Alumni Reconnect at Annual Reunion Celebration
Graduates from around the world join their classmates for a fun-filled weekend
By Julie Levin
Photographs by Jenny Abreu
Marking their 35th reunion, members of the Class of 1985 celebrate at the Reunions Banquet.
A record-setting number of medical alumni returned to the University of Miami March 6-7 to reunite and reconnect at the Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine’s Medical Alumni Weekend 2020. Traveling from around the country, and the world, they came for a weekend of reunions, celebrations, and seminars, all of which began with a welcome reception at Monty’s Raw Bar in Coconut Grove.
“Welcome back to the Miller School!” said Ana I. Gonzalez, M.D. ’85, president of the Medical Alumni Association. “Your involvement is the reason the Miller School is one of the best medical schools in the country.”
Throughout the weekend, alumni headed back to campus for student-led tours of the Miller School and continuing medical education courses that featured the latest research from UM faculty members.
The classes celebrating milestone years enjoyed a private reception where they mingled with former classmates: the Class of 1960 celebrated its 60th reunion, the Class of 1970 marked 50 years.
Miller School alumni enjoyed the welcome reception at Monty’s Raw Bar.
Banquets and Dancing
The main event was the Reunions Banquet at the InterContinental Miami Hotel, which drew more than 300 people. The banquet went late into the night with dancing that celebrated the Classes of 1960, 1965, 1970, 1975, 1980, 1985, 1990, 1995, 2000, 2005, and 2010.
“An alumni network like ours is an enormous asset to an academic institution,” said UM President Julio Frenk, M.D., M.P.H., Ph.D. “They are part of our community and are the role models for our aspiring physicians.”
President Frenk also shared details of NextGenMD, the Miller School’s new curriculum, which will go into effect this summer, and the University’s plans to push forward with architectural drawings for a new education and research facility that will provide the space and technology needed to enhance the new curriculum.
Dean Henri R. Ford, M.D., M.H.A., welcomed alumni back to South Florida and said the Miller School is on a quest to be one of the truly elite research medical schools in the country.
A Renaissance
“The Miller School is undergoing a renaissance,” said Dean Ford, who is also the chief academic officer of the Miller School. “Great things are happening in every domain, whether in clinical areas, research or education.”
He highlighted clinical areas such as Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center, which received the prestigious National Cancer Institute (NCI) designation in July; Bascom Palmer Eye Institute’s number one ranking for the 16th year in a row, top 20 U.S. News & World Report rankings for two Miller School departments, Neurology and Dermatology and Cutaneous Surgery, which is led by alumnus Robert S. Kirsner, M.D. ’88; and a top 10 ranking for the Department of Otolaryngology, which is chaired by alumnus Fred F. Telischi, M.D. ’85.
“I am glad you are all part of our expanding and vibrant legacy,” Dean Ford said.
Classmates reconnected remembering their days as aspiring physicians at the Miller School and also celebrated one of their own. Marc K. Rosenblum, M.D. ’79, chief of neuropathology at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and professor of pathology and laboratory medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine – Cornell University, was honored with the Medical Alumni Association’s annual Hall of Fame award for his groundbreaking work in the delineation of novel brain tumor types.
For more information on alumni events and news, visit http://www.alumni.med.miami.edu/.
Marc K. Rosenblum, M.D. ’79, winner of the Hall of Fame Award.
