Alumni Profile
Alumni Profile: Healing the Mind and Body
Mar. 27, 2024—Cardiologist Sarah Samaan, MD, may have specialized in affairs of the heart, but she has always been interested in the whole patient — mind, body and well-being. Thus, it makes perfect sense that when she retired from her 30-year cardiology practice in 2022, she shifted her focus to providing compassionate and actionable coaching for physicians....
Alumni Profile: Good Trouble
Mar. 27, 2024—When John Sergent was 5 years old, he developed measles pneumonia. The physician in his West Virginia hometown made house calls and not only influenced Sergent’s recovery, but he made a lasting impression on him that led to his choosing medicine as a profession. “How comforting it was to hear his voice at the door....
Alumni Profile: Listen, lead and execute
Jul. 18, 2023—Written by Danny Bonvissuto When John J. Warner, MD, MBA, arrived at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in 1988, he planned to go into sports medicine. By the time he graduated in 1992, he’d fallen in love with cardiology. Seventeen years later, he was a busy interventional cardiologist at University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center...
Alumni Profile: The science of cancer and the importance of giving back
Jul. 18, 2023—Written by Danny Bonvissuto As the Vice President of Oncology Biometrics, Oncology Research and Development at AstraZeneca, Renee Iacona, PhD, MPH, drives strategy and investment decisions and leads more than 550 statisticians and programmers across the fields of early and late oncology. Her team works to design, deliver and report clinical trials that lead to...
Alumni Profile: A shoulder to lean on
Jan. 3, 2023—The romance of Samer Hasan, MD’94, PhD’94, and Mariana Belvedere, PhD, BA’91 began when she agreed to be a test subject for his dissertation research project. Talk about chemistry! “It was kind of a workplace romance that blossomed,” Hasan said. “I didn’t dare ask her out until after I had collected all the data and...
Alumni Profile: Focused on financial support for students
Jan. 3, 2023—When Traci Granston, MD, was contemplating where to attend medical school in 1991, she knew it made financial sense to attend her state university in Washington, but her heart belonged to Vanderbilt. So, she took out student loans and headed south to Nashville and became a member of the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine Class...
Alumni Profile: Mary Laird Warner, MD’90
May. 16, 2022— Clinician Leader In 1993, Mary Laird Warner, MD’90, president-elect of the Vanderbilt Medical Alumni Association, moved to Denver for a fellowship in pulmonary and critical care medicine following her internship and residency in internal medicine at Johns Hopkins. A lover of the outdoors and the mountains, the move to Colorado was one she was...
Alumni Profile: Bronwyn Uber Harris, MD’10
May. 16, 2022— Digital Doctor When Bronwyn Uber Harris, MD, enrolled at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in 2006, she knew she wouldn’t be following a conventional path. Instead, she would use her degree for her true passion — innovating how medical care is provided, which at the time she thought was new medical devices. Harris, who...
Alumni Profile: Kim Vinson, MD’03
Oct. 18, 2021— From medical student to mentor You can find Kim Vinson, MD, seeing patients at the Vanderbilt Voice Center or developing new diversity initiatives in her office in Light Hall. But Vinson’s path to becoming an otolaryngology specialist and associate dean for Diversity Affairs began more than 20 years ago, when she first joined the...
Alumni Profile: Lt. Col. G. Travis Clifton, MD’06
Oct. 18, 2021— Clifton serves key role during early pandemic in NYC During the first surge of the COVID-19 pandemic in April 2020, Lt. Col. G. Travis Clifton, MD’06, reported for an assignment in New York City unlike any other deployment he’s completed during his 14-year Army career. Clifton joined more than 1,000 military and civilian medical...
Alumni Profile: Richard Hatchett, MD’95, BA’89
Mar. 19, 2021—Viruses, vaccines and VUSM influences Richard Hatchett, MD’95, grew up along the Gulf Coast of Alabama. Although he had no medical role models in his family or an understanding of what being a physician entailed, he says medicine appealed to him intuitively as a vocation that would reconcile his strong commitments to the sciences and...
Alumni Profile: Selina Shah, MD, FACP
Sep. 9, 2019—Getting a kick out of her unconventional career Selina Shah, MD’00, HS’03, FACP, has studied and performed many styles of dance since the age of 3, including ballet, Indian classical dance, Bollywood, jazz, hip-hop, modern and salsa. Mastering her own body’s movement fortuitously led her to a somewhat unconventional career in sports medicine. In addition...
Alumni Profile: Andrew Camarata, MD
Sep. 9, 2019—Called to Serve LCDR Andy Camarata, MD’06, is the oldest of seven children and the son of two academic speech pathologists. After sharing his experience with Vanderbilt University School of Medicine students during Navy Week in June, the senior medical officer for Navy Explosive Ordnance Disposal Group 2 took questions about how to change culture...
Alumni Profile: Lt. Col. Wes Abadie, MD
Feb. 28, 2019—Surgeon’s career takes flight Wesley Abadie, MD’03, has accumulated a lot of frequent flyer miles during his career, which probably isn’t unusual for a busy otolaryngologist. What is unusual is racking up a big chunk of those miles in the back seat of a fighter jet streaking across the skies of Afghanistan and Iraq...
Alumni Profile: Sharat Kusuma, MD
Sep. 13, 2018— Medical Visionary Sharat Kusuma, MD, MBA’02, BA’97, grew up in Albany, Georgia, and comes from a family of doctors. His father is a gastroenterologist, and his brother is a Vanderbilt-trained plastic surgeon. Kusuma chose orthopaedic joint replacement surgery as his clinical specialty. “The way you can immediately affect the gait and mobility of patients...
Alumni Profile: Jessi Solomon Sanders, MD
Sep. 13, 2018— A Champion for Children Jessi Solomon Sanders, MD, has an affinity for children with chronic illnesses and special needs that began in childhood and helped shape her future as a resident physician in neurodevelopmental disabilities at Boston Children’s Hospital. She grew up in Cleveland, Ohio, and accompanied her mother, an advocate for children with...
Alumni Profile: Mary Austin, MD
Feb. 28, 2018—Surgeon’s career shaped by childhood diagnosis As a pediatric surgeon, Mary Austin, MD’00, MPH’05, performs 300-500 wide-ranging cases per year. She is also part of a large team that does about 10-15 in utero repairs of myelomeningocele, the most common form of spina bifida, which is, coincidentally, the same problem she was born with. “My...
Alumni Profile: Prentice Steffen, MD
Feb. 28, 2018—Coasting to the finish line Prentice Steffen, MD’86, grew up in Enid, Oklahoma, the son of a general surgeon and a homemaker. As a college student at the University of Oklahoma he took up cycling, a sport that would allow him to travel the world, cross paths with Lance Armstrong and put him at the...
Alumni Profile: Preston Russell, M.D.
Sep. 22, 2017—Southern Scenes Cobblestone streets, live oaks draped with Spanish moss and the slow pace of a historic Southern city serve as inspiration for Savannah, Georgia, painter, historian and writer Preston Russell, M.D. He lives in a house that was built in 1860 and uses its adjacent carriage house as an art studio to create...
Alumni Profile: John Dormois, M.D.
Sep. 22, 2017—Branching Out John Dormois, M.D., knows that life is about the journey. Seven years ago, at age 65, when many career-long physicians are ready to trade their stethoscopes for golf clubs, Dormois chose a different path; he went back to school. “I had always threatened to go back to school; I had been a...
Alumni Profile: Tiara Aldridge, M.D.
Mar. 6, 2017—Scholarship paves the way for success As a high school student in Stone Mountain, Georgia, Tiara Aldridge wanted to be a physician, but she also realized her family couldn’t finance this dream. Then, a Vanderbilt University recruiter visited her school and talked about the Opportunity Vanderbilt initiative that provides scholarships and grants for students with...
Alumni Profile: Mary Nettleman, M.D.
Mar. 6, 2017—Med School Dean Credits VUSM Influence, Support Since joining the University of South Dakota in 2012, Mary Nettleman, M.D., can’t begin to count the times she’s been asked if she’s the first female dean of the university’s Sanford School of Medicine. She is. “People ask me how it feels to be a woman dean,...
Alumni Profile: Ron Bronitsky, M.D.
Aug. 17, 2016—Renaissance Man Pulmonologist, thespian, award-winning baker, competitive swimmer, art collector and performer in an all-bassoon band; this sounds like the description of a roomful of people, but in reality it is a rundown of the many hats worn by Ronald Bronitsky, M.D., ‘77. “When I’m ready to die, I want to be able to look...
Alumni Profile: Thomas Davis, M.D.
Aug. 17, 2016—Making a World of Difference As a child living in Chihuahua, Mexico, Thomas Davis, M.D., ‘14, learned early that socioeconomic factors play a significant role in a person’s success, and he’s determined to use his skills to level the playing field for those less fortunate. “It was hard to hide the realities of the world...
Alumni Profile: Kathleen R. Cho, M.D., ‘84
Feb. 23, 2016—Leading the charge against ovarian cancer Kathleen R. Cho, M.D., ‘84, has always had a love for the biological sciences, which birthed a passion for improving human health, especially for women facing the devastating diagnosis of gynecological cancer. Cho was recently elected to the National Academy of Medicine in recognition of her major contributions to...
Alumni Profile: Buddy Creech, M.D., MPH
Feb. 22, 2016—Career Shaped by Personal Experiences At a young age, Buddy Creech, M.D., MPH, observed firsthand the debilitating effects of disease. Unbeknownst to him, that experience would lead him down a career path and passion for helping others. “When I was about 7 years old, my mother was diagnosed with a form of lupus,” Creech said....
Alumni Profile: Jeff Sperring, M.D., ‘95
Aug. 21, 2015—VUSM prepared alum for leadership roles Jeff Sperring M.D., ‘95, took on the role of chief executive officer of Seattle Children’s Hospital in May, arriving armed with great memories and lessons learned from his days at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. “Vanderbilt was the perfect balance of high educational expectations but also the sense...
Alumni Profile: Sandra Hassink, M.D., FAAP, ‘78
Aug. 21, 2015—AAP President Dedicates Career to Childhood Obesity Sandra Hassink, M.D., FAAP, ‘78, was a trailblazer in treating childhood/teenage obesity, starting a weight management clinic in 1988 at Alfred I. duPont Children’s Hospital, well before most pediatricians even realized there was an issue to address. Today, childhood obesity has reached epidemic levels plaguing the youngest...
Alumni Profile: John Jernigan, M.D., ‘86
Feb. 10, 2015—Contagious Enthusiasm The outbreak of Ebola at a Texas hospital dominated the news in October 2014, as Americans anxiously watched to see whether the disease would spread beyond the two health care workers who contracted it from a dying patient. That was the setting during the two weeks that John Jernigan, M.D., ‘86, spent in...
Alumni Profile: Atia Jordan, M.D., ‘09
Feb. 10, 2015—Sleep Specialist Lands Dream Job Among bleary-eyed pediatric residents, sleep was a common topic of discussion, but even more so for Atia Jordan, M.D., ‘09. “During my rotations, most people thought I was a sleep-deprived resident and just wanted more sleep,” she laughed. “But what I wanted was to dive deeper into sleep and how...
Alumni profile: Oscar Crofford, M.D.
Sep. 5, 2014—A Distinguished Career Oscar Crofford, M.D., is the recipient of the 2014 VUSM Distinguished Alumnus Award, and will be recognized during Reunion Weekend in October. Among his many achievements, Crofford led a landmark study called the Diabetes Control and Complications Trial (DCCT) that established the value of rigorous blood glucose control and revolutionized the treatment...
Alumni profile: Jeff Spencer, M.D.
Sep. 5, 2014—New York State of Mind With more than 31,000 applications received for the Class of 2018, Vanderbilt University seems to be on everyone’s radar. Jeff Spencer, M.D., ‘87, BS ’83, is doing his part to make sure his home state of New York is aware of what Vanderbilt has to offer. Spencer proudly represents Vanderbilt...