Vanderbilt Community
Face and Places
Mar. 12, 2020—
Losses
Mar. 12, 2020—George Allen, MD, PhD, who served for more than 25 years as chair of the Department of Neurological Surgery at Vanderbilt, died Dec. 7, 2019. He was 77. Dr. Allen studied medicine at Washington University and did an internship at Duke University before completing a residency in neurosurgery at the University of Minnesota where he...
Class Notes
Mar. 12, 2020—1960s David Johnson, MD, MS, HS’69, FE’83, was honored as one of 15 Giants of Cancer Care at the American Society of Clinical Oncology conference in Chicago in May 2019. The award was given by OncLive, the website for the Oncology Specialty Group. Thomas Chesney, MD’69, HS’70, FCAP, FACP, and Carolyn Chesney, MD’68, BA’65, HS’70,...
Giving in Action: Michael, MD’76, and Melissa Lojek, PhD’78
Mar. 12, 2020—For Michael Lojek, MD’76, and his wife, Melissa, PhD’78, “generosity” is one of the words that comes to mind when they think about Vanderbilt. “Vanderbilt was very generous to me, to my wife, and to other students in graduate and medical school,” Michael said. “I very much appreciated that generosity of Vanderbilt all those years...
Giving in Action: Brian Drolet, MD’09
Mar. 12, 2020—Brian Drolet, MD’09, remembers the fortuitous phone call that dramatically changed the trajectory of his life. It was April 15, 2005 — the deadline to decide which medical school he would attend the following fall. A few hours earlier, he had essentially decided to attend Dartmouth, near his family in New Hampshire. His father, hoping...
Alumni Profile: Constance Mobley, MD, PhD
Mar. 12, 2020—Transplant Trailblazer As a molecular physiology and biophysics doctoral student at Vanderbilt, Constance Mobley never had designs on practicing medicine. Her passions were in the lab. The young scholar was infinitely more interested in clinical research. “I wanted to discover how to cure everything in the world,” she says. “I was always interested in...
Alumni Profile: Airron Richardson, MD, MBA, FACEP
Mar. 12, 2020—Career inspired by early influence Airron Richardson, MD’05, MBA’05, attended the University of Michigan on an athletic scholarship, came to the School of Medicine after a stint on the U.S. wrestling team, then capped his University of Chicago residency training in emergency medicine with a sports medicine fellowship at Duke. Today, as a clinician...
Letter from Ann Price, MD
Mar. 12, 2020—Dear Vanderbilt Medical Alumni: It’s clear that 2019 was a busy year for the Vanderbilt Medical Alumni Association (VMAA). We made a concerted effort to increase our presence and support for our VMAA specialty societies at numerous national conferences including ACOG, ACC, ACS, AANS, RSNA, ASPS, ENDO, and ID-week among others. In addition, we held...
Faces and Places
Sep. 9, 2019—
Losses
Sep. 9, 2019—Geoffrey Berry, MD, HS’59, died May 7. He was 92. Dr. Berry was preceded in death by his son, Andrew, and is survived by his wife, Dora; children Christopher, Jane and Helen; nine grandchildren; and one great-grandchild. Jill F. Chambers, MD, HS’78, died Jan. 17. She was 70. Dr. Chambers is survived by her children...
Class Notes
Sep. 9, 2019—1950s Angus W. Graham, MD’55, retired from his radiology practice in Manatee County, Florida, in 2016 at age 86. He and his wife, Wylene Barmore Graham, VUSN’56, have five children and 17 grandchildren, one of whom attends Vanderbilt University. The Grahams are enjoying retirement in Bradenton, Florida. Gerald Stone, MD’57, BA’54, HS’58, celebrated 63 years...
Letter from Ann Price, MD
Sep. 9, 2019—Dear Vanderbilt Medical Alumni: Our Vanderbilt Medical Alumni Association board (VMAA) includes a number of highly dedicated Vanderbilt University School of Medicine (VUSM) alumni as well as former Vanderbilt University Medical Center house staff trainees. Our board was very fortunate to have been led this past year by W. Bedford Waters, MD’74, (Knoxville, Tennessee) who...
Giving in Action: Class of 1978 Scholarship
Sep. 9, 2019—When the idea came to create an endowed scholarship in honor of their 30th Reunion, members of the School of Medicine Class of 1978 answered the call with resounding enthusiasm. “People immediately stepped up to make a gift, and we were able to get it endowed and bestow it upon a scholar the very next...
Giving in Action: Armstrong Family Funds
Sep. 9, 2019— The story of Richard Armstrong, PhD, is a shining example of how one person’s life and legacy can have a powerful ripple effect on the people and places dear to them. Armstrong served as a member of the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Basic Sciences faculty from 1995 until his death in 2015. He...
Faces and Places
Mar. 1, 2019—
Letter from Ann Price, MD
Feb. 28, 2019—Dear Vanderbilt University Medical Alumni, Vanderbilt Medical Alumni Reunion 2018 Many thanks to all of you who attended our Vanderbilt University School of Medicine (VUSM) Reunion 2018 in October. With over 1,000 attendees, this was one of our largest VUSM Reunion events ever. I hope you enjoyed your time back on Vanderbilt’s campus. A...
Giving in Action: Investing in the Future
Feb. 28, 2019—David Gershenson always knew he’d become a doctor. He spent his childhood tagging along while his father, a general practitioner, made house calls throughout southern Illinois. Gershenson noticed the impact his father had on his patients and their community and resolved to have the same influence one day. Today, Gershenson, MD’71, professor of Gynecologic Oncology...
Alumni News
Sep. 13, 2018—1960s Phillip Gorden, MD’61, BA’57, received the John Phillips Memorial Award as well as Mastership from the American College of Physicians, a national organization of internists. The award was presented at ACP’s Convocation Ceremony in April. Gorden is a leading investigator in diabetes and lipid metabolism and former director of the National Institute of Diabetes...
Losses
Sep. 13, 2018—John Ball, MD, FE’71, died Feb. 4. He was 79. Dr. Ball is survived by his wife, Anne; children Cassandra, Cynthia and Jennifer; and six grandchildren. Subhankar Bandyopadhyay, MD, FE’92, HS’93, died Feb. 9. He was 58. Dr. Bandyopadhyay is survived by his wife, Sati Nath; children Orunima and Anondo. Jim Borland Jr., MD, HS’60,...
Giving in Action: Honoring their son’s legacy
Sep. 13, 2018—Two new scholarships at Vanderbilt University — one at Vanderbilt Law School, the other at the School of Medicine — have been named in honor of alumnus Rick Ferrini, JD’11. Divya and Vino Ferrini of Dallas have pledged $1 million to establish both the Rick V. N. Ferrini Law Scholarship and Rick V. N. Ferrini...
Giving in Action: Paying it forward
Sep. 13, 2018—You could say Tom Brown’s future was set at an early age. His English teacher took one look at his handwriting and told him, “You better be a doctor.” While more drove him to medicine than his hard-to-decipher handwriting, Brown, MD’69, BA’65, has worked as a cardiologist for Iowa Heart Center for more than 40...
Letter from Ann Price, MD
Sep. 13, 2018—Dear Vanderbilt University Medical Alumni, Vanderbilt Medical Alumni Reunion 2018 Our next biennial VUSM Reunion, Oct. 11-13, is fast approaching. Reunion festivities will begin on Thursday morning, Oct. 11, with a golf outing at Richland Country Club, followed by an evening welcome reception and awards program at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum....
Faces and Places
Sep. 13, 2018—
Alumni News
Feb. 28, 2018—1950s Wike Scamman, MD’57, and his wife, Diana, were honored at a reception celebrating his retirement. The 85-year-old pathologist served for many years as laboratory and medical director of several northeast Kansas community hospitals and at one time served as the Shawnee County coroner. 1960s Gordon Gill, MD’63, HS’64, BA’60, chairs the San Diego...
Losses
Feb. 28, 2018—Charles Albright, MD’61, BA’57, died Aug. 6, 2017. He was 81. Dr. Albright is survived by his children, Elizabeth and Cynthia; and two grandchildren. Allen Anderson, MD, HS’83, died Nov. 12, 2017. He was 67. Dr. Anderson is survived by his wife, Candy; children, Brian, David and Chris; and five grandchildren. Burton Bancroft...
Letter From Ann Price, M.D.
Feb. 28, 2018—Dear Vanderbilt University Medical Alumni, Vanderbilt Medical Alumni Reunion 2018 Our next biennial Vanderbilt University School of Medicine (VUSM) Reunion 2018 will be held Oct. 11-13 with Vanderbilt University’s Reunion and Homecoming celebration. All VUSM medical alumni are cordially invited to attend. VUSM special anniversary classes (see chart below) will celebrate with class parties on...
Giving in Action: Tragedy begets generosity
Feb. 28, 2018—Keith Nolop, MD’79, was a brilliant physician and researcher whose life was cut short in 2016 due to trauma from a bicycle accident. To create something positive out of this tragedy and to commemorate his life as a physician-researcher, his brothers, Neil and Bruce, endowed the Keith Nolop, M.D. Scholarship at the School of Medicine...
Giving in Action: Finding heart in a lung transplant
Feb. 28, 2018—Barbara Rosser Merz and Glenn Merz both lost spouses to a rare lung disease, but found each other and a renewed sense of gratitude. When her husband, Vernon, received his lung transplant at Vanderbilt in 1997, Barbara Rosser started a support group for lung transplant families. The group met frequently, helped one another during difficult...
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...
Letter From Ann Price, M.D.
Sep. 22, 2017—Dear Vanderbilt University Medical Alumni, Congratulations VUSM Class of 2017 The Vanderbilt Medical Alumni Association (VMAA) proudly welcomed the newest members of our medical alumni family, the VUSM Class of 2017, at a faculty appreciation/”almost alumni” luncheon on May 10. I know each of you join me in celebrating their present achievements as we...
Giving in Action: Family First for Distinguished Alum
Sep. 22, 2017—Although Richard B. Johnston Jr., M.D., ‘61, BA’57, is a renowned immunologist and pediatrician, it’s his family that makes him most grateful and proud. Johnston — who has dedicated his life’s work to improving the health of children — received the Vanderbilt University Alumni Association Distinguished Alumni Award this spring. The honor is the highest...
Giving in Action: A Vision for Change
Sep. 22, 2017—Steve Kutner, M.D.,’65, restored sight to thousands of refugees during his life, while also helping patients in his Georgia Eye Clinic to preserve their sight. Kutner died in 2016, but his spirit of giving continues. Although Kutner founded an international nonprofit, Project Vision, Jeanney Kutner says her late husband saw himself as a humanitarian, not...
Losses
Sep. 22, 2017— Charles Bentz, M.D., ‘70, died Dec. 8, 2016. He was 71. Dr. Bentz is survived by his wife, Lynn; children Kim, Ann, Eduardo, David, Daniel, Charles, Julie, Wayne and Eugene; and many grandchildren, nieces and nephews. Wyatt Blake III, M.D., ‘54, died Dec. 14, 2016. He was 88. Dr. Blake is survived by his...
Alumni News
Sep. 22, 2017—1950s Anderson Spickard Jr., M.D., ‘57, HS ‘59 ‘63, BA ‘53, emeritus faculty, is the author of “The Craving Brain,” which was selected as a finalist for the Foreword INDIEFAB for adult nonfiction. 1960s Antonio Gotto, M.D., ‘65, BA ‘57, is serving as corporate secretary and treasurer of the board of directors for the...
Giving in Action: Welborn’s Healing Scholarship
Mar. 6, 2017—Although grief robbed Bill Welborn, M.D. ‘67, BA ‘64, of the ability to express his feelings after the death of longtime friend, Bill Johnston, M.D. ‘67, BA ‘64, the scholarship Welborn created in memory of Johnston helped him make peace with the loss. “Seeing Bill face Alzheimer’s created overwhelming feelings of frustration and sadness. Anyone...
Faces and Places
Mar. 6, 2017—
Letter From Ann Price, M.D.
Mar. 6, 2017—Dear Vanderbilt University Medical Alumni, Vanderbilt Medical Alumni Reunion 2016 Many thanks to all of you who attended our Vanderbilt University School of Medicine (VUSM) Reunion 2016. With over 1,000 attendees, this was one of our largest VUSM Reunion events. I hope you enjoyed your time back on Vanderbilt’s campus. A special thanks to...
Losses
Mar. 6, 2017—Lawrence Abrahams, M.D., ‘61, died March 3, 2015. He was 80. Dr. Abrahams is survived by his wife, Hanna; siblings, nieces and nephews. Joseph Allen Jr., M.D., HS ‘56, died Sept. 16, 2016. He was 91. Dr. Allen was preceded in death by his wife, Bettye, and is survived by children, Joe and Kirby; and...
Alumni News
Mar. 6, 2017—1960s Jere Segrest, M.D., ‘66, Ph.D., ‘69, HS ‘70, BA ‘62, FAC ‘16, has joined the VUSM faculty as a professor of Medicine in the Division of Cardiovascular Medicine. Arthur M. Freeman III, M.D., ‘67, has been recognized as a Leading Physician of the World and Top Adult Psychiatrist in Birmingham, Alabama, by The International...
Giving in Action: School of Medicine’s New Giving Societies
Mar. 6, 2017—Vanderbilt University School of Medicine (VUSM) has launched two new donor societies, the John E. Chapman, M.D. Society, recognizing donors who support clinical degree programs and endowed faculty chairs, and the Discovery Circle which recognizes donors to Basic Sciences. Chapman led the school from 1975-2001—the longest tenure of any dean. During that time, he conferred...
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...
Giving in Action: Doing well by doing good
Aug. 17, 2016—Jonathan Partain, M.D.’60, BA ‘57, wanted to use his medical degree to do something good for people when he moved to Orlando, Florida, in 1968 to start his own practice that would become the Orlando Heart Center. That was the same year that Walt Disney had been secretly buying swamp land in Orlando area in...
Giving in Action: A debt of gratitude
Aug. 17, 2016—Like many physician-scientists who serve in university-based teaching hospitals, W. Bedford Waters, M.D., ‘74, BA ‘70, has investigated medical mysteries in his career. But one question remains after many years—the identity of the donor who supported his education. “John Chapman, who was dean of the School of Medicine, knew me from my work as an...
Letter From Ann Price
Aug. 17, 2016—Dear Vanderbilt University Medical Alumni, Vanderbilt Medical Alumni Reunion 2016 Our next biennial VUSM Reunion, Oct. 20-22, is fast approaching. Reunion festivities will begin on Thursday afternoon, Oct. 20, with a golf outing at Vanderbilt’s Legends Club, followed by an evening welcome reception and awards program at the Country Music Hall of Fame and...
Losses
Aug. 17, 2016—Charles Cannon, M.D., HS ‘64, ‘74, died Feb. 17. He is survived by his wife, Ruth; children, Windsor, Julia and Grady; and six grandchildren. C. Whitney Caulkins Jr., M.D., HS ‘48, died Jan. 20. He was 93. Dr. Caulkins is preceded in death by his wife, Jennie, and is survived by his children, Dave and...
Alumni News
Aug. 17, 2016—1950s Richard Lester, M.D., ‘53, HS ‘54, BA ‘50, was awarded the Samuel Buford Word Award at the Alabama Medical Association meeting. The award is presented in recognition of service to humanity beyond the scope of medical practice, with such service having been rendered at some personal sacrifice. Paul Huchton, M.D., ‘58, HS ‘59, has...
Faces and Places
Aug. 17, 2016—
Losses
Feb. 25, 2016—Arthur Anderson Jr., M.D., ‘50, HS ‘52, FE ‘55, died July 4, 2015. He is survived by his wife, Bonnie; children, Arthur, Charlotte, Michael and James. Samuel Boellner, M.D., HS ‘63, died Sept. 5, 2015. He was 80. Dr. Boellner is survived by his wife, Marilyn; stepchildren, Karen and Eric; and seven step-grandchildren. Marion Carnes,...