Alumni notes

’40s
This dispatch arrived recently from A. Harry Chapman, M.D. ’47. “At the age of 77, I am still active in my specialties of neurology and psychiatry; my major responsibility is the administration of an electro-encephalographic service in a hospital in the inland Brazilian city of Bahia, population 350,000. In recent years I have authored two books and various articles on psychiatry and neurology in The Lancet, The British Journal of Psychiatry and three Brazilian medical journals; the books were published by an American medical publisher. I have four children, ranging in age from 13 to 49—Miriam Celeste, Americo Araujo, Marcelo Arthur and Jose Henrique—and numerous grandchildren. Life for me, like most people in Brazil, goes on largely in the context of a large extended family of cousins, in-laws and others. My wife, Elza Mendes de Almeida Chapman, and I are in reasonably good health. I was last in the States in 1965, but I would be interested in hearing from anyone who remembers me. Any letter sent to Chapman, CP 98, 45000-000 Conquista-BA, Brazil, will reach me.”

’50s
Kristaps J. Keggi, M.D. ’59, HS ’63, received an honorary doctorate of humane letters from Quinnipiac University last May for his work as an orthopaedic surgeon. Quinnipiac president John L. Lahey said, “His medical and administrative skills have been tested from prestigious American hospitals to the battlefields of Vietnam. But above all, Keggi has been instrumental in renewing understanding between the peoples of the former Soviet Union and the West. He also has brought a sense of hope, self-reliance and self-respect to people nearly engulfed by economic crisis and national emergency.” In 1988, Keggi founded the Keggi Orthopaedic Foundation, which provides professional exchanges and training opportunities for orthopaedic surgeons in the former Soviet republics.

Amilcar Werneck de C. Vianna, HS ’59, a dental surgeon in Rio de Janeiro, writes to say that he has been named a fellow of the International College of Dentists and a member of the board of the College’s chapter in Brazil.

Carl R. Woese, Ph.D. ’53, a microbiologist at the University of Illinois (UI) at Urbana-Champaign, was among 12 scientists and engineers to receive the National Medal of Science in December. Woese, who was a doctoral student and postdoctoral fellow in biophysics at Yale in the 1950s, changed the way scientists classify life on Earth with his discovery of the archaea in the 1970s. Collaborating with microbiologist Ralph S. Wolfe, Woese overturned one of the major dogmas in biology. Until that time, biologists believed that all life belonged to one of two primary lineages, the eukaryotes and the prokaryotes. Woese and Wolfe showed the existence of a third group of organisms, the archaea, which are very simple in genetic makeup and tend to exist in extreme environments thought to resemble that of Earth in its early stages. “I am a molecular biologist turned evolutionist,” says Woese, who holds the Stanley O. Ikenberry Endowed Chair at UI. He calls the study of the archaea “central to the understanding of the nature of the ancestor common to all life.”

’60s
Stephen C. Schimpff, M.D. ’67, HS ’69, chief executive officer of the University of Maryland Medical Center and executive vice president of the University of Maryland Medical System, was named chair of the board of governors of the Warren Grant Magnuson Clinical Center at the National Institutes of Health last June. Schimpff, a member of the board and its executive committee since their inception four years ago, was formerly the chair of the finance working group.

’70s
Michael L.J. Apuzzo, M.D., HS ’72, will be the honored guest laureate at the annual meeting of the Congress of Neurological Surgeons in San Diego in late September. The theme of the meeting, “Reinventing Neurosurgery,” will be explored in concert with Apuzzo’s contributions and innovations in numerous areas that have helped to redefine the scope and state of international practice. Apuzzo is the Edwin M. Todd/Trent H. Hells Jr. Professor of Neurological Surgery, Radiation Oncology, Biology and Physics at the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. A native of New Haven, Apuzzo began his undergraduate studies at Yale with a primary interest in architecture. As a work study student, he was assigned to catalog books at the Harvey Cushing Medical Historical Library under the direction of Madeline Stanton, former secretary to Cushing, who is considered the father of modern neurosurgery. This experience helped redirect his goals, leading him into medicine. Since medical school he has devoted himself to the refinement of cerebral surgery concepts, advanced neuro-oncology and the development and transfer of complex technology initiated within the aerospace and defense industries to the operating room and other areas of patient care. Apuzzo has been a pioneer in the clinical areas of deep cerebral microsurgery, neuro-endoscopy, imaging-directed stereotaxy, radiosurgery and the emerging field of cellular and molecular neurosurgery with neurorestoration.

David L. Coulter, M.D. ’73, e-mailed us in March to say, “After 15 years as associate professor and director of child neurology at Boston University School of Medicine, I moved across town in January to join the departments of Neurology and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School and Children’s Hospital Boston. I am also affiliated with the Institute for Community Inclusion at Children’s Hospital, where I am involved in research and teaching on developmental disabilities. My research focuses on ethics, spirituality and disability. I am co-editor of the Journal of Religion, Disability and Health, which publishes articles on the intersection of spirituality and health in caring for and being with people with disabilities. My research also involves work on the etiology, definition, classification, treatment and prevention of intellectual disability (mental retardation).”

H. Steven Moffic, M.D. ’71, professor of psychiatry and behavioral medicine at the Medical College of Wisconsin, reports that he was the only psychiatrist appointed to the Wisconsin Turning Point Initiative, a large-scale effort to transform the state’s public health system and create a healthier Wisconsin. Moffic also received a state grant to establish a mental health program for refugees in Milwaukee, who number about 20,000 and come from Southeast Asia, Eastern Europe, Africa and other regions.

Richard L. Neubauer, M.D. ’76, medical staff education director at Alaska Regional Hospital, has been elected governor of the Alaska chapter of the American College of Physicians-American Society of Internal Medicine (ACP-ASIM). He was installed in the post at the national organization’s annual meeting in Atlanta last April. His responsibilities during the four-year term will include planning scientific meetings, credentialing new members and disseminating college policy. Neubauer will also represent Alaskan members by serving on the national ACP-ASIM board of governors.

Carroll Schilling, M.P.H. ’77, is chief executive officer of The Enterprise Center, a non-profit organization created in 1999 by Yale University, the United Illuminating Co. and New Haven Savings Bank to help small businesses. The center provides young companies with such services as business planning, market research, financial structuring, capital source development and management assistance. Schilling was formerly the entrepreneur-in-residence at the Yale School of Management, helping students in the M.B.A. program to evaluate the business potential of discoveries made at Yale and in the community. Schilling also serves on the business and industry committee of the Association of Yale Alumni in Public Health.

Elston Seal Jr., M.D., HS ’79, was inducted in October into the Alumni Hall of Fame of the North Plainfield (N.J.) High School for a lifetime of achievement in the field of medicine. Seal, a commissioned officer in the U.S. Public Health Service at the rank of medical director, is detailed to the Human Studies Division of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in Chapel Hill, N.C., where he is special assistant to the director of the division, chief of the research support staff and director of the medical staff.

’80s
Alicia I. Barela, M.D. ’81, an obstetrician and gynecologist at Kaiser Santa Theresa in California, received the Alumnae Medal of Honor from Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, Mass., at its 2000 reunion celebration last June. The medal recognized Barela’s service to the college and her work as a member of its board of trustees. Barela has been chosen by the People to People Ambassador Programs of Spokane, Wash., as a delegate to China for two weeks beginning June 8. The program sponsors groups in various professions to meet with colleagues in other countries. This group will be touring hospitals, attending round-table discussions and learning about Chinese medicine.

Thomas D. Fogel, M.D., HS ’85, reports that he is president of the Coastal Radiation Oncology Medical Group Inc., which owns and operates eight free-standing radiation oncology centers in California. Fogel is also past president of the American Cancer Society’s California division and is a member of the organization’s national board of directors.

’90s
Susan G. Anderson, M.D. ’90, served as an expedition physician and lecturer on two around-the-world trips in November and January. The 21- and 24-day trips via private 757 jet were planned and guided by TCS Expeditions in Seattle. The “Around-the-World Millennium Trip” began in Los Angeles and went from Easter Island to Samoa through New Guinea, Cambodia, Nepal, India, Oman, Tanzania, Jordan, Timbuktu, Mali and Morocco. The “Ancient Crossroads Trip,” sponsored by the Museum of Natural History in New York, included stops in London, Jordan, Iran, Burma, Cambodia, Mongolia, China and Syria. Anderson is clinical assistant professor of medicine in the division of infectious disease and geographic medicine at Stanford University School of Medicine and co-director of a new travel medicine service that is being developed at Stanford. “One of my main roles at Stanford is to assist medical students and undergraduates in pursuing clinical, research and public service-oriented international health projects. Another role is [performing] pre-travel and post-travel evaluations,” Anderson wrote in an e-mail message. Serving as an expedition physician “was an incredible opportunity to practice travel medicine in the field and help people of all ages with all types of medical histories travel safely to remote places.”

—Claire Bessinger

Send alumni news items to: Claire Bessinger, Yale Medicine Publications, P.O. Box 7612, New Haven, CT 06519-0612.