Class Notes
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 of marriage on June 10 with his wife, author and poet Lois Greene Stone. Stone is a pioneer in hemodialysis for patients with chronic renal disease; he studied under the machine’s inventor before using it on patients in 1963. The Stones have three children, 15 grandchildren and six great-grandchildren, with two more due in September.
1960s
David J. Drutz, MD, HS’65, FE’67, serves as a member of the board of directors of Altimmune, Inc., and president of Pacific Biopharma Associates, LLC. In recognition of outstanding contributions to his profession, Drutz has been featured on the Marquis Who’s Who Lifetime Achievers website.
1970s
Jack Rosenblatt, MD’74, BA’69, has been named medical director of Corsica River Mental Health Services. Rosenblatt will be responsible for maintaining appropriate standards for treatment, including therapeutic modalities and prescribing practices.
John Greer, MD’76, BA’72, FE’82, contributed to the newly published 14th edition of “Wintrobe’s Clinical Hematology” (2019), which was solely authored for the first six editions. Greer has been an editor for the 11th through the 14th editions.
Vaughn A. Starnes, MD, HS’77, FE’79, was appointed as the 100th president of the American Association for Thoracic Surgery in May.
Bruce Jones, MD’78, FACS, has been named metabolic and bariatric surgery director at NEA Baptist in Jonesboro, Arkansas.
Andre Churchwell, MD, BS’75, illustrated “The Cardiac Crusaders,” a graphic novel created to help improve the health of hypertension patients.
1980s
Arthur Fleischer, MD, FAC, HS’80, FE’81, medical director of Ultrasound and Cornelius Vanderbilt Professor, Departments of Radiology and Obstetrics and Gynecology, received the Laurence (Larry) A. Mack Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2018 Society of Radiologists in Ultrasound (SRU) Annual Meeting held October 2018 in San Diego. He was recognized for his contributions to the clinical applications of ultrasound through teaching and research.
Agnes Fogo, MD’81 HS’87, received the Roscoe R. Robinson award for outstanding achievements in the field of education in nephrology and medicine at the April World Congress of Nephrology. She will serve as president-elect of the International Society of Nephrology from 2019 to 2021, and then as president from 2021 to 2023.
Phillip Ashley Wackym, MD’85, was selected by the Prosper Ménière Society as its Gold Medal Award recipient at the 19th International Symposium on Inner Ear Disorders. The award is given to a member of the academic community who has furthered the goals of the society through research, scientific innovation and contributions to the investigation of inner ear disorders.
Mace Rothenberg, MD, HS’85, was appointed chief medical officer of Pfizer. Prior to his appointment as CMO, Rothenberg served as chief development officer for oncology at Pfizer and was awarded the first Craig A. Saxton Lifetime Achievement Award by Pfizer in October 2018.
Christopher Payne, MD’86, chair of The Wordwide Fistula Fund, recently traveled to Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, to give the local physicians additional training in obstetric fistulas.
Julie C. Fanburg-Smith, MD’88, an academic surgical pathologist who specializes in bone and soft tissue pathology, hematopathology and adult and pediatric pathology, was recently selected secretary of the International Society for Bone and Soft Tissue Pathology of the United States and Canadian Academy of Pathology. After many years as deputy chair and director of education at the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, she is practicing Anatomic Pathology at Penn State Health in Hershey, Pennsylvania.
Chip Routt, MD, HS’88, is the recipient of the 2019 Leonard Tow Humanism in Medicine Award presented by the Arnold P. Gold Foundation. Rout is a professor in the Department of Orthopedic Surgery at McGovern Medical School (Texas Medical Center).
1990s
Mark R. McIlwain, MD’90, HS’92, DMD, was elected secretary and treasurer of the Alabama Board of Dental Examiners for 2019. McIlwain lectures throughout Alabama on the proper use of opiates in dentistry.
M. Kevin Smith, MD’90, PhD’91, HS’97, MMHA’11, assistant professor of Clinical Medicine, was named president-elect of the Tennessee Medical Association (TMA). He will serve as president from May 2020 to May 2021. Smith was elected by more than 1,100 members who voted in the 2019 leadership elections. The TMA is the state’s largest professional association for physicians and serves 9,000 members.
Ted Anderson, MD’93, PhD’85, HS’98, was named president of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists in May.
Stephen Siegel, MD’93, joined Boulder Medical Center in Boulder, Colorado, in February.
Daniel Lim, MD’94, Pritt Family Endowed Chair in Prostate Cancer Research, is professor and chief of Urologic Oncology and director of the Institute for Prostate Cancer Research (IPCR) at the University of Washington.
Judson Brandeis, MD’95, is the director of Clinical Excellence for GAINSWave and is conducting the largest clinical research study on shockwave therapy for erectile dysfunction. He appeared on “The Doctors” television show in January.
Mitch Steiner, MD, FE’95, launched the oncology and urology biopharmaceutical company Veru, Inc., where he serves as chairman, president and chief executive officer. The company has offices in Florida, London, Amsterdam and Malaysia and is Steiner’s second public biotechnology company.
Henry Wilson, MD’96, was elected to a two-year term as chair of the board of Centra Medical Group, a 450-provider multispecialty group associated with Centra Health, Inc., in central Virginia.
Kristian (Kris) Olson, MD’98, was added to the South Kamloops Secondary School Hall of Fame for making a significant impact on society. He received the Society for Hospital Medicine’s 2019 Award of Excellence in Humanitarian Services and is an associate professor at Harvard University.
2000s
Morgan McDonald, MD’03, BA’99, FACP, FAAP, has been appointed deputy commissioner for population health for the Tennessee Department of Health (TDH). McDonald had been serving as interim deputy commissioner since October 2018. She previously served as assistant commissioner for family health and wellness, a role in which she led TDH efforts in maternal and child health, chronic disease prevention, health promotion and supplemental nutrition.
Airron Richardson, MD’04, MBA’05, is co-founder and the chief medical officer of Premier Urgent Care and Occupational Health Center in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Chicago.
Keith Gray, MD, HS’05, is a surgical oncologist and the new chief medical officer of University of Tennessee Medical Center. Gray has been at UT Medical Center since 2007, and in his new role, will oversee the clinical vision and direction of the medical center; enact policies and protocols to further improve patient care; and promote wellness and success for physicians and staff.
Michael Hooper, MD’04, MSCI’11, was recently named vice president of medical affairs at Sentara Norfolk General Hospital. Brooke Hooper, MD’07, BS’03, is the associate dean for clinical education at Eastern Virginia Medical School. They live in Norfolk, Virginia, with their two children, Maddie and Ben.
Jonathan Kropski, MD’08 HS’11 FE’15, is assistant professor of Medicine and Cell and Developmental Biology at Vanderbilt and the recipient of a 2018 Clinical Scientist Development Award from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation.
Jill Streams, MD’09, FE’18, joined the Medical College of Wisconsin as an assistant professor of Surgery in the Division of Trauma and Acute Care Surgery in September 2018. Streams and her husband, Michael, moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, with their children, Lorelai, 6, and Alexander, 2.
2010s
Atuhani Seth Burnett, PhD’07, MD’10, HS’10, joined the Banner MD Anderson Cancer Center at North Colorado Medical Center and McKee Medical Center. He specializes in surgical oncology with a focus on gastrointestinal malignancies in Greeley and Loveland, Colorado.
Emory Hsu, MD’13, will be finishing an endocrinology fellowship at Emory University and starting an academic position at Santa Clara Valley Medical Center in Silicon Valley in the fall.
William “Billy” Sullivan, MD’13, MEd’13, HS’19 and his wife, Elisabeth, welcomed their third child, William Mautner Sullivan. He joins big sisters Amelia, 4, and Mary Claire, 6. Sullivan is finishing his internal medicine Chief Resident year and will be joining the VUSM faculty as assistant professor of Internal Medicine and Pediatrics.
Brian Heiniger, MD’15, and his wife, Anne Hartman Heiniger, welcomed their son, Lincoln, in June 2018. Heiniger completed his ophthalmology residency at University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in June and began work at Grin Eye Care in Olathe, Kansas, in August.
Abhi Saxena, MD, HS’15, has been named medical director of inpatient services for Vanderbilt Psychiatric Hospital.
Emily Zern, MD’15, BA’11, moved to Los Angeles to begin a cardiology fellowship at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.
Daniel Arteaga, MD’16, will begin a vascular neurology fellowship at Stanford University in July 2020.
Stephen C. Dorner, MD’16, will marry Alicia D’Alba in October in Nantucket, Massachusetts. Dorner is entering his last year of residency training in the Brigham and Women’s/Massachusetts General Harvard Affiliated Emergency Medicine residency and serves as the resident member to the board of directors for the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine.
Annette Ilg, MD’16, completed a Harvard Affiliated Emergency Medicine residency, where she was Chief Resident, and began her anesthesia critical care fellowship in July at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.
Leonela Villegas, MD’16, finished her pediatric residency at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia in June and will continue her training as a nephrology fellow at the hospital. She completed two months of her residency in the Dominican Republic with a clinical and quality improvement focus, which incorporated her passion for global health.
Maria de Lourdes Sturchler, MD’17, was selected Chief Resident of the Kaiser Permanente San Diego Emergency Medicine Residency Program. She also welcomed a shih tzu named Cosmo.
Benjamin Li, MD’18 MBA’18, recently gave a guest presentation at a medical school in Colombia about a rise to action for promoting cancer care collaboration in Latin America. He is enjoying balancing building this new nonprofit organization and staying connected to VUSM students while doing his intern year.
Jillian Berkman, MD’18, married James Greer on April 13.
Nic Katsantonis, MD, HS’18, and his wife, Allison, welcomed their first child, Arthur Katasantonis, on Feb. 8, 2018. The family moved to Raleigh, North Carolina, in July 2018, where Katsantonis began his first attending position as an otolaryngologist with Raleigh Capitol Ear, Nose and Throat.
Jacob VanHouten, MD’18, PhD’16, will participate in the 2019 University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) mHealth Summer Training Institute, which consists of problem-based, team science projects that build on a didactic core curriculum in mHealth perspectives and methodologies to address major human health problems. VanHouten is the only resident physician participating in this year’s invitation-only institute.