Class of 1985: 25th reunion

The 25th reunion, traditionally a momentous occasion, took on a special significance and sense of our past as the bicentennial anniversary of the Yale Medical School starts this year. For many of us, coming back to Sterling Hall of Medicine was humbling and inspiring. Personally, it brought back memories of my first days of school when I was amazed by our brilliant and talented classmates. In the first year, I realized that my classmates and the other students at Yale were much more. They were kind, honest, hard-working, generous people who wanted to make a difference, whether it was in medicine, science, or caring for people at home or abroad. Coming back to our 25th reunion, I realized that they haven’t changed.

Bob Klitzman, notable author and psychiatrist at Columbia, kicked off the reunion weekend with a lecture based on his book, When Doctors Become Patients. Although Bob was bitten by the literary bug before medical school, some say it was Drs. Hoyle Leigh and Morton Reiser's book, The Patient, that shaped Bob’s career. Bob gave an insightful talk about what it is like for doctors to get sick and how they react when the roles are reversed. Many of our classmates attended his talk, including Barry Bergquist, Julie Danaher, Gail Mattson-Gates, Fred Santoro, Julia Whiteside, Marie Hobart with her husband, Bill Kadish (Class of 1983), Paula Rackoff, Anne Regenstein, and Susan Korrick.

The West Coast contingent was led by Barry Bergquist. He and classmate sweetheart Liz live in Salt Lake City, Utah. Although I didn't get a chance to talk to Liz, Barry still has his sharp wit and great sense of humor. He's an anesthesiologist and Liz is an obstetrician-gynecologist. Gail Mattson-Gates came to the reunion without hubby Rick Gates (Class of 1986). She flew in from Los Angeles where she practices reconstructive plastic surgery at Kaiser Health system. Coming home to Yale means more than just a reunion, since her dad, Richard Mattson (emeritus professor of neurology at Yale) is still active at the medical school. Anne Regenstein, also of the west coast contingent, practices perinatology at Kaiser Permanente in San Francisco.

The vivacious Julie Danaher is medical director of Planned Parenthood near Billings, Mont. When she's not taking care of patients, she's fixing up her 600-acre ranch with her dad and kids. Despite the distance, Julie, Jackie Gutmann and her husband Bruce Goldstein have kept up their close friendship.

Catching up with Julia Whiteside was not easy, but recognizing her was not hard. She looks the same as she did when she started medical school. Julia's secrets to youth are: juggle a practice in ophthalmology, raise a wonderful daughter, and stay in school. She is getting a public health degree at Johns Hopkins. Julia won't be alone at Hopkins since Jonathan Lewin, and Peter and Mary Greene are very active there. Jonathan is chair of radiology and Peter is associate dean and cmio. Coming back to Yale this year was very special for Peter and Mary. They are the first in our class to complete the proverbial “Yale hat trick." Not only did they attend their 25th reunion, but they attended the graduation of their daughter, Sarah, from Yale College. Marie Hobart and Bill Kadish were part of the "significant other society" at the School of Medicine. Marie, like many of our classmates who were influenced by the classic Yale psychiatry textbook, The Patient, is a psychiatrist and CMO at Community Healthlink in Worcester, Mass.

Many of our classmates were active in our community and environment. Among them is Sue Korrick. Her passion for the environment and for Harvard has never let up. She is assistant professor of medicine at Harvard doing research in environmental epidemiology and occupational health. Aside from the Harvard thing, she is one of the true devotees to our class reunions.

Many classmates, including Paula Rackoff, Sam Pesin, Stafford Broumand, Jackie Gutmann, Robbie Aronowitz, and Jane Mathisen, never moved far from Yale. Paula is assistant chief of rheumatology at the Beth Israel Medical Center in New York. Sam is a leading ophthalmologist in Toledo, Ohio. He was joined by his wife and college sweetheart, Donna, along with their daughter Jennifer, who just graduated from Barnard College. Stafford, like Julia, has not changed at all. However, this could be due to Botox. Stafford is a leading plastic surgeon and associate clinical professor of plastic surgery at Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York. He was joined by his lovely wife, Laura, and his son. Jackie, Robbie, Jane, and I made up the Philadelphia contingent. (Unfortunately, Guy Fried, Stuart Isaacs, and J.P. Carpenter couldn't make it.) Jackie is a renowned reproductive endocrinology and fertility specialist in Philadelphia. In addition to her private practice, she is clinical associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Thomas Jefferson and juggles three kids. Those of us who lived at Harkness Hall may remember bumping into Bruce in the halls on the weekends. Bruce is a great guy and convinced Jackie to come up to New Haven for the reunion, saying that this was a romantic weekend without the kids. Robbie, like Bob, is one of our literary talents and an associate professor at the University of Pennsylvania. He recently wrote a book, Unnatural History: Breast Cancer and American Society. Jane is a practicing psychiatrist in the suburbs of Philadelphia. The reunion weekend was capped by a terrific class dinner at the Event Room at 86 Crown Street. The turnout was amazing.

In addition to our classmates mentioned above, JoAnne Burger, her hubby, Michael Caplan (Class of 1987), Angela Crane, Sara Schutzman, Fred Santoro, his wife Anne, Ted Love, his wife Joyce, Sam Goos and his wife Sarah joined the celebration. Angela is practicing medicine in New Hamshire, but I suspect that she has a part-time job as a model for Cosmopolitan. Sara is at Boston Children's Hospital in pediatric emergency medicine. Sam, JoAnne, and Fred never seem to miss a reunion. Sam is a dermatologist in Concord, Mass. JoAnne is a pediatrician at Yale, and Fred is a pediatrician in East Lyme, Conn.

A lot of our reunions were made possible because of the efforts of Fred and JoAnne. This year Guy Fried (CMO at Magee Rehabilitation Hospital) and Ted Love (Exec. VP of Research and Development at Onyx) were added to the list of co-conspirators for our reunion. Unfortunately, at the last minute Guy and his wife Karen couldn't make it. However, Ted arrived on his Lear jet (only kidding, it was a Gulfstream) for a brief round of golf before the reunion festivities. Ted is now in California. He merged his talents in cardiology (at the MGH) with his clinical research skills at Genentech to bring drugs like tpa into common clinical use throughout the world. Aside from being a great co-chairman, he's a terrific guy with a wonderful family.

I would be happy to go on and on about our classmates, especially those who were unable to join us. Fortunately, the editor of Yale Medicine won't let me write anymore. Thus, as I look back over the accomplishments of our class, I feel that we have and will continue to make a difference in many ways big and small to our patients, teachers and school. Even those of us like Marcus Walker who briefly touched our lives made a difference that will always be remembered.

—Bryan DeSouza