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Farewell to ‘The Giff’ Bob Gifford the deputy dean, Bob Gifford the teacher, Bob Gifford the husband and father, and Bob Gifford the teammate were on display the night of Oct. 31 when hundreds of people turned out to say farewell to Bob Gifford the friend. At a buffet dinner in Harkness Lounge, students, alumni, faculty and family laughed over remembrances of Gifford’s years at Yale, which started 33 years ago when he arrived to complete his residency. Former Dean Leon E. Rosenberg, M.D., recounted how Gifford pushed the school’s educational agenda and how he, Gifford and others became the first faculty members to participate in the Second-Year Show. Current student and hockey teammate Michael Fehm joked about Gifford’s transfer of aggressive hockey moves from the ice to the bedside. Gifford’s son Bruce told how his father dissuaded him and his three siblings from smoking at an early age—by letting them try it. Dean David Kessler amused the crowd with anecdotes about Gifford’s time at Yale. “Where did he get these stories?” Gifford wondered aloud. Although he no longer has an administrative post at the medical school, Gifford remains a fixture on campus, frequently sighted at lunch with students or at faculty functions. Issam Abdullah Awad, M.D., the Nixdorff-German Professor of Neurosurgery, was named president-elect for 1999-2000 by the Congress of Neurological Surgeons (CNS) at its annual meeting in Boston. He will assume the presidency in November. Awad has been active since 1990 in CNS, which was founded in 1951 and serves approximately 4,800 members. Sidney J. Blatt, Ph.D., chief of the psychology section of the Department of Psychiatry, received the Distinguished Scientific Contributions Award from the Division of Psychoanalysis of the American Psychological Association. Blatt also was appointed visiting professor at University College in London for a three-year term. There he will participate in a summer research-training program in psychoanalysis offered in collaboration with the International Psychoanalytic Association. James P. Comer, M.D., M.P.H., HS ’66, Maurice Falk Professor in the Child Study Center and of psychiatry and one of the nation’s leading experts on children, is serving on a national panel exploring the performance of minority students in schools. In a report issued in October, the College Board’s National Task Force on Minority High Achievement found that African Americans, Hispanics and Native Americans lag behind non-Hispanic whites and Asians. The report recommends that schools share information on programs that boost minority achievement.Edmund W. Gordon, Ph.D., professor emeritus of psychology, is one of the co-chairs of the 31-member task force. John A. Elefteriades, M.D. ’76, HS ’83, professor and chief of the section of cardiothoracic surgery, delivered an invited address on “High Risk Myocardial Revascularization” in October at the American College of Surgeons’ annual meeting in San Francisco. Rosemarie L. Fisher, M.D., professor of medicine and director of graduate medical education for the School of Medicine and Yale-New Haven Hospital, has been named co-chair of the Advisory Council for the Connecticut Office of Health Care Access. The council will report annually to the Public Health Committee of the General Assembly on graduate medical education, including its financial implications for Connecticut’s hospitals and its effect on access to health care and on the sufficiency of the health care provider workforce. Roberta L. Hines, M.D., HS ’77, chair of the Department of Anesthesiology, has been elected president of the Society of Academic Anesthesiology Chairs (SAAC). The society represents all academic anesthesiology departments in the United States and Puerto Rico. Hines will be responsible for providing leadership for both the SAAC and its component councils for two years. Susan Hockfield, Ph.D., dean of the Yale Graduate School and professor of neurobiology, was elected a member-at-large of the Section Committee for the American Association for the Advancement of Science’s (AAAS) Section of Neuroscience for a four-year term. Hockfield has been a member of the AAAS for more than 20 years. Members-at-large also serve on the committee steering group that acts on policy matters and selects nominees for fellows of the AAAS. Jeannette R. Ickovics, Ph.D., associate professor of epidemiology and psychology, will receive the 2000 Early Career Award for Distinguished Contributions to Psychology in the Public Interest from the American Psychological Association (APA). The award will be presented in August at the 2000 APA Convention in Washington, where she will give an address entitled “Women and AIDS: Private Lives, Public Challenges.” Bruce L. McClennan, M.D., professor and chair of the Department of Diagnostic Radiology, collaborated with Walt Disney World to create an interactive exhibit on radiology that opened in October at Epcot Center in Orlando, Fla. “Radiology: Medicine’s New Vision,” which McClennan and colleagues from the Radiologic Society of North America (RSNA) helped design, showcases the role of radiologists in medicine and helps explain the many new uses of radiology for both treatment and therapy. The exhibit features an arcade with several video games, including “Cell Smash,” in which a guest can blast a cancer cell, and “Brain Game,” which offers a virtual ride through the brain as its parts are identified. Another display allows guests a realistic try at performing an angioplasty. “I crashed the computer on my first try,” said McClennan. RSNA, the largest professional radiology society in the world, made initial contact with Disney to conceive the exhibit and invested $3 million in the project. James R. Merikangas, M.D., lecturer in psychiatry, spoke in September at the Neurosciences and Psychiatry Congress of History in Zurich. Merikangas gave the James Joyce Lecture on “The Mental Illness of Lucia Joyce” and the Adolf Meyer Lecture on “Crossing and Recrossing the Boundary of Neurology and Psychiatry in the USA.” Robert S. Sherwin, M.D., the C.N.H. Long Professor of Medicine and endocrinology and director of the Diabetes Endocrinology Research Center, was named president-elect of the National Board of Directors of the American Diabetes Association at its annual meeting in San Diego. Sherwin will assume the presidency in July for a term of one year. Albert J. Solnit, M.D., Sterling Professor Emeritus in the Child Study Center, Psychiatry and Pediatrics, was honored with a First for Kids Award in December by the Connecticut Voices for Children. Awards were presented at the New Haven Lawn Club on World AIDS Day and recognized efforts to help Connecticut children affected by the deadly virus. Solnit was recognized with a fellowship fund established in his name. Connecticut Voices for Children also established a merit award bearing his name, which was presented to state Rep. John Thompson, D-Manchester. Solnit is the commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Mental Health and was director of the Yale Child Study Center from 1966 to 1986. Richard S. Stahl, M.D., HS ’81, clinical professor of surgery (plastic surgery), has been appointed associate chief of staff of Yale-New Haven Hospital (YNHH). Stahl joined the faculty at the School of Medicine in 1983 as an assistant professor. He also serves as associate chief of surgery at YNHH. Eiji Yanagisawa, M.D., HS ’59,
clinical professor of surgery and otolaryngology, received a
Presidential Citation of the American Academy of Otolaryngology
and Head and Neck Surgery in September at its annual meeting
in New Orleans. The citation is in recognition of his efforts
in the documentation of pathology and procedures, and for his
talents as a teacher. Yanagisawa also was the guest of honor
at the Eastern Section meeting of the Triological Society in
January 1999 in Providence, R.I.
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