Class of 2004: 10th Reunion

It was great to see so many of you at our 10–year reunion in May. We had a fantastic turnout and everyone seemed to have a great time, complete with a happy hour at GPSCY, dinner at Bentara, and a post-party at a local bar. Here are updates from some who attended and from some who could not make it …

Teeb Al-Samarrai writes: “After internal medicine residency training, I worked with the CDC as an epidemic intelligence service officer assigned to the New York City Department of Health. I currently live in Palo Alto, Calif., and serve as the tuberculosis controller and deputy health officer for the Santa Clara County Public Health Department (aka Silicon Valley). I oversee the TB and Hepatitis B prevention programs, and mainly see refugees, immigrants, and patients with TB in clinic. I love my work, which is a unique mix of clinical consultation, anthropology, epidemiology, and policy work.”

Elizabeth K. Arleo lives in New York City with her husband, Joshua Thompson, two daughters, Sophia, 6, and Michaela, 3, and a black Labrador puppy, Lupa, 15 weeks. She is an assistant professor of radiology, assistant attending radiologist at New York Presbyterian-Weill Cornell specializing in women’s imaging, and was one of Aunt.Minnie.com’s semifinal candidates for Most Influential Radiology Researcher in 2013.

David Aversa writes: “I completed my training in general psychiatry, child psychiatry, and forensic psychiatry. I am assistant clinical professor at the Yale Child Study Center and the Yale School of Nursing. In addition to my work in the hospital and the Child Study Center, I started my own private practice center treating adults and children, and conducting specialized evaluations for schools, courts, and the State of Connecticut.”

Richard Awdeh is an assistant professor of ophthalmology and pathology at Bascom Palmer Eye Institute in Miami, Fla. He is the founder and CEO of Cirle, a medical technology incubator, and CheckedUp, a mobile health technology company. Richard is also on the FDA Dermatologic and Ophthalmic Drugs Advisory Committee.

Aaron Berger writes: “I didn’t leave New Haven until 2007. I completed residency in plastic surgery at Stanford in 2013, and I’m currently finishing up a hand and microsurgery fellowship at UCLA. I will be moving to Miami next month for a position in the Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery at Miami Children’s Hospital.

Allyson Bloom is writing and editing for Uptodate’s infectious disease section. She also works as a general ID physician at Mass General. She lives in Boston with her husband and two adorable girls.

Jill Catalanotti lives in Arlington, Va., with her husband Chris Fonzone. She works as an outpatient internal medicine/primary care physician and as the director of the internal medicine residency program at George Washington University in Washington, D.C.

Mandy (Krauthamer) Cohen lives in Washington, D.C. with her husband, Sam, and 2-year-old daughter, Sophie. Mandy’s second daughter is due in July. Mandy is acting director of the Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight at CMS (which runs the ’Obamacare’ marketplaces).

Gina Constantine writes: “I had to (rush back from reunion to) get back home to New York City to my 2-month old baby boy, Kingman. My husband Zach and I also have a 2-year-old girl named Carlisle. I’m an assistant professor of diagnostic radiology at Cornell focusing on breast and body imaging. Cheers!”

Nick Countryman writes: “After finishing a dermatology residency and procedural dermatology fellowship, and a short time on the West Coast, we’ve settled into central Indiana where my practice mostly consists of treating skin cancer patients with Mohs surgery. Cyndi (aka ’Nurse Darling,’ Y.S.N. ’03) and I spend most of our extra time with our kids, Luke, 7, and Natalie, 5.”

Cinthia (Guzman)Covey is married to Aaron Covey, M.D. ’01. She is an ophthalmologist and lives in Cheshire, Conn., with Aaron and their three children.

Kathryn Adamiak Davis completed a neurology residency and an epilepsy fellowship at Penn. She went on to graduate with a masters in translational research from Penn. She is currently the medical director of Penn’s Epilepsy Monitoring Unit and Surgical Program. Kate’s lab focuses on advanced epilepsy imaging. She is married and has two sets of twins‒two girls and two boys!

Bao Duong writes: “I am an emergency department physician in a large community hospital in urban Los Angeles. I got married last year and am enjoying my free time hanging out at the beach.”

Tom Fernandez writes: “I am an assistant professor at the Yale Child Study Center and Department of Psychiatry treating patients with Tourette syndrome and OCD, and run a research laboratory looking for genetic risk factors in these disorders. I am married with three children, ages 5 years to 5 months.”

John Forrest is living in Hamden with his two sons (William and Andrew) and wife (Emily). He joined the Yale faculty in interventional cardiology two years ago, and was recently appointed director of structural heart disease at Yale. His clinical focus has been on complex coronary interventions and transcatheter aortic valve replacement, while in his free time he coaches both his sons’ baseball teams.

Elena Gimenez Grudzinski is living in Ann Arbor, Mich., with her husband and 5-year-old twins. She is working at IHA Urology at St. Joseph Mercy Hospital.

Eric Golding completed a residency in internal medicine at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. For the past several years, he has been working for Fidelity Biosciences, a venture capital firm based in Cambridge, Mass., specializing in biopharmaceuticals, medical devices, and healthcare IT/services.

Virginia Grace writes: “Eli and I are living in Washington, D.C., with our two kiddos, Henry, 7, and Lillie, 4. I am a pediatrician in private practice (The Pediatric Care Center in Bethesda, Md.), and also teach at GW medical school and precept residents at Children’s National. I recently joined the board of PEP, a nonprofit parenting education group in the greater D.C. area.”

Jason Griffith writes: “I am finishing my fellowship in pulmonary and critical care at Harvard (finally!) and plan to stay at MGH after I finish. Next year, I will be attending in the ICU and doing research on immune cell trafficking to the lung during inflammatory states such as influenza and asthma. I live in Winchester (small town outside of Boston) with my wife Eliza and two kids, Amos and Ida.”

Eliza Jones writes: “I am living in Concord, Mass., with my husband and two kids and am taking some time off since the birth of my second child. I had been working as a pediatrician at a Boston community health center until July 2013.”

Kohar Jones writes: “I am a family physician in Chicago, calling myself a physician-educator-writer. I practice at the federally qualified Chicago Family health center, and am an assistant clinical professor at the University of Chicago. I serve as director of community health and service learning at the Pritzker School of Medicine, which means I get to direct fun electives for medical, social work, policy, and undergrad students, and run an awesome summer program. I also guide community health scholarship projects and link the service learning efforts of the medical students with the community outreach of the urban health initiative. I live in Hyde Park with my husband, and blog at Prevention not Prescription at http://www.koharjones.com.”

Eleanor Knopp is a dermatologist and dermatopathologist working at Group Health Cooperative and on the faculty at the University of Washington. She has a special focus in the care of patients with alopecia. She lives in Seattle with her husband and family.

Sarah Kohnstamm lives in Philadelphia with her husband Colin Greineder, M.D. ’03, and her two boys, Max and Niels. She is a non-invasive cardiologist working at the Philadelphia VA.

Aimee (Lee) Lucas is still living in New York City, where she is on faculty in the Division of Gastroenterology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. Aimee’s clinical and research interests focus on screening and prevention of pancreatic cancer, particularly in patients with a family history of pancreatic cancer or germline mutations associated with pancreatic cancer. When not at work, she has her hands full with her 5- and 3-year-old boys!

Kavita Mariwalla is in her own private dermatology practice on Long Island, where she lives with her husband and two little boys, Shyer and Ashar.

Liana Kretschmar McCabe writes: “So, we (husband plus two children) are now in Seattle. Jamie is working with the interventional cards group at the U and I’m doing primary care peds at Virginia Mason. Seattle is beautiful and a really fun place to explore. Come visit!!”

Clifton Mo writes: “I’m hem/onc staff at Murtha Cancer Center, Walter Reed, Bethesda, where I specialize in leukemia and lymphoma. Since graduation I have trained/practiced in D.C., Bethesda, and Seattle, and served one tour of duty in Baghdad.”

James Park writes: “I’ve been in touch with Hans who is in Wisconsin, and I’m in the D.C. area. I’m doing well and look forward to catching up.”

Hillary Ryder writes: “I’ve been on faculty at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center since 2007. I’m the clerkship director of internal medicine and an associate program director of the internal medicine residency program. I am also on the clinical bioethics committee. I got my M.S. from The Dartmouth Institute in 2013. I married Matthew Henken, J.D. ’04, in 2005 and we have four kids‒Henry, 7, Sam, 5, and Lillian and Joe, 2.”

Margo Simon writes: “I’m still with my partner, Josh. Thrilled for our first child, Indy, born in April. Still living in New York City, recently moved to Brooklyn after almost 10 years in the Bronx. Completed residencies in family medicine and psychiatry at Montefiore/Einstein. Worked in federally qualified health centers and addiction medicine since then, and recently started as medical director for Center for Urban Community Services, where I’m developing and supervising operations for a new program integrating primary care into existing mental health and social services for unstably housed people and those living in supportive housing.”

Dena Springer writes: “I am living in Woodbridge, Conn., with my husband and three sons (Henry, 5, Jack, 3, and Ben, 3 months). And I am practicing general pediatrics at Hamden Pediatrics, rounding on our practice’s newborns and admitted patients at YNHH, our old stomping grounds. I look forward to seeing everyone again at our 15th!”

Ashraf Thabet writes: “I am an interventional radiologist at MGH. I am blessed with a wonderful wife, Nawf, and my 4-year old son Salman and 2-year old daughter Alya.”

Rachel Thompson is an assistant professor of pediatrics and an attending physician in the pediatric emergency department at Boston Medical Center in Boston, Mass. She also serves as the director of the pediatric clerkship and as the director of pediatric medical education for the students at the Boston University School of Medicine. She lives in Boston with her husband, two boys and baby girl.

Matthew Whitley writes: “I am back in Atlanta in private practice as a pediatric otolaryngologist. My wife Kellie and I have three crazy boys that keep us on our toes.”

Ilene Wong writes: “I’m in private practice (general urology) outside of Philly. Next year I’m also going to be a debut novelist: My young adult novel, None of the Above, is coming out April 28, 2015, from Balzer+Bray/HarperCollins. The book was inspired by an intersex patient I treated while at Stanford. As if life isn’t busy enough, I have an 8-month old (Gabriel) and a 5-year old (Olivia). No, we don’t get much sleep!”

As for me, Rupali Gandhi, I recently moved from Boston to Chicago where I live with my husband, Francis Alenghat, and our three children (ages 6, 4, and 20 months) in Hyde Park. I am a pediatric cardiologist at Advocate Children’s Hospital and director of their ethics committee. I barely survived my first Chicago winter! I do wonder how I got roped into compiling all of these “blurbs,” but it was pretty fun to see what everyone is up to, and thanks to everyone who responded to my emails/facebook messages. See you in five years …

‒Rupali Gandhi