Notes

Mary L. Warner, M.M.Sc., PA-C, assistant dean and director of the Physician Associate (PA) Program, met with PA alumni in Falmouth, Maine, in August. Joining them was Ruth Cole, widow of Jack W. Cole, M.D. ’66, former chair of surgery, who founded the PA program in 1970. Attending the gathering were Frank J. Noreika, PA ’94; his wife, Stacy; Lauren T. Ormsby-Pieri, PA ’85; Cary J. Stratford, PA-C ’80; Michelle A. Roy, PA ’98; Lisa Brown, PA ’04; and Sherrie A. Downing, PA-C ’93.

1940s

David E. Morton, M.D. '48, HS '55, writes to say that his third granddaughter, Kan Kojima, was born last year and that he has been working on the biography of his great-grandfather, Edwin Emery. Emery, a hero on the Union side during the Civil War, was an instructor for the Revenue Cutter Service, a forerunner of the Coast Guard.

1950s

Gerard N. Burrow, M.D. '58, HS '66, has been named chair of the board of the University of Connecticut Medical Center and a trustee of the University of Connecticut. Burrow, who is president and CEO of the Mystic Aquarium & Institute for Exploration, is the David Paige Smith Professor Emeritus of Medicine and dean emeritus of the Yale University School of Medicine.

1960s

Robert I. Finkel, M.D. '65, writes to say that he retired on July 1, 2005, after 32 years of practicing rheumatology at the Toledo Clinic. He plans to devote his energies to other interests, hobbies and, hopefully, travel.

Ralph S. Greco, M.D. ’68, HS ’73, the Johnson & Johnson Distinguished Professor and chief of general surgery at Stanford University School of Medicine, is one of 10 recipients of the 2006 Parker J. Palmer Courage to Teach Award, given by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education.

Karen H. Toker, M.D. ’67, received the first Francis Edwards Rushton Award last year from the University of Florida Department of Pediatrics for her work in community pediatrics and child advocacy.

1970s

Robert H. Posteraro, M.D. ’73, HS ’78, FW ’79, a radiologist with Lubbock Diagnostic Radiology in Lubbock, Texas, graduated from Oregon Health and Science University with the degree of Master of Biomedical Informatics last June.

Noreen F. Rossi, M.D. ’78, professor of medicine and physiology at Wayne State University School of Medicine, has been awarded a $1.6 million, five-year grant from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health. She will study how regular exercise decreases blood pressure.

Alvin H. Strelnick, M.D. ’75, chief of the Division of Community Health in the Department of Family and Social Medicine at Montefiore Medical Center, received the 2005 Honorary Alumnus Award in June from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University in New York. In October he received the “Family Medicine: The Power to Change Our World” award at the northeast regional meeting of the Society of Teachers of Family Medicine.

1980s

Troyen A. Brennan, M.D. ’84, J.D. ’84, M.P.H. ’84, professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and professor of law and public health at the Harvard School of Public Health, has been elected to the Institute of Medicine. His research group focuses on the interwoven issues of improving patient safety and addressing the crisis in medical malpractice.

Rock Positano and Rudolph Giuliani photo.

Rock G. Positano, D.P.M., M.Sc., M.P.H. '89, received a Spirit of Cabrini Award at the Cabrini Mission Foundation 2005 Gala and Awards in New York City on November 3. Also honored were NBC “Today” co-host Katie Couric and former mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, and his wife, Judith S. Giuliani.

Positano, co-director of The Foot Center at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York, delivered the keynote address.

1990s

Lee M. Akst, M.D. ’99, was married in October to Jodi S. Wilkoff in Cleveland. Akst, who graduated from Yale College in 1995, is a fellow in laryngology at Massachusetts General Hospital. His wife is a partner in The New Teacher Project, an educational consultancy in New York.

Pauline W. Chen, M.D., HS '98, has won the Staige D. Blackford Prize for Nonfiction from the Virginia Quarterly Review, for her article, “Dead Enough?: The Paradox of Brain Death,” published last fall.

Anu Gupta, M.D. ’97, HS ’00, FW ’02, was married in November to Arnab Ghatak, M.D., M.B.A., in Roslyn, N.Y. Gupta directs philanthropic programs for HIV/AIDS and women's and children's health at Johnson & Johnson in New Jersey. Ghatak consults on pharmaceuticals and medical devices for McKinsey & Co.

Tim Mello, PA ’99, and Alice (Hofmann) Mello, PA ’99, announce the birth of their second child, Margaret Ella. Tim practices at Connecticut Valley Orthopedics and Sports Medicine in Springfield, Vt., and Alice practices in pediatric neurology at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, N.H.

Gualberto Ruaño, Ph.D. ’92, M.D. ’97, president and CEO of the biomedical company Genomas, received the BEACON Medical Technology Award in September in recognition of his contributions to personalized medicine. BEACON (Biomedical Engineering Alliance and Consortium) is the professional association of the medical device industry in Connecticut.

Send alumni news items to Claire M. Bessinger, Yale Medicine Publications, P.O. Box 7612, New Haven, CT 06519-0612, or via e-mail to claire.bessinger@yale.edu.