Progress Notes

1950s

Ruth Benson, ’55 BSN, writes, “I graduated with a BS in Nursing in 1955. I have been living in Fairbanks, Alaska, since 1960 and retired from a position as a contract nurse practitioner in family planning at the Fairbanks Regional Health Center in 1992. Before that, I had been a nurse practitioner in college health at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Most of my university work took place at St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota, for the three years before I enrolled at Evanston Hospital in 1952. It all seems extremely remote now!”

1960s

Michael L. Friedman, ’67 MD, shared memories from the Chicago Maternity Center after reading about a novel set there written by David Kerns, ’68 MD. Friedman writes, “We spent two weeks going into the West Side neighborhoods of Chicago to deliver babies under the most primitive conditions — often without any electric lights. I can remember it as though it was yesterday.

We went in pairs with a nurse, and each of us wore our short, white medical school jacket and carried our black doctor bag. We also carried red rubber gloves, which had to be boiled and dried off to be sterile. At night, we went with a police escort.

To this day, I still have my Maxwell Street Dispensary diploma from the Chicago Maternity Center hanging on the wall of my office. I am still working as an OB-GYN for UCLA Health in Torrance, California.”

Charles F. Koopmann Jr., ’69 MD, was presented with the Bicentennial Faculty Governance Lifetime Achievement Award at the University of Michigan. Now retired from the university, Koopman led the pediatric division of the Department of Otolaryngology and also served on the advisory board for intercollegiate athletics.

To this day, I still have my Maxwell Street Dispensary diploma from the Chicago Maternity Center hanging on the wall of my office. I am still working as an OB-GYN for UCLA Health in Torrance, California.

Michael L. Friedman, ’67 MD

1970s

James (Jim) E. Bourdeau, ’73 PhD, ’74 MD, received the Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award from Marquis Who’s Who. Following a career that encompassed basic research in renal physiology, clinical practice in nephrology and kidney transplantation, and service on the American Board of Internal Medicine’s Test-Writing Committee in the subspecialty of nephrology, Bourdeau has retired in Satellite Beach, Florida, while spending as much time as he can find in Quebec City, Canada.

David Green, MD, ’74 PhD, professor emeritus of Medicine in the Division of Hematology and Oncology at Feinberg, was recently selected to receive the “Walk in Our Shoes” Award from the Bleeding Disorders Alliance of Illinois.

1980s

Richard B. Lanman, ’81 MD, a biotechnology entrepreneur, was named to the board of directors for BIOLASE, Inc., a dental laser company.

Above, right: Boris Lushniak ’83 MD, MPH
Boris Lushniak ’83 MD, MPH, was recognized by the American Medical Association (AMA) with a Distinguished Service Award for his contributions to the field of public health. Lushniak played an active role in government service for nearly 30 years, having served as U.S. Surgeon General (Acting) from July 2013 to December 2014. He was also Deputy Surgeon General from 2010 to 2013 and from 2014 to 2015, as well as assistant commissioner for counterterrorism policy for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration from 2004 to 2010. AMA Chair-Elect Jack Resneck, Jr., MD, recognized Lushniak for his leadership in several disaster responses, including his role commanding the only U. S. Government hospital in Liberia treating Ebola patients during the Ebola crisis in 2015. In January 2017, Lushniak became dean of the University of Maryland School of Public Health.

Janet Prokop Pregler, ’88 MD, received for the second time in her career the “Women of the Year” award from the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors and The Los Angeles County Commission for Women.

Pregler is a nationally recognized educator and advocate in woman’s health. Director of the Iris Cantor-UCLA Women’s Health Center and a professor of Clinical Medicine at UCLA she is co-editor of the textbook “Women’s Health: Principles and Clinical Practice.” She has developed educational programs on women’s health for the American College of Physicians, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, and the Department of Health and Human Services Office on Women’s Health.

Her husband Johnathan Pregler, ’88 MD, is a professor of Anesthesiology and director of Operative Services at UCLA. He is past-president of the California Society of Anesthesiologists and active nationally with the American Society of Anesthesiologists as its representative on the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Panel on Hospital Outpatient Payment. The Preglers have three children, one currently a freshman at Northwestern University. They look forward to the upcoming alumni reunion and reuniting with classmates and friends.

1990s

Malcolm M. Bilimoria, ’91 MD, ’98 GME, a surgical oncologist at Northwest Community Hospital in Arlington Heights, Illinois, completed a 19,341-foot scale of Mount Kilimanjaro in October with his patient Ken Brown, a survivor of adenocarcinoma of the pancreas .

Left to right: Malcolm M. Bilimoria, ’91 MD, ’98 GME, and his patient Ken Brown

Michael H. Goldstein, ’93 MD, MBA, was appointed as chief medical officer for Ocular Therapeutix, a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing therapies for eye diseases and conditions.

Raymond “Ramiro” Sanchez, ’94 MD, was presented with the Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award. He is a trained psychiatrist who is senior vice president of global clinical development at Otsuka Pharmaceutical Development and Commercialization in Princeton, New Jersey.

Sheila Gujrathi, ’96 MD, was appointed to the board of directors and named as a strategic advisor for TP Therapeutics, Inc., a privately held, clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focusing on addressing oncology drug resistance.

2000s

Eugene Lin, ’07 MD, medical director of the Mercy Life Flight Network Mobile Stroke Unit and director of the annual Mercy Health Stroke Symposium, received a 2017 “20 Under 4” Leadership Recognition Award. The award recognizes individuals in northwest Ohio and southeast Michigan under the age of 40 who have distinguished themselves in their career and/or community.

2010s

Frank A. Clark, ’10 MD, has been appointed to the Dean’s Council on Advancement for the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine. The council is a committee of volunteers created to advance the stature of the medical school by providing guidance, assistance, advocacy and philanthropic investment in support of the school’s strategic objectives.

Samaa Kemal, ’17 MD, ’17 MPH, presented her culminating experience research paper at the 2017 22nd Annual Injury Free Coalition for Kids conference on December 1-3. Kemal’s presentation was awarded best research paper distinction.

Kemal’s study evaluated trends and risk factors over time for self-reported gun carrying among freshman and sophomore public school students in Chicago, New York City and Los Angeles using 2007-2013 Youth Behavioral Risk Factor data. Students reported exposure to violence and related stressors including fighting, perceptions of safety and other high-risk behaviors. The study found a much higher self-reported rate of gun carrying and a higher burden of violence exposure among Chicago respondents across all study waves. These data predate the recent (2016) surge in Chicago shootings and homicides, yet the higher rate of gun carrying in Chicago may reflect easier access to firearms as well as more intensive segregation, poverty and hopelessness than what was experienced by youth in other cities. The paper will be published in an upcoming issue of Injury Epidemiology.

GME

Robert Buckingham, MD, ’79 GME, published his second book on chronic inflammation called “Rejuvenation!: How the Capillary-Cell Dance Blocks Aging while Decreasing Pain and Fatigue” (July 2017, iUniverse), two years after his first book “Hazing Aging.”

He writes, “‘Rejuvenation!’ dives into the mechanics of how capillary cells actually support two organ systems, as they go about their business of sanitizing the interstitial space and supporting the end organ. They accomplish this task with a dynamic and complex outer membrane receptor system that has a major feedback loop relationship with their mitochondria. As they increase their permeability, mitochondria shift combustion to energy to support active transport of immune arsenal into the interstitial space. When outer membranes decrease immune arsenal trafficking, they cause mitochondria to shift combustion to nitric oxide, which chain reacts a causes a completely different set of capillary cell operations.

“This pivot and swing dance between capillary cell outer membranes and mitochondria produces powerful feedback loops that include interstitial space mesenchymal cells and the end organ itself.”

Robert Buckingham, MD, ’79 GME, discussing the topic of his new book

This pivot and swing dance between capillary cell outer membranes and mitochondria produces powerful feedback loops that include interstitial space mesenchymal cells and the end organ itself. Chronic inflammation within interstitial space disrupts these feedback loops by cannibalizing the capillary cell from the inside out by employing a combination of vascular inflammatory free radicals and the body’s own immune arsenal.”

Henry J. Przybylo, MD, ’85 GME, published “Counting Backwards: A Doctor’s Notes on Anesthesia,” a book that chronicles his career and thoughts about the specialty during his long career at Northwestern. Przybylo is an associate professor of Anesthesiology at Feinberg and a pediatric anesthesiologist at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago.
E. Dale Abel, MD, PhD, ’92 GME
Eric Mizuno, MD, ’92 GME
Laure DeMattia, MD, ‘03 GME
Susan Cohn, MD, ’87 GME, was named to the board of directors for St. Baldrick’s Foundation. She is the dean for clinical research at the University of Chicago Medicine and Biological Sciences and a professor of Pediatrics and section chief of Hematology/Oncology in the Department of Pediatrics.
E. Dale Abel, MD, PhD, ’92 GME, was elected president-elect of the Endocrine Society. His term will commence March 20, 2018, and his presidential term will begin on March 20, 2019, for one year. Abel is the Francois M. Abboud Chair in Internal Medicine at the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine.
Eric Mizuno, MD, ’92 GME, hitched a ride on a private plane and landed at a closed airport in Puerto Rico to provide medical expertise and medication just two weeks after Hurricane Maria ravaged the island in September. Mizuno’s private practice, OMNI Healthcare, serves a large Puerto Rican patient population in Chicago’s Humboldt Park, so he immediately felt called to respond to the overwhelming needs of the island’s residents. Mizuno is also a clinical assistant professor of Medicine in the Division of General Internal Medicine and Geriatrics at Feinberg.

Eric Mizuno, MD, ’92 GME, hitched a ride on a private plane and landed at a closed airport in Puerto Rico to provide medical expertise and medication just two weeks after Hurricane Maria ravaged the island in September.

Richard Lawrence Makowiec, MD, ’99 GME, joined Franciscan Physician Network Orthopedic Specialists, which is based in Indianapolis.
Laure DeMattia, MD, ‘03 GME, joined Norman Regional Health System, which is based in Oklahoma. DeMattia specializes in medical weight loss.

Melina Kibbe, MD, ’03 GME, received the prestigious Dr. Rodman L. Sheen and Thomas G. Sheen Award at the annual meeting of the New Jersey Chapter of the American College of Surgeons, held December 2, 2017, in Iselin, New Jersey. The Sheen Award is presented each year to honor individuals who have made outstanding contributions to the medical profession. Kibbe inspired attendees with her presentation of “When Mice are Men: Sex Bias in Surgical Research” during the meeting.

Kibbe was elected as a member of the National Academy of Medicine on October 14, 2017. Election to the Academy is considered one of the highest honors in the fields of health and medicine and recognizes individuals who have demonstrated outstanding professional achievement and commitment to service.

Melina Kibbe, MD, ’03 GME

Richard Zorowitz, MD, ’09 GME, was named a 2017 Top Doctor in Washington, D.C. He is a physical medicine and rehabilitation physician with the MedStar National Rehabilitation Network.

Hala Yamout, MD, ‘13 GME, received the 2017 St. Louis Veteran Affairs (VA) Medical Staff Recognition Award. Yamout is a staff physician in the Department of Nephrology at the St. Louis VA.

DPT

Patrick Blair, ‘90 BSPT, joined Olympic Physical Therapy as a physical therapist. Blair has 27 years of outpatient orthopedic experience working in the south suburbs of Chicago. His area of clinical interest is hand and upper extremity rehabilitation.

We’d love to hear from you! Please share your recent news, accomplishments and important milestones with us. 

Send your updates and high-resolution photos to medcommunications@northwestern.edu. We will publish them in an upcoming issue of the magazine.