Class of 1980: 30th reunion

A core of 12 intrepid souls from the class of 1980 graced YSM for our 30th reunion. When we arrived copies of our 1980 class picture were available; and no, we haven’t changed at all!

Activities included tours of the medical school (neat digital histology lab), Smilow Cancer Hospital, and West Campus, as well as interesting lectures on a variety of topics and an address by Dean Robert J. Alpern on the state of the school. Events were capped off by our reunion dinner at a classy venue, the Study at Yale (an almost unrecognizably renovated Colony Inn).

The East Coast was heavily represented. Steve Rosenfeld, our tireless 30th reunion gift chair, and his wife Lisa (M.P.H. ’79) flew in from Boca Raton, Fla. Steve practices ophthalmology in Delray Beach and is a clinical professor at the Bascom Palmer Eye Institute in Miami. Steve also works often with classmate Eddie Alfonso, M.D. ’80, who is director of the Bascom Palmer Eye Institute. Steve and Lisa have a grown son and daughter. David Gowdy and wife Kimberly live in Alpharetta, Ga. David practices hospital medicine in south Georgia and Kimberly is an account executive with Principal Financial Group. Patricia Brown lives in Bethesda, Md., and is still reviewing dermatology medicines at the FDA while maintaining a small private dermatology practice. For Patricia, seeing patients helps maintain a connection to real world medicine. Marcia Taylor cheerfully participated in many reunion events and was joined by her attorney husband, Jeremy Rosenblum, for the reunion dinner. Marcia practices dermatology in the Philadelphia area and she and Jeremy have three daughters, all Yalies.

The Big Apple was well represented by classmates including Eric Nestler and his wife Susan. Eric was at U.T. Southwestern for eight years but was drawn back east to become professor and director of the Brain Institute at Mount Sinai. Eric and Susan, a consultant to Hunter College, are parents of two sons and a daughter, all in their twenties. Jonathan Jacobs continues as a professor of clinical medicine at Cornell. Jonathan runs an HIV treatment program, practices internal medicine, and engages in telemedicine with a partner program in Tanzania. Jonathan and his wife Carolyn, a psychiatrist, have two sons. Donald Moore, our enthusiastic social chair, joined the reunion in the company of wife Christine. Donald practices general medicine in Brooklyn, N.Y., and has developed a special interest in electronic health records and their practical applications. Donald and Christine have two daughters.

Ethan Lerner, from the Boston area, rounds out the dermatology representation at our reunion. Ethan researches pruritus at MGH and is an associate professor of dermatology. Ethan’s wife Lisa, also trained in dermatology and dermatopathology, has run a successful diagnostic lab as well as helping raise two sons and a daughter. Charlie Shana lives on the water in a suburb of Providence, R.I. Charlie practices gastroenterology and is chief of GI at South Coast Hospital. Charlie is married to Miriam, a financial manager, and together they have two sons.

Never having left the medical school nest are Gary Desir and Debbie Dyett Desir. Debbie is a rheumatologist in private practice. Gary, a nephrologist, is chief of medicine at the West Haven VA and a professor of medicine at Yale. Together they have three sons and one daughter. Finally, the prize for traveling the farthest goes to Jeff Faig who is an associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Stanford Medical School.

Our reunion became special as we renewed friendships, developed new ones, and traded updates on classmate friends not at the reunion. We agreed we should keep in contact and plans were discussed for informal gatherings among the alums present. Those of you not at the reunion missed a good time so mark your calendars for the 35th. See you all then!

—Patricia Brown