Class Notes

Barry J. Materson, M.D. ’62, writes: “My wife and I sold our home in Kendall and moved to an independent living facility in the Orlando area in order to be closer to our family. I continue to work with Dr. Richard Preston in clinical pharmacology.”

George Shorago, M.D. ’64, is clinical associate professor of otolaryngology at Stanford Medicine. He writes, “Still working, to forestall senility!”

Norman Abrams, M.D. ’65, writes: “Approaching 85, I still have a few patients I’ll see until they die or I do, whichever comes first. Celebrated 53 years of marriage. Writing a book, Unparenting, Coping with the Heartache, for parents whose children have grown and left the nest. My daughter is a child/adolescent psychiatrist, and my son is a U.S. Attorney, and I have four wonderful grandchildren.”

Barry Festoff, M.D. ’66, is the founder and CEO of pHLOGISTIX LLC, in Kansas City, Missouri. In October, he published “The Evolving Concept of Neuro-Thromboinflammation for Neurodegenerative Disorders and Neurotrauma: A Rationale for PAR-1 Targeting Therapies” in the journal Biomolecules.

Nelson R. Zide, M.D. ’66, says that he retired in January 2021 “because [he] couldn’t chance getting COVID.” He and his wife of 13 years, Patricia, live in Hollywood, Florida.

Alfred A. Tombari, M.D., UM/Jackson Urology Resident ’68, of Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, writes: “In 2018, I was diagnosed with systemic mastocytosis with associated hematologic neoplasm. I applied to a clinical trial in November 2018 at age 85. I was accepted into the trial and began treatment with avapritinib (BLU-285) at Dana Farber Cancer Institute. Dr. Daniel Deangelo ran the study. To this date I am free of any mast cell invasion and the medication was approved by the FDA in June 2021.”

Andrew Coley, M.D. ’71, of Jacksonville, Florida, an infectious disease specialist, retired from the clinical practice of medicine but remains on the board of Travel Clinic Jacksonville. He enjoys golf and plays piano for Sunday school classes at Southside United Methodist Church.

Thomas A. Hoffeld, M.D. ’71, writes: “Enjoyed recent 50th reunion and the classmates who attended. For those who left contact info on my phone, well, somehow it all disappeared. Sorry! I’m now back at our ranch seeing the end of a long winter. Still with Cathy, wife of 51 years, and still my best decision.”

Stuart Rollin Weiss, M.D. ’71, writes: “Following internal medicine training at the University of Colorado, and endocrine at training at the University of Miami, I moved to San Diego to practice, which I did for about 28 years. About 10 years into my practice, I got involved in pharmaceutical research and was fortunate enough to publish several papers and to be interviewed on both CBS and NBC. Subsequently, I retired in 2005. Unfortunately, in 2007, I was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. Fortunately, it has been progressing very slowly. Most importantly, after being single for many years, I have found the woman I want to spend the rest of my days with. Looking back over my life, there is very little I would have changed. I was extremely fortunate professionally, to the extent that I am now heavily involved in philanthropy. I have heard an oft-repeated rumor that ‘you can’t take it with you.’ That being the case, I am now engaged in a number of philanthropic causes that I feel strongly about, including setting up the Lawrence M. Fishman Educational Support Fund at the Miller School for Dr. Lawrence M. Fishman, my mentor in endocrinology. It gives me great pleasure to be able to do this and in return, getting beautiful thank you letters and telephone calls. All in all, I feel very blessed and would change very little in my life.”

George Duvall, M.D. ’73, is a nephrologist on staff at Cleveland Clinic Indian River Hospital in Vero Beach, Florida. He notes that his practice is limited to consultation/first responder.

Ralph W. Zimmerman, M.D. ’73, is retired and living in Tallahassee, Florida.

Robert W. Thrailkill, M.D. ’74, plans to relocate from California to Orlando, Florida, in August to take a full-time position as a hospitalist at Florida Hospital South in Winter Park.

Paul Alan Wetter, M.D. ’75, is Clinical Professor Emeritus at UM/Jackson. He writes that he provides health care advice and support with TeleHelp Ukraine Team at Stanford University Medical School, a telemedicine initiative to help the suffering of the people of Ukraine and urges others to volunteer to help this important cause: www.telehelpukraine.com.”

Jerome L. Belinson, M.D., UM/Jackson Gynecologic Oncology Fellow ’77, is president of Preventive Oncology International and Professor of Surgery, Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine. He is also chief medical advisor to Frantz Viral Therapeutics.

Douglas Miller, M.D. ’78, Ph.D. ’80, is a professor and chair of the Department of Pathology and Anatomical Sciences at the University of Missouri School of Medicine in Columbia, Missouri. He is also chair of the Graduate Education Committee of the Association of Pathology Chairs, and reports that he is “still going,” with more than 180 peer-reviewed papers and chapters and three books.

Luis Maggiolo, M.D., UM/Jackson Urology Resident ’82, of Key Biscayne, Florida, shared that he retired in January 2021. He writes: “Very happy, had a great professional career!”

John Villaverde, M.D. ’82, is director of emergency medicine and adult ambulatory care at Care Now Clinics Consulting in Birmingham, Alabama.

Sheldon S. Ball, M.D. ’83, writes: “I publish a website, www.aaushi.info, for use by health care professionals free of charge. Aaushi is designed as a point-of-care reference for internal medicine and geriatrics and as a reference to find answers to board-style questions well within an allotted time of four minutes. The American Board of Internal Medicine has launched a Longitudinal Knowledge Assessment that allows physicians to complete geriatric and internal medicine board requirements at home or at work using references that they would use during the course of performing their job as a physician. There are no questions in Aaushi or references to specific questions, only the knowledge to answer the questions and the navigational tools to find the answers.”

Russell Eggert, M.D. ’84, M.P.H., retired in September 2019 from the Florida Department of Health, where he had been chief of the Bureau of Epidemiology in the Division of Disease Control and Health Protection.

Susan Snodgrass, M.D. ’84, is vice president of medical affairs at Incyte Corp. She has been with the company for five years.

Jose Antonio Stoute, M.D. ’85, writes: “I have taken a sidetrack, and I am currently enrolled in an MFA Motion Pictures program at UM. I just completed shooting my first feature film.”

Fred Telischi, M.D. ’85, is professor and James R. Chandler Chair in the Department of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery at the Miller School. He writes: “As double alums (wife Joanne, UM Law School ’83), we are proud to have the next generation of our family attending the Miller School of Medicine — our daughter Julia.”

Mario Werbin, M.D. ’85, is marking 29 years in primary care at General Practice Associates in Hollywood, Florida.

Steven Lay, M.D. ’86, retired in 2017 as president of the emergency medicine group practice at US Acute Care Solutions in Tampa. He lives in Gulfport, Florida.

William Steiner, M.D. ’86, Ph.D., is president of WWSteiner Consulting LLC in The Villages, Florida. He retired in 2018 as president/medical director of University Hospitals of Cleveland Accountable Care Organization.

Robert Kirsner, M.D. ’88, Ph.D. ’04, was recently elected vice president of the American Academy of Dermatology. He is chair and Harvey Blank Professor in the Dr. Phillip Frost Department of Dermatology and Cutaneous Surgery at the Miller School.

Adam Bright, M.D. ’90, has been an examiner with the American Board of Orthopedic Surgery since 2008. He is also part owner of Schofield, Hand, and Bright Orthopedics in Sarasota, Florida.

Rick Bundschu, M.D. ’91, was recently published the 12-month data from the Medtronic StimGenics spinal cord stimulator study in the journal Pain Practice. He writes: “I’ve been fortunate enough to have been published 10-12 times in the past few years. Recently I went to Amsterdam to teach at a cadaver course. I was the only instructor from U.S., as all the other instructors were from Europe. I was very honored and humbled.”

Doris Hamawy, M.D. ’92,  has been in private practice in Coral Springs, Florida, since 2000.

Guido Valdes, M.D. ’92, was promoted to the rank of Rear Admiral in the U.S. Navy Medical Corps and assigned as Commander of Naval Medical Forces Pacific region in San Diego.

Marc Oster, M.D. ’93, is medical director at Butler Health System in Cabot, Pennsylvania.

Janice Block, M.D. ’96, writes: “I have been practicing pediatrics — general pediatrics and specialty ADHD care — for nearly 20 years in Israel. I also have an interest in research. I am in the process of completing a part-time M.Sc. in computer science with data analytics. After that I hope to do a Ph.D. in biophysics/systems biology.”

Christine Shim, M.D. ’96, currently specializes in acupuncture and shares a practice with her husband, Robert Dudley, M.D. ’97.

Timothy Simpson, M.D. ’96, retired in December 2021. He most recently had been emergency department medical director at Northside Emergency Associates in Canton, Georgia.

Janet Miley, M.D. ’97, MRO, is medical director at Riverside Medical Center in Cocoa, Florida,

Jason Campagna, Ph.D. ’97, M.D. ’98, is currently chief medical officer at Q32 Bio in Boston, Massachusetts.

Jason S. James, M.D. ’99, was recently elected president of the medical staff at Baptist Hospital of Miami, where he has been an obstetrician-gynecologist in private practice for the past 18 years.

Jennifer Heffernan, M.D. ’01, recently took on a new role as regional medical director of geriatrics at the HealthTexas Provider Network, a member of the Baylor Scott & White Health system, in Dallas. Previously, she was medical director at Baylor Scott & White HouseCalls.

Sandra Narayanan, M.D. ’01, is an associate professor of neurology and neurological surgery at University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. Last summer she co-chaired the Society of NeuroInterventional Surgery’s 18th Annual Meeting, held in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and was elected as the SNIS member-at-large (interventional neurology) for 2021–22.

Eric Wechsler, M.D. ’02, is CEO of Southern California Kidney Associates in Newport Beach, California.

Christina deGuia, M.D. ’03, is chair of the psychiatry department at Sarasota Memorial Hospital in Sarasota, Florida.

Jennifer Heffernan, M.D. ’01, recently took on a new role as regional medical director of geriatrics at the HealthTexas Provider Network, a member of the Baylor Scott & White Health system, in Dallas. Previously, she was medical director at Baylor Scott & White HouseCalls.

Kara Pepper, M.D. ’05, will begin her primary care telemedicine practice serving adults across the Southeast, particularly patients with eating disorders. In addition to her clinical practice, she is a certified physician coach who coaches individuals and groups and speaks internationally on clinician wellness and systems change. She is based in Atlanta.

Raveesh Richard, M.D. ’11, is an orthopaedic surgeon practicing at Centura Orthopedics Meridian in the Denver area.

Rebecca Sabates, M.D. ’12, specializes in pediatrics and neonatology at Baptist Hospital of Miami.

Sean Murphy, M.D., ’13, co-founded, built, and opened a physician-owned hospital in Tucson, Arizona, and now serves as its chief medical officer.

Jeanna M. Harvey Barnes, M.D. ’15, joined Rhode Island Medical Imaging in December. She completed a thoracic and cardiac imaging fellowship at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston and a diagnostic radiology residency at Brown University/Rhode Island Hospital in Providence. She also holds a bachelor’s degree in economics, cum laude, from UM.

Daniel Glaser, M.D. ’15, M.P.H. ’15, is assistant professor of Clinical Pediatrics at Yale University School of Medicine.

Alexandra Cocores, M.D. ’17, is an instructor of Clinical Neurology, Headache Division, at the Miller School.

Jonathan Sheu, M.D. ’19, is a resident, PGY-3, in orthopaedic surgery at McLaren Flint Hospital in Flint, Michigan.