• Current Issue

The UI Carver College of Medicine quarterly alumni magazine

Spring 2007

• Foreword
• Alumni Profile
• Remembering George Bedell
• Distinguished Alumni Awards
• Match list 2007
• Sharing goals, sharing space
• Change as opportunity
• Feelings and addiction
• A match made in Iowa
• News Briefs
• Alumni news
• Calendar
• In memoriam

Alumni News

Nick Thompson, anesthesiology, (left), and Cari Wilcox, emergency medicine, (right), open their match letters to learn they will begin residencies at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center in Winston-Salem, N.C.

1940s

Hanley F. Jenkins (’44 BA, ’47 MD) lives in West Des Moines and hopes to see many of his former classmates at the MD Class of 1947 reunion this summer.

Buren W. Krahling (’47 MD) lives in Redding, Calif. He practiced family medicine for almost 50 years, retiring in 1983. He has four children and seven grandchildren.

1950s

Wayne C. Mercer (’50 BA, ’52 MD) helped to establish the North Central Guidance Clinic in northern Wisconsin and provided psychiatric consultation to communities in the area. He and his wife, Vernelle, have three sons and eight grandchildren.

Robert T. Soper (’52 MD, ’58 R) and his wife, Hélène, live in Iowa City, and have six children who are in the following careers, an obstetrician/gynecologist at the University of North Carolina; a professional musician who plays guitar; a department head of minimally invasive surgery at Northwestern University; a teacher/linguist in French and Russian; a urologist in private practice and a professional violinist.

Pierce A. Cornelius (’53 BA, ’57 MD, ’62 R) is retired and has volunteered for several medical trips to Africa, Latvia, Columbia, El Salvador, the Caribbean, and Guatemala. He lives in Oregon from June to September and in Arizona for the remainder of the year.

Richard A. Damon (’57 MD) retired from active medical practice in 2000 and currently resides in Bozeman, Mont. He participated in medical mission trips to Jamaica in 2005 and 2006, has been a mentor since 2003 for the Children’s Advancement Program, and is a medical coordinator at the Pregnancy Caring Center of Gallatin Valley, Inc., in Bozeman. In his free time he enjoys fly-fishing, skiing, piano and hiking.

Richard A. Pfohl (’57 MD) was an internist at the Park Nicollet Clinic in Minneapolis, Minn., for 36 years, retiring in 2001. He was a clinical associate professor at the University of Minnesota and formerly attended at Minneapolis City Hospital (now Hennepin County Medical Center), the Minneapolis VA Medical Center, and at the Endocrinology and Diabetes Clinic at the University of Minnesota Medical Center.

1960s

Paul L. Rohlf (’59 BA, ’62 MD, ’70 R) of Davenport, Iowa is semi-retired from Urological Associates, PC, the practice he joined upon completing residency in 1969. He no longer sees patients, but provides administrative assistance and serves as the surgical assistant on the practice’s major cases. His son, David P. Rohlf, (’90 MD), also practices at Urological Associates, PC in Davenport.

Robert G. Slawson (’62 MD) is retired and living in Columbia, Md., but continues to stay active by working part time in the Department of Radiation Oncology at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. In September 2006, his book, “Prologue to Change: African-American Physicians in the Civil War Era,” was published. He is a master docent at the National Museum of Civil War Medicine in Frederick, Md.

Robert C. Smith (’59 BA, ’62 MD, ’68 R) is working full time and active in supervising inpatient medical services for residents six to eight weeks during the year and for two resident clinics each week. He no longer sees patients, but spends the balance of his time in research/scholarly activity developing an evidence-based, patient-centered interviewing method.

Merlin G. Osborn (’63 MD, ’68 R) practiced anesthesia in Cedar Rapids from 1968-1995 and is past president of the Iowa Society of Anesthesiologists. He enjoys traveling and staying active.

James A. Merchant (’66 MD) is the dean of the University of Iowa College of Public Health. He recently announced that he will step down from his position in July 2008, but will remain a faculty member in the College of Public Health.

Joseph A. Bodensteiner (’67 MD, ’74 R) is a senior general surgeon in the surgery department of the Ministry Medical Group in Rhinelander, Wisc.

Margaret Siska holds a basket of one dollar bills from her classmates for patiently waiting on Match Day. Siska was the last student called to receive her match letter offering a pediatrics residency at Yale-New Haven Medical Center in New Haven, Conn.

J. Gary Lee (’64 BS, ’67 MD, ’73 MS, ’73 R) resides in Greensboro, N.C. He worked at Womack Army Hospital in Ft. Bragg, N.C. from 1973-1975, and then worked for the otolaryngology private practice group he established, until his retirement in June 2006.

L. Jackson Roberts, II (’69 MD) received the Earl Sutherland Prize from Vanderbilt University for discovering isoprostanes, products of free radical catalyzed lipid peroxidation. The award is Vanderbilt’s highest honor given to a scientist. He also received a Discovery Award from the Society of Free Radical Research, an endowed chair from Vanderbilt University Medical Center, and will receive a Distinguished Alumni Award for Achievement from UI Carver College of Medicine in June.

1970s

Charlene M. Doehla Elbert (’71 MedT, ’72 BS) was awarded a 2006 Outstanding Staff Award from the UI Staff Council. She is the assistant laboratory manager for the DeGowin Blood Center.

Donna Stahl (’71 MD) resides in Cincinnati, Ohio and is a self-employed surgeon.

Larry T. Mahoney (’73 MD, ’76 R, ’79 F) of Iowa City is a pediatrician at University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics.

Steven O. Kading (’70 BS, ’74 MD) works as a gastroenterologist at Greeley Gastroenterology in Greeley, Colo.

Molly Solorzano (left) matched at Mayo Graduate School of Medicine in Scottsdale, Ariz.

Carol A. Aschenbrener (’68 MS, ’75 R) has been promoted to executive vice president of the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC). She will direct the internal operations of the AAMC and continue to lead its division of medical education.

Kevin P. Hogan (’76 MD) is an associate professor and residency director of dermatology at Georgetown University Hospital.

Justin Weis, student body president, has his shirt signed by classmate, Emily Porter, on Match Day. Weis matched to University of Rochester-Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester, N.Y. in internal medicine. Porter will begin an emergency medicine residency at Maimonides Medical Center in Brooklyn, N.Y.

David G. Meyers (’76 MD) is professor of internal medicine and preventive medicine at Kansas University School of Medicine. He recently was named a Top Cardiologist by the Consumer Research Council of America and a Super Doctor by KC Magazine, and is certified by the American Boards of Internal Medicine, Clinical Lipidology, Cardiology, and Preventive Medicine. He is a fellow of several specialty societies, a member of the editorial boards of Heart Drug and the Journal of Clinical Lipidology, published in many scientific journals and has written books, including the Meyers’ Kansas City Restaurant Reviews. His interests include being a restaurant groupie, collecting wine, reading history, and playing in a 60s and 70s rock band.

Michael K. O’Hara (’67 BA, ’76 PhD) retired from Pfizer, Inc., after working 20 years in the pharmaceutical industry. He is working as a consultant for the Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Public Health Emergency Medical Countermeasures in Washington D.C., supporting the Pandemic Influenza Preparedness program.

Corrine L. Mikkelson Ganske (’77 MD) is director of the Iowa Lutheran Hospital’s Family Medicine Residency Program in Des Moines.

1980s

Cassandra S. Foens (’83 BS, ’87 MD, ’92 R) resides in Waterloo, Iowa and is a radiation oncologist. She was recently elected to the American College of Radiology’s Board of Chancellors.

John Tsuang (’83 MS, ’87 MD) has been promoted to clinical professor in the Department of Psychiatry, Geffen School of Medicine at University of California, Los Angeles. He is the director of the Dual Diagnosis Treatment Program at Harbor/UCLA Medical Center. He and his wife, Caroline have three children, Lizzy, Naomi, and Tiffany.

Family medicine students and their families gather for a photo on Match Day 2007.

Neil K. Manago (’89 R) practices anesthesiology at Physicians Anesthesia Service, Inc., in Honolulu, Hawaii. He is a cofounder of the group, and is chief of the Department of Surgery at Kapi’olani Medical Center at Pali Momi, and a member of the board of trustees for the Hawaii Association of Physicians Industry. He has been named on the Best Doctors – State of Hawaii list each year since 2004 and on the Best Doctors of America list since 2005.

Jean M. Ryan (’89 DI) is a pediatric dietician for the Department of Food and Nutrition Sciences at the University of Iowa Children’s Hospital. She received a 2006 University of Iowa Outstanding Staff Award.

1990s

Stanton Berberich (’90 PhD) works for the UI Hygienic Laboratory as the newborn screening program manager. He is a recipient of a 2006 Board of Regents Staff Excellence Award.

Timothy H. Holtz (’91 MD) is a medical epidemiologist assigned to the International Research and Programs Branch, Division of Tuberculosis Elimination at the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta, serves as a commander in the U.S. Public Health Service, and is an adjunct assistant professor of global health at the Rollins School of Public Health and an adjunct clinical assistant professor of family and preventive medicine at Emory University. He traveled the world working on tuberculosis (TB), and was on a team of epidemiologists that in 2005 named a new threat facing global TB control, a drug-resistant tuberculosis. Author of many scholarly articles, he has been a contributing author to two books and coeditor of the third edition of the Textbook of International Health.

Sanjay Gupta (’94 F) is vice president of the Psychiatric Network in Olean, N.Y.

Robin J. Goldsmith (’95 R, ’96 F) is practicing anesthesiology at Theda Clark Medical Center. She won a research award from the Society of Obstetric Anesthesia and Perinatology, and is a delegate to the American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA), a board member of the Wisconsin Society of Anesthesiologists, and a consultant for the OB anesthesia ASA task force. She has four children.

Tara J. Belsare (’96 MD) practices psychiatry at the Community Treatment and Rehabilitation Center in Binghamton, N.Y., and lives in Endicott, N.Y.

Jason Rexroth (’98 MD) is in private practice in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. He has two sons, Jaxon, 4 and Jevin, 2, and welcomed a daughter, Taylor Rose, in September 2006.

Colin M. Mattiace (’96 BS, ’99 MPT, ’99 CER) is a physical therapist and facility manager at Athletico Sports Medicine and Physical Therapy Center in Chicago.

2000s

Katherine E. Davey (’00 MPT) resides in Urbandale, Iowa and is a physical therapist for Mercy Clinics in Ankeny. She and her husband, John, welcomed a daughter, Zoe Elinor, on Nov. 20, 2006. Two weeks prior to the birth, she took and passed the Certified Hand Therapist exam.

Brian C. Cooper (’03 R) completed his fellowship in reproductive endocrinology at the University of Vermont College of Medicine.?He’s published 21 peer-reviewed articles and practices at Mid-Iowa Fertility in Clive, Iowa.?He and his wife, Sarah, have four children, Stephen, 6, Jenna, 4, Kelsey, 4 and Logan, 2.

Wenny Jean (’04 MPH, ’04 R) of Merced, Calif., is a physician at the John C. Fremont Hospital in Mariposa, Calif.

Rajmani Krishnan (’04 F) is an anesthesiologist for Nassau University Medical Center in East Meadow, N.Y. He describes his training in regional anesthesia and pain medicine at UIHC as “phenomenal” and he has brought newer pain management techniques to his current institution.

Eric Crabtree (’05 R) served as an anesthesiologist for Operation Iraqi Freedom from 2006-2007. He was published in Regional Anesthesia and Pain Medicine in July 2006.

Noordhoff Finds Fulfillment through Helping Children

The University of Iowa Alumni Association will honor M. Samuel Noordhoff ('54 MD) with a 2007 UI Distinguished Alumni Award for service during the Alumni Reunion Weekend in June. Twelve UI alumni, faculty, and friends will be honored at the event.

Noordhoff is recognized as a world leader in cleft lip and palate surgery, working with countless children in Southeast Asia, for more than 40 years. He practiced at the Chang Gung Hospital where he developed the department of plastic surgery and a craniofacial center specializing in the treatment of cleft lip and palate and associated craniofacial deformities for indigent children. In 1990, he established the Noordhoff Craniofacial Foundation which supports the medical missionary that has healed more than 10,000 children in Taiwan.

“I spent my first five years in Taiwan as a general surgeon in a mission hospital. During that time I noticed there were a lot of children with unoperated cleft lips and palates,” said Noordhoff. “It also was apparent that those who had surgery had very poor results. I went back to the United States and completed a residency in plastic surgery. When I returned to Taiwan, I devoted all my attention to the field of plastic surgery and children in particular. It has been a challenge and joy for me.”

Noordhoff also has trained hundreds of doctors in the Phillipines, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Myanmar in craniofacial surgery techniques.

“I had no idea I had been nominated for a UI Distinguished Alumni Award and was totally surprised when I found out I was selected to receive the award,” said Noordhoff. “I know this is a prestigious honor and there are many well-qualified alumni who have contributed a lot to science and humanitarian needs.”