2025, Issue II
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1970s
Leo A. Gordon, ’73 MD, and Daniel Gardner, ’73 MD, have created the Medics Musings podcast, offering a humorous and insightful look at their careers 50 years after graduating from Feinberg. The podcast is designed for Feinberg alumni, providing a stimulating and entertaining reflection on the medical profession from their unique perspectives. With a natural connection among Northwestern alumni, they believe this podcast will resonate with the broader alumni community. Medics Musings is available on Apple Podcasts.
Leo A. Gordon, ’73 MD, has had a new fiction piece published in the Hektoen International Journal. Titled “Meshamorphosis,” the story reimagines Franz Kafka’s Metamorphosis through a surgical lens — offering a creative and clinical twist that caught the attention of the journal’s editors. A retired surgeon and longtime writer, Gordon explores the intersection of medicine and the humanities in this piece.
Sandra A. Carson, ’75, ’77 MD, ’81 GME, has been named the 2025 Distinguished Alumnae of Northwestern University Award recipient. To be awarded this fall, this prestigious annual honor recognizes an outstanding alumna who has brought distinction to Northwestern University through exceptional achievements and national recognition in their field. Carson, the 50th recipient, is celebrated for her contributions to medicine and extraordinary leadership.
Richard Schlegel, ’75 MD, ’74 PhD, was awarded the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine Distinguished Medical Alumni Award at Alumni Weekend 2025. Created in 1998 by then-vice president and dean of the medical school Harvey Colten, this award is presented annually to recognize an alum whose outstanding professional achievements bring honor to the medical school and merit special recognition. Schlegel is director of the Center for Cellular Reprogramming and the Oscar B. Hunter Endowed Chair of the Department of Pathology at Georgetown University Medical School.
Stephen M. Stahl, ’75 MD, PhD, has established the Stephen M. Stahl Center for Psychiatric Neuroscience at Northwestern University. His generous gift aims to advance research on psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia, PTSD, and bipolar disorder.
Tina Hittenberger, ’75 CERT, served as the keynote speaker at the 2025 Northwestern University Prosthetics and Orthotics Center graduation ceremony (NUPOC). A distinguished alum, Ms. Hittenberger earned her orthotics certification after completing an orthotics course at Northwestern in 1975, becoming one of the first women ever to do so. Her dedication to advancing the field is reflected in the Hittenberger Legacy Fund Scholarship, which provides critical support for NUPOC students. Through her leadership and generosity, she continues to shape the future of care in the orthotics and prosthetics profession.
1980s
Thomas W. Gardner, MD, ’83 ’84 GME, has been honored with the 2025 Outstanding Science Alumni Award from Pennsylvania State University’s Eberly College of Science. Gardner serves as professor of ophthalmology and visual sciences, molecular and integrative physiology, and internal medicine at the University of Michigan. He also is a senior scholar at the A. Alfred Taubman Medical Research Institute and scientific co-director of the Mary Tyler Moore Vision Initiative. A clinician–scientist, Gardner has made significant contributions to precision medicine in ophthalmology, particularly around diabetic retinal disease
Jeffrey Sherman, MD, ’83 ’85 GME, Medical Alumni Association Board member, was recently acknowledged in The Inner Circle as a Pinnacle Lifetime Member for his contributions to medical innovations and advocacy. With more than 25 years of pharmaceutical experience, Sherman specializes in regulatory and clinical strategy and therapeutic development for rare diseases. From 2009 to 2023, he served as executive vice president and chief medical officer at Horizon Therapeutics, a global biotechnology company focused on medicines for rare, autoimmune, and severe inflammatory diseases.
Brian Lewis, ’86 MD, reached his 21st year leading clinical reviews of industry proposals for clinical trials and approvals of next-generation pacemakers and defibrillators in the U.S. Lewis practices weekly, including at the VA Medical Center in Washington, D.C., where he takes care of veterans with atrial fibrillation and heart failure and works to prevent cardiac arrest — work that he said puts it all into perspective.
Silvia Sara Canetto, ’87 PhD, was elected fellow of the Society for General Psychology in recognition of her outstanding and sustained interdisciplinary contributions to understanding historical, societal, and cultural processes in individual and social life. Established in 1945, the Society for General Psychology honors excellence across the field. Canetto is a professor of psychology at Colorado State University in Fort Collins and an affiliate professor at the Colorado School of Public Health.
Leonard J. Bernstein, ’87, ’91 MD, ’92 ’95 GME, has been appointed medical director of Laser & Skin Surgery of New York. Bernstein also serves as assistant clinical professor of dermatology at New York Hospital/Cornell Medical Center and holds an appointment in the Department of Plastic Surgery/Dermatology at Mount Sinai Hospital/New York Eye and Ear Infirmary.
1990s
David T. Chung, ’94 ’98 MD, has been re-appointed as a member of the Illinois State Board of Health. For over 20 years, Chung has practiced general family medicine at Sparta Community Hospital, serving rural Southern Illinois. He was recently named medical health officer for the Randolph County Health Department and mentors students as a community physician preceptor at the University of Illinois College of Medicine at Rockford.
2000s
Kelly L. Morrison, MD, ’01 GME, was recently appointed to the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs and the House Committee on Small Business. U.S. Rep. Morrison (MN-03) also serves on the Reproductive Freedom Caucus and as co-chair of the Democratic Women’s Caucus Reproductive Health Task Force. Sworn into Congress on January 3, she joined six other Democratic physicians to launch the Congressional Doctors Caucus.
Monica E. Rho, ’01 ’05 MD, ’09 GME, was featured by the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago as part of its Women in Science exhibit in honor of Women’s History Month. Rho is the Reva and David Logan Section Chief of Musculoskeletal Medicine, director of residency training, and director of Women’s Sports Medicine at the Shirley Ryan AbilityLab and associate professor of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. Rho also serves as head physician for the U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team and accompanied the team to the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, where they won the gold medal.
Nupur Ghoshal, ’01 PhD, ’03 MD, Medical Alumni Association Board Past President, was recently featured in a New York Times article on groundbreaking research into frontotemporal dementia. The article highlights collaborative efforts at Washington University in St. Louis, where Ghoshal is a professor of neurology, to advance understanding of genetic mutations and develop innovative approaches for testing new treatments.
Leena Bhattacharya Mithal, ’04 ’08 MD, ’15 GME, ’16 MS, is the lead author of a recent study exploring how umbilical cord blood biomarkers may improve care for preterm infants. The study suggests that identifying specific biomarkers could help predict complications in preterm infants, ultimately advancing neonatal care strategies. Mithal is associate professor of Pediatrics in the Division of Infectious Diseases at Feinberg.
Colleen D. Fant, ’08 MD, MPH, ’19 GME, has been named co-director of the Center for Global Pediatric Health at the Robert J. Havey, MD Institute for Global Health. Fant is assistant professor of Pediatrics in the Division of Emergency Medicine at Feinberg and an attending physician at the Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago. Fant’s leadership at the Center will include collaborative efforts with Lurie Children’s.
2010s
Brian J. Miller, ’11 MD, was promoted to associate professor of medicine at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland. Miller also was appointed to the Board of Trustees for the North Carolina State Health Plan, a $3 billion per year organization providing coverage to over 700,000 state employees, their dependents, and retirees.
Travis Gayles, MD, PhD, ’12 GME, was recently appointed chief executive officer of Howard Brown Health in Chicago. Gayles brings extensive experience in public health, healthcare policy, and clinical practice, having previously served as chief health and medical officer for large public and private healthcare entities.
Niccolo Emanuele Mencacci, MD, PhD, ’21 GME, was recently featured in Northwestern Now for his role in identifying key genes involved in Parkinson’s disease using CRISPR technology. Mencacci is assistant professor in the Division of Movement Disorders in the Ken and Ruth Davee Department of Neurology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. He co-authored a large-scale study that pinpointed new genetic contributors to the disease, paving the way for more precise therapeutic targets. His work represents a major step forward in understanding the genetic architecture of Parkinson’s.
