1992 - 15th Reunion

Hello, Med School Class of 1992! For those of you unable to attend our 15th reunion, here’s the latest on the attendees:

Mike and Nancy Girardi have five (yes, FIVE) boys. Anyone not carrying a hot beeper or with four or fewer kids who missed the reunion really has no valid excuse. Five boys—yet both Mike and Nancy look even younger than in medical school 15 years ago. Hey, Mikey, share some Yale dermatology secrets with one of your crinkling and wrinkling classmates (an anonymous urologist, married with three kids, living and working just outside Boston).

Virtually without exception, those in attendance at our reunion seemed healthy and enthusiastic as ever, despite the best efforts of our health care system. Claudia Reynders (radiologist), who is at the core of a large and excellent radiology group on Boston’s North Shore, was accompanied by husband Chat and their son and twin daughters. Annie Egan (pediatrics) was in town with her husband, who also attended his undergraduate reunion, and with their two sets of twins. Annie, who lives an otherwise salubrious life in Jacksonville, Fla., was sporting a temporary crutch earned after an incident with an equine friend.

Unfortunately, orthopaedists Tobenna “let-me-tell-u-somethin’ ” Okezie, Evan Fischer and Chai Kulsakdinun don’t do legs. (Well, at least not at reunions). Tobenna and Evan, who both practice solo in New Jersey,were accompanied by their wives. I didn’t get much news from Tobenna, who chased his son and daughter over Harkness lawn for most of the evening. Chai, who is on the faculty at Montefiore, and Lawrence Gardner (hematology), who moved from Hopkins to NYU, never run into each other in New York City, to my surprise. I guess it’s not so amazing when you consider they work in different departments. Also, Lawrence mentioned something about spending a fair amount of time at Bellevue, especially in the prison unit.

Nate Schmiechen (emergency medicine), having made a long expedition from the Twin Cities, organized a pre-reunion tea (OK, beer party) in Newton, Mass. Unable to make the trip to New Haven but present Thursday evening were Fred Welt (cardiology) and Dan Solomon (rheumatology), both mending lives via the Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Nate’s wife, Malinda, has finished law school and now advocates for human rights. Their twin girls are now 12 years old! I drove to the reunion with Nate, who remains a master of wit and insight.

On short notice, Tom Davenport (plastic surgery) drove from Long Island, where he is vice president and soon-to-be president of a large group. When not enjoying the NYC social life, he devotes a good amount of personal time in the Third World as a volunteer surgeon with Interplast. Ross Zbar (plastic surgery) also volunteers for Interplast but now lives in New Jersey. Go Tom and Ross! Suresh Karne (GI) and wife and kids also attended Saturday evening’s dinner at the Graduate Club, making the trip from Alabama.

Robin Goldenson (aka BooBoo) and Elizabeth Mullen (aka Betsy) arrived together to the class dinner, a blatant denial of the dangers of hitchhiking. I would expect more responsible behavior from two prominent Boston physicians, each of them a mother of three. Robin, a radiologist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, has two XXs and one XY; and Elizabeth, a pediatric oncologist at Children’s Hospital Boston (CHB), has three XXs. Mustafa Sahin (pediatric neurology), also at CHB, has an active research lab where he studies tuberous sclerosis in addition to his clinical responsibilities. He split his reunion time with his wife’s undergraduate reunion somewhere down York Street. They have kids and live outside Boston.

We ran into Nancy Harthun (vascular surgery) and her family, who were attending the undergrad reunion. She’s living happily in Charlottesville, Va., and is a faculty member at UVA.

Hope everyone’s well. Make plans for the 20th!

Mat Massicotte