1982 - 25th Reunion

Twenty-six of us gathered to celebrate our 25th anniversary of graduation from medical school and catch up with life journeys in and outside medicine.

Jim Reinprecht arrived carrying multiple copies of our mug shots from the first week of medical school. The general agreement was that we all look better now than we did then! Jim practices internal medicine in Abington, Penn. Several people came thousands of miles to share the weekend. Fred Drennan and Terry Massagli got the award for having come the farthest, from Seattle, where Fred is practicing gastroenterology after a foray into health care administration, and Terry is on the faculty of the University of Washington in pediatric rehabilitation medicine. Augusta Simpson Roth and her husband, Bruce, flew in from Arizona. Gus started out in ob/gyn, but Bob Rohrbaugh, who directs medical studies for the department of psychiatry at Yale, convinced her to switch specialties, and she is now enjoying her practice in psychiatry. David Goldstein and his 6-year-old son came from New Mexico, where he practices anesthesiology. Gary Garshfield sent a bio for us to read from California, where he is a pathologist. Bert Ungricht came from Salt Lake City, where he is in private practice in ophthalmology. Bert brought news of Don Stromquist, who is also in Salt Lake City practicing rheumatology.

College reunion and joined us Friday night. She is working in family practice in Cleveland, Ohio. Paula Braverman is also in Ohio, having moved to Cincinnati several years ago to become director of community programs in the division of adolescent medicine at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital. Michael Katz (newly married in April) arrived from Boca Raton, Fla., where he is practicing pediatric radiology. Michael brought news of two other classmates in Florida: Henry Stern is also a radiologist in Wallington and Peter Namnum is a pulmonologist in Broward County. Vangy Franklin came from Louisiana, where she is chief of clinical services and employee health for the City of New Orleans. Vangy survived the ravages of Hurricane Katrina and is intent on staying in the city to help improve health care delivery.

On the eastern side of the country, Pat Toth is practicing radiology at Hackensack Hospital in New Jersey. Pat tells us that Steve Resnick is a dermatologist in Cooperstown, N.Y., and that Ron Voit is in Hilo, Hawaii, practicing ob/gyn. Michael Carty drove down from Boston, where he is practicing internal medicine at Harvard Student Health Services. Duncan Wright entertained us at the Saturday night dinner with a memorable skit about a lighthouse—you had to be there—appropriate to his location in Maine, where he practices psychiatry. Bill Sikov is living in Providence, R.I., teaching at Brown, practicing adult oncology and doing clinical research in breast cancer. Bill brought news of Joyce O’Shaughnessy, who is living in Dallas and working for US Oncology, focusing primarily on breast cancer clinical trials. Jeff Tepler is also a hematologist-oncologist at New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell. Jeff sees Jose Guillem, who is a colorectal surgeon at Memorial Sloan-Kettering. Steve Gore is also a hematologist-oncologist on the faculty of Johns Hopkins, specializing in adult leukemia. Steve had news of Risa Chait Jampel, practicing dermatology in Baltimore, and John Younger, who is a geriatrics specialist in Seattle. Philip Sager is back on the East Coast. Phil moved back from California to become director of cardiovascular research at AstraZeneca. Kamau Kokayi is practicing holistic medicine, including acupuncture, homeopathy, applied kinesiology and herbalism, in his clinic in New York City. Stephanie Wolf Rosenblum arrived from New Hampshire, where she is chief medical officer at Southern New Hampshire Medical Center in Nashua. Jessica Herzstein came from Philadelphia. Jessica trained in occupational medicine and is presently medical director of Air Products and Chemicals, a global company based in Allentown, Penn. Jessica tells us that Troy Brennan is now medical director of Aetna and is living in Boston. Jessica also sees Sylvia Beck, who is practicing ophthalmology in Philadelphia. Katalin Roth sent a hello to the class from Washington, D.C., where she is the division director of geriatrics and palliative medicine at George Washington University. Jane Cross is practicing pediatrics in Holyoke, Mass. Jane tells us that Kate Albert and Hugh Hemmings are working in Manhattan, where they live with their daughter. Daphne Hsu is also in New York City, where she is on the Columbia faculty in pediatric cardiology. Daphne recently heard from Mary van der Velde, who is also a pediatric cardiologist at the University of Michigan. Daphne also brought a hello from Muriel Cyrus, who is practicing emergency medicine in Vermont.

Then there are those of us who somehow never left New Haven. Several members of our class are actually teaching the newest generations of Yale medical students. Stuart Gardner has a solo community pediatric practice in the New Haven area. Bob Rohrbaugh is associate chief of psychiatry at the VA Connecticut Healthcare System in West Haven as well as being the above-mentioned director of psychiatric training at Yale. Carrie Redlich is professor of medicine in occupational medicine at Yale and still playing soccer. Lynn Tanoue is medical director of thoracic oncology and interim section chief in the division of pulmonary and critical care medicine at Yale. Those of us on the Yale faculty think that the Class of 1982 might be interested in knowing that the Class of 2009 skipped just as many lectures this year as we did when we were rehearsing the second-year show! Lynn and Daphne finally heard from Colin Lee, who practices interventional cardiology between hiking, kayaking and mountain climbing in Idaho. Lynn also got a call recently from David August, who is practicing internal medicine at Harvard Community Health in Boston, and hears that Paul Sylvan is alive and well, practicing radiology and playing golf in San Diego.

We took a moment as a group to reflect on the passing of three of our classmates—David Sears, Tom Brennan, and most recently Saul Sadka. We also want to send our heartfelt sympathies to Victor Perez, practicing psychiatry in Guam, who lost his daughter to osteosarcoma last year. These losses remind us that life is short and should be lived to its fullest, and that we should celebrate family and friends often and joyfully. The reunion was a wonderful time to be together again even for a few hours, to remember, to share life stories and to laugh.

Lynn Tanoue