Ryan Fritz, M.D., ‘13, MBA ‘13, HS, and Cristin Quinn Fritz, M.D., ‘15, MPH ‘15, were married on May 16. Ryan is a second-year resident in the Department of Emergency Medicine at Vanderbilt.
Scott Hagan, M.D., ‘13 and Anna Fahy, M.D., ‘13 were married in October 2014, and were selected to serve as chief residents for the University of Washington Internal Medicine Residency Program for the academic year 2016-2017.
George Hill, M.D., FE, FAC ‘01, was elected treasurer for the American Society for Reproductive Medicine. In his new role, Hill also fills a seat on the executive board.
Katie Jameson, Ph.D., FE ‘15, has joined Jansen BioTech as a medical science liaison specializing in solid tumor therapeutics.
Marlon Joseph, M.D., ‘11, recently finished an internal medicine-pediatrics residency at Rush University Medical Center and will be practicing primary care at Cambridge Health Alliance post-residency. Kara Brown Joseph, M.D., ‘11, just graduated from a Psychiatry residency at Northwestern and started a Women’s Mental Health Fellowship at Brigham and Women’s in July.
Marwan Khalifeh, M.D., ‘00, joined the Navy Reserves as Lieutenant Commander, Medical Corps, and will be serving at Walter Reed National Medical Center as a plastic surgeon.
Michelle Kiger, M.D., ‘11, and her husband, Dave, welcomed their son, Asher David, on Feb. 27.
Jessica Lilley, M.D., ‘07, FE ‘13, is a pediatric endocrinologist at Children’s of Mississippi in Tupelo. She has been elected to the Diabetes Foundation board of directors.
R. Bradley (Brad) Lindell, M.D., ‘12, and his wife, Karen Lindell, VU, JD, ‘12, welcomed daughter, Julia, on Jan. 5. Brad is starting a chief resident year at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.
Eric Liu, MSCI ‘13, FAC ‘15, has joined Rocky Mountain Cancer Centers in Denver, specializing in the treatment of neuroendocrine tumors.
Zurabi Lominadze, BA ‘08, M.D., ‘12, will be doing a gastrointestinal fellowship at Loyola.
Bonnie Mackenzie, M.D., ‘06, BS ‘02, and her husband, Scotty, welcomed a daughter, Sophie Campbell (Cami), on May 18, 2014.
Mary Alice Mina, M.D., ‘08, and her husband, George, welcomed their second child, Lucy Aida, on Feb. 24. She joins big brother, George. Mary Alice practices Mohs surgery and dermatology at Georgia Dermatologic Surgery Centers and Emory University in Atlanta.
Pharis Mohideen, M.D., MSCI ‘06, has joined Atterocor, Inc., as chief medical officer. The company is developing novel therapy for adrenal cancer.
Lara Phillips, M.D., ‘11, HS ‘14, will graduate from the Wilderness Medicine Program through Harvard at Massachusetts General Hospital this year. As part of that fellowship, she was working in a high altitude clinic in the Himalayas and was also in Nepal during the earthquake. Charles Phillips, M.D., ‘11, HS ‘14, is finishing his chief year in pediatrics. They moved to Philadelphia in July where he will start his fellowship in pediatric hematology/oncology at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and she will be working at Jefferson University Hospital.
Stephen Schleicher, M.D., ‘11, is completing an internal medicine residency at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and then moving to New York City for his oncology fellowship at Memorial-Sloan Kettering.
Nishant Sekaran, M.D., ‘06, and his wife, Jami, welcomed a baby boy, Bodhan Ballantine (Bodhi), on April 17. The family resides in Durham, North Carolina, where Nishant is doing a fellowship at Duke and Jami is a pediatric dentistry resident at the University of North Carolina.
Meredith Sellers, M.D., ‘13, BA ‘09, was selected to be a chief resident in internal medicine for the 2016-2017 academic year at Northwestern Memorial Hospital. Last year, she also received the Dr. A.A. Goldsmith award, an institution-wide award given to the first-year trainee who best exemplifies humanness and empathy toward patients and their families. Meredith hopes to pursue a fellowship in hematology/oncology after her chief year.
Evan Silverstein, M.D., ‘10, HS ‘14, has accepted a position at Virginia Commonwealth University as a pediatric ophthalmologist, effective in September.
Velmalia Matthews-Smith, M.D., BA ‘97, FE ‘10, has joined St. Lawrence Health System in New York as a hematologist/oncologist.
C.J. Stimson, M.D., ‘08, JD ‘10, HS ‘14, has been named the 2015 H. Logan Holtgrewe Legislative Fellow. He is the first honoree of this new program, which is designed to prepare and educate urology residents and fellows in the legislative aspect of health policy.
Billy Sullivan, M.D., ‘13, MEd ‘13, and his wife, Elizabeth, welcomed a daughter, Amelia Grace, on Dec. 16, 2014. Billy is a second-year internal medicine and pediatrics resident at Vanderbilt.
Caitlin Toomey, M.D., ‘10, and Ned Ruhotina, M.D., ‘11, are engaged and planning a May 2016 wedding. After graduating from Vanderbilt, Michelle completed an internal medicine residency at Northwestern in Chicago and is a primary care physician and assistant professor of medicine at Tufts Medical Center in Boston. Ned is about to start his chief year of urology residency at Brigham and Women’s.
Haritha Veeramachaneni, M.D., ‘07, has joined Long Island Plastic Surgical Group, specializing in nerve repair and breast reconstruction.
Adam Wegner, Ph.D., ‘08, M.D., ‘12, and Mary Baldwin, BS ‘04, Ph.D., ‘12, welcomed a daughter, Addison Irene, on Dec. 24, 2014. He recently finished a research year where he received two resident research grants to study post-traumatic arthritis.
Mike Wolfe, M.D., ‘12, is beginning a fellowship in pediatric critical care and his wife, Rachel Wolf, M.D., ‘15, is starting a med-peds residency at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.