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Spring    2001 

Volume    50    Number     1 


The    Magazine    for 
Alumni,    Faculty    and 
Friends    of    the    MCV 
Campus    of    VCU 


Medical    College 

of    Virginia 

Campus    of 

Virginia 

Commonwealth 

University 


Thanks  Scarab  for  the  wonderful  articles  on  transplantation!  My 
wife  and  I  became  donor  parents  when  we  lost  our  college  senior 
eight  years  ago  Christmas  Eve.  Skiing  accident.  It  was  a  "club"  we 
never  thought  we'd  ever  join.  I  can  remember  David  Hume  doing 
renal  transplants  when  I  was  a  first  year  student  at  MCV  in  1962. 

We  are  both  active  nationally  as  well  as  in  Colorado  with  donor 
families  and  donor  awareness.  My  wife  is  making  the  Colorado/ 
Wyoming  donor  family  memorial  quilt  as  she  is  a  master  quilter.  So 
far  she  has  received  30  squares  from  donor  families.  I  continue  to 
work  with  the  National  Donor  Family  Council  Executive  Committee, 
helping  donor  families  across  the  nation  grow  after  they  have  given 
and  throughout  their  grieving  process. 

Margaret  and  John  Moyer  '66MD 


As  a  1990  pharmacy  graduate  and  a  student  in  the  non-traditional 
Pharm.D.  program  I  get  many  requests  and  information  from  VCU- 
MCV.  One  of  these  publications  is  the  Scarab  magazine.  I  enjoy 
reading  about  all  the  happenings  at  MCV.  Working  at  UVa,  all  I  hear 
about  are  UVa  achievements  and  issues.  You  would  think  the  world 
revolves  around  UVa,  but  we  know  better. 

The  article  on  transplantation  comes  at  a  perfect  time  because  I 
am  involved  in  a  class  where  I  need  transplant  statistics.  I  know  we 
have  come  a  long  way  in  transplantation  from  1968  with  the  first 
kidney  transplant.  As  a  pharmacist,  I  was  disappointed  only  to  read 
about  the  cost  of  medications.  The  medications  allow  the  patient  to 
live  and  we  have  little  to  no  control  over  the  costs  of  the  drugs.  Also 
I  would  imagine  not  only  are  there  pharmacists  taking  care  of  the 
patient  in  the  hospital,  but  there  is  a  lot  of  teaching  and  follow  up  by 
pharmacists  to  insure  compliance  and  address  drug  issues.  The  phar- 
macist is  an  integral  part  of  the  health  care  team.  He  or  she  is  part  of 
the  system  of  checks  and  balances  that  ensure  quality  care  and 
patient  safety. 

Thanks  for  the  current  topics.  I  only  found  out  today  that  a  law 
was  passed  in  Virginia  that  would  not  allow  a  family  member  to 
override  a  person's  wishes  as  expressed  on  the  driver's  license  to  be 
an  organ  donor. 

Bruce  Jones  '90BS/P 
Clinical  Staff  Pharmacist  at  the  University  of  Virginia 


On  April  9,  2000,  new  legislation  was  passed  modifying  the  Virginia 
Uniform  Anatomical  Gift  Act  to  uphold  a  decision  indicated  on  a  donor 
card  or  driver's  license.  However,  this  does  not  mean  that  organ  and  tissue 
recovery  agencies  are  using  the  legislation  heavy-handedly,  explains 
Gloria  Taylor,  RN,  MA,  CPTC,  professional  services  coordinator  and 
staff  ethicist  ofUNOS.  These  organizations  approach  families  in  crisis 
with  great  sensitivity  and  indicate  a  willingness  to  assist  in  carrying  out 
their  loved  one's  donation  wishes.  In  cases  where  there  is  no  legal  next  of 
kin  or  the  family  cannot  be  located,  donation  can  proceed  as  indicated 
by  the  donor's  wishes.  For  more  information  contact  the  Virginia  Trans- 
plant Council  at  804-786-5589  or  800-52-DONOR  (in  Virginia  only). 


I  just  saw  the  article  "Live  Long  and  Prosper"  by  Mary  Reynolds.  I 
want  to  make  sure  the  magazine  is  aware  we  have  five  faculty  members 


Do  you  have  feedback  for  us?  Write  to  Scarab  Editor,  P.O. 
Box  843044,  Richmond,  VA  23284-3044;  fax  (804)  828-0884; 
email  mercer@atlas.vcu.edu 


and  several  alumni  providing  long  term  care  and  house  calls  to  the 
Richmond  community's  elderly.  Two  of  our  faculty  are  medical 
directors  of  area  nursing  homes,  Beth  Sholom  Home  and  Lucy  Corr 
Village.  The  House  Calls  program  run  by  Dr.  Peter  Boling  for  over  12 
years  has  enabled  many  in  our  community  to  stay  at  home  with  their 
families  instead  of  having  to  go  to  a  nursing  home.  The  Long  Term 
Care  program  was  established  by  Dr.  Boling  in  1996  and  we  follow 
over  250  area  nursing  home  residents.  Thank  you  for  your  time. 

Laura  Finch  '87BS/N'95C(GNP)/N 

Geriatric  Nurse  Practitioner  in  Internal  Medicine's 

Long  term  Care  Program,  MCVP 


Dr.  Nancy  Osgood,  professor  of  gerontology  at  VCU,  called  to  let  us 
know  that  the  female  cockatiel  pictured  in  the  "Live  Long  and  Prosper" 
story  in  the  Fall  2000  Scarab  belongs  to  her.  "Snippy"  is  one  of  20  birds 
that  Osgood  has  adopted.  Some  of  the  birds  are  used  in  pet  therapy  work 
with  elders  in  senior  centers,  adult  day  care  centers,  and  nursing  homes. 


Since  the  fall  issue  of  the  Scarab  appeared,  I  have  had  several  calls 
from  old  friends  relating  to  the  article  describing  some  of  our  work.  I 
want  to  thank  you  for  the  exposure  and  for  your  kindness  in  making 
it  happen.  The  Medical  College  of  Virginia  is  an  outstanding  institu- 
tion and  you  and  your  colleagues  represent  it  well! 

With  appreciation  and  warmest  wishes  for  your  continuing  well 
being  and  success.  Sincerely, 

William  E.  Hale  '58MD 


I  had  the  experience  of  a  lifetime  when  I  participated  in  an  inter- 
national dental  mission  with  Filling- A-Need  in  Suriname,  South 
America  with  five  other  dentists  and  two  dental  hygienists...  We 
worked  with  the  Maroons,  descendents  of  escaped  slaves  who  settled 
in  the  rainforests  of  Suriname  300  years  ago 

We  probably  saw  40  patients  at  each  clinic.  Some  days  we  held 
two  clinics  in  different  locations  along  the  river.  We  offered  extrac- 
tions, sealants,  and  atraumatic  restorative  technique  using  glass 
ionomer  and  a  handpiece  powered  by  carbon  dioxide.  On  a  typical 
day,  we  would  arrive  at  the  village  by  canoe,  unload  all  the  equip- 
ment, carry  it  uphill  to  the  clinic  site,  set  up  the  clinic,  treat  patients 
until  evening,  pack  up  again  and  canoe  to  the  next  village.... 

I  will  remember  this  experience  for  a  lifetime.  It  allowed  me  to 
study  culture  on  location  and  explore  the  capacities  and  limitations 
of  dentistry  in  a  non-traditional  setting.  It  has  broadened  my  experi- 
ences in  public  health  dentistry  and  given  me  an  appreciation  for  the 
availability  of  dental  treatment  that  we  often  take  for  granted.  I  hope 
that  others  of  my  dental  colleagues  will  take  this  challenge  and  share 
their  gifts  and  skills  internationally.  If  you  would  like  to  read  more 
stories  about  our  mission,  check  out  our  Web  site  at  www.fillinga- 
need.org.  Happy  Volunteering! 

The  above  is  an  extract  of  an  article  received  from  Melissa  Nazareth 
'96DDS.  She  is  a  dentist  in  the  U.S.  Public  Health  Sendees  stationed  in 
Peoria,  Illinois. 

Know  an  alumnus  with  an  inspiring  story  or  have  an  idea  for  an  article 
that  would  be  interesting  to  MCV  Campus  alumni?  Share  it  with  us! 
We're  always  looking  for  great  story  ideas.  Call  the  MCV  Alumni 
Association  at  (804)  828-3900,  fax  us  at  (804)  828-4594  or  e-mail  us 
at  migreene@hsc.vcu.edu. 


Contents 


DEPARTMENTS 

Officers      of      the 

2 

MCV     Alumni 

Star  Gazing 

Association      of      VCU 

Alumni  Scope 

3 

Alumni  Stars  2000 

(Catherine  C.  Bobbin  '56BS/N 

President 

Calendar 

m fc 

Rebecca  Parker  Snead  '85BS/P 

21 

6 

President-Elect 

Grand  Rounds 

Rebecca  T.  Perdue  '62BS(CLS)/AH 

25 

(COVER  STORY] 

Secretary 
Bruce  R.  DeGinder  '88DDS 

Vital  Signs 

Education  on 

the  MCV  Campus 

Patricia  B.  Bernal  '80BS'91MS/N 

Hi-tech,  hi-touch  and  more  advanced 

Assistant  Treasurer 

degree  options  create  an  exciting  new 

atmosphere  on  the  MCV  Campus 

10 

Vice-Presidents 

^ 

Hugh  E.  Aaron  '88MHA 

fM®x 

Allied  Health 

tgy 

Medical  Sleuths 

Nancy  Manson  Coddington  '81PhD/M-BH 
Basic  Health  Sciences 

Scarab      Staff 

Forensic  pathologists  deal  with 

the  unexpected  and  unexplained 

Richard  D.  Barnes  '77DDS 

Executive  Editor 

Dentistry 

Lou    Brooks    '77BFA/A 

Barry  V.  Kirkpatrick  '66MD 

'82BS(  PT1/AH 

IE 

Medicine 

Editor 

Corinne  F.  Dorsey  '54C65BS/N 

Kathy    Davis 

Boosting 

Nursing 

Art  Director 

Nadine    McGinnis    '95BFA/A 

MCV  Campus 
Endowment  $s 

Marianne  R.  Rollings  '63BS/P 
Pharmacy 

Grand  Rounds,  In  Memory 

A  joint  venture  between  MCVAA  and 

Sally    Harris    Jones 

MCVF  creates  a  wealth  of  opportunity 

Board      of      Trustees 

Vital  Signs 

Term  Expiring  2003 

Michaelann   Green  e  -  Russell   '91BS/B 

''"  ';~': 

Frank  D.  Bruni  '77MS/M-BH'82DDS 

Edward  A.  Cary  '88BS/P 

Ruth  Clemo  '8IPhD/M-BH 

M  C  V     Alumni 

Transplant  Part  II 

Paul  D.  Harvey  '80DDS 
Caroll  R.  Throckmorton  '91BS/P 

Association      of 

Caring  for  post-transplant 

June  H.  Turnage  '59BS7IMS/N 

V  C  U      Staff 

patients  is  a  team  effort 

lane  Pendleton  Wootton  '65MD 

Ellen    Berry 

Term  Expiring  2002 

n  n 

Lou  Oliver  Brooks  77BFA/A'82BS(PT)/AH 

Keith    Braxton 

Rosemary  C.  Check  '81MHA 
Shirley  S.  Craig  72MS'79PhD/M-BH 

Michaelann   G  reene- Russell  '91BS/B 

Rejuvenating 

AnnS.  Hardy '99BS/N 

Mariann  H.  Johnson  78MD 

Lynn    Dowdy 

Research  Funding 

John  Scott  Kitrell  '82DDS 
James  T.  May  III  73MD 

Ann    Nelms 

Elizabeth  C.  Reynolds  '91DDS 
Mary  Snyder  Shall  '91PhD/M-BH 

Barbara    Payton    '83/MC 

Joyce  Sheridan  '98BS(CLS)/AH 
Monica  M.  Walton  '93BS'98MS(RC)/AH 

©  2001  Medical  College  of  Virginia  Alumni 

Amy  L.  Whitaker  '98DPHA 

Association  of  Virginia  Commonwealth 

University,  P.O.  Box  980156,  Richmond, 

Term  Expiring  2001 

VA  23298-0156  (804)  828-3900; 

Russell  Bogacki  '97DDS 

e-mail:  migreene@hsc.vcu.edu 

Jane  K.  Garber  '52BS/N 

Web  site:  www.alumni.vcu.edu 

Cover:  Dr.  Russell  Bogacki  '97DDS  and 

Alice  Graham  Glenn  '63BS/P 

Scarab  is  the  official  magazine  of  the  Medical 

MCVAA  Board  of  Trustees  member 

Edward  D.  Martirosian  '65MD 
Tim  McGranahan  '00BS/N 

College  of  Virginia  Alumni  Association  of 

Virginia  Commonwealth  University. 

Photography  by  Allen  Jones 

An  Equal  Opportunity/Affirmative  Action  University 

VCU  Media  Production  Services 

Alumni  Scope 


MCV    Alumni    Association    Welcomes 
New    Executive    Director 

In  late  October,  we  welcomed  Barbara  Payton  '83/MC  back  to 
Virginia  Commonwealth  University  in  her  new  role  as  the  executive 
director  of  the  MCV  Alumni  Association.  After  graduating  from 
VCU's  mass  communications  program,  Barbara  worked  with  several 
non-profit  organizations  including  the  American  Red  Cross.  She 
returned  to  VCU  for  five  years  as  assistant  director  in  the  Alumni 
Activities  Office  where  she 
coordinated  Reunion  Weekend, 
organized  regional  and  national 
Alumni  Gatherings  for  university 
alumni,  and  supported  con- 
stituent and  international  alumni 
groups.  In  1995,  she  went  to 
work  for  the  state's  Department 
of  Agriculture  promoting  the 
Virginia  wine  industry.  There 
she  published  an  annual  winery 
festival  and  tour  guide,  imple- 
mented an  awards  program 
for  supporting  restaurants  and 
retailers,  and  represented  the  industry  at  trade  and  consumer  gatherings. 

Payton  brings  strong  promotional  skills,  extensive  marketing 
expertise,  alumni  experience  and  love  for  the  University  to  her 
service  for  the  Association.  "The  Association's  search  committee 
was  immediately  impressed  with  Barbara's  commitment  to  the 
University  and  understanding  of  alumni  perspectives.  She  could 
quickly  start  to  work  strengthening  the  Association's  support  of 
alumni,  students  and  the  MCV  Campus,"  says  Bill  lies,  director, 
VCU  Alumni  Activities. 

"I  am  really  excited  about  returning  to  my  University,"  says  Pay- 
ton,  "and  working  with  such  dedicated  alumni  and  a  top-notch  staff." 


Perkinson    First   to    Receive    Award 


mentoring 


Annie  H.  Jordan  '51C/St.P,  alumni  entertainment  chair,  Dr.  Nancy 
Langston,  dean  of  the  VCU  School  of  Nursing,  and  Arlethia  V. 
Rogers  '60/St.P'96BS/N,  president  of  the  Richmond  alumni 
chapter,  visit  together  at  the  1 1th  homecoming  of  the  St.  Philip 
School  of  Nursing  held  in  July  2000.  The  homecoming  is  held  every 
five  years. 


The  American  Dental  Association  bestowed  its  first 
award  on  Dr.  W.  Baxter  Perlcinson  Jr.  '70DDS 

of  Richmond,  Virginia  at  its  annual  meeting  in 
October  2000.  Perkinson  received  the  newly 
established  award  because  of  his  strong  interest 
in  mentoring  dental  students,  graduate  dentists 
and  dental  auxiliaries.  Over  his  30-year  career, 
Perkinson  has  demonstrated  his  commitment 
to  the  quality  of  his  profession  through  the 
thousands  of  hours  he  has  given  to  help  other 
dental  professionals. 

A    Love    Story's    Legacy 

In  the  fall  2000  issue  of  Scarab,  the  obituary  for  Dr.  Maysville 
"Jane"  Page  '41 MD  omitted  mention  of  the  last  gift  made  by 
Dr.  Page  to  Virginia  Commonwealth  University's  Medical  College 
of  Virginia.  We  are  grateful  for  her  generosity  and  the  professorship 
she  established  in  pediatrics,  the  Jane  Page,  M.D.  Professorship  of 
Pediatrics.  This  professorship  joins,  in  lasting  tribute,  the  Sidney  G. 
Page,  M.D.  Professorship  of  Bioethics  and  Humanities  in  Internal 
Medicine  established  by  Dr.  Jane  Page  in  memory  of  her  late  hus- 
band, Dr.  Sidney  Page  '38MD.  It  is  only  fitting  that  their  legacy 
continues  at  the  MCV  Campus  as  this  husband  and  wife  of  many 
years  met  on  Jane's  first  day  of  medical  school.  Dr.  Laurie  Lyckholm, 
assistant  professor  in  internal  medicine,  is  the  holder  of  the  Sidney 
Page  Professorship.  The  holder  of  the  Jane  Page  Professorship  will  be 
named  when  the  professorship  is  fully  funded  through  a  planned  gift. 

Bobbitt    Recognized 
for    Contributions 

Dr.  Doris  B.  Yingling,  emeritus  faculty  and  former  dean  of  the  VCU 
School  of  Nursing,  and  Shirley  T.  Downs  '49BS(P)/H&S,  former 
assistant  dean  of  the  School  of  Nursing, 
presented  Dr.  Katherine  C.  Bobbitt 
'56BS/N,  president  of  the  MCV  Alumni 
Association  of  VCU,  with  a  chair  placed 
in  the  MCV  Alumni  House,  honoring 
her  many  achievements.  "From  the  time 
you  entered  the  School  of  Nursing  as  a 
student  you  moved  step  by  step  up  the 
scale  of  accomplishments,"  they  wrote. 
Yingling  and  Downs  noted  the  many 
contributions  Bobbitt  has  made  as  a 
clinical  psychiatric  nurse,  in  administra- 
tive roles  in  the  hospital  setting,  to  the 
State  Board  of  Nursing,  as  assistant  dean 
of  the  VCU  nursing  school's  baccalaureate 
program,  as  a  faculty  member  and  to 
MCV  Campus  alumni. 


Dr.  Katherine  C.  Bobbitt 


s    p 


Commitment   to   Excellence: 
Mahoney-Hamner 
Nursing    Conference 

Dr.  Dianne  Uustal  guest  lectured  at  the 
Mahoney-Hamner  Nursing  Conference 
(the  33rd  Annual  Nursing  Lectureship)  held 
November  2-3,  2000.  She  is  a  clinical-ethicist 
experienced  in  consulting  with  hospital  ethics 
committees,  conferring  in  problematic  clinical- 
ethical  cases.  In  her  presentation,  Dr.  Uustal 
emphasized  that  every  nurse  needs  to  look  at 
the  ethics  of  situations  as  they  arise  in  clinical 
practice,  whether  in  hospitals,  community  care 
or  private  practice.  Anne  F.  Mahoney  '29C/N, 
one  of  the  nurses  for  whom  the  conference  is 
named,  was  present  and  received  a  standing 
ovation  from  those  attending.  Mahoney  was 
one  of  the  two  alumni  who  chaired  the  fund- 
raising  committee  that  created  the  endowment 
for  the  lectureship.  The  other  was  Nora  Spencer 
Hamner'14/N  who  died  in  1971. 

COMING    SOON  —  M-2000 

The  Journals  of  22  Medical  Students 
1996-2000  AD 

Experience  the  four-year  odyssey  of  medical 
school  as  seen  from  the  eyes  of  the  School  of 
Medicine's  Class  of  2000  on  the  Medical  College 
of  Virginia  Campus  of  VCU.  "M-2000,"  a  new 
book  to  be  published  this  spring,  is  based  on 
excerpts  from  the  journals  of  22  medical 
students  in  the  last  class  of  the  millennium. 
R.B.  Young  '53BS/P  '57MD,  former  associate 
dean  and  emeritus  professor  of  pediatrics, 
is  senior  editor  of  the  publication.  Journal 
excerpts  are  supplemented  by  comments  from 
the  faculty  and  administration  at  the  School  of 
Medicine.  The  story  covers  a  significant  transi- 
tional period  in  medical  education,  medical 
care  and  health  care  delivery  systems  as  we 
approached  the  21st  century. 

It  is  certain  to  be  compelling  and  entertaining 
to  the  medical  community,  as  well  as  to  those 
considering  medicine  as  a  career.  Reserve  your 
advance  copy  if  you  are  interested  in  re-visiting 
your  own  medical  school  experiences,  want 
insight  into  the  lives  of  medical  students,  wish 
to  encourage  a  future  physician,  or  just  to 
inform  and  entertain  yourself. 

Proceeds  from  the  sale  of  the  book  will  go 
to  the  School  of  Medicine  Current  Fund.  To 
reserve  your  advance  copy,  please  contact  the 
MCV  Foundation  at  1012  E.  Marshall  Street, 
P.O.  Box  980234,  Richmond,  VA  23298. 


For  information  about  any  event,  call 
(804)  828-3900  or  (800)  MCV-7799. 


VCU-MCV    Alumni  ^  , 

Weekend    Golf,  To  u  r  n  a  me  n  t 

In  Support  of  the.VCU Men's  Golf  Tearii^    -•'  7      "    N  . 

When:       V-  Friday,  April  27, 2001  at  i':00  p.m.  ■' " 

Where:  The  Crossings  Golf  Club      .  *. 

'Format:  Four  Person  Captain's  Choice  (Make  your  own. foursome).  The  VCU     ",    ■ 

Golf  Team  will  be' stationed  around  the  course  to  participate  in  several 

■'.''  7      ways  with  your  team.      .  ;.'' .':'r,s  .-•;■'■'    ,"•')  • 

:  ,     J  ■       .■'■',  '         '•"■      .-.;   ".   '-.  :-"  ■  .  -        t  '.  .  .'  '< 

Cost:  $90.00  includes  golf,  cart/gift,  lunch  and  prizes.  Pay  prior  to. tee  off  . 

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Signup:  .    .'Sign  up.yburfouf  sqnie  with  handicaps  by  ermailing  Golf  Coach" 

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Entry  Deadline:    'Apra2,2001^     ^  ;•  '":. '..'.-• :..'-  '^ :  :.  ""  . .'.,  /.'     ";  -  j 

Come  prepared  for  a  silent  auction  which  will  open  at  1 1:30  arid  close  at  the  scoreboard!!! 
Schedule  of  Evints:  11:30  a,m. ,  Registfationj  range  balls  and  lunch  provided \- 

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Anyone  whose  business. would  like  to  spbhsoir.the  event  through  htflejsignage,  score-        '     .""/.C  -. 
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1 

J 

TV 

2B— App.3 


Alumni  Travel  with  Alumni  College 
Abroad  in  Sorrento,  Italy 


Nurse  Practitioner  Conference- 
W  ill  iamsburg  Kingsmill  Marriott 


27  29 


REUNION  WEEKEND  2001 
Omni  Richmond  Hotel 


7-15 

Alumni  Travel  with  Alumni 
College  Abroad,  Spain 

17-25 

Alumni  Travel  with  Alumni 
College  Abroad,  Rhine  River 


COMMENCEMENT  2001 
Commencement  Breakfast- 
Sixth  Street  Marketplace 


MCVAA  Board  of  Trustees 

Meeting  MCV  Alumni  House 

and  Conference  Center 


4-12 


Alumni  Travel  with  Alumni 

College  Abroad,  Wales  and 

Northern  England 


5-8 

Virginia  Pharmacists  Association 
Meeting,  Virginia  Beach 


2B— Oct.5 

Alumni  Travel  with  Alumni 
College  Abroad,  Greece 

■■KmaamoHH 


FOUNDERS  DAY  -  Alumni  Stars 
Siegel  Center 


FOUNDERS  DAY,  NOVEMBER  3,  2000 

Founders  Day  is  an  opportunity  to  pause  from  the  bustle  of  our  lives, 
and  look  up.  Tracing  some  of  the  stars  in  our  VCU  firmament,  we 
consider  the  past  and  are  moved  to  imagine  and  hope  for  the  infinite 
future.  In  large  and  small  ways,  these  eleven  people  have  improved 
the  quality  of  the  world,  and  that  is  worth  celebrating.  We  come 
back  to  earth  refreshed  for  our  own  daily  round. 


SCHOOL  OF  THE  ARTS 
Victor  Goines  '90MM 

Master  of  jazz  saxophone,  he  began  playing 
clarinet  at  eight  years  old.  He  studied  at 
VCU  with  jazz  legend  Ellis  Marsalis.  He 
has  performed  or  recorded  with  Lionel 
Hampton,  James  Moody,  and  Linda 
Ronstadt  among  others,  toured  with  the 
Wynton  Marsalis  Septet,  played  on  movie 
and  television  scores,  and  released  four 

albums  as  a  bandleader. 
He  tours  worldwide  with 
his  own  quartet  and  as  a 
member  of  the  Lincoln 
Center  Jazz  Orchestra. 
The  Julliard  School  chose  him  to  be  the  first  director  of  their 
newly  established  Jazz  Studies  Program. 


"Julliard's  jazz  program  is  an  opportunity  for  the 
artistic  vision  of  musicians  like  Ellington,  Mingus, 
and  Parker  to  be  realized  through  formal  education. 


"Pharmacists  interact  with  everyone 
in  the  community,  and  people  trust  them." 


SCHOOL  OF  PHARMACY 
Becky  Snead  '85BS 

From  her  days  working  at  Al  Bradley's 
Drug  Store  in  Waverly,  VA,  to  her  years 
at  the  School  of  Pharmacy,  Snead's  devo- 
tion to  understanding  and  serving  people 
has  made  her  a  leader.  In  1998,  American 
Druggist  Magazine  named  her  one  of  the 
50  "Most  Influential  People  in  Pharmacy." 
As  executive  director  of  the  Virginia 
Pharmacists  Association,  she  listens  to 
pharmacists  and  patients  around  the  state, 
and  educates  lawmakers  to  translate  their 
needs  into  policy.  She  is  also 
president-elect  of  the  MCV 
Alumni  Association. 


"You  have  to  be  interested  in  life. 
You  lose  that,  you  might  as  well  curl  up. " 


SCHOOL  OF  MEDICINE 
Captain  Earl  Fox  '53MD 

Of  more  than  16  million  service  men  and 
women  in  World  War  II,  Captain  Earl  Fox 
was  the  last  to  retire,  in  November,  1999. 
He  dedicated  30  years  of  his  life  to  serving 
his  country  in  the  Navy  and  Coast  Guard. 
Captain  Fox's  remarkable  record  includes 
service  in  the  Pacific  Theater  dur- 
ing World  War  II,  winning  Gold, 
Silver  and  Bronze  Stars  and  the 
Navy  Commendation  Medal. 


"I  love  to  see  and  make  people  smile. 
Smiles  are  my  life!" 


From  1 974-90,  he  was  a  flight  surgeon  and  participated 
in  more  than  a  dozen  helicopter  rescues. 


SCHOOL  OF 
DENTISTRY 
William  Viglione 
'72DDS  Dental 
Surgery 

A  leader  in  all  three  of 
the  School  of  Dentistry's 
capital  campaigns  over  the 
past  25  years,  he  has  done 
whatever  was  needed — recruiting 
volunteers,  serving  on  myriad 
committees,  making  fundraising 
and  friendraising  visits  to  fellow  alumni.  Community 
service  includes  the  Boards  of  the  Ronald  McDonald 
House,  and  the  Child  Partnership  Project.  Above  all  a 

professional  dedicated  to  patient  service  and  healing, 
he  is  a  Fellow  of  the  Virginia  Dental  Association,  Fel- 
low of  the  American  College  of  Dentists,  and  listed 
in  Who's  Who  among  Executives  and  Professionals. 

SCHOOL  OF  SOCIAL  WORK 
Carmen  Nazario  '73MSW 

As  a  child  in  Puerto  Rico,  she  always  knew  she  wanted 
to  help  people,  especially  those  often  overlooked. 
Nazario  has  been  Delaware's  cabinet  secretary  for 
health  and  social  services, 
the  director  of  the  Child  Care 
Bureau,  a  nongovernment 
organization;  and  undersecre- 
tary of  social  services  in  Puerto 
Rico.  Now  she  is  principal 
deputy  assistant  secretary  for  children  and  families  with 
the  US  Dept  of  Health  and  Human  Services. 

COLLEGE  OF  HUMANITIES 
AND  SCIENCES 
David  Baldacci  "83BA 
Political  Science 

From  small  southwest  Virginia  towns  to  big  city 
law  offices  and  on  to  1600  Pennsylvania  Avenue, 
this  master  storyteller  has  guided  us  through 
fascinating  adventures  and  characters. 

His  six  novels,  including  Absolute  Power, 

The  Simple  Truth,  Saving  Faith, 
"We're  all  in  this  together,  and  his  latest,  Wish  You  Well, 

reader  and  writer,  published  or  not.  have  more  than  20  million  copies 

We  all  share  a  love  of  words  and  stories."        in  print  worldwide.  He  supports 


"At  VCU  I  got  the  message:  challenge  yourself, 
stretch  yourself,  and  bring  the  values  of  your 
profession  to  everything  you  do." 


s    p 


"My  teaching  is  mostly  about  children  and 
increasingly  it  is  about  how  to  keep  children  well." 


gifts  and  readings,  serves  on  b| 
made  a  leadership  commitment  to 
the  Alumni  Association's  new  Alumni  House  Merit 
Scholarship  campaign. 

SCHOOL  OF  NURSING 
Rita  Pickler 
'98  Certificate 
Nurse  Practitioner 

An  "accidental  activist"  for 
primary  community  care, 
starting  with  a  trip  to  Haiti 
in  1995.  She  returns  to 
Haiti  several  times  a  year, 
often  with  other  health  care 
professionals  and  students 
in  tow,  to  organize 
schools,  deliver  health 
care,  and  improve 
and  maintain  medical 
records.  On  the  faculty  at  the  School  of  Nursing,  she  is  a 
demanding  mentor.  Her  research  on  feeding  patterns 
in  preterm  infants  and  work  in  Richmond's  Fan  Free 
Clinic  helps  keep  children  healthy. 

BASIC  HEALTH  SCIENCES  IN  THE 

SCHOOL  OF  MEDICINE 

Greg  Enas  '82PhD  Biostatistics 

Built  one  of  the  pharmaceutical  industry's  premier 
biostatistical  units  at  Eli  Lily  and  Company,  publishing 
numerous  papers.  He  has  worked  closely  with  physicians 
to  design  studies  that 
yielded  new  drugs  for 
cancer,  depression  and 
Parkinson's  Disease.  A 
Fellow  of  the  American  Statistical  Association,  currently, 
he  directs  Lily's  US  Regulatory  Affairs  Division.  He  has 
also  served  as  pastor  to  a  racially  and  economically 
diverse  congregation,  and  helped  found  a 
private  inner-city  grade  school. 

SCHOOL  OF  EDUCATION 
Jane  Belk  Moncure  "52FJS 
Early  Childhood  Education 

In  1955,  her  first  book,  Pinny's  Day  at  Play  School, 
made  the  New  York  Times'  list  of  the  top  1 00 
books  for  young  children.  Since  then  she  has 
published  over  300  books,  especially  several  series 
for  beginning  readers:  Word  Bird,  My  First  Steps 
to  Reading,  Magic  Castle 
Readers,  and  My  Sound 


"Keep  an  open  mind,  pray  and  work  hard, 
don't  get  bogged  down  in  irrelevant  information." 


Box  books.  She  writes  and  consults  with  schools,  presents 
workshops  and  tells  stories  to  encourage  children  to  read 
and  write.  At  VCU,  Jane  helped  establish  the  Early  Child- 
hood Curriculum  Lab  in  the  School  of  Education  and 
Early  Childhood  Practicum.  She  was  the  first  president 
of  Virginia's  Early  Childhood  Association. 

SCHOOL  OF  BUSINESS 
Bill  Ginther  '69BS  '74MS 
Business  Management 

At  the  leading  edge  in  the  banking  industry's  technological 
revolution,  he  led  Crestar  Bank's  technology  division  for 
seventeen  years.  As  the  bank's  chief  information  officer, 
he  received  the  "Industry 
Impact  Award"  from  the 
Greater  Richmond  Tech- 
nology Council  and  was 
appointed  to  the  Virginia 
Information  Providers 
Network  Authority.  Since 
Crestar's  merger  with 
SunTrust,  he  directs  the 
Retail  Line  of  Business  in 
the  Mid-Atiantic  region,  as 
well  as  the  Departments  of 
Small  Business  Banking  and 
the  Consumer  Finance 
Group.  At  VCU  he 
established  the  Ginter 
Family  Scholarship 
and  has  served  on 
the  Alumni  Association  Board  and  others. 


"I'm  proudest  professionally  of  the  role  I  played 
in  building  a  good  Virginia  bank  into  a  super 
regional  bank." 


SCHOOL  OF  ALLIED  HEALTH  PROFESSIONS 
Elnora  Allen  '73BS    87MS 
Physical  Therapy 

President  of  Physical  Therapy  Plus,  a  clinic  for  treatment 
and  prevention  of  musculoskeletal  movement  disorders. 
She  founded  New  Visions  New  Ventures  to  identify  people 
in  need,  particularly  women  coming  out  of  prison,  and  give 
them  business  skills  to  succeed  as  entrepreneurs.  She  was 
appointed  to  the  State  Commission  to  Study  Virginia's 
State  and  Local  Tax  Structure  for  the  21st  Century. 


"I  enjoy  physical  therapy,  and  at  the  same  time 
I  have  a  love  for  humanity,  community  and  public  affairs. ' 


"I  have  never  met  a  young  child  who  did  not 
have  something  to  imagine,  tell,  and  write  about 


Education  on  the  MCV  Campus: 

H  Brave  Neui  World 


By    Sally    J  o  n  e  : 


111! 


Body  Wars,  the  flight  simulator-style  ride  at  Disney  World's 
Epcot  Center,  gives  you  the  sensation  of  shrinking  down 
to  the  size  of  a  blood  cell  and  careening  through  the  heart, 
lungs  and  brain  of  a  human  body.  Hold  onto  your  seat!  It's 
your  own  personal  "Fantastic  Voyage." 

But  outside  the  realm  of  possibility  in  real-life.  Right? 

Well,  medicine  hasn't  quite  advanced  to  the  point  where  we 
can  miniaturize  scientists  and  inject  them  into  the  bloodstream  to 
destroy  life-threatening  disorders 
such  as  blood  clots.  But  in  the  last 
decade,  advances  in  technology 
have  changed  education  on  the 
Medical  College  of  Virginia 
Campus  in  ways  that  would 
have  seemed  "fantastic"  only 
a  generation  ago. 

Plus,  the  movement  towards 
hi-tech  is  being  accomplished  with- 
out losing  the  human  touch  so 
important  in  caring  for  patients. 
Student-patient  interaction  has 
increased  and  sometimes  is  occur- 
ring earlier  in  the  academic  career. 
Record  numbers  of  alumni  are  serving 
as  preceptors  and  clinical  supervisors 
to  students,  helping  them  gain 
invaluable  field  experience. 

In  addition,  more  options  in 
advanced  degrees  help  students 

medical  knowledge  and  the  ongoing       Df-  RlJSSell  BOfJflCHI  9/  DOS 

evolution  of  the  health  care  delivery 

environment. 

Altogether,  it's  an  exciting  new  atmosphere  for  students  both  on 
and  off  campus. 


Getting  mired 


Studying,  testing,  research,  communication — all  have  dramatically 
changed  thanks  to  advances  in  technology.  Instead  of  peering 
through  microscopes  in  lab,  students  now  view  stunning,  life-like 
images  on  CD-ROMs;  instead  of  trudging  through  the  stacks  in 
Tompkins-McCaw  Library  for  hours,  students  have  MEDLINE  and 
other  databases  at  their  fingertips,  drastically  cutting  research  time. 

E-mail,  the  World  Wide  Web,  chat  rooms  and  bulletin  boards 
give  students  and  faculty  invaluable  tools  for  communicating,  posting 
course  materials  and  conducting  research. 

National  boards  are  now  computerized.  Prospective  students 
can  apply  online  to  the  VCU  School  of  Medicine.  Medical  students 
apply  for  residency  online.  And  technology  has  also  filtered  into 
classrooms.  As  Carol  Hampton,  the  school's  associate  dean  for  faculty 
and  instructional  development,  says,  "it's  from  entry  to  end  and  all 
in  between." 


Dr.  Russell  Bogacki  '97  DDS,  assistant  professor  of  general 
practice  in  the  School  of  Dentistry,  uses  computers  and  the  Internet 
as  teaching  tools.  "When  I  started  dental  school  in  1993,  there  were 
still  chalkboards  and  traditional  lectures.  Things  have  changed  so 
much  since  then."  Professors  now  use  whiteboards,  and  podiums 
have  built-in  computers  linked  to  overhead  projectors. 

Microsoft  PowerPoint  slides,  which  can  contain  sound,  animated 
graphics  and  even  video,  are  the  new  craze  bringing  faculty  lectures 
alive.  Professors  can  even  post 
slides  on  the  Web  for  students  to 
review  from  campus  computer 
labs  or  home  computers. 

Bogacki  and  other  faculty  across 
the  MCV  Campus  use  Blackboard 
HI       Courselnfo  or  Microsoft  FrontPage, 
^iS&tb.  aHfl       software  programs  that  allow  pro- 

^^M       fessors  to  create  course  Web  sites, 
-jj^H       housing  lab  images,  syllabi, 
.3^kj       announcements,  and  lecture  and 
\      \^  JhT       reading  content. 

-.Jj^BjJ  "Last  year,  we  put  the  entire 

:^|Hhi  second  year  respiratory  course  cur- 
ig^^H  riculum  on  the  Web,"  says  Hampton. 
"Students  loved  the  full  color 
pathology  images,  the  interactivity 
and  the  ease  of  access  to  information. 
But  when  it  comes  to  the  text,  they 
still  want  a  paper  version." 

School  of  Medicine  anatomy 
professor  Jim  Johnson  includes 
links  from  the  daily  dissection 
schedule  to  pages  on  the  Gold 
Standard  Multimedia  site  (imc.gsm.com)  illustrating  still  photos  of 
each  step  in  the  dissection  procedure.  One  pharmacy  school  course 
has  audio  streaming  on  its  site,  where  students  can  click  on  a  link 
and  listen  to  the  professor's  lectures  from  their  computers. 

CD-ROMs,  while  not  a  replacement  for  textbooks  and  lab  sessions, 
provide  students  an  exciting  new  study  tool.  Discs  hold  course  materials, 
lab  images,  or 

animated  physical      f~i    ,    a   fl  ^  «   '":*,*.,  "  H 

exams.  Students 
can  watch  the 
entire  joint  or 

musculoskeletal         ■M£aElHBB|^:r 
exam  on  their 
computer  screens 
in  preparation  for 
live  exams.  CD- 
ROMs  also  allow 
students  to  set  up       ■ 
quizzes,  on  which 
they  get  tmmediate     ^.//jr^  g^  Crjrn 


S    p 


Todoy  on  the  MCV  campus,  medical  school  is  about 

interaction  and  hands-on  training. 


nvirACi 


feedback.  In  the  School  of  Medicine,  almost  every  class  that  has  an 
accompanying  lab  has  a  CD-ROM  as  well  as  textbooks. 

Schools  have  hired  academic  technology  faculty  and  staff  to  keep 
up  with  the  technology  explosion  and  to  integrate  it  into  teaching 
and  learning. 

Veronica  Shuford  '90BS/H&S'96Med/E,  joined  the  School 
of  Pharmacy  in  June  of  1999  as  director  of  academic  technology. 
"We're  trying  to  get  faculty  comfortable  with  the  changes.  Many  of 
them  have  embraced  technology,  but  it  always  takes  a  little  promotion." 
Some  professors  have  reached  such  a  comfort  level  with  technology 
that  they're  developing  their  own  multimedia  programs  with  help 
from  the  Instructional  Development  Center  and  a  graphics  team  at 
Media  Production  Services.  Dr.  Louis  Abbey,  professor  of  oral 
pathology  in  the  School  of  Dentistry,  invented  IMPACT  (Interactive 
Multimedia  PAtient  Case  Tutor),  instructional  software  that  allows 
faculty  to  develop  multimedia  case  simulations.  Dental  students 
conduct  patient  interviews,  perform  examinations,  order  lab 
tests  and  x-rays,  and  make  diagnosis  and  treatment  plans,  all  on 
the  computer. 

"Faculty  can  program  in 
any  scenario  they  choose; 
they  can  make  students 
make  mistakes  the  students 
can  learn  from  without 
hurting  anyone,"  says 
Abbey.  "It  gives  us  great 
capabilities  to  measure 
outcomes  and  specific 
skill  levels."  Students  using 

IMPACT  [InreracNve 
PRfienf  Case  Tutor],  i 

software  [hat  allows  faculty 
develop  multimedia  case  si 

IMPACT  get  constant, 
immediate  feedback,  just  as 
they  would  in  real  life.  "Of  course,  this  will  never  replace  the  unpre- 
dictability and  dynamic  intercourse  you  get  with  humans.  This  just 
gives  us  another  educational  tool." 

Abbey  believes  computer  technology  "has  given  us  a  fourth 
dimension  in  our  efforts  to  make  education  available.  Right  now, 
educators  are  reinventing  what  they've  been  doing  the  old  way  with 
computers.  We  need  to  take  it  to  the  next  level  now.  What  can  com- 
puters do  that  we've  never  done  before  in  education?  That's  where 
we  need  to  go." 


Learning  outside  of  the  box 


Today  on  the  MCV  campus,  medical  school  is  about  interaction 
and  hands-on  training.  It's  about  getting  students  out  of  classrooms 
and  into  doctors'  offices,  hospitals  and  small  group  sessions.  And  it's 
starting  within  the  first  year  of  study. 

A  new  two-year  course  for  first-  and  second-year  medical  students 
is  accomplishing  all  this,  and  results  so  far  appear  quite  promising. 


Veronica  Shuford  "90BS/H&S'9BMed/E 


In  1995,  the  School  of  Medicine  launched  Foundations  of  Clinical 
Medicine  (FCM),  a  collaborative  effort  of  Family  Medicine,  Internal 
Medicine  and  Pediatrics,  designed  to  teach  students  basic  clinical 
skills,  such  as  medical  interviewing  and  physical  diagnosis.  One  after- 
noon every  two  weeks,  students  participate  in  small  group  sessions, 
led  by  a  faculty  member  and  a  fourth-year  medical 
student.  On  alternating  weeks,  students  visit  assigned 
primary  care  physicians  in  the  community. 

VCU  is  among  the  first  medical  schools  in  the  nation 
to  add  clinical  exposure  in  all  years  of  study.  The  Schools 
of  Dentistry  and  Pharmacy  also  have  jumped  on  board, 
implementing  clinical  and  small  group  components  in 
their  first  years  of  study. 

"Our  goals  are  to  limit  passive  learning  and  to  place 
more  emphasis  on  interactive  learning  and  primary  care 
medicine,"  says  Dr.  Jim  Messmer,  associate  dean  for  medical  education 
in  the  School  of  Medicine.  "Before  FCM,  second-years  would  get 
general  lectures  about  physical  exams  and  history  taking."  Now 
students  learn  by  doing  it  themselves  with  preceptors  as  mentors 
and  through  role  playing  in  small  groups. 

Students  spend  afternoons  in  FCM,  labs  or  involved  in  other 
activities,  such  as  community  service  projects,  research  and  studying 
(no  time  for  leisure — after  all,  this  is  still  medical  school). 

"The  first  things  you  do  in  FCM  are  learn  how  to  interact  with 
patients,  build  rapport  and  obtain  vital  signs,"  says  Kate  Powis,  a 
second-year  medical  student.  "We  practice  everything  on  ourselves 
first  in  small  group,  building  our  confidence." 

In  her  first  year,  Powis  volunteered  with  a  Chesterfield  County 
rescue  squad  and  did  her  FCM  preceptorship  in  Aylett,  Va.  "It  was 
the  only  doctor's  office  for  miles.  It  even  had  a  small  emergency 
room  attached.  The  primary  care  physician  has  an  incredible 
knowledge  of  medicine.  On  the  same  day  we'd  cover  everything 
from  routine  children's  immunizations  to  a  diagnosis  of  cancer. 
And  the  patients  we  saw  spanned  the  economic  and  social  spectrum. 


VCU  is  among  the  first  medical  schools  in  the  notion 
to  Add  clinical  exposure  in  oil  years  of  study. 

Raising  the  bar 


Second-year  medical  student  Kate  Pomis  [R]  and  Dr.  Gail  Cohen 

[L]  examine  Charles  Saqles.  2 1/2 

It  was  an  incredible  experience." 

Powis  says  she  and  her  classmates  returned  "wide-eyed"  from 
their  first  physician  visit  last  year.  "Now,  in  second  year,  students  are 
saying,  'I  can't  believe  the  doctor  let  me  do  the  whole  exam,  and  he 
actually  had  confidence  in  me.'"  By  the  time  students  have  constant 
patient  contact  in  their  third  year,  they've  already  become  comfortable 
with  patient  communication  skills,  such  as  how  to  get  a  good  history. 
"So,  we're  more  able  to  focus  on  the  medical  side  of  learning." 

Dr.  Michelle  Whitehurst-Cook  '79  MD,  associate  professor  of 
family  medicine  and  physician  coordinator  for  FCM,  believes  the 
changes  make  for  a  better  learning  environment  than  when  she  was 
in  medical  school.  "Now  students  are  learning  how  to  be  culturally 
sensitive,  to  look  for  body  language,  and  to  take  a  family  or  sexual 
history  much  earlier  than  when  I  went  through."  And  a  greater 
emphasis  on  teaching  humanism  and  ethics  is  helping  students 
learn  valuable  communication  skills. 

"When  I  was  in  school,  we  had  models  in  a  lecture  or  a  lab, 
where  we'd  observe  a  physician  with  a  good  bedside  manner,  but 
we  didn't  talk  about  building  rapport  with  the  patient  or  the  actual 
principles  of  the  human  side  of  medicine." 

Is  there  really  a  difference  in  today's  graduates? 

The  word  coming  down  from  hospital  attending  physicians  is 
a  resounding  yes,  says  Whitehurst-Cook.  "They  tell  us  they're  seeing 
a  better  prepared  M3  [third-year  medical]  student,  one  that  has  more 
developed  medical  interviewing,  physical  exam,  oral  presentation  and 
clinical  reasoning  skills.  I  think  they're  much  ahead  of  where  their 
colleagues  were  just  four  or  five  years  ago." 

"When  the  first  group  of  students  came  through  my  small  group 
sessions,"  adds  Dr.  H.  H.  Newsome  Jr.,  dean  of  the  School  of  Medicine. 
"I  had  so  many  who  did  amazingly  well,  I  thought,  'I  must've  gotten 
a  group  who  were  all  at  the  top  of  the  class.'  Then  the  next  group 
came  through  and  the  same  thing  happened.  Finally,  I  realized  it 
was  FCM's  impact.  These  students  are  much  more  patient  savvy  at 
this  stage  than  those  in  previous  years." 


As  commercial  and  government  reimbursement  for  health  care  services 
continues  to  tighten,  physicians  increasingly  rely  on  physician  extenders 
such  as  nurse  practitioners  to  help  them  deliver  care  in  a  cost-effective 
manner.  An  explosion  in  medical  advances  is  expanding  the  knowledge- 
base required  of  many  medical  professionals.  And  a  growing  senior 
population  increases  the  demand  for  health  care  providers  who 
understand  the  unique  needs  of  the  geriatric  patient.  New  advanced 
degree  programs  on  the  MCV  Campus  prepare  graduates  to  succeed 
in  a  medical  environment  shaped  by  these  trends. 

In  the  1990s,  the  School  of  Nursing  added  a  post-master's  certificate 
program  in  advanced  practice  to  prepare  master's  degree  nurses  for 
new  areas  of  clinical  responsibilities.  Students  can  choose  from  seven 
areas  of  concentration:  acute  nurse  practitioner,  family  nurse  practi- 
tioner, nursing  administration,  nursing  in  faith  communities,  pediatric 
nurse  practitioner,  psychiatric  mental  health  clinical  nurse  specialist, 
and  women's  health  nurse  practitioner.  Once  they  have  completed 
the  program,  most  of  the  post-master's  students  obtain  licensure  as 
a  nurse  practitioner,  broadening  the  functions  they  can  perform. 
For  example,  pediatric  nurse  practitioners  can  do  physical  exams. 
Nurse  practitioners  can  also  apply  for  prescriptive  authority  and 
write  prescriptions  as  part  of  their  clinical  work. 

Five  years  after  receiving  her  master's  degree,  Arlene  Rollins 
'90MS/N'97C  (ANP)/N  found  her  job  as  a  surgical  clinical  nurse 
specialist  in  jeopardy.  The  hospital  where  she  worked  was  looking 
for  ways  to  contain  costs  and  wanted  nurses  to  take  on  a  wider  range 
of  responsibilities.  Rollins  decided  to  go  back  to  the  VCU  School  of 
Nursing  and  get  a  certificate  as  an  acute/adult  nurse  practitioner  to 
broaden  her  expertise. 

"The  degree  expanded  my  ability  to  manage  all  the  needs  of  a 
patient  based  on  their  illness,  limitations  and  disabilities.  And  I 
think  it  gave  me  a  greater  appreciation  for  and  insight  into  patients' 
needs,"  she  explains.  Today,  Rollins  is  the  manager  of  the  Care 


Dr.  Michelle  Whifehursr-Cooh  "79  MD 


From  3  Distance 


Distance  learning,  receiving  all  or  part  of  a  degree  from  a  remote 
location  using  computer  technology,  was  in  its  infancy  in  the  late 
1980s,  and  VCU's  School  of  Allied  Health  Professions  was  one  of 
its  earliest  pioneers  with  the  establishment  of  an  Executive  Masters 
Program  in  Health  Administration. 

Now  more  than  ten  years  later,  distance  learning  is  an  integral 
part  of  the  school's  programs,  and  many  of  its  students,  who  reside 
as  far  away  as  California,  rarely  visit  campus  but  still  reap  the  benefits 
of  its  nationally  recognized  program. 

Distance  learning  doesn't  come  without  its  own  challenges. 
"Distance  learning  requires  you  to  be  more  accessible  as  your 
students  are  'in  class'  at  all  hours  of  the  day,"  says  Jan  Clement, 
professor  of  Health  Administration  and  program  director  of  the 
Executive  Masters  Program.  "There's  not  as  much  down  time  for 
us,  but  at  the  same  time,  it  makes  it  much  easier  for  the  students, 
especially  ones  that  hold  full-time  jobs.  1  can  give  them  feedback 
whenever  they  need  it." 

In  1998,  the  school  launched  an  innovative  distance-learning 
course  of  doctoral  study,  designed  for  experienced  professionals  seeking 
continued  career  development  in  clinical  laboratory  sciences,  gerontology, 
health  administration,  nurse  anesthesia,  occupational  therapy,  physical 
therapy,  radiation  sciences,  and  rehabilitation  leadership. 

"Our  students  use  the  Internet  as  their  exchange  of  information 
instead  of  the  classroom,"  says  Dr.  Dolores  Clement,  associate  dean 
in  the  School  of  Allied  Health  Professions.  "But  we  also  have  them 
meet  here  twice  a  semester  because  we  think  the  socialization  com- 
ponent is  critical  to  the  learning  process." 

Clement  says  the  demand  for  the  Ph.D.  program  is  enormous. 
It's  particularly  attractive  to  individuals  who  want  to  advance  their 
degree  but  cannot  afford  to  quit  working  and  go  back  to  school  full- 
time.  "We  haven't  gone  international  yet,  but  there's  no  reason  why 
it  can't  be  done.  A  number  of  our  faculty  working  on  international 
projects  would  really  benefit  from  going  global."  The  school  is  working 
with  the  University  of  Puerto  Rico  to  develop  a  similar  program  for 
the  Spanish-speaking  population. 

The  School  of  Pharmacy  began  the  Nontraditional  Pharm.D. 
Pathway,  a  distance  learning  program  offered  to  pharmacists  who 
already  have  a  B.S.  degree  in  pharmacy.  "These  students  can  get  their 
entire  Pharm.D.  degree  without  ever  having  to  come  to  campus," 


Coordination  Department  at  the  VCU  Health  System.  "It  has  cer- 
tainly opened  doors  for  me  and  given  me  just  that  little  extra  edge." 

The  School  of  Allied  Health  Professionals'  Departments  of  Physical 
Therapy  and  Occupational  Therapy  eliminated  their  bachelor's 
degree  in  favor  of  master's  programs.  "As  the  fields  change  and 
therapists  take  on  more  responsibility,  the  content  we  must  cover 
in  our  programs  gets  increasingly  dense,  forcing  us  to  re-evaluate 
how  we  can  best  serve  our  students  and  community  needs,"  says 
Dr.  Mary  Snyder  Shall  '91PhD/M-BH,  associate  professor  of 
physical  therapy.  The  School  of  Allied  Health  Professionals  also 
began  a  new  master's  of  patient  counseling  program. 

Students  used  to  do  two  years  of  undergraduate  study  followed 
by  three  years  of  pharmacy  school  to  receive  a  B.S.  in  pharmacy. 
But  now,  only  a  doctor  of  pharmacy  degree  (Pharm.D.)  is  offered 
by  VCU.  It  requires  68  hours  of  undergraduate  study  and  four  years 
of  pharmacy  school.  In  May  2000,  VCU  graduated  its  first  all- 
Pharm.D.  class  of  pharmacy  students. 

Dr.  William  Smith,  associate  dean  for  administrative  affairs  in 
the  School  of  Pharmacy,  says  it's  a  change  all  national  professional 


Bruce  Jones  '90BS/P 


says  Veronica  Shuford  '90BS/H&S'96Med/E,  director  of  academic 
technology.  "Part  of  the  program  is  clerkships — being  out  in  their 
own  communities  doing  experiential  learning." 

Bruce  Jones  '90BS/P  found  job  competition  becoming  stiffer  as 
the  new  Pharm.D.s  began  entering  the  market,  even  though  he  had 
10  years  of  experience.  "They're  more  cutting  edge,"  he  says.  "They 
have  more  academic  knowledge."  Jones  felt  he  needed  to  go  back 
and  get  a  Pharm.D.,  but  he  didn't  want  to  leave  his  position  as 
clinical  staff  pharmacist  at  the  University  of  Virginia.  The  VCU 
School  of  Pharmacy  Nontraditional  Pharm.D.  Pathway  program 
gives  him  the  flexibility  to  do  both. 

"The  beauty  of  the  computer,"  he  explains,  "is  that  you  can  come 
in  and  turn  it  on  day  or  night.  I've  seen  teachers  online  at  midnight 
and  5:00  a.m."  But  he  adds  a  note  of  caution  to  those  considering 
a  distance  learning  course:  "It's  a  commitment.  You  have  to  be 
very  disciplined  and  motivated  because  you  don't  have  the  formal 
structure  of  going  to  a  class."  SJ 


Hrlene  Rollins  '90MS/N97C  [HNP]/N 


increasing  diversify 


New  programs  and  initiatives  are  bringing  in  a  more  culturally  diverse 
student  body  with  more  varied  backgrounds  than  ever  before.  The 
School  of  Pharmacy,  for  example,  has  been  successful  in  recruiting 
more  minorities.  In  the  past  four  years  its  African  American  admis- 
sions increased  from  8  to  16%.  Harvey  Morgan  '55  BS/P,  the  school's 
director  of  alumni  affairs,  believes  a  more  diverse  student  body 
provides  a  "better  reflection  of  the  general  population"  allowing 
schools  to  better  meet  their  overall  mission  of  serving  the  entire 
public.  "There  are  so  many  needs  in  every  population  and  area  of 
our  state,  which  will  go  unmet  unless  schools  build  a  student  body 
reflective  of  those  areas  and  needs." 

In  1994,  the  School  of  Nursing  implemented  an  accelerated  second- 
degree  program  for  students  holding  bachelor's  degrees  in  other  fields 
who  wish  to  enter  nursing.  "We  are  seeing  a  number  of  students 
with  varied  backgrounds  that  bring  a  richness  to  our  program,"  says 
Dr.  Janet  Younger  '67BS/N'72MS/N,  associate  dean  of  the  under- 
graduate program  in  the  School  of  Nursing.  "Of  course  you  have  the 
more  traditional  majors  such  as  biology  and  psychology,  but  we're 
seeing  many  with  fine  arts  and  humanities  backgrounds  now." 

Dr.  Kevin  Brigle,  '98  MS/N,  came  to  the  program  with  a  Ph.D. 
in  molecular  microbiology  and  was  already  conducting  NIH-funded 
research  into  the  evaluation  of  stress  management  strategies  in  HIV 
patients  with  Dr.  Nancy  McCain,  associate  professor  of  adult  health 
nursing.  "I  wanted  to  combine  my  lab  research  with  my  interests  in 
clinical  work,  and  this  program  was  the  best  way  for  me  to  do  that," 
says  Brigle,  who  worked  with  McCain's  research  throughout  his 
enrollment  in  the  program.  He  is  now  an  adult  nurse  practitioner 
doing  clinical  work  in  the  cancer  outreach  program  at  VCU's  Massey 
Cancer  Center  and  also  teaches  physical  assessment  in  the  School  of 
Nursing  bachelor's  program. 

"Students  like  Kevin  bring  important  research  backgrounds 
to  our  programs,"  says  Younger.  "Many  share  their  expertise  with 
classes  in  the  School  of  Nursing.  The  students  we're  enrolling  today 
allow  us  all  to  learn  from  each  other." 

Former  bank  vice  president  Kate  Powis  was  accepted  to  all  three 
medical  schools  in  Virginia  and  chose  VCU's  School  of  Medicine, 
"because  it  has  the  Foundations  of  Clinical  Medicine  course  and  the 
half-day  curriculum  and  because  I  wanted  to  work  in  the  inner  city." 
She  began  the  program  last  year  with  "a  bare  minimum  of  pre-med 
qualifications,"  but  she  believes  VCU's  School  of  Medicine  gives 
students  "every  resource  to  excel  in  medicine."  -SJ 


Or.  Ham  Snqder  Shall  "91PI1D/H-BH 


pharmacy  programs  are  moving  towards  as  a  response  to  expanding 
drug-related  knowledge.  "We  just  can't  cram  everything  into  a 
bachelor's  degree." 

"It's  exponential  as  far  as  [the  new  drugs]  that  are  coming  out, 
and  we'll  continue  to  see  more  complicated  products"  explains  Dr. 
Sharon  Small,  director  of  continuing  education  and  external  studies. 
In  contrast,  she  adds,  "the  most  exciting  drug  on  the  horizon  when 
I  was  in  pharmacy  school  was  Keflex." 

"Dean  Yanchick  has  brought  a  whole  new  perspective  to  the 
pharmacy  school,"  says  Harvey  Morgan  '55  BS/P,  a  member  of  the 
Virginia  House  of  Delegates  and  director  of  alumni  affairs  at  the 
School  of  Pharmacy.  "They're  now  teaching  pharmacy  students  to 
be  health  care  providers  rather  than  merely  being  dispensers.  It's 
a  far  better  school  now  than  when  I  was  here,  and  the  caliber  of 
pharmacist  the  school  is  producing  is  just  outstanding." 

Pharmacists  still  own  the  dispensing  function,  even  when  it's 
automated,  but  Pharm.D.  students  receive  more  hands-on  patient 
care  training:  40  weeks  compared  to  16  weeks  under  the  former 
B.S.  program. 

In  1997,  the  School  of  Pharmacy  began  a  combined  Pharm.D./ 
Ph.D.  program  for  selected  students  who  wish  to  pursue  both 
degrees  simultaneously.  Ph.D.  pharmacists  tend  to  pursue  a  career 
in  research. 

The  School  of  Pharmacy  is  also  emphasizing  two  major  areas 
in  the  curriculum,  community  pharmacy  and  geriatric  pharmacy, 
to  recognize  a  shift  in  the  population  demographics  and  to  meet  the 
needs  of  the  majority  of  pharmacists  practicing  out  in  communities 
rather  than  in  institutional  settings.  Pharmacists  practicing  in  a 
community  setting  are  more  accessible  to  the  general  public  and 
need  training  in  how  to  counsel  the  public  about  their  medications, 
side  effects,  interactions,  and  a  host  of  issues  that  require  not  only 
pharmaceutical  knowledge  but  also  good  people  skills. 


Change  agents 


i  Brigle.  98  MS/N 


Lasting  change  doesn't  occur  without  skilled  leadership  and  strong 
bonds  between  administrators  and  faculty,  or  without  an  institutional 
attitude  adjustment. 


m 


Outreach 


VCU  and  its  MCV  Campus  have  a  long-standing  tradition  of  serving 
the  public's  health  needs.  But  in  the  early  1990s,  MCV  Campus 
schools  began  seeing  a  surge  in  student  and  faculty  interest  to  get 
out  into  the  community  to  help  neighboring  organizations. 

This  community  service  explosion  hit  the  School  of  Nursing 
so  hard  it  created  the  Community  Nursing  Organization  (CNO), 
which  forms  partnerships  with  state  and  local  groups  needing  medical 
assistance  and  places  nursing  faculty  and  students  where  demand  is 
greatest.  In  some  cases,  these  needs  span  the  globe.  Twice  a  year,  a 
group  of  nursing  faculty  and  students  travel  to  Haiti  to  provide 
health  care  to  impoverished  areas. 

The  school's  emphasis  on  community  service  has  never  been 
stronger.  "All  of  our  students  in  the  bachelor's  program  graduate  with 
community  service  experience,"  says  Associate  Dean  Janet  Younger 
'67BS/N'72MS/N.  "It's  a  formal  part  of  the  curriculum  now.  It's 
important  for  all  health  professionals  to  realize  the  duty  to  provide 
services  to  those  in  need.  Clinical  experiences  while  as  a  student  help 
teach  approaches  and  values  related  to  this  important  work." 

The  School  of  Dentistry's  public  service  efforts  have  grown  in  the 
last  five  years,  says  Dr.  James  Revere  Jr.,  '65DDS,  executive  associate 
dean  in  the  School  of  Dentistry.  A  two-chair  dental  clinic  on  wheels 
travels  to  a  number  of  sites,  including  area  public  schools  to  screen 
students  for  Virginia's  Head  Start  Program.  And  a  number  of  stu- 
dents and  faculty  volunteer  at  Crossover  Clinic,  providing  invaluable 
dental  services  to  those  in  need. 

"The  thrust  of  our  service  efforts  is  to  allow  students  to  get  out 
into  the  community,  to  provide  care  and  be  exposed  to  underserved 
groups,"  says  Revere.  "We  anticipate  this  trend  of  outreach  will 
grow,  and  we  will  continue  to  increase  our  efforts  to  meet  our 
students  and  the  community's  needs." 


Dr.  James  Revere  Jr..  '65DD5 


Students  in  the  School  of  Medicine  are  so  involved  with  public 
service  they  have  assembled  a  student  community  service  guide 
to  better  organize  their  efforts.  Medical  student  Kate  Powis  says 
volunteering  at  organizations  like  the  Fan  Free  Clinic  provides 
students  "with  patient  contact,  physical  exam  experience  and  also 
exposes  students  to  indigent  care."  Students  involved  with  the 
Smile  Program  visit  children  undergoing  chemotherapy.  Another 
group  of  medical  students  organized  and  coordinated  a  medical 
trip  to  Honduras  last  summer.  —S] 


"There's  been  an  invigoration  for  much  more  interdisciplinary 
teaching,"  says  Dr.  Dean  Parmelee,  chair  of  child  and  adolescent 
psychiatry  in  the  School  of  Medicine.  "And  philosophical  changes 
are  placing  a  premium  on  cooperation  and  collaboration  and  on 
trying  new  things  to  see  what  works  best.  We  haven't  stayed  wedded 
to  tradition  like  other  medical  schools." 

The  result  is  a  more  dynamic  curriculum,  in  which  faculty 
members  are  working  together  more  than  ever  before.  For  example, 
physiology  professor,  Dr.  Linda  Costanza,  helps  Dr.  David  Salter, 
a  surgeon,  teach  a  third  year  group  of  students  during  a  surgery 
rotation.  The  same  climate  exists  in  the  Schools  of  Allied  Health 
Professions,  Dentistry,  Nursing  and  Pharmacy. 

But  meaningful  change  also  can't  occur  without  alumni  support. 
Alumni  from  all  MCV  Campus  schools  are  serving  on  University 
boards  and  committees,  and  they're  showing  their  support  by 
participating  as  preceptors  and  clinical  supervisors  for  the  scores 
of  students  out  in  the  field.  In  the  School  of  Medicine  alone,  more 
than  300  practicing  physicians  in  the  area,  many  of  who  are  alumni, 
serve  as  small  group  faculty  and  office  preceptors  for  the  Foundations 
of  Clinical  Medicine  course. 

"We  are  a  state  supported  school,  but  alumni  assistance  is  crucial 
in  staying  a  cutting-edge  institution,"  says  Morgan.  "We  need  that 
alumni  support  not  only  financially  but  also  in  spirit." 


Harveq  Morgan  '55 


Sally  Jones  is  a  freelance  writer  in  Richmond,  who  writes  for  VCU,  the 
MCV  Foundation  and  local  publications. 


S    p 


SCARAB 


SLEUTHS 


orensic  pathology  isn't 
a  profession  that  many 
seek  out  because  of  its 
daily  dealings  with  death. 

But  for  Drs.  Marcella  Fierro  '74HS,  Leah  Bush 
'77BS/H&S'80MS/H&S'84MD,  Elizabeth  Kinnison  '96HS  and 
Samuel  Land  '88MD'94HS,  forensic  pathology  represents  far  more 
than  autopsies.  Their  mission:  to  find  the  cause  of  sudden  deaths  and 
sort  out  the  manner  of  death — accident,  homicide,  suicide  or  natural. 
Medical  sleuths,  they  deal  with  the  unexpected  and  unexplained, 
seeking  out  answers  and  evidence. 

Forensic  pathologists  also  serve  as  medical  experts  in  trials, 
spokespeople,  bereavement  counselors  and  record  keepers.  And 
they  provide  education,  teaching  various  populations,  including 
medical  students,  pathologists,  law  enforcement  officers  and  lawyers. 

"We  teach  anybody  who  needs  to  be  taught  forensic  medicine," 
explains  Fierro,  chief  medical  examiner  for  the  Commonwealth  of 
Virginia  and  professor  and  chair  of  the  department  of  legal  medicine 
at  the  VCU  Health  System's  Medical  College  of  Virginia  Hospitals  and 
Physicians.  "We  teach  death  investigators  how  to  recognize  a  suspicious 
death  scene  and  work  with  the  medical  investigation  so  the  evidence  is 
preserved.  Also,  patrol  officers  have  to  know  what  to  do  at  a  death 
scene  to  secure  the  scene  so  there's  no  destruction  of  evidence." 

Fierro  did  one  year  of  her  residency  training  in  pathology  and  a 
fellowship  in  forensic  pathology  and  legal  medicine  at  VCU.  She  has 
served  as  chief  medical  examiner  for  the  past  six  years  and  is  one  of 
1 1  state  forensic  pathologists  in  Virginia.  (Only  half  of  the  population 
in  the  U.S.  has  access  to  forensic  pathologists.) 

Recendy,  mortality  reviews  have  been  added  to  Fierro's  duties. 
She  explains  the  process,  "We  take  information  and  make  something 
good  come  out  of  it  other  than  a  criminal  trial.  The  goal  is  to  charac- 
terize deaths  and  develop  a  strategy  for  prevention."  Reviews  include 
child  death  investigations,  homicide-suicide,  and  fatal  family  violence. 
Information  gleaned  from  these  reviews  will  be  forwarded  to  Virginia's 
General  Assembly  for  scrutiny. 

She  is  also  co-director  of  the  Virginia  Institute  of  Forensic  Science 
and  Medicine,  formed  in  1999  with  a  gift  from  best-selling  crime 
novelist  Patricia  Cornwell  and  matching  funds  from  Virginia  Governor 
Jim  Gilmore.  It  offers  week-long  courses  in  medicine  and  forensic 
science  as  well  as  specialty  courses  such  as  advanced  death  investigation 


By    Joan    Tupponce 


for  medical  examiners,  crime  scene  investigators,  judges,  law 
enforcement  investigators,  prosecutors,  forensic  scientists  and  nurses, 
and  others  involved  in  the  forensic  world. 

Fierro's  office  administers  a  forensic  pathology  fellowship  program 
with  VCU  for  pathologists  who  want  to  pursue  a  subspecialty  in 
forensic  pathology.  Two  physicians  are  accepted  into  the  program 
each  year.  Bush,  Kinnison  and  Land  did  their  forensic  pathology 
fellowships  under  Fierro's  office. 

Death's  many  doors 

With  such  diversity,  the  work  of  a  forensic  pathologist  is  anything 
but  routine.  "It's  like  ER.  You  never  know  what  you're  going  to  get 
that  day.  If  you  have  an  urgent  case,  everything  has  to  be  dropped," 
Fierro  says,  adding,  "The  autopsy  is  just  the  beginning." 

Each  case  is  different  and  each  carries  with  it  specific  challenges 
and  personal  rewards.  For  example,  in  unexpected  natural  deaths, 
families  worry  about  their  loved  one's  cause  of  death — was  it  some- 
thing inherited?  Something  in  the  genes?  Could  others  in  the  family 
have  the  same  problem?  "There's  a  great  deal  of  investigation  to  sort 
out  the  medical  cause,"  Fierro  says.  "Families  need  to  know  that,  and 
that  knowledge  can  actually  save  lives." 

"It's  like  playing  medical  detective,"  explains  Bush. 

The  types  of  cases  a  forensic  pathologist  sees  can  vary  due  to  geo- 
graphic location.  Bush,  who  has  been  deputy  chief  medical  examiner 
for  the  Tidewater  District  since  1989,  deals  with  a  great  number  of 
child  abuse  deaths.  "We  have  a  high  incidence  of  child  abuse  and 
deaths  from  child  abuse  in  the  Tidewater  area,  more  so  than  the  rest 
of  the  state,"  Bush  explains,  speculating  it  may  be  due  to  the  transient 
nature  of  the  area's  population,  which  includes  a  large  military  presence 
and  number  of  residents  who  moved  there  because  it  is  a  resort  town. 
These  transient  families  tend  to  be  young  and  inexperienced  in  child- 
care,  and  don't  have  extended  family  nearby  to  provide  emotional 
support  and  help  with  the  demands  of  raising  young  children. 

Bush  says  the  most  difficult  part  of  the  job  is  grief  counseling. 
"We  talk  with  family  members  about  their  loved  one  and  what 
happened  to  them.  We'll  tell  them  if  their  loved  one  died  quickly 
and  didn't  suffer,"  she  says.  "That  gives  them  some  measure  of 
comfort  in  this  devastating  time." 


Jj  I  '  Elizabeth  Kinnison  '96HS  and — 

Leah  Bush  '77BS/H&S  '80MS/H&S'84MD 


□ 


S    p 


Elementary 


"I  have  one  of  the 

coolest  jobs  in  the 

whole  world,"  says 

Colleen  McCue,  Ph.D.,  supervisor  of  the  Crime  Analysis  Unit,  City 

of  Richmond  Police  Department  and  assistant  professor  of  surgery 

on  the  Medical  College  of  Virginia  Campus. 

McCue's  job  is  different  than  most.  Instead  of  just  sitting  behind 
a  desk,  McCue  is  out  on  the  streets,  shopping  open-air  drug  markets, 
talking  to  offenders  and  visiting  crime  scenes  in  an  attempt  to  gather 
important  information.  Her  areas  of  expertise  include  homicide  and 
narcotics-related  violent  crimes.  She  is  able  to  combine  her  formal- 
ized training  in  psychology  with  molecular  biology  to  root  out 
answers  to  complex  questions. 

Much  of  McCue's  time  has  been  spent  working  with  DNA. 
"Everybody's  DNA  is  unique  except  identical  twins,"  she  explains. 
"Two  people  can't  physically  interact  without  exchanging  things 
such  as  hair,  fibers,  blood,  saliva  or  other  bodily  fluids.  These  items 
can  then  link  a  victim  to  the  perpetrator." 

In  the  last  decade,  DNA  has  become  a  crucial  component  in 
criminal  trials.  Virginia's  DNA  database  was  established  in  1989. 
Based  on  the  knowledge  that  many  offenders  commit  multiple 
crimes,  every  convicted  felon  in  Virginia  is  required  to  provide  a 
DNA  sample,  which  is  entered  into  the  database.  McCue  works  with 


"cold  hits":  when  DNA  taken  from  a  perpetrator  of  a  crime  is  put 
into  the  databank  and  matched  with  DNA  found  at  the  scene  of 

an  unsolved  crime. 
mm  __     ¥%£*  jm  M  "Virginia  is  much 

■VI  Jf      B^wdl       ■      ■      ■       further  ahead  [than 

other  states]  in  using 
the  database  and  catching  the  bad  guys,"  McCue  says.  Unlike  some 
states  that  just  record  DNA  from  sexual  offenders,  Virginia's  database 
includes  DNA  from  all  felony  offenders.  That  can  be  key  in  catching 
sex  offenders,  according  to  a  study  McCue  recently  co-authored. 

The  study  covered  40  men  in  Virginia  who  were  linked  by  DNA 
evidence  to  unsolved  sex  and  violent  crime  cases  committed  from 
1993  to  1999.  Of  those  men,  60  percent  had  been  convicted  of  previous 
sex  crimes,  while  40  percent  were  in  the  DNA  database  for  lesser 
felonies,  primarily  burglary  and  larceny.  If  only  sexual  offenders  had 
been  included  in  the  database,  40  percent  of  the  DNA  matches  would 
have  been  overlooked. 

The  study  received  national  attention  when  USA  Today  reported 
the  findings  in  its  July  10,  2000  issue. 

"An  important  thing  came  out  of  this,"  McCue  says.  "We  gained 
quantum  leaps  in  understanding  sex  offenders  and  where  they  come 
from.  If  the  DNA  database  had  been  available  at  the  time  of  the  Timothy 
Spencer  case  [see  "Medical  Sleuths"),  we  could  have  stopped  him 
before  he  killed  so  many  people.  He  had  started  out  with  burglary 
in  Northern  Virginia  and  had  a  history  of  trespassing.  If  we  had  had 
the  database  in  place,  his  DNA  would  have  been  on  file." 

McCue  is  also  one  of  the  moving  forces  behind  the  Cops  &  Docs 
program,  which  involves  VCU  and  the  City  of  Richmond  Police.  In 
one  aspect  of  the  program,  medical  personnel  and  law  enforcement 
officers  work  together  for  the  effective  collection  and  preservation 
of  forensic  evidence.  "Violent  crime  interfaces  between  health  care 
and  law  enforcement,"  McCue  explains.  "Forensic  medicine 
works  with  both  sides.  They  share  expertise  and  experience 
to  promote  a  healthier  environment,  treading  the  fine  line 
between  saving  lives  and  saving  evidence." 

Between  the  research  and  the  work,  there  is  an  opportunity 
to  make  a  difference,  she  adds.  "If  I  didn't  think  things  would  be 
better,  I  couldn't  do  my  job.  I  believe  the  types  of  research  we  are 
doing  will  not  only  help  us  catch  offenders  more  rapidly  but  may 
help  us  stop  some  early  on."  -JT 


Pennsylvania's  coroners  system  keeps  Land  on  the  road.  A  forensic 
pathologist  with  Forensic  Pathology  Associates  Inc.  in  Allentown, 
Pennsylvania,  he  and  his  staff  are  hired  by  coroners  in  eastern  and 
southern  Pennsylvania  to  perform  autopsies.  "I  may  have  to  travel 
up  to  two  hours  to  do  an  autopsy,"  Land  explains.  "In  the  past  year, 
I  have  performed  autopsies  in  22  counties." 

When  he  travels,  Land  carries  his  equipment  with  him.  Because 
many  of  the  counties  hire  Land  to  perform  difficult  autopsies,  he  sees 
more  complicated  cases.  The  majority  of  the  autopsies  he  performs 
are  in  hospitals.  He  also  performs  autopsies  in  coroners'  offices  and 
funeral  homes. 

Land  finds  unknown  natural  deaths  to  be  his  most  challenging 
cases.  "You  have  to  have  a  knowledge  of  disease  processes  and  keep 
abreast  of  medicine,"  he  explains.  The  most  rewarding  aspect  of  the 
job  comes  at  the  culmination  of  a  case.  "When  I  come  up  with  a 
cause  of  death,  it's  a  good  feeling  because  I  know  I  have  done  a  job 
well  done.  At  the  end  of  testifying  in  a  homicide  trial,  I  know  I  have 
done  my  work  to  the  best  of  my  ability  and  my  testimony  will  hopefully 
help  prevent  further  tragedy.  I  never  find  a  signature  on  the  body  but 


if  the  evidence  points  to  a  person  and  that  person  is  put  away,  I  feel  I 
have  done  my  job." 

Answers  and  evidence 

Forensic  pathologists  are  always  in  a  learning  mode,  especially  when 
it  comes  to  new  drugs  like  Rohypnol,  the  date  rape  drug.  "You  need 
to  be  aware  of  how  the  drug  might  be  administered  and  its  effects. 
You  have  to  know  what  sort  of  samples  you  need,"  explains  Kinnison, 
assistant  chief  medical  examiner  for  the  Tidewater  District.  "It's  not 
just  DNA.  Knowing  how  drugs  can  be  used  or  might  be  used  is 
important."  For  example:  It  would  be  difficult  to  smother  an  adult 
and  not  leave  a  mark  because  the  person  would  struggle.  There 
would  be  broken  fingernails,  scrapes  on  the  face,  etc.  But,  if  the 
victim  is  drugged  with  Rohypnol  and  incapacitated  as  a  result,  he 
can  be  smothered  easily. 

Collection  and  analysis  of  evidence  also  changes  as  technology 
progresses.  "There  has  also  been  an  expansion  of  toxicology  analysis 
for  trace  evidence,"  says  Kinnison 

Trace  evidence  is  any  small  piece  of  physical  evidence  such  as 


S     p 


m 


hair,  fibers  or  semen  that  requires  special  tools  or  laboratory  procedures 
to  identify.  Toxicology  analysis  can  be  performed  on  hair,  blood  or 
other  bodily  fluids  to  detect  the  presence  of  drugs,  alcohol  or  poisons. 
Cases  such  as  suspected  drug  overdoses  and  criminal  or  environmental 
poisonings  can  hinge  on  the  results  of  toxicology  analysis,  and  the 
level  of  an  individual's  intoxication  can  help  answer  questions  about 
her  judgment  or  ability  to  defend  herself. 

Two  advancements  in  forensic  pathology — alternate  light  source 
used  for  trace  evidence,  and  DNA — have  brought  about  significant 
results.  An  alternate  light  source  uses  special  wavelengths  of  light  to 
enhance  recovery  of  trace  evidence.  For  example,  it  causes  otherwise 
hard-to-see  fibers  and  semen  to  fluoresce. 

"We're  using  more  forensic  science,  more  DNA,"  Kinnison  adds. 
"Something  can  be  evidence  now  that  wasn't  before  due  to  DNA." 

Today's  smoking  gun 

DNA  evidence  has  been  key  in  solving  some  of  the  crimes  these 
forensic  pathologists  have  investigated. 

Out  of  all  the  cases  she  has  handled,  Fierro  says  the  Timothy 
Spencer  homicides  in  the  late  '80s  still  haunt  her.  Known  as  the 
"South  Side  Strangler,"  the  serial  murderer  was  convicted  and 
sentenced  to  death  for  the  brutal  rape,  torture,  and  strangulation 
of  several  women  in  Richmond.  "It  was  a  very  heartbreaking  series 
of  cases,"  she  recalls.  "It  was  very  distressing.  We  knew  he  was  out 
there  and  he  was  killing.  We  needed  to  access  the  victims;  get  them 
before  they  were  decomposed.  We  knew  he  wouldn't  quit  until  he 
was  caught.  It  was  a  matter  of  how  close  we  could  get  and  how  much 
evidence  we  could  collect  to  link  them." 

According  to  the  Richmond  Times-Dispatch,  Spencer  was  the  first 
person  in  the  United  States  to  be  executed  primarily  on  the  basis  of 
DNA  fingerprinting  evidence.  The  DNA  pattern  in  Spencer's  blood 
matched  that  found  in  semen  at  the  crime  scenes. 

In  one  of  Bush's  cases,  DNA  evidence  helped  send  another  serial 
killer  to  jail.  The  man  was  suspected  of  murdering  about  a  dozen 
men  in  the  Hampton  Roads  area  from  1987  to  1996.  The  police 
obtained  DNA  evidence  from  a  stain  on  the  fabric  of  the  killer's 
mattress.  It  matched  DNA  samples  Bush  took  from  one  of  the 
victims,  and  police  were  able  to  make  a  case  against  the  suspect. 
'It  was  a  concerted  effort  between  the  autopsy  and  crime  scene 
technicians,"  Bush  says.  "It  was  rewarding  to  know  there  wouldn't 
be  another  murder.  Maybe  I  had  saved  some  lives." 

Lasting  impressions 

Fierro  admits  her  job  has  an  intense  effect  on  her.  "I  have  the  pro- 
found realization  that  life  is  very  tenuous  at  best,"  she  says.  "You 
know  today  is  today  and  there  might  not  be  a  tomorrow.  The  people 
who  come  through  our  place  didn't  make  an  appointment.  They 
didn't  feel  bad.  We  don't  schedule  appointments  here,  ll  s 
come  as  you  are,  unexpectedly.". 

The  work  intrinsically,  involves  sadness.    / 
To  retain  her  sanity,  Fierjo  leaves  her  worjgM 
behind  her  when  she  heads  hpme.  '^If  you, 
didn't,  you  would  go  home,  sit  in  a  corner 


and  never  come  out,"  she  says.  "You  have  to  have  some  sort  of  mental 
relaxation  or  relief.  Your  patients  don't  need  you  to  weep  for  them, 
they  need  you  to  bring  your  skills  to  bear." 

"I  become  a  little  depressed  but  this  is  what  I  do,  who  I  am,"  says 
Land.  "When  I  go  home  and  see  that  my  wife  and  kids  are  okay,  I'm 
alright.  I  have  a  good  support  system." 

One  case  that  haunts  him  involved  a  1 -year-old-girl  who  was 
shaken  to  death.  Land  was  at  the  preliminary  hearing  to  testify  when 
he  heard  the  girl's  mother  describing  how  her  boyfriend  had  killed  the 
child.  "It  tore  me  up,"  Land  recalls.  "Now  I  have  a  real  interest  in  shaken/ 
impact  syndrome  in  children.  I  take  that  very  personally  now." 

Kinnison  recognizes  that  forensic  pathology  isn't  for  everyone. 
"Some  would  think  it's  a  horrible,  depressing  job.  But,  it's  a  job  that 
needs  to  be  done.  When  I  see  these  people,  their  pain  is  over.  I  think 
a  lot  of  other  doctors  and  nurses  and  medical  professionals  have 
more  difficult  jobs  emotionally  than  this  one." 

She  finds  the  deaths  of  the  very  young  or  violent  deaths  of  the 
elderly  to  be  the  most  disturbing  for  her.  "We  have  a  supportive  staff 
and  we  decompress  together,"  she  says.  "We  talk  things  out.  It  makes 
me  grateful  how  normal  my  life  is  and  grateful  that  I  am  not  in  the 
situation  these  people  are  in.  Many  of  these  people  have  had  difficult 
lives  prior  to  their  death." 

Kinnison  believes  it  takes  a  flexible  personality  to  handle  the  rigors 
of  the  job.  "Dr.  Bush  and  I  both  take  things  in  stride,"  she  says.  "We 
do  have  some  flexibility.  We  don't  have  as  many  emergency  situations 
as  other  doctors  do." 

Bush  admits  her  job  has  left  lasting  impressions.  "I  am  always 
aware  that  life  can  be  over  in  an  instant  so  I  tend  not  to  sweat  the 
small  stuff."  And  she  loves  her  work.  "I  feel  like  I  can  do  some  good," 
she  says.  "Once  a  victim  is  dead,  I  am  the  last  person  that  can  speak 
for  them  and  maybe  see  justice  done." 

The  plot's  the  thing 

Fierro  never  planned  on  a  career  in  forensic  pathology.  She  chose  it 
after  observing  forensic  medicine  during  a  rotation.  "I  had  a  mental 
lapse,"  she  says,  laughing.  "I  like  the  puzzle,"  she  adds  on  a  more 
serious  note.  "It  requires  a  degree  of  curiosity,  as  well  as  a  degree  of 
bulldog  [mentality].  You're  not  going  to  quit  until  you  find  out  the 
cause.  It's  a  sense  of  justice.  You  never  get  to  say  who  did  it  but  you 
do  get  to  say  what  happened." 

Many  people  know  that  Cornwell's  lead  character  Dr.  Kay  Scarpetta 
is  fashioned  after  Fierro.  Cornwell  worked  in  the  medical  examiner's 
office  before  penning  her  novels.  "She  describes  what  I  do  and  what 
other  pathologists  do,"  Fierro  says.  "My  mission  in  life  is  to  keep  her 
pathology  correct  so  she  doesn't  get  letters."  Does  Fierro  think  of 
herself  as  Scarpetta?  Not  really.  "Scarpetta  is  105  pounds,  blonde  and 

blue  eyed,"  she  says.  "I  haven't  been  105  pounds  since  I  was  12 
yjfers  old.'' 

■e  is  an  award -winning  writer  resh 
mond.  A  staff  writer  at  Capita]  One, 
'writes  for  MD  News,  the  Richmond 
■Dispatch  and  Richmon 

r 


Samuel  Land  '88MD  94HS 


By    Sally    Jones 


OOSTING  MCV  CAMPUS 

ENDOWMENT  $s 


If  you  ever  have  considered  making  a  gift 
to  establish  a  named  endowment  fund  on  the  MCV 
Campus  of  VCU,  there  has  never  been  a  better  time.  A  joint 
venture  between  the  MCV  Foundation  and  the  MCV  Alumni 
Association  has  created  a  literal  wealth  of  opportunity — the 
Medical  Campus's  first  ever  giving  Incentive  Program — for  its 
alumni  and  friends. 

The  idea  for  the  Incentive  Program  started  when  VCU's 
academic  and  medical  Alumni  Associations  began  offering 
alumni  the  First  USA  credit  card,  imprinted  with  VCU  and 
MCV  logos  or  campus  images.  The  alumni  associations 
received  royalties  from  their  agreement  with  First  USA  and 
wanted  to  put  the  money  to  good  use.  The  academic  division 
created  1 13  endowed  merit  scholarships  and  renovated  its  alumni 
house.  The  MCV  Alumni  Association  teamed  up  with  the  MCV 
Foundation  to  create  the  pioneering  Incentive  Program.  A  $1  million 
"matching"  pool,  established  with  $500,000  each  from  the  MCV 
Foundation  and  the  MCV  Alumni  Association,  will  provide  $.50 
for  every  dollar  of  new  endowed  gifts  to  the  Medical  Campus.  The 
objective  is  to  increase  the  MCV  Campus  endowment  by  a  total  of 
$3  million. 

Matching  funds  have  been  allocated  equally  among  the  Schools  of 
Allied  Health  Professions,  Dentistry,  Medicine,  Nursing,  and  Pharmacy, 
as  well  as  the  former  School  of  Basic  Health  Sciences,  so  all  areas  of 
study — and  all  MCV  alumni — may  benefit. 

"The  wonderful  thing  about  endowment  funds  is  that  they  provide 
permanent  funding,  and  when  invested  prudently,  these  funds  will 
continue  to  grow  to  offset  the  impact  of  inflation  in  the  future,"  says 
Mickey  Dowdy,  executive  vice  president  of  the  MCV  Foundation. 
"Around  our  campus  the  most  popular  endowment  funds  have 
been  in  support  of  scholarships,  fellowships,  professorships  and 
research — each  carrying  the  name  of  the  donor,  a  family  member 
or  a  beloved  faculty  member." 

A  minimum  gift  of  $6,667,  payable  over  a  period  of  up  to  five  years, 
would  be  matched  with  $3,333  to  create  a  $10,000  endowment  fund 
(the  dollar  threshold  required  by  the  MCV  Foundation  for  a  separate 
fund).  The  first  phase  of  the  Incentive  Program  ends  June  30,  2001.  If, 
after  that  time,  any  funds  remain  unused,  the  remaining  dollars  will  be 
allocated  to  schools  with  additional  eligible  gifts  and  projects. 

"In  order  to  keep  this  program  within  the  reach  of  as  many 
alumni  as  possible,  alumni  can  pool  their  resources  with  other  alumni, 
classmates  and  friends  and  donate  as  a  group,"  says  Kathy  Bobbitt, 
president  of  the  MCV  Alumni  Association  of  VCU.  "We  want  as 
many  people  as  possible  to  be  able  to  participate  and  to  benefit  from 
this  program." 

"We're  so  excited  to  be  able  to  work  with  the  MCV  Foundation," 
adds  Bobbitt.  "There's  a  wonderful  alliance  between  the  alumni 
association,  the  foundation,  and  the  schools  on  campus  who  have 
all  come  together  to  work  on  this  project.  It's  a  win-win  situation 
for  everyone  involved,  and  the  students  and  campus  programs  stand 
to  benefit  the  most." 


NURSING  SCHOOL  PUTS  INCENTIVE  PROGRAM  TO  THE  TEST 

Judith  Collins'  retirement  couldn't  have  been  better  timed.  To  the 
countless  patients,  students  and  colleagues  she  touched  during  her 
30-year  career  at  VCU,  June  30,  2000  marked  the  bittersweet  end  of 
an  era.  Friends,  former  students  and  faculty,  wanting  to  honor  one 
of  nursing  and  the  health  care  profession's  finest,  decided  to  use  the 
Incentive  Program,  which  began  a  day  after  Collins'  retirement,  as  a 
call  to  arms. 

In  the  fall,  the  School  of  Nursing  kicked  off  a  $250,000  campaign 
to  raise  funds  for  the  Judith  B.  Collins  Professorship  in  honor  of  the 
founding  director  of  Women's  HealthCare  at  Stony  Point  and  former 
professor,  who  held  joint  appointments  in  the  Schools  of  Nursing 
and  Medicine.  The  $250,000  raised  will  be  matched  with  $125,000 
from  the  Incentive  Program,  creating  a  $375,000  professorship. 
The  professorship  will  be  only  the  third  professorship  in  the  nursing 
school  and  the  first  named  in  honor  of  a  faculty  member.  As  of 
early  December,  commitments  had  already  reached  $200,000  vali- 
dating the  worthiness  of  the  project  and  the  incentive  provided  by 
matching  funds. 

"The  Collins  professorship  is  particularly  significant  at  this  time 
in  the  school's  history  because  of  the  nationwide  scarcity  of  nursing 
faculty,"  says  Barbara  Dunn  '70BS/N,  member  of  the  Collins 
Professorship  campaign  committee  and  MCV  Foundation  Board  of 
Trustees.  "It  will  be  a  compelling  tool  to  recruit  exceptional  faculty 
and  continue  Judy  Collins'  legacy  of  excellence." 

Needs  and  priorities  vary  widely  across  MCV  Campus  schools,  so 
please  contact  Mickey  Dowdy  at  the  MCV  Foundation  (804)  828-9734, 
Tom  Holland,  associate  vice  president  for  health  sciences  campus 
development  (804)  828-3800,  or  a  school's  development  office  for 
more  information  about  the  MCV  Campus  Incentive  Program: 

Stephen  Harvey,  School  of  Allied  Health  Professions,  (804)  828-3269 

James  Revere,  School  of  Dentistry,  (804)  828-9184 

Kara  Broderick,  School  of  Medicine,  (804)  828-4800 

Edward  Kardos,  School  of  Nursing,  (804)  828-5172 

Victor  A.  Yanchick,  Ph.D.,  School  of  Pharmacy,  (804)  828-3006 


S    p 


m-ii-'iir.n 


In  the  Fall  2000  issue  of  Scarab,  we  featured 
members  of  the  organ  transplant  team  who  work 
withjiatients  during  theirevaluation  as_acandi- 

Hntjfc  fnV  g  ti'antt.rtf^wrt  ffiT 
Uiiiu  lura  iijufSniiaiiii  mi 


^theTranspianvsurgery.  ihi^  issue,  w 
— stofy-wtth-thet 

helping  patients 
— cftne-witfrfRe  physi-  l 

Dal  and  emotional     \ 

challenges  faced 


Standing  on  the  summit 
of  Mt.  Everest,  climbers 
have  only  a  short  time  to 
savor  the  thrill  of  achieving 
such  a  rigorous  goal  before 
heading  back  down.  Expert 
guides,  physical  endurance, 
emotional  stamina  and 
good  fortune  helped  them 
climb  to  29,028  feet  above 
sea  level.  Now  tired,  suf- 
fering the  effects  of  oxygen 
depletion,  and  at  risk  for 
any  deterioration  in  weather 
conditions,  they  face  the 
equally  tough  obstacle  of 
the  descent.  Despite  the 
enormity  of  their  achieve- 
ment, the  climbers' 
journey  is  only  half  over. 

"That's  what  having  an  organ  transplant  is  like,  climbing  Mt. 
Everest,"  says  Debbie  Kaestner,  who  received  a  lung  transplant  at 
VCU  Health  System  in  1996  after  one  and  one-half  years  on  the 
waiting  list.  Making  it  through  the  transplant  itself  is  only  halt  the 
journey,  and  the  time  after  the  transplant  is  as  challenging  as  the 
time  preceding  it. 

"Post-transplant,  patients  must  be  supported  in  all  aspects  of 
their  lives,  physically  and  emotionally,"  explains  Dr.  Neri  Cohen 
'96HS/GS'98HS/CTS,  transplant  surgeon  at  VCUHS.  Each  member 
of  the  support  system —  whether  family,  friend,  or  health  profes- 
sional— helps  the  transplant  patient  cope  with  different  challenges. 
"This  is  a  team  effort.  No  one  individual  is  more  important.  Every- 
thing has  to  fall  into  place  to  make  it  work." 

"Recovery  isn't  a  straight  line,"  adds  Sharon  Benedict,  a  psychologist 
on  the  transplant  team  at  VCUHS.  "It's  often  like  a  roller  coaster, 


Dr.  Neri  Cohen  '96HS/GS  98HS/CTS 


t  peaks  and  valleys.  "Kaestner's  recovery  suffered  some  major  com- 
plications, including  a  bout  with  pneumonia  five  months  after  her 
f  transplant  that  returned  her  to  the  hospital  for  a  month.  She  describes 
that  episode  as  more  difficult  to  endure  than  the  transplant  itself. 

A  mountain  of  meds 

It  takes  more  than  "a  spoonful  of  sugar"  to  make  the  medicine  go 
down  for  post- transplant  patients.  The  sheer  amount  of  drugs  that 
must  be  taken  for  the  rest  of  one's  life  is  daunting.  "Every  morning 

and  every  night  I  take  a 
handful  of  pills,"  says 
-Kaestner.  "I  don't  even 
think  about  it.  I  just  do  it." 

Stacy  Posner,  clinical 
pharmacist  with  trans- 
plant surgery  at  VCUHS, 
says  transplant  patients 
may  be  taking  as  many  as 
40  pills  a  day  right  after 
the  transplant.  In  three  to 
six  months  that  number 
may  be  cut  in  half,  but  it's 
still  substantial. 

Immunosuppressant 
drugs  such  as  cyclosporine 
and  anti-inflammatory 
drugs  such  as  prednisone, 
are  used  to  keep  the  patient's 
body  from  rejecting  the 
transplanted  organ.  Most 
patients  must  take  these 
drugs  for  the  rest  of  their 
lives.  Other  medications  or 
supplements  may  be  prescribed  to  manage  the  side  effects.  For  example, 
patients  on  prednisone  are  at  risk  for  developing  osteoporosis  and  may 
take  calcium  supplements  to  prevent  bone  loss.  A  patient  may  also 
need  medication  to  control  blood  pressure,  protect  the  stomach  or 
prevent  viral  infections.  And  whenever  a  transplant  patient  develops  a 
fever,  they  are  usually  hospitalized  and  given  antibiotics  intravenously. 

"Each  person  is  different  in  how  they  respond  to  medication," 
explains  Posner.  "We  try  to  minimize  the  side  effects  to  improve 
their  quality  of  life.  That's  what  it's  all  about." 

If  patients  have  any  medication  issues,  such  as  allergies  or  diffi- 
culty swallowing  pills,  the  transplant  team,  including  pharmacy, 
begins  working  with  them  during  the  pre-transplant  period.  When 
a  patient  receives  a  transplant,  it  often  happens  very  quickly.  He  may 
wait  for  several  years  on  the  transplant  list  and  then  one  day  receive 
a  phone  call  to  drop  everything  and  come  to  the  hospital  because  an 
organ  has  become  available.  "So  you  must  figure  out  how  to  deal 
with  any  medication  issues  ahead  of  time,  if  possible,"  says  Posner. 


13 


S    p 


For  patients  who  have  trouble  swallowing  pills  that  means  practicing 
with  placebo  pills  before  the  transplant,  or  finding  liquid  alternatives. 

Posner  also  teaches  patients  how  to  handle  their  medications 
before  they  are  discharged  from  the  hospital,  post-transplant. 
Patients  attend  a  class  and  receive  a  notebook  about  the  different 
medications,  as  well  as  a  list  of  what  to  take 
and  when.  "These  medications  are  not  easy 
to  take,"  Posner  notes.  "There's  lots  ot  them 
and  they're  very  expensive.  We  all  work  to     2| 
make  it  as  easy  as  possible  for  the  patient." 

Financial  side  effects 

Megan  Maltby  'OOMSW,  a  social  worker 
at  VCUHS,  cites  her  biggest  challenge  as 
the  financial  obstacles  faced  by  transplant 
patients,  another  "side  effect"  of  the  medi- 
cine which  can  cost  hundreds  of  dollars  a 
month.  The  financial  challenges  are  exacer- 
bated by  the  fact  that  being  sick  can  cause 
patients  to  end  up  living  on  disability 
income,  which  is  just  barely  enough  to 
get  by  on — if  you're  healthy. 

Community  support  is  among  the 
resources  Maltby  helps  her  clients  tap. 
Kaestner  had  difficulty  coming  up  with  the      Stacy  Posner 
20  percent  co-pay  her  health  insurance 

coverage  required  on  her  medications.  When  her  bills  mounted  to 
a  balance  of  $1,600,  the  mail-order  pharmacy  she  used  was  going 
to  stop  filling  her  prescriptions.  Fortunately,  Kaestner's  synagogue 
held  a  fundraiser  to  help  pay  the  debt. 

Eating  healthy 

Regine  Birkenhauer,  a  registered  dietitian,  works  with  a  network  of 
dietitians  at  VCUHS  to  promote  nutritional  rehabilitation  of  post- 
transplant  patients.  Like  Posner,  part  of  her  work  is  helping  patients 
compensate  for  the  side  effects  of  the  drugs.  For  example,  anti-rejection 
drugs  such  as  cyclosporine,  and  prednisone  can  cause  increased 
cholesterol  levels.  Blood  sugar  abnormalities  and  food  cravings  are 
also  an  effect  of  prednisone.  Kaestner  has  suffered  weight  gain  and 
the  complication  of  diabetes  from  the  medicine. 

Lifestyle  also  contributes  to  weight  gain.  The  feeling  of  wellbeing 
that  comes  with  recovery  can  make  eating  a  rediscovered  pleasure, 

and  exercise  is 
not  often  a 
habit  of  people 
who  have  suf- 
fered from 
chronic  illness 
for  years  before 
the  transplant. 
Plus,  the  mag- 
nitude of  the 
transplant  itself 
can  make  diet 
seem  relatively 
unimportant, 
even  though 
the  impact  of 
diet  on  wellness 


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Jeanne  Salyer,  '92  Ph.D./N,  began  working  on  the  transplant  team 
as  a  research  nurse  when  she  was  finishing  her  doctorate  at  VCU 
School  of  Nursing.  Today  her  research 
focuses  on  long  term  cardiac  transplant 
patients.  "I  look  at  their  lifestyle  and  the 
impact  of  lifestyle  on  quality  of  life,"  she 
explains,  noting  patients  can  have  barriers 
that  prevent  them  from  living  a  healthy 
lifestyle.  For  example,  they  may  not  be 
able  to  participate  in  healthy  activities 
because  of  lack  of  transportation  or  lack 
of  funds. 

In  1997  Salyer  studied  48  patients  at 
VCUHS  and  found  that  many  patients  did 
not  incorporate  the  attributes  of  a  healthy 
lifestyle  into  their  lives.  In  1999,  Salyer, 
along  with  Maureen  Flattery  '00MS/N 
and  Pam  Joyner  '94BS/N,  won  the  Nursing 
Research  Award  from  the  International 
Society  for  Heart  &  Lung  Transplantation 
for  a  study  called  "Health  Promoting 
Lifestyle  in  Long  Term  Cardiac  Transplant 
Recipients."  The  study  includes  approxi- 
mately 100  subjects  at  the  Veterans  Administration  hospital  and 
VCUHS,  and  its  findings  are  being  presented  at  the  Society's  annual 
scientific  sessions  this  spring  in  Vancouver,  B.C. 

"We  are  also  looking  at  an  intervention  that  will  help  people 
incorporate  a  healthy  diet  into  their  lifestyle,"  says  Salyer.  "Many 
transplant  patients  are  obese  because  of  lack  of  physical  activity, 
steroids,  dietary  indiscretion,  etc.  Some  of  the  members  of  our 
study  receive  follow-up  teaching  with  a  nutritionist  and  others 


J«Jt*3#JSi 


Megan  Maltby  OOMSW 


continued  on  page  19 


Last  summer  Dr.  Paul  Fairman,  medical  director  of  the  lung 
transplant  team  at  VCU  Health  System,  and  his  son,  Nathan, 
biked  3,250  miles  from  Seattle  to  Washington,  D.C.  as  part  of 
the  American  Lung  Association's  third  annual  Bike  Across 
America.  The  200  riders  raised  over  $2  million  to  support  the 
ALA.  "Lung  disease  is  not  so  much  in  the  public  eye,"  Fairman 
told  the  Richmond  Times-Dispatch.  "There  is  a  need  for  it  to  be. 
I  know  that  need  by  statistics  and  I  know  that  need  from  my 
everyday  experience  at  work." 


S     p 


Bone  marrow  transplant  coordinator  Angela  Buskey  '91BS/N  is 

proud  of  the  growth  that  has  occurred  in  her  department.  The  BMT 
program  was  established  at  VCU  Health  System  in  1988.  When 
Buskey  joined  the  team  in  1992,  the  unit  had  6  beds.  Today,  it  has 
13  beds  and  the  program  is  performing  approximately  100  trans- 
plants a  year. 

The  goal  of  the  BMT  team  at  VCUHS  is  the  same  as  that  of  the 
solid  organ  transplant  team:  to  save  lives.  Yet  the  patient  profile,  the 
method,  and  the  strategy  are  very  different. 

Solid  organ  recipients  are  screened  out  if  they  have  malignancies, 
but  lymphomas,  leukemias,  myelomas,  as  well  as  aplastic  anemia, 
where  stem  cells  in  the  bone  marrow  are  malfunctioning  or  cancerous, 
are  indications  for  a  BMT.  Stem  cell  transplants  may  be  autologous, 
where  the  patient's  stem  cells  are  used;  allogeneic,  where  a  relative  is 
the  donor;  or  "unrelated,"  where  a  donor  from  a  volunteer  registry 
is  used. 

The  patient  is  prepared  for  the  bone  marrow  transplant  with  a 
very  high  dosage  of  chemotherapy  and/or  radiation.  "The  goal  is  to 
eradicate  cancerous  cells,"  explains  Buskey.  But  the  bone  marrow 
which  makes  the  white  blood  cells,  red  blood  cells  and  platelets  is 
also  destroyed.  At  that  point,  the  patient  simply  cannot  recover 
naturally:  too  much  of  his  native  bone  marrow  is  dead.  The  BMT  is 
given  to  restore  bone  marrow  function.  A  catheter,  usually  placed  in 
a  vein  in  the  upper  chest,  transfuses  the  donor  bone  marrow.  From 
the  blood  system,  the  marrow  migrates  to  the  bone.  How  does  the 
migration  take  place?  "It's  pretty  much  an  unexplained  phenomenon," 
says  Buskey. 

Patients  remain  in  the  hospital  approximately  three  to  six  weeks 
as  the  donor  marrow  implants.  Meanwhile,  the  possibility  of  infection 


e  goal  of  the  BMT  team  at  VCUHS 
is  the  same  as  that  of  the  solid  organ 
transplant  team:  to  save  lives. 


due  to  lack  of  white  blood  cells  and  internal  and  external 
bleeding  due  to  lack  of  platelets  (cells  that  clot  the 
blood)  must  be  carefully  monitored. 

In  a  reverse  of  solid  organ  strategy,  a  carefully 
calculated  amount  of  rejection  is  encouraged. 

"Some  amount  of  rejection  can  be  used  to  fight  the 
cancer  cells  that  were  not  destroyed  by  the  chemo,"  says 
Buskey.  Along  with  the  bone  marrow,  the  donor  also 
gives  the  recipient  a  new  immune  system — one  that 
may  not  tolerate  cancer  cells. 

Rejection  of  the  bone  marrow  itself  is  not  a  high 
risk  because  the  recipient's  immune  system  has  been 
defeated  by  the  high  doses  of  chemotherapy.  However, 
graft  versus  host  disease  presents  a  danger.  The  donated 
bone  marrow  can  actually  fight  the  body  of  the  recipient 
— reacting  to  it  as  a  "foreign  body."  Cyclosporine  is 
one  of  the  medicines  given  to  ameliorate  the  response, 
in  the  same  way  that  cyclosporine  prevents  rejection  of 
solid  organ  transplants. 

For  an  autologous  stem  cell  transplant,  the  patient 
is  given  a  growth  hormone,  which  causes  the  bone 
marrow  to  overproduce.  The  "extra"  bone  marrow 
(stem)  cells  spill  over  into  the  blood  stream,  and  are  collected  directly 
from  the  blood.  The  patient  receives  back  the  rest  of  their  blood. 
Umbilical  cord  blood  has  been  used  rarely  as  a  source  of  stem 
cells.  Cord  stem  cells  from  the  placenta  are  frozen  in  storage.  The 
advantage  is  that  placenta  stem  cells  have  an  undeveloped  immune 
system,  reducing  risk  of  graft  versus  host  response.  The  disadvantage 
is  that  there  are  simply  too  few  cells  in  the  cord. 

Buskey  also  mentions  a  technique  that  can  help  patients  who  are 
not  strong  enough  to  take  the  massive  doses  of  chemotherapy  necessary 
for  a  full  BMT.  She  calls  it  a  "mini  transplant."  The  chemotherapy  is 
administered  in  reduced  quantities,  and  then  the  bone  marrow  of 
the  donor  goes  in  to  mop  up  the  cancer  cells  that  are  left. 

A  BMT,  like  a  solid  organ  transplant,  requires  masterful  coordi- 
nation of  resources.  Buskey  helps  physicians  and  nurses  with  screening 
patients  and  donors,  developing  protocols  for  chemotherapy,  and 
scheduling  patients  for  tests  and  procedures.  She  works  with  obtaining 
preauthorization  from  insurance  companies.  She  works  directly  with 
patients,  as  well.  "About  50  percent  of  my  job  is  patient  education," 
she  says. 

"It's  a  great  group  up  there,"  she  says,  describing  the  staff. 
"Everybody  is  such  a  huge  part  of  the  end  result."  The  first  BMT 
reunion  took  place  last  May,  going  back  to  the  beginning  in  1988. 
"It  was  great  to  hear  their  stories,"  Buskey  says,  "and  to  be  part  of 
their  camaraderie." 

The  team  builds  a  strong  bond  with  their  patients.  "You  come 
away  knowing  more  about  life  than  you  ever  knew  before.  Their  per- 
spective is,  this  is  your  only  chance.  They  prevail;  they're  fighters.  I  am 
glad  to  be  there  to  offer  this  to  the  patients,  and  their  families."  -JH 


m 


continued  from  page  17 


Regine  Birkenhauer 


can  be  significant.  Kaestner  admits  to  not  taking  her  own  weight  gain 
seriously  enough.  "If  I  lost  the  weight,  I'd  really  feel  great,"  she  says. 
Birkenhauer  stresses  that  the  diet  she  recommends  is  not  exotic 
or  difficult  to  manage.  "It's  heart  healthy,  a  diet  we  should  all  be 
following."  She  also  teaches  patients  to  guard  against  taking  in  bacteria 
via  poorly  cooked  or  kept  food,  since  the  anti- rejection  drugs  suppress 
the  immune  system. 

Learning  to  cope 

Medical  bills  and  drug  maintenance  are  a 
few  of  the  stress  factors  faced  by  transplant 
recipients.  Then  there  is  the  greatest  fear: 
the  fear  they  will  die,  even  after  all  they 
have  been  through.  Benedict  helps  patients 
deal  with  anxiety  and  depression.  For 
example,  patients  are  often  tearful  the 
first  three  days  after  surgery,  and  Benedict 
assures  them  that  they  are  going  through 
a  normal  phase  of  recovery. 

"The  post-transplant  period  is  especially 
difficult  for  patients  who  don't  have  a 
smooth  recovery,"  says  Benedict.  Patients 
are  just  coming  out  of  a  period  of  waiting 
for  a  second  chance  at  life,  knowing  that 
they  could  die  before  receiving  a  trans- 
plant. Then  they  finally  receive  the  trans- 
plant and,  with  it,  the  hope  of  going  on.  If 

that  hope  is  threatened,  and  the  patient  ends  up  in  the  hospital,  the 
disappointment  and  fear  can  be  intense.  When  recovery  takes  longer 
than  expected,  people  will  be  upset,  frustrated,  tired  and  discouraged. 
Re-admissions  are  especially  hard. 

"One  of  the  best  things  we  can  do  is  just  listen,"  says  Benedict. 
"It  may  look  like  chitchat  but  it's  more.  You're  listening  for  how  well 
that  person  is  doing  psychologically  and  emotionally." 

Different  patients  have  different  issues. 
Some  transplant  patients  may  have  had 
substance  abuse  problems  prior  to  the 
transplant  and  must  be  monitored  to 
ensure  that  recovery  is  taking  place  on 
all  levels.  "There  are  body  image  issues 
as  a  result  of  the  scarring,"  Benedict  adds, 
"especially  with  women  and  adolescents." 
Teenagers  also  have  trouble  adjusting  to 
being  "different,"  having  to  take  medicine 
on  an  ongoing  basis. 

Even  illnesses  that  most  people  find 
a  nuisance  loom  as  anxiety-producing 
threats.  Kaestner  describes  a  "tremendous 
and  constant  fear  of  catching  a  cold" 
because  it's  likely  to  end  up  as  a  respiratory 
infection.  "It  hits  the  weakest  part  of  you," 
she  says.  A  cold  is  also  difficult  to  shake, 
since  her  immune  system  is  kept  down 
with  medicine. 

Benedict  is  sensitive  to  the  awesome  responsibility — and  stress- 
of  caring  for  the  donor  organ.  "People  focus  on  getting  the  organ," 
she  says,  "Then  they  go  through  an  adjustment.  You  have  to  keep 
taking  care  of  yourself.  There  are  still  a  lot  of  medical  procedures, 
especially  in  the  first  year."  She  helps  her  clients  see  the  big  picture, 
from  surgery,  to  post-op  tests,  to  maintenance. 


Sharon  Benedict 


Drawing  strength  from  others 

Benedict  emphasizes  that  a  patient's  recovery  depends  very  much 
on  the  depth  and  breadth  of  support  they  have.  She  treats  the  family 
and  caregivers  of  the  recipients  as  well  as  the  recipients  themselves. 
"Everyone's  coping  resources  are  strained,"  she  says.  "People  are 
overwhelmed  and  scared." 

Maltby  facilitates  a  support  group  for 
patients  and  family,  as  well  as  for  people 
who  are  waiting  for  an  organ.  "If  someone 
is  sick  and  depressed,  the  group  will  pro- 
vide support,"  she  says.  Participants  draw 
strength  from  the  wisdom  they  share  with 
each  other.  The  encouragement  Kaestner 
has  taken  from  the  stories  of  other  trans- 
plant patients  was  part  of  the  reason  she 
was  happy  to  respond  to  the  request  to 
be  interviewed  for  the  Scarab  articles 
on  transplantation. 

Friends  provide  vital  support  as  well. 
"One  of  the  things  that  made  this  possible 
is  that  I  have  some  really  wonderful 
friends,"  says  Debbie.  "They  have  stood 
by  me  and  helped  me  through  some  really 
difficult  times." 

A  transforming  experience 

The  people  on  VCUHS's  transplant  team 
are  also  changed  by  their  experience  with  each  transplant.  Cohen 
stresses  the  miracle  of  the  gift,  the  donated  organ,  "having  a  family 
that's  gracious  enough  to  understand  the  continuity  ot  life,  wanting 
to  continue  the  life  of  its  loved  one." 

"It's  the  most  exciting  field  I've  ever  worked  in,"  says  Posner, 
describing  the  joy  of  seeing  patients  who  have  been  critically  ill, 
sometimes  near  death,  not  only  survive 
but  do  very  well  after  transplant  and  with 
an  improved  quality  of  life. 

The  transplant  experience  for  Kaestner 
was  deeply  transforming,  on  levels  beyond 
just  the  physical.  Supported  by  her  circle — 
the  team  at  VCUHS,  her  friends  and  her 
community — and  by  the  discovery  of  her 
own  strength,  Kaestner  learned  to  believe 
in  her  life.  "I  don't  worry  all  the  time  about 
what's  going  to  happen,"  she  says.  "I  have 
become  a  much  more  spiritual  person.  If 
I  wrote  a  book  about  it,  the  title  would  be 
'It  will  all  work  out.'" 

She  feels  especially  blessed  that  she 
was  able  to  attend  her  oldest  son's  college 
graduation  last  year  after  missing  his  high 
school  graduation  four  years  earlier 
because  she  was  in  the  hospital.  Now 
she  looks  forward  to  dancing  at  her 
children's  weddings.  "I  appreciate  every 
day  I  have,"  she  says.  "I  appreciate  this  day  for  what  it  is." 

Jean  Huets  is  a  Richmond  writer  living  as  close  as  possible  to  the  mighty 
James  River. 


S    p 


m 


SCARAB 


By    Mary    Reynolds 


Rejuvenating 
Research  Funding 


I  he  U.S.  Office  for  Human 
Research  Protections  has 
lifted  its  restrictions  on  VCU 
human-subject  research. 

"VCU's  Internal  Review 
Boards  (IRBs)  along  with 
Western  IRB,  together  are 
once  again  fully  authorized 
to  conduct  protocol  reviews," 
says  Dr.  Roy  Pickens,  asso- 
ciate vice  president  for  research.  The  IRB  system  was  established  to 
protect  human  subjects.  "Clinical  protocols  involving  FDA-regulated 
products  will  continue  to  be  reviewed  by  a  private  firm,  Western  IRB." 
Western  IRB  re-reviewed  the  university's  protocols  in  2000  while  VCU 
addressed  its  own  IRB  problems. 

With  Western  IRB,  two  current  VCU  IRBs,  and  a  third  VCU 
IRB  to  be  convened,  "We  will  have  four  times  the  capacity  to  review 
research  protocols,"  says  Pickens.  "We're  in  great  shape  right  now. 
We  told  everyone  it  would  be  a  year  and  a  half  to  get  this  done,  and 
we're  well  within  that  time  frame."  In  fact,  federal  government  offi- 
cials laud  VCU  for  implementing  its  plan  of  corrective  action  and 
enhancing  the  IRB  system. 

VCU  hasn't  stopped  there.  It  has  also  developed  some  new 
approaches  to  funding  research.  Interdisciplinary  biotechnology 
research  is  opening  up  opportunities  for  private  foundation  and 
corporate  funding;  and  support  is  also  coming  through  the 
MCV  Foundation. 

The  restrictions  on  human-subject  research  did  not  affect  previously 
awarded  research  funding.  In  fiscal  year  1999,  VCU  faculty  members 
were  awarded  $113  million  in  external  funding.  The  awards  by  sponsor 
type  for  1999  included:  $59.6  million  from  the  federal  government, 
$14.4  million  from  the  state,  $18.4  million  from  industry,  $14.6  million 
from  foundations,  and  $6  million  from  other  sources.  Most  federal 
government  funding  came  from  the  National  Institutes  of  Health.  In 
fiscal  year  2000,  the  University's  external  funding  grew  to  $120  million, 
the  highest  in  VCU  history. 

According  to  Pickens,  VCU's  external  funding  has  been  increasing 
about  five  percent  each  year.  "Our  goal  is  to  increase  funding  over 
this  level,"  he  explains.  "We'll  do  this  by  creating  interdisciplinary 
teams  of  scientists  to  attract  research  funding  from  federal  agencies 
like  NASA,  Centers  for  Disease  Control,  the  Department  of  Energy, 
and  the  National  Science  Foundation.  Dr.  Marsha  Torr  (vice  president 
of  research]  is  bringing  investigators  together  at  informal  lunches 
so  they  can  discuss  potential  interdisciplinary  projects."  Torr,  a 
former  NASA  scientist,  hopes  to  build  on  the  University's  breadth 
of  research  capabilities. 

The  interdisciplinary  approach  has  already  won  funding  tor 
research  centers  on  adolescent  violence,  women's  health,  and  psychiatric 
genetics.  "Research  funding  for  psychiatric  genetics  allowed  us  to 
hire  five  new  faculty  and  'buy-out'  some  of  their  teaching  and  clinical 
time  requirements,  so  new  faulty  can  devote  75  percent  of  their  time 
to  research,"  says  Pickens.  Interdisciplinary  teams  extend  to  the  academic 
campus  through  biotechnology  research.  For  example,  chemical 
engineering  professor  Anthony  Giuseppi-Ellie  is  developing  micro 


gene  chips  that  process  and  transmit  DNA  and  RNA  sequences  to 
diagnose  disease  strains  and  genetic  traits.  These  chips  can  be  used 
as  an  investigative  tool  by  researchers  on  the  MCV  Campus.  Private 
foundations  and  corporations  support  this  research. 

MCV  Campus  alumni  and  friends  also  support  research  efforts. 
"The  MCV  Foundation  provides  two  $100,000  new  investigator  fellow- 
ships each  year,"  according  to  Mickey  Dowdy,  MCVF  executive  vice 
president.  The  fellowship  gives  the  promising  researcher  $50,000  per 
year,  for  two  years,  to  be  used  for  any  type  of  research  need:  purchasing 
laboratory  equipment,  paying  graduate  fellows,  or  even  as  a  salary 
supplement.  "Our  money  helps  get  the  research  up  and  going,  and 
the  investigators  can  position  themselves  for  external  funding,"  Dowdy 
continues.  Early  internal  funding  will  lead  to  external  funding  in  later 
years:  "To  be  competitive  for  NIH  grants,  you  need  signs  of  progress." 

One  fellowship  was  awarded  to  a  new  faculty  member  in  the 
Philips  Institute  for  Oral  and  Craniofacial  Molecular  Biology.  The 
School  of  Medicine's  Department  of  Pharmacology  and  Toxicology 
is  using  another  fellowship  in  its  current  faculty  recruitment  effort. 
MCV  Campus  friends  John  and  Julia  Curtis  donated  a  SI 00,000 
fellowship  for  Dr.  Jolene  Windle,  director  of  the  Transgenic  Animal 
Lab  at  the  Massey  Cancer  Center,  to  cover  some  of  the  costs  of  setting 
up  her  laboratory.  At  this  shared  resource  laboratory,  any  VCU 
investigator  can  model  a  range  of  human  diseases  in  mice. 

Fenton  Hord  74MS/B  and  Pat  Hord  '84BA/H&S  have  helped 
fund  cancer  research.  Their  son  Norty  died  of  brain  cancer  in  1992; 
and  the  Hord  family  was  so  moved  by  the  support  they  received  at 
the  VCU  Health  System  that  they  established  a  permanently 
endowed  professorship  in  brain  tumor  research.  Fenton  Hord, 
through  his  Carolina  Holdings  company,  sponsors  an  annual  golf 
tournament  in  Raleigh,  North  Carolina.  "Last  year  the  tournament 
netted  $354,000  to  support  the  brain  tumor  research  team  under 
the  direction  of  Dr.  William  Broaddus,"  says  Dowdy. 

Breast  cancer  research  on  the  MCV  Campus  receives  an  infusion 
of  funds  each  year  on  Valentine's  Day.  "Our  Women  8;  Wellness 
Luncheon,  held  at  the  Jefferson  Hotel  Ballroom,  raised  $250,000  in 
2000,"  says  Lee  Hall,  coordinator  of  special  events  for  the  Massey 
Cancer  Center.  The  luncheon,  supported  by  Richmond's  Jenkins 
Foundation,  raises  money  through  corporate  sponsorship. 

"While  we  are  always  looking  for  ways  in  which  private  dollars 
can  work  at  the  margin  to  support  the  University's  research  efforts," 
emphasizes  Dowdy,  "the  true  test  for  an  investigator  or  a  team  is  to 
be  competitive  for  federal  research  funding.  The  seal  of  distinction 
is  NIH  or  National  Cancer  Institute  funding."  The  University  is 
emphasizing  interdisciplinary  approaches  to  attract  federal  funding. 
Associate  Vice  President  for  Research,  Roy  Pickens,  underscores: 
"The  federal  government  tends  to  support  more  complex  research 
than  private  industry.  Federal  grants  include  indirect  costs  of  up 
to  45  percent,  and  these  costs  are  critical  to  support  the  underlying 
university  infrastructure  that  makes  research  programs  possible. 
Our  top  goal  is  to  bring  more  federal  grant  money  to  VCU." 

Mary  Reynolds  is  a  freelance  writer  and  graduate  student  in  VCU's 
Department  of  Urban  and  Regional  Planning.  She  was  interim 
editor  of  the  Spring  1999  Scarab. 


Q 


Grand  Rounds 


On    Board 

The  VCU  Health  System  Authority  welcomed 
two  new  board  members,  Dr.  Mary  Nettleman, 
associate  dean  for  primary  care  in  the  internal 
medicine  department,  and  Dr.  Ronald  Merrell, 
surgery  chair,  on  July  1,  when  the  board 
expanded  from  16  to  21  members  as  part 
of  MCV  Hospitals'  consolidation  with 
MCV  Physicians. 

State  House  Speaker  S.  Vance  Wilkins  Jr. 
chose  Drs.  Nettleman  and  Merrell  from  a 
list  of  names  re-submitted  by  the  entire 
MCV  Physicians  group.  Originally,  only 
MCV  Physicians  board  members  were 
polled,  but  Wilkins  requested  a  revised 
process  after  receiving  complaints  that  the 
first  submissions  did  not  include  women. 

Accessing    Quality 

VCU  got  top  scores  for  minority  graduates 
with  advanced  degrees.  Black  Issues  in  Higher 
Education's  ninth  annual  "Top  100  Degree 
Producers"ranked  VCU  among  the  nation's 
top  50  institutions  for  graduating  minority 
students  with  advanced  degrees. 

VCU  ranks  35th  for  graduating  students 
of  all  minorities 
with  first  pro- 
fessional degrees 
in  health  profes- 
sions and  related 
sciences,  and 
19th  for  African- 
American  stu- 
dents alone. 
Among  Asian- 
Americans, 
VCU  ranks  10th 
in  doctorates  in  biological  and  life  sciences 
and  37th  in  first  professional  degrees  in 
health  professions. 

"These  rankings  show  that  VCU  has  been 
strongly  committed  to  diversity,"  Dr.  Roderick 
McDavis,  provost  and  vice  president  for 
academic  affairs  told  The  Voice.  "That  diversity 
creates  dynamics  in  the  learning  experience, 
as  students  from  different  backgrounds  raise 
the  level  of  dialogue  and  generate  a  positive 
exchange  of  ideas. "Being  accessible  to 
minorities,  VCU  accesses  quality  students. 

In  first  professional  degree  programs  in 
health,  about  22  percent  of  VCU  graduates 
were  minorities  in  1997-98. 

A    Click    Away 

The  VCU  Health  System  launched  its  new 
Web  site,  www.vcuhealth.org,  last  fall.  The 
site  includes  general  information  and  links 
to  hospital  departments  as  well  as  a  physician 


directory  for  patients,  access  to  Reuters 
daily  health  headlines,  a  wellness  center 
page  covering  100+  topics,  and  links  to 
medical-related  VCU  Health  System  video 
news  releases  produced  by  University  News 
Services.  Users  also  may  find  a  comprehensive 
reference  section  with  a  medical  dictionary, 
a  symptom  and  prescription  guide  and  a 
guide  to  diagnostic  procedures.  Information 
will  cover  parenting  issues,  alternative  health 
options  and  more — issues  of  interest  to 
almost  everyone. 

A  new  feature  of  particular  interest  to 
today's  busy  families  is  the  online  appoint- 
ment request  option.  After  you  make  your 
online  advance  request  to  see  a  VCU  Health 
System  doctor,  an  appointment  scheduler  will 
contact  you  with  specific  scheduling  options. 

"Revamping  this  Web  site  has  been  an 
intensive  project, "says  Webmaster  Joseph 
Cirillo.  "It's  truly  a  dynamic  resource  that 
will  be  constantly  evolving — so  watch  for 
exciting  additions  in  the  future." 

Covering    Costs 

The  VCU  Health  System  found  some  relief 
for  its  recent  financial  burdens  when  patient 
visits  increased  in  the  first  months  of  this 
fiscal  year,  which  began  July  1,  2000.  But  the 
Health  System  still  needs  $25  million  in  next 
year's  budget  to  cover  costs  of  providing 
medical  care  to  uninsured  patients. 

The  state  didn't  allot  any  additional 
indigent  care  funding  for  VCU's  2001-2002 
fiscal  year,  instead  asking  the  University  to 
be  more  competitive  and  trim  costs.  "The 
state  said  to  reduce  expenses  and  turn 
around  volume,"said  VCU  President  Eugene 
Trani,  as  reported  in  the  Richmond  Times- 
Dispatch.  "We  have  turned  around  the 
volume."  VCUHS  hired  new  physicians 
and  other  staff  in  areas  such  as  urology, 
chest  surgery,  orthopaedics  and  transplant 
medicine,  increasing  surgical  caseloads. 

"More  than  the  $25  million,  we  want 
general  agreement  that  there  has  to  be  a 
semi-permanent  solution  to  this  problem," 
Trani  told  the  Times-Dispatch.  VCUHS 
administrators  and  state  legislators  are  trying 
to  work  out  longer-term  remedies. 

In  the  past,  VCUHS  could  cover  much  of 
its  indigent  care  costs  through  fees  charged 
to  insured  and  paying  patients.  But  with 
managed  care  and  other  reimbursement  policy 
changes,  VCUHS  is  having  a  tough  time 
making  ends  meet.  In  June,  MCV  Hospitals 
had  to  make  200  job  cuts  to  reduce  costs. 

Last  year,  the  state  reimbursed  MCV 
Hospitals  and  Physicians  $84.9  million  of 
$97.5  million  it  provided  in  indigent  care. 


This  year,  VCUHS  expects  to  have  all  indigent 
care  costs  covered  thanks  to  $22  million 
from  the  state. 

The  $25  million  request  for  next  fiscal 
year  would  come  from  a  federal  match — 
half  from  the  state  and  half  from  federal 
Medicaid  dollars. 

Honoring    Our    Own 

At  the  annual  Convocation  in 

September,  VCU  honored  four 

faculty  members  for  superior 

contributions  to  the  University 

and  the  community. 
Dr.  Subhash  Narula, 

winner  of  the  Distinguished 

Scholar  Award  and  professor 

of  business,  is  internationally 

respected  for  his  research  in 

locational  and  multicriteria  analysis  and 

statistics  at  universities  in  Greece,  Brazil, 

Finland,  Hungary,  Poland  and  elsewhere. 
Distinguished  Teacher,  Dr.  Daisy  Reed, 

recently  retired  as  professor  of  teacher  edu- 
cation.  Reed,  an  expert 

|    I    ■    .     TIM!     on  cultural  diversity 
issues  and  effective 
teaching,  inspired 
many  at-risk  students 
to  complete  high 
school  and  become 
teachers  themselves. 

Dr.  Albert  Sneden, 
winner  of  the  Distin- 
guished Service  Award,  is  senior  associate 

dean  in  the  School  of 

Humanities  and  Sciences 

and  professor  of  chemistry. 

In  his  more  than  20  years  at 

VCU,  Sneden  has  been  assis- 
tant professor,  associate 

chair,  graduate  coordinator 

and  now  senior  associate 

dean.  His  research  includes 

more  than  75  presentations. 

Dr.  John  Tew  won  the  University  Award 
of  Excellence  for  his 
nationally  and  interna- 
tionally renowned 
work  in  immunology. 
Tew  is  co-director  of 
the  dental  school's 
Periodontal  Research 
Center.  His  research  is 
one  of  the  University's 
most  well  funded 

programs,  with  five  NIH  grants. 


S   p 


SCARAB 


Applicant    Dip 

Are  medical  schools  losing  their  appeal?  Medical  school  applications 
were  down  nationally  for  the  third  straight  year  in  1999,  dropping 
6  percent  from  1998.  And  while  VCU  fared  better  than  the  national 
average,  its  applicant  pool  was  down  1.4  percent  in  2000,  with  4,067 
people  applying  for  172  freshman  spots.  Last  year,  VCU  had  4,127 
applications,  and  in  1998,  4,586. 

Researchers,  who  published  the  national  figures  in  the  Journal  of 
the  American  Medical  Association,  say  the  booming  economy  and 
changing  medical  field  are  partly  to  blame.  Barbara  Barzansky,  study 
leader  and  member  of  the  American  Medical  Association's  under- 
graduate medical  education  division,  said  today's  doctors  face 
increased  paperwork  and  insurance  regulations  and  are  having 
more  trouble  finding  practices,  all  on  top  of  mounting  debt. 

The  study  also  found  that  blacks  and  Hispanics  are  still  under- 
represented  among  applicants,  students  and  admissions  officers. 

Pay    for    Performance 

VCU  seeks  $377  million  in  state  funds  over  the  next  six  years  for 
University- wide  improvements.  VCU's  Board  of  Visitors  endorsed 
The  Institutional  Performance  Agreement  (IPA),  which  calls  for 
$198  million  in  operating  improvements  and  almost  $179  million 
for  capital  projects.  Academic  improvements  include  support  for 
VCU  Life  Sciences,  VCU's  Student  Outcomes  Assessment  program, 
undergraduate  medical  education,  School  of  Engineering  external 
funding,  and  implementing  an  internal  planning,  budget  and  evaluation 
process.  VCU  will  also  increase  its  international  profile. 

The  state  had  asked  VCU  and  four  other  state  universities  to 
submit  IPAs,  which  must  show  improvements  in  areas  including 
student  enrollment,  retention  and  graduation  rates;  research  awards; 
and  efficient  management  of  staff  and  building  space  before  receiving 
new  funds. 


Two-time  Oscar  winner  Anthony  Hopkins  signs 
autographs  at  VCU's  academic  campus,  where 
"HannibaP'cast  and  crew  set  up  shop  in  August. 
Hopkins  often  visited  with  VCU  students  bit  by 
the  acting  bug  during  his  lunch  breaks  at  the 
Student  Commons. 


VCU  President  Eugene  Trani  said  "the  IPA  defines  a  shared  vision 
between  the  institution  and  the  Commonwealth  for  the  institution's 
contributions  to  public  higher  education  in  Virginia  and  the  nation, 
and  then  to  ensure  predictable  funding  in  support  of  this  vision." 

Major  operating  funds  VCU  is  requesting:  $32  million  for 
libraries  and  new  administrative  technology,  $24  million  for  71  new 
full-time  faculty,  $32  million  to  improve  graduate  education,  partic- 
ularly doctoral  programs.  Capital  improvements  include:  $22  million 
for  Business  Building  expansion  and  renovation,  $17  million  to  renovate 
Oliver  Hall,  $14  million  for  Franklin  Street  Gymnasium  renovations, 
and  $13.6  million  to  refurbish  West  Hospital.  The  plan  also  seeks 
$1.1  million  for  increased  resident  enrollment  growth.  To  see  VCU's 
entire  IPA,  click  on  http://www.vcu.edu/ipa/ipa.pdf. 

Rice    Center 

Hundreds  of  acres  of  unde- 
veloped hardwood  and  pine 

forests,  grassy  fields  and  a  70- 

acre  lake  will  serve  as  a  natural 

classroom  for  VCU  students 

and  researchers.  Mrs.  Inger 

Rice  recently  donated  342 

acres  along  the  James  River 

for  the  Inger  and  Walter  Rice 

Center  for  Environmental  Life  Sciences. 

"The  Rice  Center  will  be  key  to  advancing  the  mission  and  goals 

of  life  sciences  at  VCU, "said  VCU  President  Eugene  Trani.  "This 

property,  rich  in  natural  resources  and  teeming  with  wildlife,  will 

essentially  enable  the  university  to  create  a  world-class  environmental 

life  sciences  program." 

The  land,  just  30  minutes  east  of  VCU  between  the  Berkeley  and 

Shirley  plantations  in  Charles  City  County,  is  a  living  laboratory  for 
students  in  environmental  engineering 
and  chemistry,  environmental  epi- 
demiology, landscape  ecology  and 
other  fields.  The  site  will  also  offer 
community  outreach  and  education 
programs  for  the  general  public  and 
area  schools. 

"It  gives  me  great  pleasure  to  make 
this  gift  to  VCU,  an  institution  with  an 
excellent  reputation  for  teaching, 
research  and  service,"says  Rice.  "My 
hope  is  that  this  contribution  helps 
further  the  study  of  the  life  sciences, 
improving  the  quality  of  life  for 
Virginians. "Rice,  widow  of  a  former 
U.S.  ambassador,  studied  interior 
design  at  Richmond  Professional 
Institute,  now  VCU,  in  the  1960s. 


"Even  though  the  Explorer  had  nothing  to  do  with 
it,  you  have  to  get  the  picture  of  your  vehicle  off 
the  TV  screen.  A  severe  recall  like  this  adversely 
affects  sales  in  the  month  of  the  recall." 

Dr.  George  Hoffer,  VCU  professor  of  economics  as 
quoted  in  USA  Today,  August  10,  on  Ford's  deci- 
sion to  force  Firestone  to  recall  some  tires  used  on 
Ford's  Explorer  SUVs. 


J   J 


r 


T       V   C 


"Sculpture  is  less  popular  (with  viewers)  than 
painting,  I  suspect,  because  it  asks  a  more  com- 
plex suspension  of  disbelief  on  the  part  of  the 
viewer,  or  perhaps,  a  more  adventuresome  mind." 

Edward  Albee.  multiple  Pulitzer  Prize-winning 
playwright,  art  collector  and  critic,  curated  "From 
Idea  to  Matter:  Nine  Sculptors, "shown  exclusively 
at  VCU's  Anderson  Gallery,  Oct.  20-Dec.  17. 


Telesurgery 

Two  VCU  Health  System  cardiac 
surgeons  recently  shared  the  spotlight 
and  their  expertise  with  physicians 
in  Europe  without  ever  leaving  the 
hospitals'  catheterization  lab.  Through 
high-tech  video  conferencing,  doctors 
attending  a  Rome  interventional  cardi- 
ology conference  observed  as  VCUHS's 
Dr.  George  Vetrovec,  chair  for  the 
Division  of  Cardiology,  and  Dr.  Evelyne 
Goudreau,  associate  professor  of  cardi- 
ology, performed  surgery. 

Teleconferencing  uses  satellite  tech- 
nology to  allow  visual  and  voice  com- 
munication in  real  time.  Doctors  in 
Italy  could  see  and  hear  Health  System 
surgeons  in  action.  Dr.  Michael  Cowley, 


El 


VCU  cardiology  professor  and  conference  attendee,  arranged  the 
teleconference  with  Dr.  Germano  Di  Sciascio,  a  former  VCU  professor 
now  at  a  Rome  medical  school. 

Gateway 

VCU's  new  Gateway  Building  on  the  MCV  Campus  will  become  the 
primary  patient  entrance  once  construction  is  completed.  "We  want 
to  make  the  Gateway  Building  our  opportunity  to  bring  people  in 
one  central  door,"said  Donna  Katen-Bahensky,  executive  vice  president 
clinical  operations  and  COO  of  the  VCU  Health  System  Authority, 
as  told  to  the  Richmond  Times-Dispatch.  "We're  known  as  the  high- 
tech  facility.  We  want  to  be  known  as  high-touch." 

The  new  $39  million,  215,900-square-foot  building  will  sit  between 
the  Nelson  Clinic  and  Main  Hospital,  connecting  both  to  the  Ambulatory 
Care  Center.  Construction  is  about  two  months  behind  due  to  an 
unusually  high  rainfall  this  past  summer.  Administrators  hope  to 
make  up  lost  time  in  the  next  construction  phase.  Several  floors 
should  be  ready  for  occupancy  by  early  fall  2001,  and  by  November 
2001  the  ground,  first  and  several  other  floors  will  be  complete. 

Massey    Cancer    Center    at 
Stony    Point    Opens 

VCU's  cancer  treatment  efforts  will  help  more  patients  than  ever  with 
an  addition  to  Stony  Point,  VCU  Health  System's  satellite  outpatient 
facility  in  southwest  Richmond.  At  the  $6.6  million,  20,000-square-foot 
addition,  suburban  Richmonders  can  see  Health  System  physicians  for 
a  range  of  cancer  care,  from  diagnosis  and  chemotherapy  and  radiation 
therapy  to  physical  and  occupational  therapy. 

"Our  Stony  Point  patients  will  have  full  advantage  of  our  local 

and  national  research 
trials  on  cancer  preven- 
tion and  treatment  as 
well  as  our  early  detec- 
tion programs,"says  Dr. 
Gordon  Ginder,  Massey 
Cancer  Center  director. 
Massey  Cancer  Center 
has  received  continuous 
funding  from  the 
National  Cancer 
Institute  since  1975. 

VCU    Health    System    Heart 
Transplants:    On    the    Rise 

The  VCUHS  heart  transplant  program  is  pulsing  with  life  again  after 
a  decade  marred  by  physician  turnover  and  unsteady  leadership.  In 
1999,  VCU  hired  Dr.  Ronald  Merrell,  formerly  of  Yale  University,  to 
lead  VCUHS's  surgery  department.  And  in  the  last  year,  three  new 
prestigious  surgeons  joined  the  team.  Dr.  Robert  Higgins,  chief  of 
cardiac  surgery,  says  he  hopes  to  see  the  center  performing  as  many 
as  20  heart  transplants  a  year  within  the  next  five  years,  as  reported 
in  Inside  Business. 

"With  the  addition  of  Dr.  Abe  DeAnda  from  Stanford  University 
and  Dr.  Vigneshwar  Kasirajan  from  the  Cleveland  Clinic,  we  now 
have  a  team  of  extraordinary  transplant  surgeons,"says  Higgins. 
"It's  a  very  exciting  time  here  at  VCUHS  and  we  look  forward  to 
continued  growth." 

Science    Watch    on    VCU 

VCU's  impact  in  psychiatric  research  is  enormous  both  nationally 
and  internationally,  according  to  a  new  Science  Watch  report  for  the 
1990s.  The  journal  ranked  VCU's  Department  of  Psychiatry  14th 
among  the  world's  top  25  institutions  with  the  most  cited  research 
papers  in  psychiatry,  beating  out  18th-ranked  Johns  Hopkins  Uni- 
versity and  20th-ranked  Duke  University. 

VCU  also  ranked  second  in  the  U.S.  and  fifth  worldwide  among 
institutions  producing  at  least  10  high-impact  research  papers  in 
continued  on  page  24 


Inez  Tuck  (L),  co-principal  investigator, 
and  Nancy  McCain  (R) 


VCU    Research    Forging    Ahead 

Boosting    women's    health 

VCU's  Institute  for  Women's  Health  received  $2.7  million  in  NIH 
grant  funding  for  four  interdisciplinary  women's  health  research 
scholars  a  year  to  get  training  and  mentorship  in  areas  such  as  repro- 
ductive health,  aging,  psychiatric  genetics,  substance  abuse  and 
cancer.  The  NIH  Mentored  Research  Scientist  Development  Program 
Award,  given  by  NIH's  Office  of  Research  on  Women's  Health,  is  a 
five-year  grant. 

Reducing    stress,    fighting    AIDS 

Dr.  Nancy  McCain,  VCU  nursing  professor,  won  a  $2.76  million  NIH 
grant — the  largest  in  nursing  school  history — to  continue  her  nearly 
20-year  research  into  stress  and 
immune  function  in  HIV  patients. 
McCain's  work  will  build  on  her 
findings  that  behavioral  therapy 
can  lower  stress  levels  and  improve 
immune  function  for  HIV  patients. 

"We  are  particularly  worried 
about  the  impact  of  stress  on  people 
with... HIV,  in  which  immune 
function  is  critical  to  good  health," 
says  Dr.  McCain.  "If  we  can  reduce 
psychological  stress,  we  should  be 
able  to  slow  down  the  deterioration 
of  the  immune  system  that  occurs 
with  HIV  infections." 

Study  participants  will  form  three  groups  using  different  stress 
reduction  techniques — relaxation  methods,  Tai-Chi  exercises  and 
spiritual  growth.  The  five-year  study  will  evaluate  whether  the  inter- 
ventions' effects  can  be  prolonged.  The  relaxation  methods  comple- 
ment patients'  regular  HIV  treatment  therapies. 

NIH    dental    grant 

The  NIH  awarded  VCU's  dental  school  a  five-year  $4.8  million  grant 
to  continue  its  long-term  research  into  periodontal  diseases.  Dr. 
Harvey  Schenkein  heads  up  the  VCU  Clinical  Research  Center  for 
Periodontal  Disease,  where  investigators  have  studied  teenagers, 
young  adults  and  adults  with  inherited  oral  infections  for  more  than 
20  years.  That  research  provides  a  foundation  for  new  grant  studies. 

Researchers  from  VCU's  Schools  of  Dentistry  and  Medicine  will 
work  with  NIH  collaborators  to  study  genetic  risk  factors  for  early- 
onset  forms  of  periodontal  diseases,  abnormalities  in  patients' 
immune  systems  that  may  predispose  them  to  oral  infections,  and 
characteristics  of  oral  bacteria. 

Dr.  Shenkein  calls  the  grant  "mutually  advanta- 
geous"for  both  organizations.  "We'll  get  to  take 
advantage  of  the  expertise  the  NIH  has  and  the  NIH 
benefits  because  we  have  patients  we've  been  studying 
here  in  Richmond.  NIH  researchers  will  have  access  to 
samples  and  clinical  information  from  those  patients." 

Managing    pain 

How  can  patients  with  a  prescription  drug-abuse  his- 
tory manage  pain  medications  safely?  Researchers  at 
VCU's  Institute  for  Drug  and  Alcohol  Studies  hope  to  find  new 
approaches  to  battle  this  serious  problem  thanks  to  a  four-year 
$1.1  million  NIH  grant  award. 

The  new  project,  lead  by  Dr.  Deborah  Haller,  associate  chair  of 
the  Division  of  Addiction  Medicine,  combines  patient  education  and 
self-monitoring  with  motivational  counseling  and  behavioral  therapy. 
Dr.  Haller  says  lack  of  physician  training  in  pain  management  is  one 
of  the  biggest  problems.  "We're  trying  to  develop  a  new  treatment 
for  chronic-pain  patients. .  .Our  goal  is  not  just  to  help  the  patients 
but  to  provide  guidelines  for  health-care  professionals." 

As  many  as  one  in  five  patients  with  chronic  pain  abuse  their  pain 
medications.  And  other  chronic  pain  patients  don't  get  adequate 
relief  because  doctors  worry  about  possible  addiction. 


S    p 


|7| 


psychiatry.  Science  Watch's  May/June  issue  identified  the  200  most-cited 
papers  between  1990-98  and  compiled  a  list  of  1,800  papers. 

Three  VCU  researchers  earned  top  20  rankings  as  authors  of 
high-impact  papers.  Dr.  Kenneth  Kendler,  psychiatry  professor  and 
director  of  Virginia  Institute  for  Psychiatric  and  Behavioral  Genetics, 
ranked  second,  with  29  high-impact  papers  and  309  citations.  Dr. 
Lindon  Eaves,  human  genetics  professor,  was  15th  and  Dr.  Michael 
Neale,  associate  professor  of  psychiatry  was  20th. 

"We  have  been  building  our  psychiatric  genetics  program  and 
behavioral  genetics  research  at  VCU  for  more  than  15  years, "explains 
psychiatry  chair  Dr.  Joel  Silverman.  "We  are  beginning  to  get  some 
of  the  national  recognition  that  our  excellent 
faculty  deserve." 

Tennis    Scores 

Men's  Tennis  soared  to  9th  nationally  after 
reaching  the  national  championship  finals, 
the  first  for  any  VCU  athletic  program.  After 
a  disappointing  loss  to  Stanford  in  the  finals, 
the  Rams  finished  the  season  27-5.  VCU 
senior  Frank  Moser  ranked  8th  nationally 
in  the  WingspanBank.com  Division  I  colle- 
giate tennis  rankings  by  the  Intercollegiate 
Tennis  Association. 

The  U.S.  Professional  Tennis  Association 
named  VCU  Men's  Tennis  Coach  Paul  Kostin 
2000  College  Coach  of  the  year,  his  fifth  U.S.  P.T.A.  award.  "In  the 
past,  I've  won  some  individual  awards,  but  when  you  do  this  as  a  whole 
team — and  it's  so  tough  when  you  have  so  many  good  schools — and 
break  through  and  go  all  the  way  to  the  finals,  you  feel  like  you've 
done  your  job  for  this  life,"Kostin  says. 

Grand    Slam 

Tennis  stars  John  McEnroe,  Yannick  Noah,  Pat  Cash,  and  Mansour 
Bahrami  will  be  playing  at  the  Siegel  Center  this  fall  in  the  VCU 
Champions  tournament.  The  tournament  is  part  of  the  senior 
tennis  tour  (the  Champions  Tour),  and  is  slated  for  September  27  to 
October  1,  2001.  It  will  be  co-sponsored  by  the  VCU  Health  System. 
The  Champions  Tour  has  selected  the  Siegel  Center  as  one  of  its 
national  venues,  and  VCU  Champions  will  be  an  annual  event. 

VCU  is  also  participating  in  a  project  called  "Advantage: 
Richmond,  A  World-Class  Tennis  City  by  2005."  The  project  goal  is 
to  build  on  the  legacy  of  Arthur  Ashe  and  the  enthusiasm  Richmonders 
have  for  tennis  and  enhance  the  city's  potential  to  be  a  world-class 
tennis  center.  VCU  tennis  players  and  students  will  provide  tutoring 
and  mentoring  in  academics  and  tennis  to  the  city's  young  people 
through  a  planned  tennis  academy. 

Top    Honors 

VCU's  Women  in  Medicine 
Program  got  top  honors  last 
fall  when  it  received  the  2000 
Women  in  Medicine  Leader- 
ship Development  Award 
from  the  Association  of 
American  Medical  Colleges. 
This  honor  marks  only  the 
third  time  the  AAMC  has 
bestowed  this  award  to  an 
institutional  organization 
rather  than  an  individual. 

Dr.  H.  H.  Newsome  Jr., 
medical  school  dean  who 
nominated  the  program,  says  that  VCU  is  "ahead  of  the  curve  in 
terms  of  recognizing  the  importance  of  professionally  developing 
women  and  bringing  them  into  the  academic  fold.  This  award  truly 
reflects  our  commitment  to  that  process." 

The  program,  founded  in  1992,  is  a  collaborative  effort  involving 
women  faculty  groups,  a  women  and  minority  committee,  and  a 


From  left,  Janet  Bickel,  AAMC;  Karen  Sanders, 
M.D.,  director  of  extended  learning  and  profes- 
sional development;  Carol  Hampton,  associate 
dean;  H.H.  Newsome  Jr.,  M.D.,  dean 


medical  student  organization.  Dr.  Wendy  Klein,  internal  medicine 
associate  professor  and  the  program's  first  president,  believes  its 
success  lies  largely  on  collaboration.  "The  leadership  in  the  medical 
school  has  worked  very  hard  with  our  women  faculty  to  transcend 
gender  inequities  in  academic  medicine." 

Gender-specific    Drugs? 

In  medicine,  it  does  matter  whether  you're  male  or  female — at  least 
when  it  comes  to  taking  some  prescription  medications.  A  recent 
VCU  study  published  in  September's  American  Journal  of  Psychiatry 
found  that  men  and  women  respond  differently  to  two  types  of 
anti-depressants. 

Results  showed  that  women  respond  better  to  sertraline,  an  SSRI 
better  known  as  Zoloft,  one  of  the  most  frequently  prescribed  med- 
ications for  depression.  Men  respond  better  to  imipramine,  a  tricyclic 
anti-depressant  once  the  gold  standard  for  treating  depression  but 
less  used  today. 

Dr.  Susan  Kornstein,  VCU  psychiatrist  and  lead  author,  said  the 
study  "has  tremendous  implications  for  treatment.  Until  recently, 
medical  science  has  assumed  that  men  and  women  respond  equally 
well  to  medications,  and  we  are  now  learning  this  is  not  always  true." 

Blocking    MS 

A  VCU  researcher  is  part  of  breakthrough  Multiple  Sclerosis  research 
into  the  use  of  interferon  beta  la,  sold  prescriptively  as  Avonex,  to 
slow  or  even  prevent  the  disease.  Dr.  Warren  L.  Felton,  III,  VCU 
Neuro-Ophthalmology  Division  chair  and  one  of  the  study's  principal 
investigators,  Monitored  nine  patient's  at  VCU's  site.  The  study 
included  383  patients  and  50  medical  centers  in  the  U.S.  and  Canada. 

"This  study  indicates  that  by  beginning  this  treatment  right  after 
the  first  attack,  there  is  an  improved  chance  of  delaying  the  onset  of 
that  second  attack,  and  therefore  the  disease  itself,"said  Felton. 
About  1  million  worldwide  and  more  than  350,000  Americans  suffer 
from  MS,  which  usually  strikes  women  20-40. 

Helping    Honduras 

VCU  students  became  health  missionaries  for  two  weeks  last  summer 
when  nine  medical  students  traveled  with  faculty  to  Honduras.  As  often 
happens,  the  missionaries  had  their  own  conversion  experiences. 

In  1998,  Hurricane  Mitch  devastated  Honduras,  and  medical  care 
in  rural  areas  is  scarce.  The  group's  leader  was  Dr.  Thomas  Kerkering, 

VCU  infectious  disease 
expert  and  a  frequent  flier 
in  this  sort  of  mission.  The 
goal,  he  explains,  was  "to 
expose  the  students  to  the 
radically  different  health 
conditions  and  services 
experienced  by  most  of  the 
rest  of  the  world.  In  today's 
high-tech  environment, 
students  tend  to  lose  track 
that  the  history  and  physical 
examination  are  the  essentials  of  medicine." 

Hey  Chong,  second-year  medical  student,  found  it  quite  hard  at 
first.  "You  worry  that  they  expect  you  to  perform  miracles.  I  worked 
with  an  older  lady,  86,  with  a  large  mass  on  her  jaw.  She  thanked  me 
so  much  and  held  my  hand  and  said  a  prayer  for  me.  Here  I  am  giving 
this  woman  Tylenol,  and  she  is  unbelievably  grateful." 

Chong  and  her  classmates  saw 
more  than  2,000  people  in  Honduran 
clinics,  treating  everything  from  mal- 
nutrition and  high  blood  pressure  to 
depression  and  post-traumatic  stress 
from  Hurricane  Mitch.  Students  paid 
their  own  way,  and  medical  supplies 
were  donated  from  community 
physicians,  VCU  doctors  and  several 
Richmond  businesses. 


SCARAB 


Q 


S    p 


'Member  of  the  MCV  Alumni  Association  of  VCU 
*  Life  Member  of  the  MCV  Alumni  Association 
of  VCU 


♦Lindsay  Butler  '22BS/P  was 

honored  by  his  hometown  of  Lynch- 
burg, VA  as  the  only  World  War  I  vet- 
eran left  in  the  area.  In  August  of  1918, 
Lindsey  volunteered  to  join  the  Army. 
At  that  time  he  was  earning  $1  a  day. 
Lindsey  moved  to  Lynchburg  in  1923 
and  became  one  of  the  first  pharma- 
cists in  the  town.  His  secrets  of  a  long 
happy  life  are  "You've  got  to  give  peo- 
ple respect,"and  "Tend  to  your  own 
business."Lindsey  is  101  years  old. 


"Edwin  Kendig  Jr.  '37HS-M 

received  the  American  Medical  Asso- 
ciation's Distinguished  Service 
Award.  Edwin  is  the  first  Virginian 
and  first  pediatrician  since  1948  to 
receive  the  AMA's  highest  honor. 
He  is  a  retired  professor  of  pediatrics 
from  MCV  where  he  received  national 
acclaim  as  a  children's  pulmonary 
disease  pioneer.  Edwin  established 
and  directed  the  MCVH  Child  Chest 
Clinic,  now  known  as  the  Pediatric 
Pulmonary  Center.  In  recognition 
for  his  achievements  the  Edwin 
Lawrence  Kendig  Jr.,  MD,  Distin- 
guished Professorship  in  Pediatric 
Pulmonary  Medicine  was  established. 
Among  the  offices  he  has  held  are: 
president  of  the  American  Academy 
of  Pediatrics;  president  of  the  Virginia 
State  Board  of  Medicine  and  chief  of 
staff  at  Bon  Secours  St.  Mary's  Hospital 
in  Richmond. 


William  Copeland  '45MD 

retired  in  November.  William  was  an 
obstetrician/gynecologist  and  in  his  46 
years  delivered  about  10,000  babies,  "I 
know  I  had  three  generations  of  mothers 
and  daughters  as  patients."He  was  one 
of  the  first  doctors  to  fight  for  dads  to 
go  into  the  delivery  room.  William  is 
78  and  lives  in  Columbus,  OH. 
"William  Farley  '43MD  recently 
received  the  Distinguished  Physician 
Award  from  Rex  Healthcare  Founda- 
tion in  Raleigh,  NC.  William  was 


honored  for  his  many  years  of  service 
in  many  different  aspects  such  as 
President  of  the  Medical  Staff,  Chief 
of  the  Department  of  Pediatrics  and 
as  Executive  Committee  member.  Bill 
retired  from  practice  in  1991. 
A.  Broaddus  Gravatt  '41MD 
recently  retired  from  practice  after  55 
years.  Broaddus  lives  in  Weems,  VA. 
Abraham  Perlman  '44MD  was 
honored  by  the  Sound  Shore  Medical 
Center  for  his  44  years  of  service. 
Abraham  is  an  internist.  He  was  the 
first  physician  to  be  accepted  into  New 
York  Medical  College  AEs  Master  of 
Medical  Science  Program  in  Internal 
Medicine.  Abraham  and  his  wife  live 
in  New  Rochelle,  NY. 


HOD 

**Nancy  Flowers  '50BS(PE)/E 
'52Cert.(PT)/AH  was  honored  by 
her  alma  mater,  Mississippi  University 
For  Women,  for  her  contributions  to 
the  university  and  her  community. 
Nancy  was  involved  in  research  in 
the  late  1960s  that  examined  deaths 
from  sniffing  common  household 
products  propelled  by  ffeon  and 
resulted  in  the  removal  of  potentially 
lethal  products  from  the  market.  She 
has  also  researched  the  area  of  elec- 
trocardiograms and  helped  discover 
ways  to  detect  previously  hidden 
small  EKG  signals  that  help  predict 
patients'  susceptibility  to  sudden 
death.  Nancy  is  a  clinical  professor 
of  medicine  at  Mercer  University's 
School  of  Medicine.  She  received  her 
MD  from  the  University  of  Tennessee 
College  of  Medicine. 
*Charles  Graham  Jr.  '59MD 
has  retired  from  obstetrics  and  gyne- 
cology after  35  years  in  practice. 
Charles  lives  in  Philomont,  VA. 
George  Karos  '59BS/P  has 
been  elected  Mayor  of  Martinsburg, 
W.VA.  George  has  lived  in  Martins- 
burg all  his  life.  When  he  was  10,  he 
worked  at  Patterson's  Drug  delivering 
prescriptions  on  his  bike.  He  later 
"graduated"to  the  soda  counter.  He 
then  came  to  work  as  a  pharmacist  in 
the  Drug  Store  for  21  years  before  he 
and  a  colleague  bought  it  in  1980. 
*Don  McNeill  '54MD  retired 
after  12  years  of  general  practice  in 
obstetrics,  1 8  years  of  emergency 


medicine  and  12  years  of  occupational 
health  and  school  medicine.  Don  lives 
in  Front  Royal,  VA. 
Clementine  Pollok  '58BS/N 
'72MS/N  has  retired  after  30  years 
with  Southside  Regional  Medical  Center. 
Clementine  was  director  of  the  school 
of  nursing,  and  hospital  faculty  and 
staff  member.  Clementine  is  looking 
forward  to  spending  time  with  her 
husband  and,  their  two  adult  children 
and  especially  the  grandchildren. 
"Mariam  Billings-Snedden 
"50BS/N   retired  from  Richmond 
Eye  Hospital  after  28  years.  Her  last 
positions  were  coordinator  of  outpa- 
tient nursing  and  infection  control 
practitioner.  She  is  now  serving  as 
consultant  in  parish  nursing  to  the 
Richmond  Baptist  Association  and  is 
the  parish  nurse  for  Bon  Air  Baptist 
Church  in  Richmond,  VA. 
William  Threlkeld  Jr.  '57MD 
has  joined  the  J.  Clyde  Morris  Medical 
Associates,  which  is  a  part  of  Sentara 
Medical  Group. 

"Norman  Tingle  '51MD  was 
remembered  fondly  in  his  hometown 
newspaper  the  Southside  Sentinel.  The 
author  of  the  article  said,  "I  was  among 
the  thousands  of  photographs  of 
patients  that  once  lined  Dr.  Tingle's 
hallway  display  in  the  former  Pierce- 
Tingle  Clinic  in  Lively,  VA."House  calls 
were  the  norm  for  this  county  doctor, 
in  fact,  Norman  drove  about  35,000 
to  40,000  miles  per  year  in  his  practice 
of  46  years.  Many  times,  without  an 
ambulance  service  in  the  area,  Norman 
would  load  patients  into  his  car  for  the 
hospital.  Norman  put  down  the  stetho- 
scope in  1998  and  now  enjoys  golf.  He 
is  79  and  "everyday's  a  bonus." 


Robert  Brown  '66MD  received 
the  Clinical  Scientist  of  the  Year 
Award  from  the  Association  of  Clinical 
Scientists.  He  was  given  the  award  in 
recognition  of  his  personal  achieve- 
ments in  clinical  science  and  his  zealous 
advancement  of  clinical  science. 
Robert  is  a  pathologist  at  Geisinger 
Medical  Center  in  Pennsylvania. 
Joan  Lee  Cordle  '69BS/N  is 
finding  her  background  in  orthopaedics 
and  other  medical/surgical  areas  helpful 
as  she  has  been  building  her  massage 


S  .p 


0 


therapy  practice  in  Chesterfield,  VA 
over  the  last  three  years.  Joan  continues 
to  be  employed  in  psychiatry  at  Bon 
Secours  St.  Mary's  Hospital  and 
geriatrics  at  Westminster  Canterbury 
in  Richmond. 

Harbert  "Scott  "Gregory  '67DDS 
has  retired  after  a  30-year  career  in 
general  dentistry.  Scott  will  now  have 
more  time  to  enjoy  his  love  of  sailing. 
Scott  and  his  wife  ludy  live  in  FL. 
Kenton  Holden    68  MD  is  cur- 
rently on  "leave  of  absence"from  his 
professorship  at  the  Medical  University 
of  South  Carolina  and  as  chief  of  neu- 
roscience,  Greenwood  Genetic  Center. 
Kenton  was  the  Child  Neurology 
Society's  first  International  visiting 
professor  appointee  and  taught  in 
Honduras  at  the  National  Medical 
School.  Patricia  Holden  '71  PhD 
(Ml  )/M- B  H  accompanied  her  hus- 
band and  also  taught  at  the  Latin 
American  Missionary  Bible  Institute, 
which  is  a  seminary  for  missionaries. 
The  couple  recently  moved  to  Mt. 
Pleasant,  SC. 

Alfred  Hurt  Jr.  '64DDS  has 
been  elected  to  the  board  of  directors 
for  the  Bank  of  Northumberland. 
Alfred  has  been  practicing  dentistry 
in  Reedville/Burgess,  VA  for  28  years. 
He  is  a  member  of  the  American 
Dental  Association. 
*John  Moyer  '66MD  is  with  the 
University  of  Colorado  Health  Sci- 
ences Center  School  of  Medicine  in 
Denver,  CO. 

Ronald  Pack  '68BS/P  has  been 
working  as  head  dock  boy  and  co- 
owner  of  Smithfield  Station  for  the 
past  15  years.  Ronald  and  his  wife  Tina 
are  the  owner's  of  the  premiere  Hotel 
Restaurant  and  Marina  in  Smithfield. 
Ron  is  also  the  chairman  of  the  Indus- 
trial Development  Authority.  He  is 
involved  in  business  development  and 
tourism  in  the  region. 
Don  Patterson  '69MHA 
( H  &  H  A )  /  A  H  is  the  new  chief  execu- 
tive officer  of  the  Washington  County 
Hospital  and  Clinics  in  Washington,  IA. 
"Richard  Robins  '61MD  has 
dedicated  much  of  his  free  time  to 
helping  others.  Richard  travels  to  the 
Dominican  Republic  with  two  or  three 
other  surgeons  to  provide  free  opera- 
tions on  patients  with  problems  caused 
by  chronic  ear  infections.  The  team  of 
specialists  goes  as  part  of  Medical  Min- 
istry International.  Richard  not  only 
repairs  eardrums  and  damaged  ear 
bones,  and  restores  hearing  loss  when 
possible,  but  also  trained  Roberto 
Batista,  a  young  Dominican  ear,  nose 
and  throat  surgeon.  Richard  is  a 
specialist  in  otolaryngology — head 
and  neck  surgery — and  has  been  in 


practice  since  1968.  Richard  and  his 
wife  Patsy  live  in  Newport  News. 
"Harry  Simpson  "61  D  D  S 
recently  received  his  30-  year  Life 
Member  Certificate  from  the  Ameri- 
can Dental  Association.  Harry  lives  in 
Gloucester,  VA. 

**Harry  Wellons  '61MD  has 
retired  from  his  cardiovascular  practice  to 
resume  a  position  as  professor  of  surgery 
at  the  University  of  Virginia  School  of 
Medicine.  Harry  will  be  teaching  a  new 
generation  of  doctors  the  refinements 
demanded  of  heart  surgeons. 
"Raymond  White  Jr.    62DDS 
"67PhD(A)/M-BH  was  the  recipient 
of  the  William  J.  Gies  Award  for  Oral 
Maxillofacial  Surgery.  Raymond 
received  the  honor  for  his  contributions 
to  specialty  education  and  the  scien- 
tific literature.  Raymond  is  professor 
of  oral  and  maxillofacial  surgery  at 
the  University  of  North  Carolina 
School  of  Dentistry. 


Wesley  Bagan  "  78  MD  has  joined 
the  staff  of  Fort  Madison  Community 
Hospital  in  IA.  Wesley  is  a  board  certi- 
fied general  surgeon  and  brings  many 
years  of  experience  to  the  job. 
J.  Sumner  Bell  III  '76MD  is 
the  new  President  of  Eastern  Virginia 
Medical  School.  He  has  been  a  faculty 
member  with  Eastern  Virginia  since 
1983.  Sumner  is  a  gastroenterologist 
in  Hampton  Roads,  president  of 
Digestive  and  Liver  Disease  Specialists 
and  affiliated  with  Gastrointestinal 
and  Liver  Specialists  of  Tidewater,  VA. 
John  Bowling  "71  MHA(HA)/AH 
is  the  new  president  and  CEO  of 
Hamilton  Health  Care  System  Inc.  in 
Dalton,  GA. 

"Catherine  Courtney 
"70BS/ln  "77MS/N  receivedthe 
Johnston  Willis  Hospital  Nurse's  Alum- 
nae Association's  Life  Membership 
Award.  To  receive  the  award  the  indi- 
vidual must  have  recommendations  for 
the  association  membership  and  be  a 
positive  force  in  the  association.  In  1999, 
Catherine  was  selected  as  one  of  99  out- 
standing nurses  in  the  state  of  Virginia. 
Catherine  is  the  program  head  for  the 
cooperative  associate  degree  nursing 
program  at  Rappahannock  Community' 
College.  Catherine  lives  in  Callao,  VA. 
**Joe  Dawson  '74MHA 
(HA1/AH  was  honored  by  his  alma 
mater  with  the  Alumni  Citation  from 
Maryville  College.  The  Alumni  Citation 
is  given  to  alumni  whose  contributions 
to  professional,  business,  civic  or  reli- 
gious institutions  have  significantly 
benefited  society  and  their  alma 


mater,  or  who  have  rendered  unusual 
service  in  any  capacity  on  behalf  of 
the  college.  The  citation  is  considered 
the  most  prestigious  award  given  to 
alumni.  loe  is  the  administrator  of 
Blout  Memorial  Hospital. 
David  Ellington  '75MD  was 
recently  installed  as  president  of  the 
Virginia  Academy  of  Family  Physicians, 
the  largest  medical  specialty  society  in 
the  commonwealth.  David  is  a  family 
practice  physician  in  Lexington,  VA. 
David  is  a  diplomate  of  the  American 
Board  of  Family  Practice.  His  profes- 
sional affiliations  also  include  serving 
on  the  board  of  directors  of  Virginia's 
Physician  Network  and  membership 
in  the  Medical  Society  of  Virginia. 
"*Regina  Kollmer  Gargus 
"76BS(B)/Hum&Sci'80MD 
recently  received  a  master's  degree  in 
administrative  medicine  from  the 
University  of  Wisconsin-Madison. 
Gail  Springham  Harris 
"75BS(PT)/AH  is  living  in  Panama 
City,  FL  with  her  family. 
Sidney  Houff  "72MD  is  the  new 
chairman  of  the  neurology  department 
for  the  Loyola  University  Chicago 
Stritch  School  of  Medicine.  Sidney 
has  studied  AIDS-related  neurological 
diseases,  and  was  the  first  scientist  to 
report  human-to-human  transmission 
of  rabies  through  corneal  transplanta- 
tion. As  chairman,  Houff  said  his 
immediate  goals  are  to  establish  a 
comprehensive  epilepsy  treatment 
program  for  children  and  adults  at 
Loyola;  build  a  strong,  multidiscipli- 
nary  stroke  center;  and  expand  the 
neurology  department's  overall 
services  for  children. 
"David  Jones  '76DDS  was 
installed  as  President  of  the  Virginia 
Association  of  Orthodontists.  The 
association  is  a  non-profit  organization 
of  242  orthodontists  in  Virginia. 
David  has  been  in  practice  since 
1978  in  Martinsville,  VA. 
Bob  Ladd  "70BS/P  the  former 
owner  of  drugstores  around  Virginia, 
including  a  Nelson  County  business 
since  1988,  is  the  new  owner  of 
Shenandoah  Harley-Davidson.  Bob 
left  the  confines  of  pharmacy  to  own 
and  run  the  dealership.  With  managed 
care  and  mail-order  drugs,  pharmacy 
has  become  "more  headaches  for  less 
money,"he  said  in  a  local  newspaper. 
So  with  his  family  grown  he  bought 
the  store,  "I  can  make  a  motorcycle 
do  what  I  want  it  to  do  yet  I  know  it 
can  kill  me  so  I  have  to  respect  it. 
When  you  become  overconfident 
you  get  hurt." 


D 


S    p 


*Larry  Lawson    70DDS  isthe 
chairman  of  the  Abbeville  County 
School  District  Board  of  Trustees.  He 
has  been  on  the  board  for  18  years. 
Larry  thinks  the  county  council  has 
been  doing  a  good  job  with  the  issues 
facing  the  county — infrastructure, 
economic  development — and  wants  to 
continue  the  work  that's  been  done. 
"Peter  McDonald    73DDS  has 
been  inducted  as  a  Fellow  of  the 
International  College  of  Dentists  for 
outstanding  and  meritorious  services 
to  the  profession.  Peter  has  a  practice 
in  Christiansburg,  VA. 
•Edward  Mulligan  '78MS 
(RC)/AH&Com  has  been  named 
diplomate  in  the  American  Psycho- 
therapy Association.  Edward  and  his 
wife,  Helen,  live  in  Fort  Belvoir,  VA. 
Robert  "Bob  "Quarles  '79BS/P 
is  the  World  Wrestling  Federation's 
"WWF"doctor  on  duty  at  regional 
events.  "He  takes  care  of  the  boys," 
said  WWF  road  agent  Dave  Hebner, 
"and  he's  there  if  anything  comes  up." 
It's  a  job  that  Bob,  an  osteopathic 
physician  who  focuses  on  muscular 
and  skeletal  problems  and  sports 
injuries,  enjoys  with  a  passion. 
Kathryn  Reynolds-D uplands 
'79MD  is  specializing  in  cosmetic 
surgery,  laser  surgery  and  hair 
restoration.  Kathryn  holds  staff  privi- 
leges at  Medical  City  Dallas  Hospital, 
Presbyterian  Hospital  of  Dallas  and 
Presbyterian  Hospital  of  Piano.  She  is 
one  of  a  select  few  cosmetic  surgeons 
in  the  world  who  performs  eyebrow 
and  eyelash  transplantation.  Kathryn 
continues  to  pursue  new  and  innova- 
tive technologies  that  enhance  the 
quality  of  plastic  and  cosmetic  surgery 
for  prospective  patients. 
Frank  Rockhold  ' 7 8 P h D 
(BI/M-BH  has  been  named  a  Fellow 
of  the  American  Statistical  Association. 
To  be  named  Fellow  is  a  superlative 
honor  in  the  Association.  For  more 
than  75  years,  it  has  signified  an  indi- 
vidual's outstanding  service  to  and 
leadership  in  the  field  of  statistical 
science.  Frank  is  the  vice  president 
and  director  of  Biostatistics  and  Data 
Science  at  SmithKline  Beecham  Phar- 
maceuticals R&D. 

Thomas  Sellars  '72MHA(HA)/AH 
is  the  CEO  of  Memphis  Mental 
Health  Institute  in  Memphis,  TN. 
*J  Douglas  Smith  '77MD  isthe 
new  president  of  the  Virginia  Academy 
of  Family  Physicians.  "Douglas  is  the 
epitome  of  what  a  family  physician  is 
all  about,"said  Terrence  Shulte,  exec- 
utive vice  president  of  the  academy. 


"Fie  puts  the  patients  first."  Family 
practice,  Douglas  explained  is  the 
broadest  medical  specialty.  Family 
doctors  treat  patients  "from  birth  to  the 
grave."As  president  of  the  academy,  he 
will  run  five  board  of  directors  meetings 
a  year  and  be  available  to  guide  any 
academy  members  who  need  him. 
Douglas  is  currently  with  Rockingham 
Family  Physicians  in  Bridgewater,  VA. 
Michael  Styron  '74BS(PT)/AH 
has  been  named  to  the  new  Virginia 
Board  of  Physical  Therapists  by 
Governor  Gilmore.  "It's  a  real  honor 
for  both  me  and  Southampton  Medical 
to  be  given  the  chance  to  make  a 
difference  in  the  field  of  physical 
therapy,"  Michael  said  recently. 
Michael  has  worked  for  Southampton 
Memorial  for  the  last  six  years. 
"Quentin  Van  Meter  '73MD 
is  currently  employed  with  Fayette 
Medical  Clinic  in  GA.  Quentin  is 
board  certified  in  endocrine  and 
metabolic  disease,  providing  the  full 
spectrum  of  care  for  patients  with 
diabetes,  growth  disturbances,  thyroid 
disease  and  other  problems. 
Janet  Watts  '78MS(OT)/AH 
'86Cert(G)/AH'97PhD(H  SOI/AH 
is  the  new  associate  professor  and 
director  of  graduate  studies  in  the 
VCU  Department  of  Occupational 
Therapy  in  the  School  of  Allied 
Health  Professions. 
Denise  Williams  '77MHA 
(HA)/  AH  has  been  named  to  the 
Franklin  Savings  Bank  Board  of 
Directors.  Denise  is  the  president 
and  chief  executive  officer  of  the 
Memorial  Hospital  of  Salem  County, 
NJ,  which  is  a  150-bed  acute-care 
community  hospital. 

EED33 

Patti  Aldredge  '88BS/N 

is  a  nurse  practitioner  at  the  Northern 
Neck  Free  Health  Clinic  in  VA. 
"  "Kim  Beasley  '97MSHA 
(HA)/ AH  is  a  nursing  supervisor  for 
Henrico  Doctors'  Hospital.  Kim  and 
her  husband,  **Stu art  Beasley 
Jr.  '87BS/P'95MSHA(HA)/AH 
live  in  Richmond. 

Carl  Billian  '87MD  is  a  general 
neurologist  and  neurorehabilitationist 
for  Cosa  Medical  Group  in  Rome,  GA. 
Carl  is  a  Fellow  in  the  American  Asso- 
ciation of  Electrodiagnostic  Medicine 
and  a  certified  member  of  the  American 
Society  of  Neurorehabilitation. 
Ann  Buckland  Borchelt 
'88BS/P  and  Bret  Borchelt 
'91  MD  are  happy  to  announce  the 
birth  of  twin  daughters,  Caroline 
Claire  and  Julia  Grace  on  July  9,  2000. 


Bret,  after  finishing  his  fellowship  in 
cardiothoracic  surgery  at  the  University 
of  Maryland  at  Baltimore  in  June, 
opened  a  private  practice  at  Forsyth 
Medical  Center  in  Winston-Salem,  NC. 
**Gerald  Brown  '86DDS  has 
received  the  Academy  of  General 
Dentistry's  prestigious  Mastership 
Award.  Gerald  had  to  complete  more 
than  1,100  hours  of  quality  continuing 
dental  education,  including  400  hours 
dedicated  to  hands-on  learning  to 
receive  this  honor. 
Blackshear  Bryan  '89MD  has 
joined  the  department  of  medicine/ 
physical  medicine  and  rehabilitation 
at  Doylestown  Hospital  in  PA. 
Kristin  Fillmore  Carter  '89BS/N 
and  her  husband  Gary  are  proud  to 
announce  the  birth  of  Heather  Grace 
on  lune  30.  The  family  lives  in  Manakin 
Sabot,  VA. 

Donna  Kay  Dawson  '84MS(G)/AH 
of  Clarksville,  VA  has  earned  a  PhD 
in  adult  development  and  aging  from 
Virginia  Tech. 

""Bruce  DeGinder    88DDS 
has  been  awarded  the  Academy  of 
General  Dentistry's  most  prestigious 
Mastership  Award.  To  receive  this 
award  you  must  complete  more  than 
1,100  hours  of  quality  continuing 
dental  education,  of  which  at  least 
400  hours  have  been  dedicated  to 
courses  involving  the  hands-on 
continuing  application  of  a  skill  or 
technique.  Bruce  is  in  private  practice 
in  Williamsburg,  VA  and  teaches  at 
VCU's  School  of  Dentistry. 
Scott  Devening  '80BS/P  isthe 
pharmacist-in-charge  for  Extended 
Care  Associates  in  Lynchburg,  VA. 
William  Downey  '85MHA 
(HA)/AH  is  the  new  CEO  for 
Regional  Medical  Center  at  Bayonet 
Point,  FL.  William  said  his  biggest 
challenge  is  maintaining  Bayonet 
Point's  reputation  as  one  of  Florida's 
leading  cardiac  care  centers. 
*Thomas  Eichler  '87MD  has 
joined  the  staff  of  Basset  Healthcare's 
Louis  Busch  Hager  Cancer  Center. 
Tom  is  a  board-certified  radiation 
oncologist  and  will  work  with  the 
center's  multidisciplinary  team  of 
medical,  surgical  and  radiation  oncol- 
ogists to  provide  cancer  patients  with 
a  complete  range  of  oncology  services. 
He  lives  in  Cooperstown,  NY. 
Nicholette  Erickson  '87MD 
has  joined  the  staff  of  Bridgeton  Hos- 
pital Oncology  Clinic.  Nicholette  is  a 
specialist  in  hematology-oncology. 
•Gerald  Feldman  ;82PhD" 
(HG)/M-BH'84MD  has  joined  the 
faculty  at  Wayne  State  University  as 
director  of  Clinical  Genetics  Services  and 
the  director  of  the  Medical  Genetics 


IN  PRACTICE 

Norah  Knutsen  '88C(G)/AH 

Providing  Peace  of  Mi 


By     Mary     Reynolds 


Ui 


rne-third  nurse,  one-third  social  worker 
and  one-third  daughter"  is  how  Norah 
Knutsen  '88C(G)/AH  characterizes  the 
home  health  aides  at  Mature  Options.  "And 
it's  the  one-third  daughter  that  makes  us 
unique,"  she  says,  describing  the  Richmond 
elder  care  management  firm  she  founded  in 
1991  and  of  which  she  is  president. 

"We  give  family  members  a  lot  of  peace 
of  mind,"  Knutsen  adds.  "We're  an  a  la  carte 
provider.  We'll  do  as  much  or  as  little  as  people 
want."  For  example,  when  a  family  thinks 
about  moving  a  parent  into  a  nursing  home, 
Mature  Options  consultants  can  provide  a 
list  of  local  facilities  and  a  list  of  questions  to 
ask  when  touring  those  facilities.  Or,  if  the 
family  desires,  a  consultant  can  go  with  them 
as  they  visit  nursing  homes. 

Home  health  aides  will  take  care  of  tasks 
like  helping  clients  bathe  and  dress,  changing 
a  closet  from  summer  to  winter  clothes, 
shopping  for  birthday  presents,  and  even 
pet  care:  "I'm  quite  a  pro  at  washing  dogs," 
laughs  Knutsen.  Mature  Options  also  takes 
care  of  more  important  matters:  "We  may 
be  the  local  contact  when  the  client  uses  his 
or  her  medical  alert  necklace  [to  call  for 
help]."  Care  managers  will  take  clients  to  the 
doctor's  office  and  help  translate  medical 
terminology.  "We  do  lots  of  things  that  a 
family  member  would  do." 

The  family  model  works  as  a  management 
style,  too.  "We're  all  working  as  a  group  to 
help  the  older  adults,  our  clients.  There's  a 
lot  of  give  and  take  among  our  employees, 


we  will  cover  for  each 
other  during  flu  season, 
snow  days,  and  other 
times  where  one  person 
just  can't  make  it  to  the 
client's  home." 

Mature  Options 
places  a  high  value  on  its 
home  health  aides  and 
goes  the  extra  mile  to 
attract  and  retain  them. 
It  pays  $2  an  hour  above 
the  industry  norm,  and 
full-time  employees 
receive  health  benefits, 
which  is  also  unusual  in 
the  home  health  care 
industry.  "These  aides 
are  a  very  important 
member  of  the  health  care  team,  and  they 
need  to  earn  a  living  wage,"  says  Knutsen. 
According  to  Knutsen,  the  major  chal- 
lenges facing  older  people  and  their  families 
are  first,  worries  about  running  out  of  money, 
and  second,  older  people  may  want  to  stay  in 
their  own  homes  when  it's  unrealistic  to  do 
so.  In  addition,  it's  difficult  for  families  to 
work  within  the  new  medical  system: 
"Medicare  is  not  providing  what  older  people 
thought  it  would,  the  rules  have  changed  on 
them."  To  address  these  challenges,  Knutsen 
will  "sit  down  with  all  concerned,  figure  out 
what  works  and  what  doesn't,  advise  the  family 
about  resources  available  and  their  costs,  and 
coordinate  resources  as  requested." 

The  model  of  Mature  Options  services 
comes  from  Knutsen's  experience  working 
as  a  public  health  nurse  in  southwestern 
Virginia.  She  went  house-to-house,  visiting 
people,  assessing  health  needs  as  well  as  other 
needs.  "I  looked  at  the  whole  picture,"  she 
recalls,  "just  like  Mature  Options  does  now. 
Our  consultants  have  time  to  deal  with  the 
primary  client,  the  spouse,  and  other  members 
of  the  family."  Mature  Options  service  begins 
with  a  comprehensive  assessment  of  physical 
health,  home  environment,  social  relation- 
ships and  support  systems,  psychological 
and  mental  health,  financial  resources,  and 
advance  directives. 

Starting  her  own  eldercare  consulting 
business  was  a  natural  outcome  of  Knutsen's 
nursing  career.  While  teaching  nursing  on 
the  heart-lung  surgery  floor  of  VCU  Health 
System,  she  says,  "I  noticed  more  old  people 
having  very  major  surgeries."  To  better 


understand  older  adults  and  how  they  differ 
physically,  psychologically,  and  socially, 
she  enrolled  in  Virginia  Commonwealth 
University's  Aging  Studies  Program  on 
the  Medical  College  of  Virginia  Campus. 
"I  was  treated  as  an  adult  learner,  allowed 
to  formulate  my  own  learning  objectives, 
and  choose  my  own  clinical  sites  like  the 
V.A.  Hospital." 

Then,  as  a  geriatric  nurse  specialist  at 
VCUHS,  she  realized,  "As  I  discharged 
patients,  we  gave  them  a  lot  of  information 
and  set  up  nurses  to  visit  them  at  home  for 
up  to  six  weeks.  It  was  all  short  term,  paid  by 
Medicare."  However,  Knutsen  believed,  "A 
lot  of  patients  needed  more  long  term  care 
at  home."  This  need  sparked  the  idea  for 
Mature  Options. 

Knutsen  wanted  to  be  "the  master  of  my 
own  fate,"so  she  researched  types  of  care 
management  services  available  in  other 
states  then  spent  a  few  days  with  a  care 
manager  in  Washington,  DC.  Next,  she  took 
what  Knutsen  calls  "a  leap  of  faith  without  a 
parachute"  to  start  her  own  business.  To  find 
clients,  Knutsen  "networked  with  physicians 
and  nurses  and  I  did  more  public  speaking 
on  related  health  topics."  Mature  Options 
consultants  quickly  developed  an  excellent 
reputation,  "Families  told  their  friends 
about  us;  word  of  mouth  is  still  our  best 
source  of  advertising." 

As  the  business  grew,  Knutsen  found 
there  were  not  enough  hours  in  the  day  to  be 
both  full-time  administrator  and  nurse.  She 
welcomed  Debbie  MacArthur  '90MPA/H&S 
to  Mature  Options  in  1997.  The  management 
skills  MacArthur  developed  working  in  the 
VCUHS  Emergency  Department  and  as  a 
disaster  management  task  force  coordinator 
make  her  a  valuable  asset  to  the  company. 

With  50  clients,  Knutsen  does  not  expect 
Mature  Options  to  grow  to  more  than  about 
60  clients.  She  enjoys  the  level  of  client  contact 
that  is  still  possible  in  a  firm  this  size:  "I've 
spent  many  a  night  with  our  clients.  I  can 
still  see  everyone  and  know  everyone.  We 
aim  for  quality  not  quantity." 

Mary  Reynolds  is  a  freelance  writer  and 
graduate  student  in  VCU's  Department  of 
Urban  and  Regional  Planning.  She  was  interim 
editor  of  the  Spring  1999  Scarab. 


SCARAB 


m 


Residency  Training  Program.  He  is  also 
the  medical  director  of  the  Molecular 
Genetics  Diagnostic  Laboratory  at  the 
Detroit  Medical  Center  at  Wayne  State 
University.  In  addition,  he  is  associate 
professor  of  pediatrics,  pathology  and 
molecular  medicine  and  genetics  at  the 
school  of  medicine.  Gerald  and  his 
family  live  in  West  Bloomfield,  MI. 
R.  Morris  Friedman    88MD 
and  Colleen  Bohan  were  united  in 
marriage  on  June  17,  2000.  Morris  is 
a  partner  with  Maplewood  Urological 
Associates  in  Winston-Salem.  Colleen 
is  a  registered  nurse  at  Wake  Forest 
University/Baptist  Medical  Center. 
James  Gervasoni  Jr.  ' 8 6 P h D 
(MD/M-BH  has  joined  Princeton 
Surgical  Associates  which  is  affiliated 
with  the  Medical  Center  at  Princeton. 
James  is  a  specialist  in  surgical  oncology 
and  is  certified  by  the  Society  of 
Surgical  Oncologists. 
Diana  Hede'84DDS  is  currently 
living  in  Fairfield,  CT. 
Shiv  Khandelwal  '87MD  is  an 
attending  physician  at  East  Georgia 
Radiation  Oncology  Center  in 
Athens,  GA. 

Jay  Kalan  '83MD  has  recently 
joined  the  staff  of  Hilton  Head  Med- 
ical Center  and  Clinics  in  SC.  Jay  is  a 
board-certified  cardiologist. 
Mark  King  '81  MD  is  the  medical 
director  of  the  emergency  department 
at  Howard  County  Genera]  Hospital, 
part  of  Johns  Hopkins  Medicine.  Mark 
is  a  board-certified  internal  medicine 
and  emergency  medicine  physician. 
He  lives  in  Chevy  Chase,  MD. 
"Karen  Koe  '86MD  and 
"Richard  Rucker  '86MD  are 
pleased  to  announce  the  birth  of  their 
second  child  Joanna  Bernadette  on 
May  12,  1999.  The  family  lives  in 
Long  Beach,  CA. 

Michele  Laneve  '88BS(PT)/AH 
is  a  staff  physical  therapist  for  Chesa- 
peake Physical  Therapy  in  Virginia 
Beach. 

Barbra  Lee  '88DDS  andhus- 
band,  David  are  pleased  to  announce 
the  birth  of  twins,  Emily  and  Brian, 
born  on  July  6.  They  join  John,  5, 
and  Colin,  3.  Barbra  also  left  private 
practice  to  join  a  group  practice  in 
St.  Paul,  MN. 

Debra  Epps  Lyon  '84BS/N 
'93MS/N'96Cert(NP)/N'97PhD/N 
was  appointed  to  faculty  of  the  Uni- 
versity of  Virginia  School  of  Nursing 
as  assistant  professor  and  centennial 
professor.  Debra  and  her  family  live 
in  Albemarle  County,  VA. 


Hamada  Makarita  '88DDS 

received  the  Academy  of  Dentistry's 
prestigious  Mastership  Award  after 
completing  more  than  1,000  hours  of 
continuing  dental  education.  Hamada 
is  in  private  practice  in  Oakton,  VA. 
Maura  McAuliffe 
'87MS(NA)/AH  has  been  selected  as 
a  Fellow  in  the  American  Academy  of 
Nursing.  Maura  joins  the  ranks  of  an 
elite  group  of  over  1,000  nursing  pro- 
fessionals who  have  been  elected  as 
AAN  fellows.  Maura  was  recognized 
for  her  work  as  a  nurse  anesthesia 
educator  for  fourteen  years  and  most 
recently  served  as  the  acting  chair  and 
program  director  of  the  Nurse  Anes- 
thesia Department  at  the  Uniformed 
Services  University  of  Health  Sci- 
ences. She  also  designed,  developed, 
wrote  funding  grants,  and  imple- 
mented the  23-credit  distance  masters 
degree  completion  program.  Maura  is 
chief  nurse  researcher  for  the  Interna- 
tional Federation  of  Nurse  Anesthetists 
and  has  conducted  research  for  nine 
years  about  the  international  practice, 
education  and  regulation  of  nurse 
anesthetists.  Maura  lives  in  Silver 
Spring,  MD. 

David  McClellan  '83MHA 
(HA)/ AH  has  been  named  vice 
president  of  physician  services  for 
md2patient.com,  which  is  an  online 
medical  community  for  physicians 
and  their  patients  and  staff.  David 
will  be  responsible  for  physician  sales 
and  support  in  Tennessee,  Alabama, 
Georgia  and  Virginia. 
Linda  McEwen  '88BS/N 
'95MS/N'98Cert(NP)/N  married 
H.  D.  Hungate  Jr.  on  October  24, 
1998.  The  couple  lives  in  Richmond. 
Jeffrey  Merrill  '88MD  was 
awarded  the  Certificate  of  Added 
Qualifications  in  Sports  Medicine. 
The  award  was  given  jointly  by  the 
American  Board  of  Family  Practice, 
the  American  Board  of  Emergency 
Medicine,  the  American  Board  of 
Internal  Medicine  and  the  American 
Board  of  Pediatrics.  Jeffrey  has  been 
working  in  wellness  and  health  pro- 
motion/disease intervention  for  the 
past  20  years. 

♦Catherine  Saunders  '76BS(SW) 
/SW82MS(G)/AH  wasawarded 
the  Seniors  Real  Estate  Specialist 
(SRES)  professional  designation  by  the 
Senior  Real  Estate  Council.  By  earning 
the  SRES  designation,  Cathy  has 
demonstrated  that  she  has  the  requisite 
knowledge  and  expertise  to  be  a  senior 
real  estate  specialist.  The  SRES  desig- 
nation was  introduced  in  1997  and  is 
nationally  recognized. 
Beth  Collins  Sharp  '81BS/N 
'82MS/N  is  the  OB/Gyn  Director  of 


Research  for  the  Medical  University 
of  South  Carolina,  Department  of 
OB/Gyn.  Beth  lives  in  Mt.  Pleasant,  SC. 
Ellen  Shufflebarger  '85BS/N 
is  a  registered  nurse  for  Brookwood 
Medical  Center  in  Hoover,  AL. 
Bryan  Sink  '80MD  recendy 
received  a  master  of  public  health 
degree  from  the  Medical  College  of 
Wisconsin  in  Milwaukee.  Bryan  is  the 
medical  director  at  Piedmont  Health- 
care's Industrial  Medical  Services. 
He  also  serves  as  medical  director 
of  the  Tega  Cay  Fire  Department 
and  youth  group  director  at  Grace 
Presbyterian  Church. 
Paul  Stairs  '83MS(B)/M- 
BH'86MD  is  a  physician  in  private 
practice  in  Richmond. 
*Allyson  Thatcher  '89MD  is 
the  first  woman  physician  installed  as 
president  of  the  Lancaster  City  and 
County  Medical  Society.  Allyson  is  a 
family  practitioner  and  senior  partner 
with  Mastropietro  and  Associates 
Family  Medicine.  Allyson  and  her 
family  live  in  PA. 
*J  T  "Tommy'Thompson 
'80BS/P  has  joined  the  board  of 
directors  for  the  newly  established 
Hanover  Bank  and  has  been  elected 
chairman  of  the  board.  Tommy  is  the 
owner  of  Mechanicsville  Drug  Store. 


♦Martha  Jane  Kline  Allen 
'93BS/P'95DPHA  and  her  husband 
Richard  are  pleased  to  announce  the 
birth  of  Abigail  Jane  on  July  8,  2000. 
Martha  is  currently  practicing  at 
Fauquier  Hospital  in  Warrenton,  VA. 
Catherine  Altorfer  '99BS 
(CLSI/AH  is  currently  a  financial 
advisor  for  Morgan  Stanley  Dean 
Witter  in  Boston,  MA. 
Kelly  Bussey  '99DDS  has 
joined  the  practice  of  Dr.  Jack  I. 
Cherin.  The  practice  offers  general 
and  cosmetic  dentistry.  Kelly  lives  in 
Virginia  Beach. 

Jennifer  Burton  '96HS-A 
received  her  certification  by  the 
American  Board  of  Anesthesiology. 
Jennifer  completed  both  oral  and 
written  examinations  and  demon- 
strated clinical  competence  in  her 
field.  Jennifer  is  employed  with  Russell 
County  Medical  Center  in  VA. 
Brian  Butcher  '97MD  is  cur- 
rently in  private  practice  with  his  life- 
long pediatrician,  Dr.  Thomas  Payne 
at  Peninsula  Pediatrics,  Ltd.  in  New- 
port News,  VA.  "I've  been  a  patient 
here  since  I  drew  breath,"  says  Brian. 
"There's  a  general  comfort  level  being 
here.  I've  known  it  all  my  life." 


S    p 


0 


Cynthia  Carneal  '96BS/N  is 

one  of  the  newest  sales  associates  for 
Coldweli  Banker  Harbour  Realty's 
CapevuTe.VA  office. 
D.  Jean  Castillo  '93BS/P  is 
presently  employed  with  the  Internet 
pharmacy,  RX.com  in  Austin,  TX  as  a 
staff  pharmacist. 

Andria  Chapman  '97DDS  and 
Carlos  Taliaferro  were  married  on  July 
8.  Andria  is  a  dentist  with  Derrick  M. 
Broadaway,  DDS,  P.C.,  Family  and 
Cosmetic  Dentistry  and  Carlos  is  a 
sales  manager  for  Haverty's  Furniture. 
The  couple  lives  in  Carrollton,  VA. 
*Karen  Charlotte  '90BS/N  has 
just  completed  her  eighth  year  as  an 
operating  room  nurse  at  the  VCU 
Health  System.  Karen  and  her  family 
live  in  Montpelier,  VA. 
Samuel    "Le  "Church 
'95MPH(PH)/M  received  his  doctor 
of  medicine  degree  from  East  Carolina 
University,  Greenville,  NC.  He  is  now 
a  resident  in  family  medicine  at  the 
Anderson  Area  Medical  Center  in 
Anderson,  SC. 

Antonia  Coppin  '91  MS(G)/AH 
is  currently  working  for  the  University 
of  Massachusetts  at  Boston. 
Richard  Cunningham  '90MD 
has  joined  Tennessee  Orthopaedic 
Clinics.  Richard  specializes  in  sports 
medicine.  He  was  the  event  physician 
for  the  National  Lipton  Tennis 
Championship  and  former  assistant 
physician  with  the  Miami  Heat 
National  Basketball  Association  team. 
Caroline  Davis  '95BS/P 
andCarl  Juran  '92BS(BA)/B 
were  married  on  June  17.  Caroline  is 
employed  with  Prescription  Management 
Company  as  a  pharmacy  manager  and 
Carl  is  a  sales  representative  for  Mid- 
South  Building  Supply.  The  couple 
lives  in  Richmond. 
"  "Nancy  OeArment  '94DDS 
and**Damon  DeArment  '94DDS 
are  pleased  to  announce  they  are 
expecting  their  third  child  in  May. 
Damon  is  in  orthodontics  practice  in 
Winchester,  VA. 

Dale  Dunlow-Harvey  '95BS/N 
is  the  new  project  manager  in  support 
of  inpatient  health  care  quality  improve- 
ment for  VHQC.  Dale  is  working 
towards  a  master's  in  nursing  admin- 
istration from  VCU. 
Richard  Dunn  '96 MD  is  the  new 
family  practitioner  for  Colonial  Beach 
Medical  Center.  Richard  and  his  family 
live  in  south-central  Virginia. 
Ashley  Edmonds    99BS/N 
recently  married  Byron  Walters.  Ashley 
is  employed  as  a  registered  nurse  in 
the  pediatric  unit  at  Johnston  Willis 
Hospital  in  Richmond.  Byron  is  a 
senior  at  VCU  and  is  a  supervisor  for 


the  United  Parcel  Service.  The  couple 
lives  in  Mechanicsville. 
Brenda  Flory    99BS(0T)/AH 
andTodd  Smiley  '93BFA(ID)/A 

were  married  on  September  16,  2000. 
Brenda  is  an  occupational  therapist 
at  Progressive  Therapy  Inc.  and 
Todd  is  a  network  administrator  at 
Hill  Phoenix.  The  couple  lives  in 
Chesterfield. 

Hilda  Flory  '94BS/P'98DPH A 
is  currently  working  for  Sentara  Norfolk 
General  Hospital  as  a  pharmacist. 
Mary  Frazier  '96MD  has 
received  staff  privileges  in  emergency 
medicine  at  Grand  Strand  Regional 
Medical  Center  in  Myrtle  Beach,  SC. 
Victoria  Garneski  '95BS/N 
is  currently  working  for  Trigon  Blue 
Cross  Blue  Shield  of  Richmond  as  a 
nurse  consultant. 
Chandak  Ghosh  '95MD  has 
been  selected  a  Commonwealth  Fellow 
at  Harvard  University,  School  of  Public 
Health.  He  recently  finished  his  resi- 
dency in  ophthalmology  at  the  Albert 
Einstein  College  of  Medicine  in  NY. 
Lance  Grenevicki  '93DDS  was 
recently  listed  in  the  Who 's  Wlxo  in 
Medicine  Millennium  Edition.  Lance 
gave  a  presentation  on  metastatic 
prostate  cancer  to  the  orbit  to 
Holmes  Regional  Medical  Center. 
He  and  his  wife,  Amy  Bridgers 
'93BS(DH)/D  live  in  Melbourne,  FL. 
David  Harlow  '92BS/P  is  the 
new  owner  of  Rainbow  Drug  in 
Buchanan,  VA.  He  made  the  front  of 
the  store  look  more  like  an  old  general 
store.  Dave  has  a  Civil  War-era  peddle 
cart  which,  he  set  up  front  to  display 
promotional  and  seasonal  items.  He 
feels  that  an  independent  drug  store 
allows  for  a  more  personal  and  com- 
fortable environment.  He  said,  "I 
expect  to  know  90  percent  of  the 
people  in  Buchanan  by  name." 
Joan  Byer  Hawse  '90MS/N 
is  the  new  nursing  program  head  at 
Dabney  S.  Lancaster  Community 
College  in  Clifton  Forge,  VA.  Joan 
said  "I  went  into  teaching  after  direct 
patient  care  because  I  loved  what  I 
was  doing  and  wanted  to  share  this 
opportunity  with  others." 
Amy  Horgan  '97MHA(H AI/AH 
married  Robert  Fiveash  on  June  17. 
Amy  is  a  health  care  analyst  with  Blue 
Cross  and  Blue  Shield  of  North  Caroli- 
na. Robert  is  co-owner  of  an  advertising 
and  promotional  products  company. 
The  couple  lives  in  Raleigh,  NC. 
"Michael  Huband  '93DDS 
has  joined  the  dental  department  at 
Lutheran  Medical  Center  in  Brooklyn, 
NY.  Michael  is  the  staff  maxillofacial 
prosthodontist  and  the  coordinator 
of  Graduated  Dental  Education  for 


the  Advanced  Education  in  General 
Dentistry  and  General  Practice 
Residency  Programs. 
**Darren  Jones  '96BS/P 
married  Sally  Phillippi  on  June  10. 
Darren  is  currently  employed  with 
CVS  Pharmacy,  and  Sally  is  employed 
by  Adventure  Entertainment  Inc. 
The  couple  lives  in  Wytheville,  VA. 
Laura  Joyner  '98M  H  A(  H  A)/AH 
is  the  chief  operations  officer  for 
Lakeview  Medical  Center,  Inc.  in 
Suffolk,  VA. 

Lynn  Kanwischer  '90MHA 
(HA)/AH  is  the  chief  financial  officer 
for  Wilford  Medical  Center  at  Lackland 
AFB,  TX.  She  lives  in  San  Antonio. 
Stephen  Kemp  '86BS(B) 
/Hum&Sci'90MD  is  an  assistant 
professor  of  medicine  and  pediatrics 
and  founding  co-director  of  the  Division 
of  Allergy  and  Immunology,  Depart- 
ment of  Medicine  for  the  University 
of  Mississippi  Medical  Center  in 
Jackson,  MS.  He  is  also  the  medical 
co-director  of  the  Adult  Asthma  Services 
Pharmaceutical  Care  Clinic.  Stephen 
is  certified  by  The  American  Board  of 
Internal  Medicine  and  the  American 
Board  ot  Allergy  and  Immunology 
with  an  added  qualification  in  clinical 
and  laboratory  immunology.  He  is 
contributing  editor  for  the  Journal  of 
Investigational  Allergology  and  Clinical 
Immunology  and  on  the  editorial 
board  of  the  Annals  of  Allergy,  Asthma 
and  Immunology. 
Jeff  Kline  '90MD  receiveda 
national  award  from  the  Society  for 
Academic  Emergency  Medicine.  The 
society  recognizes  a  few  young  investi- 
gators who  demonstrate  promise  and 
distinction  in  their  emergency  medicine 
research  careers.  Jeff  is  an  assistant 
research  director  at  Carolinas  Medical 
Center  in  Harrisonburg,  VA. 
Courtney  Ladd  '99MS(PT)/AH 
is  a  physical  therapist  at  McGuire 
Veterans  Affairs  Hospital  in  Richmond. 
"Susanne  Larkins  '93MHA 
(H  A)/AH  is  a  senior  consultant  for 
Birch  and  Davis  Associates  in  Falls 
Church,  VA. 

*Darryl  Lefcoe  95DDS  has 
been  appointed  by  Governor  Gilmore 
to  serve  on  the  Virginia  Board  of 
Dentistry  for  a  four  year  term.  Darryl 
and  her  family  live  in  Virginia  Beach. 
Sherrill  Little  '93MD  lspractic- 
ing  at  South  Jersey  Hospital  and  lives 
in  Media,  PA. 

David  Lockhart  '94AS(RT)/AH 
'96BS(CRS)/AH  married  Cynthia 
Chandler  on  June  17,  2000.  David  is 
a  candidate  for  a  master's  degree  at 


D 


S    p 


Midwestern  State  University.  He  is 
employed  at  the  University  of  Ken- 
tucky School  of  Radiation  Therapy  as 
a  clinical  supervisor  and  is  a  radiation 
therapist  at  UK's  Medical  Center  in 
Lexington,  KY. 

Edward  Lovern  '92MHA(HA)/AH 
has  become  a  reporter  for  Modern 
Healthcare  based  in  Chicago.  Edward 
covers  quality  issues  and  human 
resources,  as  well  as  spot  news  in 
Kansas,  Massachusetts,  Missouri, 
New  Hampshire  and  Rhode  Island. 
"Dawn  Luckman  '93BS/P 
and*Matt  Luckman  '92BS/P 
are  pleased  to  announce  the  birth  of 
Sophia  Grace  on  October  17,  2000. 
The  family  lives  in  Virginia  Beach. 
Casey  McReynolds  '96MD 
has  joined  the  staff  of  Abingdon 
Radiology  Services.  Casey  and  wife, 
Kendra,  live  in  Abingdon,  VA. 
David  Michie  '97MD  has 
joined  Community  Memorial  Health- 
center  in  South  Hill,  VA  as  a  family 
practice  physician. 

Aye  Min  '95BS(CLS)  /AH'OOMD 
is  an  intern  with  Riverside  Regional 
Medical  Center  in  Newport  News,  VA. 
"Vanlmh  Nguyen  '95DDS  is  a 
dentist  in  Syracuse,  NY. 
Aimee  Park  '95MD  and 
Thomas  Coates  Jr.  '95BS 
(B)/Hum&Sci.  are  happy  to 
announce  the  birth  of  Sasha  Ida  on 
June  3,  2000. 

David  Pearson  '94MD  isafacial 
plastic  surgeon  for  the  Mayo  Clinic  in 
Jacksonville,  FL. 

Bonnie  Pennington  '99BS/N 
married  Sidney  Chappell  III  on 
August  12,  2000.  Bonnie  is  working 
on  her  master's  in  nursing  and  is 
employed  at  Johnston  Willis  Medical 
Center  in  Richmond.  The  couple  lives 
in  Chesterfield. 

Tamara  Lester  Powell  '95MD 
andWilliam  Powell  '92MS 
(SW)/SW  are  happy  to  announce 
the  birth  of  William  Carrington  Powell 
III  on  August  4,  2000.  The  family  lives 
in  Grants  Pass,  OR. 
Michelle  Upshaw  Quigley 
'94BS(CLS)/AH'97MS(CJA) 
/Hum&Sci  and  her  husband,  Steve, 
are  happy  to  announce  the  birth  of 
Caroline  Elizabeth  on  July  27,  2000. 
The  family  lives  in  Ashland,  VA. 
Richard  Reed  '90MHA  (HAI/AH 
retired  from  the  Navy  in  June  1999.  In 
September  of  2000  Richard  welcomed 
a  third  grandchild  and  celebrated  his 
28  wedding  anniversary.  He  is  currently 
employed  with  OC  Incorporated  as  a 
senior  specialist.  Richard  lives  in 
Portsmouth,  VA. 


Carol  Reis  '90BS/N  and  Martin 
Shifflette  were  married  on  July  17, 
2000  in  St.  Thomas.  The  couple  lives 
in  Richmond. 

Christine  Riley    98MPH(PH  )/M 
married  Christopher  Bosworth  on 
May  27.  Christine  is  employed  with 
the  American  Cancer  Society  in  Nor- 
folk, VA,  and  Christopher  is  an  assis- 
tant estimator/project  manager  with 
Hourigan  Martone  Construction.  The 
couple  lives  in  Virginia  Beach. 
"Jeffrey  Riley  '95DDS 
recently  received  the  Boss  of  the  Year 
Award,  given  annually  to  a  local 
dentist/employer  by  the  Lynchburg 
Dental  Assistant  Society.  He  was 
nominated  by  his  entire  staff. 
Sharon  Reilly  '97MD  has  joined 
Brookneal  Family  Medical  Center, 
which  is  a  long  way  from  where  she 
was  in  1993.  That's  when,  she  decided 
to  go  back  to  school  to  study  medicine 
after  teaching  chemistry  and  biology 
at  Randolph-Henry  High  School  for 
many  years.  It  was  while  teaching  that 
her  interest  was  sparked  in  human 
biology,  setting  the  wheels  in  motion. 
Now  Sharon's  main  interest  is  in 
"preventative  care." 
Brandan  '  Brand i " Roseberry 
'99BS(0T)/AH  is  a  physical  therapist 
with  Heartland  Rehabilitation  Services. 
Brandi  has  experience  working  with 
adults  with  physical  disabilities  and 
with  geriatric  adults  in  a  psychiatric 
hospital,  but  she  primarily  works 
with  children  with  developmental 
disabilities.  The  center  provides 
services  for  Roanoke,  and  Southwest 
Virginia  residents. 
Richard  Rosenblum  '92MD 
has  joined  the  cosmetic  and  recon- 
structive surgical  practice  of  Drs. 
William  Magee  Jr.  and  Michael 
Denkin  in  Norfolk,  VA. 
Kris  Sardella  '96AS(RT)/AH 
is  a  radiologic  technologist  for  Ellis 
Hospital  is  Schenectady,  NY. 
"Robert  Satterfield  '95MD 
is  currently  with  Wilson  Orthopaedic 
Surgery  and  Neurology  Center,  P.A. 
in  general  orthopaedics  and  sports 
medicine.  Robert  and  his  family  live 
in  Wilson,  NC. 

•David  Setchel  ,94MHA(HA)/AH 
has  been  named  executive  director 
of  Carolina  Pines  Regional  Medical 
Center  in  Hartsville,  SC.  David  is  a 
member  of  the  American  College  of 
Healthcare  Executives.  David  and  his 
family  live  in  Hartsville. 
Barclay  Shepard  '98MHA 
(HAJ/AH  has  been  promoted  to 
administrator  of  Riverside  Convalescent 
Center  in  West  Point,  VA.  He  lives 
in  Poquoson. 


Sarah  Sheppard  '96MHA 
(HAJ/AH   married  Brian  Conroy  on 
September  16,  2000.  Sarah  is  director 
of  managed  care  and  physician  services 
for  the  Prince  William  Health  System. 
Brian  is  senior  portfolio  manager  of 
corporate  investments  for  Freddie 
Mac.  The  couple  lives  in  Vienna,  VA. 
Bennie  Skinner  '95MD 
has  joined  the  staff  of  Halifax  Regional 
Hospital  as  a  radiologist.  Bennie,  his 
wife,  Jennifer  Skinner  '93BS/P, 
and  son  Charlie  live  in  Halifax,  VA. 
Robin  Geron  South  '96BS/N 
is  currently  employed  with  the  VCU 
Health  System  as  a  RN-PACU. 
Gregory  Stephens  '93MD 
married  Melanie  Lee  on  June  24, 
2000.  Gregory  is  a  physician  with 
Beaverdam  Medical  Center  in  VA. 
Melanie  is  employed  with  Spotsylvania 
County  Schools. 

Rebecca  Sutorius- Hassel 
'98MS(PT)/AH  and  her  husband 
Wyatt  are  pleased  to  announce  the 
birth  of  Hannah  Rebecca  on  March 
16,  2000.  The  family  lives  in  New 
Orleans.  Rebecca  works  for  Ochsner 
Foundation  Hospital  and  Wyatt  works 
for  the  Folger's  Coffee  Company. 
Gregory  Sysyn  '97HS-P 
is  living  in  Warwick,  RI. 
**Mark  Taylor  '97MD  has 
joined  the  practice  of  Ford,  Fleenor 
and  Taylor  in  Roanoke,  VA. 
Peter  Taylor  '92HS-M  practices 
at  Mid-Florida  Cardiology  Specialists. 
He  specializes  in  implantation  and 
management  of  internal  cardiac 
defibrillators  and  permanent  pace- 
makers, along  with  diagnostic  electro- 
physicology  studies  and  catheter  abla- 
tion of  supraventriclar  arrhythmias. 
Suzanne  Taylor  '98DPHA  is  a 
pharmacist  for  University  Hospital  in 
Cincinnati,  OH. 

C.  Erwin  Velbis  '94MNA(NA|/AH 
works  for  JLR  Medical  Group  and  is  a 
certified  registered  nurse  anesthetist 
in  Maitland,  FL. 
Andrew  Walker    93BS 
(B)/Hum&Sci.'97MD  is  an 
attending  physician  for  the  residency 
program  at  Blackstone  Family  Practice 
of  Virginia  Commonwealth  University's 
Medical  College  of  Virginia  Campus. 
Kimberly  Walker  '93PhD 
(  M I )  /  M  -  B  H  has  been  selected  as  a 
Congressional  Science  Fellow.  She 
will  work  on  the  staff  of  a  member  of 
Congress  or  a  Congressional  Com- 
mittee assisting  in  policy  development. 
Kimberly  is  currently  a  post-doctoral 
fellow  in  the  laboratory  of  Henry- 
Williams  in  the  Department  of  Oral 
and  Craniofacial  Biological  Sciences 
at  the  University  of  Maryland  Dental 
School.  "I  hope  to  use  this  opportunity 


IN  PRACTICE 

Larry  Schlesinger  '71  MD 


Punching  Out  Addiction 


By    Joan    Tupponci 


H 


onored  as  Physician  of  the  Year  for  2000 
by  the  Hawaii  Medical  Association  for  his 
work  with  drug  addicts,  Larry  Schlesinger 
'71MD  hasn't  always  been  embraced  by  his 
fellow  medical  professionals.  He  knows  first- 
hand the  struggles  addiction  can  cause. 

When  he  graduated  from  VCU's  School 
of  Medicine,  Schlesinger  held  the  post  of 
president  of  the  Honors  Fraternity  and  tied 
with  a  fellow  classmate  for  first-in-the-class 
honors.  His  academic  resume  includes  an 
internship  at  Tripler  Army  Hospital  in 
Honolulu,  a  surgical  residency  at  Stanford 
University  in  Palo  Alto,  California  and  a 
plastic  surgery  fellowship  at  the  Health 
Science  Center  in  Oklahoma  City,  Oklahoma. 
After  completing  his  fellowship,  Schlesinger 
returned  to  Hawaii  in  1980  and  set  up  private 
practice  in  Maui.  He  became  chief  of  surgery 
at  the  Maui  Memorial  Medical  Center  during 
his  first  three  years  on  the  island. 

On  the  surface,  everything  appeared  to 
be  going  well.  But,  for  many  of  those  years, 
Schlesinger  harbored  a  secret;  one  he'd 
had  since  his  early  teens.  His  problems 
began  in  Detroit  at  the  age  of  13.  As  a  child, 
Schlesinger  was  dyslexic  and  hyperactive. 
His  reading  skills  were  much  slower  than 
those  of  his  classmates.  "I  would  memorize 
every  word  I  read.  I  desperately  wanted  to 
succeed  in  life,"  he  recalls.  "I  knew  down 
deep  I  was  smart,  but  I  was  in  the  worst 
reading  group.  I  couldn't  spell.  I  saw  letters 
upside  down.  To  the  outside  world,  I  looked 
like  a  dummy." 

In  desperation,  Schlesinger  went  to  a  local 
pharmacist  and  asked  for  medicine  that  would 
help  him  study.  He  was  given  Benzedrine.  "I 
tried  it  and  loved  it,"  Schlesinger  says. 

His  drug  use  took  a  hiatus  when  he  was 
at  the  School  of  Medicine.  "I  never  took 
drugs  when  I  was  there,"  he  confirms. 
"I  was  very  goal  directed."  But  by  the  time 
Schlesinger  entered  his  residency  at  Palo 
Alto,  he  was  taking  lots  of  speed.  "It  became 
evident  that  I  could  not  take  speed  and  do 
plastic  surgery,"he  says.  "So,  I  decided  to 
quit  plastic  surgery.  At  the  time,  I  didn't 
understand  I  was  a  drug  addict,  but  I 
couldn't  envision  a  life  without  mood 
altering  substances." 

Schlesinger  began  working  in  emergency 
rooms.  "It  took  me  three  months  to  realize 
I  hated  working  in  emergency  rooms  and 
loved  plastic  surgery,"  he  says. 


When  he  entered 
his  fellowship 
in  Oklahoma, 
Schlesinger  stopped 
taking  speed.  He 
realized  he  needed 
something  but  knew 
he  could  not  use 
speed.  "I  started 
taking  a  tranquilizer 
and  quickly  became 

addicted,"  he  recalls.  "Along  the  way  I  started 
drinking  cheap  wine  for  the  effect,  not  the  taste." 

In  May  1983,  Schlesinger  went  into 
treatment  for  alcoholism  and  drug  addiction 
at  Scripps  Hospital  in  Lajolla,  California.  At 
the  time,  there  weren't  any  centers  in  Hawaii 
that  had  experience  in  treating  physicians. 
Today,  Schlesinger  has  been  clean  and  sober 
for  17  years. 

Two  years  after  his  recovery,  Schlesinger 
took  and  passed  his  boards  in  plastic 
surgery.  He  found  getting  into  professional 
organizations  was  more  difficult  than  passing 
the  exams.  He  was  denied  a  fellowship  in  the 
American  College  of  Surgeons  and  member- 
ship in  the  American  Society  of  Plastic  and 
Reconstructive  Surgery  (ASPRS). 

"Everybody  loved  me  when  I  was  drinking 
but  when  I  got  sober,  they  were  afraid  of 
me,"  he  says.  In  1989,  he  took  his  case  to  the 
judicial  council  of  the  ASPRS  and  won.  "I 
educated  them  about  the  disease  of  drug 
addiction  and  recovery  for  physicians," 
Schlesinger  says.  He  was  admitted  into  the 
ASPRS  and  in  1993  was  given  a  Presidential 
Citation  by  the  president  of  ASPRS  for  his 
work  with  impaired  plastic  surgeons.  He 
was  elected  to  membership  in  the  American 
College  of  Surgeons  in  1993.  Other  honors 
over  the  years  include  Schlesinger's  election 
as  president  of  the  Northwest  Society  of 
Plastic  Surgeons. 

Schlesinger's  experiences  with  addiction 
gave  him  a  new  mission:  to  help  other  pro- 
fessionals who  were  addicts  and  to  help  soci- 
ety, in  general.  He  opened  a  medical  clinic 
in  1991  for  the  Maui  homeless.  Today,  20 
physicians  staff  the  clinic.  Schlesinger  also 
works  on  the  local,  state  and  national  level  of 
the  state's  medical  society  to  help  impaired 
professionals.  He  was  instrumental  in  the 
formation  of  the  Drug  Court  in  Maui,  where 
treatment  is  emphasized  over  incarceration. 
"This  is  a  disease  and  it  needs  to  be  treated 


medically,"  he  says.  "If  you  put  first-time 
offenders  in  prison,  their  disease  won't  be 
treated.  We  wanted  to  give  them  the  option 
of  going  into  treatment.  It's  less  expensive  to 
put  them  into  treatment  than  in  jail  and  in 
the  long  run  better  for  society  and  as  well  as 
the  individual." 

Schlesinger  feels  blessed.  "I  am  going 
out  and  helping  other  people,"  he  says.  "I've 
done  what  my  professors  at  MCV  would 
have  wanted  me  to  do." 

When  he  applied  to  medical  school, 
Schlesinger  was  the  last  person  accepted  to 
the  School  of  Medicine  class  that  began  in  the 
summer  of  1967.  He  graduated  Valedictorian, 
which  Schlesinger  says,  confirms  that  you  can 
be  the  least  likely  to  finish  the  first  year  of 
medical  school  and  still  do  extremely  well. 
That's  why  he  and  his  wife  endowed  the  Miles 
Hench  Scholarship  (named  after  the  dean  of 
admissions  that  accepted  Schlesinger  into  the 
School  of  Medicine)  for  $20,000.  VCU  added 
510,000  making  it  a  $30,000  endowment.  The 
scholarship  is  given  to  the  last  person  accepted 
to  the  class  each  year. 

"Receiving  the  scholarship  gives  a  boost 
to  a  guy  or  girl  that  is  the  last  one  accepted," 
Schlesinger  says.  "It  says  you  have  every 
possibility  of  being  a  great  physician." 

Schlesinger  wanted  to  give  back  to  the 
MCV  Campus  of  VCU  because  he  feels  it's  a 
fabulous  school.  "They  really  truly  care  about 
students,"  he  says.  "It's  a  warm  and  caring 
place  with  a  family-like  atmosphere.  I've 
been  involved  with  other  universities  but 
never  before  or  since  MCV  have  I  seen  a 
place  with  such  a  positive  student-centric 
attitude.  I  couldn't  have  been  Physician  of 
the  Year  without  MCV." 

Joan  Tupponce  is  an  award-winning  writer 
residing  in  Richmond.  A  staff  writer  at  Capital 
One,  she  also  writes  for  MD  News,  the  Richmond 
Times-Dispatch  and  Richmond  Magazine. 


SCARAB 


El 


to  learn  the  actual  workings  of  Con- 
gress, so  that  biological  scientists  and 
researchers  can  become  more  effec- 
tive lobbyists  on  behalf  of  this  very 
important  work  we  do,"Kimberly 
said  recentiy. 

"Amy  Whitaker  "98DPHA  isa 
coordinator  for  Kerr  Drug,  Enhanced 
Pharmaceutical  Care  Center  in  Chapel 
Hill,  NC.  Amy  is  also  a  member  of 
the  board  of  the  Medical  College  of 
Virginia  Alumni  Association  of  VCU. 
Carla  Williams  '96BS/N  is 
now  Mrs.  Carlton  Van  Crossin  after 
her  recent  marriage.  Carla  works 
for  the  VCU  Health  System  as  a 
registered  nurse. 
Jo  Myers  Wilson 
'88BS(P)/Hum&Sci'92MD 
joined  Powhatan  Family  Physicians 
in  Powhatan,  VA. 

*  "Margaret  Lee  Wittenbrak- 
er  '95BS/N  and**William 
Wittenbraker  '90BS/N'97MS 
(NA)/AH  were  married  on  April  29, 
2000.  Margaret  is  working  as  a  nurse 
practitioner  at  Memorial  Regional 
Medical  Center  and  Bill  is  employed 
as  a  CRNA  at  Chippenham  Medical 
Center.  The  couple  lives  in  Richmond. 
Wendi  Woods  '97BS(0T)/AH 
married  Patrick  Mulligan  on  June  3. 
Wendi  is  employed  with  Children's 
Hospital  and  Patrick  is  working  for 
American  Saw  and  Manufacturing. 
The  couple  lives  in  Richmond. 
Angela  Wright  '99DPHA 
married  John  Olmsted  III  on  April 
29.  Angela  is  a  clinical  pharmacist  at 
Lynchburg  General  Hospital  and 
John  is  in  his  second  year  of  residency 
at  Lynchburg  Family  Practice. 
•Lisa  Kovacs  Zurek  '91BS/P 
and  husband  Keith  are  celebrating  the 
birth  of  their  second  child,  Elizabeth 
Anne,  on  July  6.  Beth  is  currently 
employed  with  Health  Midwest  in  a 
Home-Infusion  Pharmacy.  The  family 
lives  in  Kansas  City,  MO. 


Emu 

Jennifer  Bane  Edwards 
'00MS(PT)/AH  is  employed  as  a 
pediatric  physical  therapist  at  the 
University  of  Virginia  Medical  Center 
in  Charlottesville,  VA. 
Maurice  Hill    00MHA(HA)/AH 
married  Cynthia  Poindexter  on 
September  9.  Maurice  is  an  assistant 
administrator  with  HealthSouth  Corpo- 
ration. The  couple  lives  in  Richmond. 
Andrew  Kim  'OOMD  is  currently 
in  the  residency  program  at  Hinsdale 


Family  Practice,  which  is  a  part  of 
Hinsdale  Hospital  in  Hinsdale,  IL. 
Andrew  participates  in  a  wide  range 
of  disciplines  and  rotations  through 
the  departments  of  internal  medicine, 
pediatrics,  psychiatry  and  substance 
abuse,  OB/Gyn  and  surgery. 
Suzanne  Martin    00MS  (PTI/AH 
is  now  Mrs.  Michael  Lee  James  after 
her  recent  marriage.  The  couple  lives 
in  Sanford,  NC. 

Rebecca  Pellett  "00MS(PT)/AH 
married  David  Engler  on  June  18, 
2000.  Rebecca  is  a  physical  therapist 
in  Charlottesville  and  the  couple  lives 
in  Keswick,  VA. 

Chastity  Tyree    00BS(CRS)/AH 
married  Kevin  Woody  on  May  27, 
2000.  Chastity  is  employed  at  Virginia 
Baptist  Hospital  in  the  radiation 
oncology  department  and  Kevin 
is  employed  at  Henrico  Doctors 
Hospital.  The  couple  lives  in  Madison 
Heights,  VA. 


DEATHS 


Milton  Snyder  '26BS/P  of 

Virginia  Beach  on  July  20,  2000. 
Earl  Ware  '28MD  of  Fredericks- 
burg, VA  in  March  2000. 


Frances  Powell  Collins 
'34Cert/N  of  Jarrett,  VA  on 
September  2,  2000.  She  was  88. 
Felicia  Robinson  Haile 
'30BS(MT)/AH  ofTappahannock, 
VA  on  October  6,  2000  after  a  lengthy 
illness.  She  was  a  lifelong  lover  of 
horses  and  excelled  in  riding,  which 
she  continued  into  her  mid-80's. 
Woodrow  C.  Henderson 
'37DDS  on  January  12  in  Leonard  - 
stown,  MD.  He  was  86.  MCVAA 
named  him  Alumnus  of  the  Year  in 
1978,  recognizing  his  contributions  to 
the  health  care  field.  In  1999,  W.C. 
received  the  Hodges-Kay  Service 
Award  for  his  dedication  and  service 
to  MCVAA. 

J.  Frank  Hollenbeck  '38BS/P 
of  Richmond. 

J.  T.  Llewellyn  '37MD  of 
Williamston,  NC  in  1999. 
Emmett  Mathews  Sr.  '34MD 
of  Richmond,  on  October  7,  2000.  He 
is  survived  by  his  wife  Mary  of  64 
years.  Emmett  was  92. 
Effie  Moller  '36Cert/N  of 
Boulder,  CO. 


*John  Patterson  Jr.  '39MD  of 

Richmond.  John's  lifelong  passion 
was  medicine — a  passion  he  shared 
with  countless  physicians  and 
patients  during  his  40-year  career  as 
research  professor  of  internal  medi- 
cine at  VCU.  His  sister,  Elizabeth 
Williams,  told  the  Richmond  Times- 
Dispatch,  "he  married  medicine  at  the 
age  of  2 1 . .  .and  never  thought  about 
anything  else  his  entire  life."  He  died 
September  15,  2000,  at  87  after  a 
lengthy  illness. 

David  Petty  '34DDS  ofLynch- 
burg,  VA  on  April  28,  2000.  David 
was  99. 

William  Richardson  '30DDS 
of  Lynchburg,  VA  on  April  18. 
Clarry  Trice  Sr.  '31BS/P 
'35  MD  of  Richmond,  on  August  29, 
2000.  He  was  preceded  in  death  by  his 
son,  Clarry  Trice  Jr.  '63BS(E)/B. 
Opal-Rose  Trolan  '33BS/P  of 
Powhatan,  VA  on  November  11, 
2000.  Opal  is  survived  by  her  son 
Douglas  Trolan  Jr. 
'73BS(M)/B. 

K.  Kenneth  Wallace  Sr. 
"32MD  of  Virginia  Beach  on  June 
16,  2000.  Kenneth  was  the  chief  of 
radiology  at  Leigh  Memorial  Hospital 
in  Norfolk,  VA.  Kenneth  was  president 
of  the  Norfolk  County  Medical  Society, 
the  Virginia  Radiological  Society  and 
the  Medical  Society  of  Virginia.  He 
was  a  Fellow  Emeritus  of  the  American 
College  of  Radiology.  Kenneth  is  sur- 
vived by  many,  including  his  son, 
""Karl  Wallace,  Jr.  '58MD 
of  Charlottesville,  VA. 
*A.  S.  Whitmore  '38BS/P  of 
Newport  News,  VA  on  December  11, 
2000. 


Sarah  Adams  '41BS/N  ofjack- 
sonville,  FL. 

Raymond  Adams  '44MD  of 
Richmond,  on  December  2,  2000. 
Mary  Allen  '40Cert(PT)/AH 
'61Cert(0T|/AH  of  Charlotte,  NC. 
Robert  Bradley  '47MD  of 
Powhatan,  VA  on  August  17,  2000. 
He  was  78. 

Harry  Foster  Jr.'47MD  of 
Martinsville,  VA  on  July  11,  2000. 
George  Green  '48DDS  of 
Brookneal,  VA  on  February  20,  2000. 
He  retired  from  dental  practice  after 
40  years.  He  was  a  member  of  the 
American  Dental  Association,  Virginia 
Dental  Association  just  to  name  a 
few.  He  is  survived  by  his  wife 
Serena  Seckman  Green 
'50 VCU. George  was  74. 


S    p 


El 


IN  MEMORY 


A    Passion    for    Pharmacy 

Camilla  Jeffries  Patton  '43BS/P,  the  first  female  president  of  the 
Richmond  Pharmaceutical  Association  and  a  pharmacist  for  nearly 
40  years,  died  November  12,  2000,  at  88  after  a  brief  illness. 

Patton  wanted  to  have  her  own  drugstore  like  her  father  and  grand- 
father, but  when  she  was  young  pharmacy  was  reserved  for  men.  She 
seized  her  opportunity  when  World  War  II  left  a  scarcity  of  men  to 
fill  pharmacist  positions. 

Patton  graduated  from  MCV's  School  of  Pharmacy  in  1943, 
returned  to  Warrenton  and  took  over  the  drugstore  her  grandfather 
opened  shortly  after  the  Civil  War.  In  1949  she  bought  Richmond's 
Boulevard  Grant  Drug  Co.,  and  in  the  1960s  she  opened  Jeffries 
Pharmacy.  In  the  mid-1970s,  she  moved  to  Lynchburg  to  operate 
Boonesboro  Pharmacy  until  her  retirement  in  the  mid-1980s. 

When  Thomas  Rorrer  '52BS/P  was  a  pharmacy  student,  he  worked 
in  Patton's  (then  Jeffries)  drugstore.  "She  was  one  of  the  most  generous 
people  I've  met  in  my  life.  As  a  pharmacist,  she  had  the  highest  moral 
code  and  standards  of  practice.  She  was  a  good  friend  and  mentor." 

Going    the    Extra    Mile 

Dr.  David  Eugene  Tolman  '87MD,  former  director  of  VCU  Health  Sys- 
tem's heart  failure/cardiac  transplant  programs,  died  August  14,  2000,  in 
Richmond  at  41.  In  the  Richmond  Times-Dispatch  colleague  Dr.  Thomas 
Kerkering,  VCU  internal  medicine  professor,  recalled  Dr.  Tolman  as  "a 
doctor's  doctor. . .  one  of  those  rare  people  who 
could  combine  science  with  the  art  of  medicine, 
and  he  did  it  really  well.  He  was  always  on  the 
cutting  edge  of  new  things  and  new  technology, 
but  the  reason  I  would  send  patients  to  him  was 
because  he  was  a  patient's  doctor,  too." 

Jennifer  Friend  '85BS/N,  a  former  VCU 
Health  System  nurse,  described  her  close  friend 
to  the  Richmond  Times-Dispatch:  "The  respect 
he  showed  his  patients  and  the  amount  of  time 
he  spent  listening  to  them — he  really  went  the 
extra  mile." 
Dr.  Tolman,  a  Massachusetts  native,  attended  the  University  of 
Virginia  and  Boston  College  before  being  accepted  to  the  VCU  School 
of  Medicine.  He  served  as  heart  failure/cardiac  transplant  director  from 
1994  until  1999.  After  leaving  VCUHS,  Dr.  Tolman  volunteered  at  the 
Crossover  Clinic  and  was  active  in  AIDS  awareness  programs. 

Wed    to    Medicine 

Dr.  John  L.  Patterson  Jr.'s  '39MD  lifelong  passion  was  medicine — a 
passion  he  shared  with  countless  physicians  and  patients  during  his 
40-year  career  as  research  professor  of  internal  medicine  on  the  Medical 
College  of  Virginia  Campus.  His  sister,  Elizabeth  Williams,  told  the 
Richmond  Times-Dispatch,  "he  married  medicine  at  the  age  of  2 1 . .  .and 
never  thought  about  anything  else  his  entire  life."  He  died  September 
15,  2000,  at  87  after  a  lengthy  illness. 

Patterson  worked  in  his  MCV  Campus  lab  until  illness  forced  him 
to  be  homebound.  Even  then,  he  refused  to  quit  medicine.  Dr.  Edith 
Hardie  '69PhD/M-BH,  close  friend  and  former  student,  told  the 
Times-Dispatch.  "He  never  wanted  to  be  thought  of  as  retired." 

Dr.  Patterson  attended  Princeton  University  and  in  1939  received 
his  medical  doctorate  from  MCV.  He  was  a  naval  officer  during  World 
War  II  and  conducted  early  space  medicine  research  with  the  military 
after  the  war.  He  joined  MCV's  faculty  in  1953. 


As  founding  chairman  of  VCU's  Division  of  Cardiopulmonary 
Laboratories  and  Research,  Dr.  Patterson  established  the  Pulmonary 
Functions  Laboratories,  the  Respiratory  Therapy  Facility  and  Respiratory 
Intensive  Care  Unit. 

Dr.  Patterson  received  many  honors  for  his  pioneering  research. 
The  National  Institutes  of  Health  honored  him  with  a  research  career 
award.  He  received  the  VCU  Distinguished  Faculty  Award  and  the 
University's  Presidential  Medallion,  and  VCU  established  an  honorable 
lectureship  in  his  name  in  1978. 

Angel    of    Mercy 

Dr.  Susan  Mellette,  former  oncologist  and  internal  medicine  professor 
in  the  VCU  School  of  Medicine,  died  September  10,  2000,  at  78  of  respi- 
ratory problems. 

"Her  emphasis  was  always  on  quality  of  life,"  recalls  Terry  Cyr, 
speech  pathologist  and  VCU  colleague,  as  told  in  the  Richmond  Times- 
Dispatch.  "It  would  infuriate  her  to  hear  doctors  tell  someone,  'There  is 
nothing  else  we  can  do.'  She  always  felt  that  there  was  always  something 
to  do  to  increase  the  comfort  level  and  quality  of  life  for  patients." 

Dr.  Mellette  joined  MCV's  medical  faculty  in  1955  and  rose  to  pro- 
fessor of  internal  medicine  and  rehabilitation  medicine.  She  became 
professor  emeritus  in  1992  and  retired  in  1995.  From  1960  to  1966  she 
served  as  director  of  MCV's  Division  of  Cancer  Studies. 

In  the  late  1960s  she  was  instrumental  in  developing,  with  the  Ameri- 
can Cancer  Society,  the  Reach-to-Recovery  postmastectomy  service  and 
rehabilitation  program  that  has  helped  thousands  of  breast  cancer  patients. 

When  the  Massey  Cancer  Center  opened  in  1974,  Dr.  Mellette  took 
charge  of  clinical  services  for  patients  and  began  "a  major  rehabilitation 
program  for  patients  that  became  a  model  for  national  cancer  rehabilita- 
tion programs,"  Dr.  Walter  Lawrence  Jr.,  director  emeritus  of  the  Massey 
Cancer  Center,  told  the  Times-Dispatch.  She  stayed  in  that  position  until 
1988  and  continued  to  take  care  of  patients  until  1992. 

In  1996,  the  American  Cancer  Society  awarded  Dr.  Mellette  the 
national  Humanitarian  Award.  Dr.  Mellette's  kindness  reached  beyond 
patients.  At  VCU,  she  funded  medical  school  scholarships  and  took  a 
particular  interest  in  scholarship  recipients. 

Tall    in    Our    Eyes 

Dr.  Woodrow  C.  Henderson  '37DDS  died  January 
12  in  Leonardstown,  MD.  He  was  86. 

Henderson's  practice  spanned  52  years.  During 
World  War  II  he  served  in  the  Army  Dental  Corps 
with  the  45th  General  Hospital.  Back  in  Richmond, 
he  practiced  with  his  uncle,  the  late  Clyde  Reese,  for 
35  years.  He  then  opened  a  private  practice  on 
Franklin  Street,  from  which  he  retired  in  1989. 

From  1965  to  1970,  Henderson  served  on  the 
Virginia  Board  of  Dental  Examiners.  He  held  several  positions,  including 
president,  in  the  Richmond  Dental  Society.  In  the  early  1950s,  Henderson 
helped  organize  the  women's  auxiliaries  of  the  Richmond  Dental  Society 
and  of  the  Virginia  Dental  Association. 

Henderson  was  very  active  in  the  MCV  Alumni  Association  of  VCU, 
of  which  he  was  a  past-president.  In  1978,  the  association  named  him 
Alumnus  of  the  Year,  recognizing  his  distinguished  contributions  to  the 
health  care  field.  MCVAA  also  honored  him  with  the  Hodges-Kay  Service 
Award  in  1999  for  his  dedication  and  service  to  the  association. 

"He  was  a  very  short  man,  but  he  was  very  tall  in  the  eyes  of  anyone 
who  knew  him,"  says  Frances  Kay  '59BS/N.  He  was  dedicated  to  his 


SCARAB 


□ 


S    p 


family  and  loved  everything  about  MCV.  "He  and  his  wife  didn't  even 
own  a  home  when  they  contributed  to  buying  the  Maury  house,"  for 
the  MCVAA  headquarters. 

Kay  recalls  how  P.D.  Miller  Jr.  '63DDS,  whose  father,  Preston  Dallas 
Miller  '36DDS,  had  been  a  close  friend  of  Henderson,  arranged  to  have 
Henderson  picked  up  in  a  chauffeur-driven  limousine  on  the  day  he 
received  the  Hodges-Kay  Service  Award.  Miller  also  made  sure  Kay  was 
in  the  limousine  with  a  thermos  of  Bloody  Marys,  his  favorite  drink. 
"It  was  a  really  special  day  for  him,"  notes  Kay.  "It  was  truly  special  for 
him  to  be  remembered  later  in  life." 

Renaissance    Man 

Dr.  G.W.  James  III  '43MD,  a  long-time  professor  in  the  VCU  School 
of  Medicine,  died  January  15  after  a  brief  illness.  He  was  82. 

A  native  of  Richmond,  Dr.  James  spent  his  career  at  the  MCV  Campus, 
where  he  served  as  a  professor  of  medicine  for  over  50  years,  as  well 
as  being  a  researcher,  clinical  practitioner  and  leader  in  the  study  and 
treatment  of  blood  diseases.  He  helped  establish  the  division  of  hematology 
in  the  late  1940s,  and  served  as  its  chairman  from  1958  until  1983. 

He  never  retired,  his  son,  Dr.  George  Watson  James  IV  '80HS,  told 
the  Richmond  Times-Dispatch.  "Medicine  was  his  whole  life.  His  inter- 
est was  medicine  all  the  way  through." 

"Dr.  James  started  the  first  laboratory  for  research  in  the  Department 
of  Medicine  in  1948,"  says  Dr.  Richard  P.  Wenzel,  chair  of  the  Department 
of  Internal  Medicine  on  the  MCV  Campus.  "He  was  also  a  Renaissance 
man."  James  wrote  poetry,  painted,  learned  to  play  the  piano  when  he 
was  80,  and  was  an  avid  hunter  and  fisherman.  He  was  in  the  process  of 
writing  a  history  of  the  department  when  he  died. 

"He  never  missed  medical  grand  rounds,"  adds  Wenzel.  James  came 
every  week,  always  sitting  in  the  middle,  and  always  with  a  question 


ready  that  showed  the  depth  of  his  knowledge.  "He  usually  knew  more 
than  any  of  the  speakers." 

A    Doctor's    Doctor 

Dr.  W.  Robert  Irby  '48MD,  rheumatologist  and  former  VCU  professor  of 
internal  medicine,  died  January  21  after  a  prolonged  illness.  He  was  77. 

After  completing  his  medical  education 
at  MCV,  Dr.  Irby  joined  the  Army  Medical 
Corps  where  he  served  as  chief  of  rheuma- 
tology at  Walter  Reed  Medical  Center.  He 
returned  to  the  MCV  Campus  following  his 
military  service. 

Dr.  Duncan  Owen,  a  professor  emeritus  in 
the  School  of  Medicine,  described  him  to  the 
Times-Dispatch  as  a  "doctor's  doctor.  Many 
doctors  went  to  him  for  their  own  care.  He  was 
just  a  very  empathetic  individual." 

VCU  presented  Dr.  Irby  with  the  Presidential 
Medallion  in  1999  for  his  broad  service  to  the 

University  as  a  faculty  member,  physician,  alumnus  and  volunteer.  He 
was  a  former  president  and  trustee  of  the  MCV  Foundation. 

"Dr.  Irby  was  one  of  the  first  people  to  recognize  that  private  phil- 
anthropy could  play  an  important  role  in  supporting  the  Schools  and 
Departments  on  the  MCV  Campus,"  says  Michael  Dowdy,  executive 
director  of  the  MCV  Foundation.  "He  helped  begin  the  trend  here  of 
raising  endowment  funds  in  honor  of  some  of  our  great  physicians. 
Many  of  these  projects  established  named  professorships.  So  it  was 
fitting  when  in  1996  colleagues  and  friends  honored  him  by  contributing 
over  $350,000  to  establish  the  W.  Robert  Irby  Professorship  in 
Rheumatology,  which  is  held  by  Dr.  Christopher  Wise." 


'Elizabeth  Haase  '41BS/N 

of  Granada  Hills,  CA  on  November 

18,  2000. 

George  Hankins  '45MD  of 

Newport  News,  VA  on  May  6. 
Florence  Wiggins  House 
'40Cert.  (St.P)/N  ofRichmond, 
on  September  25,  2000. 
W.  Robert  Irby  '48MD  of 
Richmond,  on  January  21  after  a  pro- 
longed illness.  He  was  77.  Robert  was  a 
rheumatologist  and  former  VCU  professor 
of  medicine.  An  active  and  dedicated 
alumnus,  he  was  a  former  president  and 
trustee  of  the  MCV  Foundation. 
G.  W.  James  III  '43MD  of 
Richmond,  on  January  15  after  a 
brief  illness.  He  was  82.  G.W.  spent 
his  entire  career  at  the  MCV  Campus, 
where  he  served  as  professor  of  medi- 
cine for  over  50  years.  He  helped 
establish  the  division  of  hematology 
and  started  the  first  laboratory  for 
research  in  the  Department  of  Medi- 
cine in  the  late  1940s. 
Natalie  Lum  '48MD  ofPeters- 
burg,  VA  in  August  2000. 


"William  Morrissette  Jr. 

'44MD  of  Richmond,  on  December 

18,2000. 

Camilla  Patton  '43BS/P  of 

Richmond,  on  November  12th  after  a 
brief  illness.  Camilla  was  the  owner  of 
Grants  Pharmacy  on  the  Boulevard, 
Jeffries  at  Broad  and  Skipwith,  and 
the  Boonesboro  Pharmacy  in  Lynch- 
burg. She  was  also  the  first  woman 
president  of  the  Virginia  Pharmaceu- 
tical Association.  Camilla  was  88. 
"Constance  Lee  Thompson 
Peebles  '48BS/N  ofRichmond, 
on  September  28.  Constance  is  sur- 
vived by  many  family  members 
including  her  sister,  Carol  Win  go 
'50BS/N.  Constance  was  73. 
Welford  Ross    46DDS  of 
Charlottesville,  VA  on  October  7,  2000. 
Welford  served  his  community  in  many 
ways,  including  being  instrumental  in 
placing  fluoride  in  the  water  system  of 
the  Albemarle-Charlottesville  area. 
Delbert  Russell  '42HS-M  of 
Naples,  FL  on  December  12,  1999. 
Robert  Shelburne  '44MD  of 
Asheville,  NC  on  June  17,  1999  from 


Parkinson's  Disease.  Robert  was  87. 
••Elizabeth  Downing  Sneed 
Watkins  '46BS/P  ofRichmond, 
on  August  17,  2000.  Elizabeth  was  the 
owner  of  Sneed's  Pharmacy  in  Appo- 
mattox for  20  years.  Elizabeth  was  76. 
"Herbert  Webb  '42MD  of  Eff- 
ingham, IL  on  August  14,  2000.  Her- 
bert was  still  practicing  part-time  in 
the  emergency  room  at  St.  Anthony's 
Hospital  in  Effingham  and  in  Sea  Level, 
NC  for  ten  years.  Herbert  was  very 
loved  and  respected  by  the  communi- 
ty. He  is  survived  by  his  daughter, 
Marjorie  Webb  Best  '68BS/N 


Graham  Barkley  '50BS/P  of 

Danville,  VA  on  June  17,  2000. 
Robert  Belle  '56BS/P 
'77BS(R)/E  of  Petersburg,  VA. 
Frank  Blanton  '52HS-M  of 

Richmond,  on  October  22,  2000. 
Frank  practiced  internal  medicine 
with  Drs.  Blanton,  Powell,  Martin, 


13 


Wickham,  Titus  and  Gill  in  Richmond. 
He  also  served  as  adjunct  faculty  at 
VCU.  Frank  was  79.  He  is  survived  by 
his  brother  Wyndham  Blanton 
'50MD. 

H.  D.  Deane  Jr.  '56DDS  of 
Staunton,  VA  on  February  27,  2000. 
He  was  a  member  of  the  ADA,  VDA 
and  Shenandoah  Valley  Dental  Society 
for  44  years.  He  was  69. 
Jennings  Dorm  an  '54DDS  of 
Williamsburg,  VA  on  September  21. 
Walter  Draper  '55MD  ofRich- 
mond,  on  December  17.  Walter 
served  as  director  of  the  Virginia 
Treatment  Center  for  Children  and 
chairman  of  the  Department  of  Child 
Psychiatry  at  the  MCV  Campus.  He 
practiced  as  a  child  psychiatrist  at 
Memorial  Child  Guidance  Clinic. 
He  also  served  as  a  consultant  to  the 


Key  To  Abbreviations 

Alumni  are  identified  by  year 
degree/school 

Degrees 

AS  Associate's  Degree 

C  Certificate 

B  G  S  Bachelor  of  General  Studies 

BFA/MFA  Bachelor/Master  of  Fine 

Art 
B  S  W/  M  S  W  Bachelor/Master  of 

Social  Work 
Diet  Dietetic  Intern 
DPHA  Doctorof Pharmacy 
HS  House  Staff 
MEd  Master  of  Education 
MPH/DPH  Master,  Doctor  of  Public 

Health 
MHA  Master  of  Health 

Administration 
M/DPH  Master,  Doctor  of 

Public  Health 
MS  HA  Master  of  Science  in  Health 

Administration 
MSN  A  Master  of  Science  in  Nurse 

Anesthesia 
PhD  Doctor  of  Philosophy 

Schools 

A  Arts 

AH  Allied  Health  Professions 

CLS  Clinical  Laboratory 
Sciences 

G  Gerontology 

HA  Health  Administration 

NA  Nurse  Anesthesia 

0T  Occupational  Therapy 

PC  Patient  Counseling 

PT  Physical  Therapy 

RC  Rehabilitation  Counseling 

RS  Radiation  Sciences 
B  Business 
D  Dentistry 
E  Education 
En  Engineering 
H&S  Humanities  and  Sciences 
M/M-BH  Medicine/Med-Basic 

Health  Sciences 
MC  Mass  Communications 
N  Nursing 

NTS  Nontraditional  Studies 
P  Pharmacy 

St.P  St.  Philip  School  of  Nursing 
SW  Social  Work 


Virginia  Department  of  Juvenile  Cor- 
rections for  30  years.  He  was  72. 
Joseph  Florence  III    B8BS/P 
of  Norfolk,  VA  on  November  7,  2000. 
Billie  Gene  Goodson 
'53BS(MT)/AH  ofRichmond,  on 
October  16,  2000. 

John   "Jack"  Halki  '56MD  at 
the  U.  S.  Air  Force  Medical  Center 
Wright- Patterson  Dayton,  OH  on 
July  29  after  a  short  illness.  Jack  was 
currently  serving  as  the  Nicholas  }. 
Thompson  Professor  and  Chairman 
for  the  Department  of  Obstetrics  and 
Gynecology  at  Wright  State  University 
School  of  Medicine. 
David  Hopewell  Jr.  '55BS/P 
of  Suffolk,  VA  on  August  23,  2000. 
David  served  as  manager  and  phar- 
macist for  Peoples  Drug  Company 
and  as  a  pharmacist  in  the  U.  S.  Army 
and  the  Army  Reserves.  He  was  also 
owner/operator  of  Nansemond  Drug 
Company  for  many  years.  David  was 
past  president  of  the  Tri-County 
Pharmaceutical  Association.  David  is 
survived  by  a  host  of  family  including 
his  wife  Margaret  Christensen 
Hopewell  '55BS/N,son 
David  Hopewell  III  '81BS/P 
and  sister,  Joan  Hopewell 
Collins  '58BS/N.  Davidwas68. 
*Harry  Howren  Jr.  '52MD  of 
Richmond,  on  December  12.  Harry 
practiced  obstetrics  and  gynecology 
for  35  years.  He  is  survived  by  many, 
including  his  son,  Harry  Howren 
III  '78BS(P)/Hum&Sci. 
Charles  Hutchinson  '51DDS 
of  Montross,  VA  on  November  23, 
2000. 

*Thomas  Jennings  '51MD  of 
Bedford,  VA. 

Thomas  McCahill  '51MD  of 
Hanover  Courthouse,  VA  on  October 
1 1,  2000.  Thomas  was  in  family  practice 
in  Richmond  and  Hanover  County 
for  over  40  years. 

*Harvey  Melton  '53MD  ofHar- 
lingen,  TX  formerly  of  Winchester, 
VA  on  September  16,  2000.  Harvey 
was  in  practice  for  over  35  years 
before  retiring  to  Texas.  His  love  of 
flying  never  diminished  and  one  of 
his  greatest  pleasures  was  listening  to 
his  vast  music  collection  and  sharing 
this  music  with  his  family  and  friends. 
He  was  81. 

George  Parker    53DDS  ofBed- 
ford,  VA  on  January  8,  2000. 
*Mary  Parker  '50Cert/ID  of 
Richmond. 

Theril  Reedy  '53DDS  of  Clint- 
wood,  VA  on  November  23,  2000 
after  a  lingering  illness.  Theril  was  73. 
Sarah  Riley  '59BS(0T)/AH  of 
Richmond,  on  November  5,  1999. 


*John  Rose  Jr.  '50MD  ofFred- 
ericksburg,  VA  on  June  29.  John 
practiced  family  medicine  for  44 
years,  and  retired  in  1995. 
Frances  Rutter  '56BS/N  of 
Tucker,  GA  in  1999. 
William  Stanton  '57DDS  of 
North  Tazewell,  VA  on  September  28, 
2000. 

Charles  Wilson  Sr.  '57MD  of 
Arapahoe,  NC  on  October  4.  Charles 
received  a  pharmacy  degree  after  the 
war,  and  continued  to  work  toward 
his  goal  to  become  a  physician.  He 
established  a  successful  practice  as  a 
plastic  surgeon  specializing  in  burn 
and  reconstructive  surgery  and 
indulged  in  his  lifelong  interest  in 
sailing.  Charles  also  opened  and 
ran  a  successful  bed  and  breakfast 
inn/catering  service.  Illness  and  a 
desire  to  return  to  his  love  of  fishing 
caused  him  to  close  the  business  and 
relocate  to  NC.  There  in  his  home 
on  the  banks  of  the  Neuse  River  he 
enjoyed  his  final  days.  In  June  he  had 
celebrated  his  80th  birthday. 


Sandra  Askew  '67AS(RT)/AH 

of  Clifton  Forge,  VA  on  August  4. 
Sandra  was  a  nurse  at  the  Lewis  Gale 
Clinic.  Sandra  was  53. 
"James  Daly  '65MD  ofKinston, 
NC  on  August  22,  2000. 
Margaret  Dubovsky  '67BS 
(0T)/AH'71MS(RC)/AH  ofRich- 
mond, on  December  14,  2000. 
Robert  Frederick  '69HS-M  of 
Columbia,  SC  on  July  31,  2000  of  a 
heart  attack  after  rowing,  an  activity 
that  was  his  second  love. 
"Patricia  Gottshall  '66BS/N 
on  July  18,  2000. 

Wayne  Hague  '66BS/P  ofRich- 
mond, on  July  28,  2000.  Wayne 
was  56. 

James  Neal  '67MHA 
(H&HAI/AH  ofOklahomaCity.OK. 
Elaine  Pedigo  '61AS/N  of 
Louisville,  KY. 

Dennis  Smith  '67DDS  of 
Cincinnati,  OH  on  September  10, 
2000.  He  practiced  oral  surgery  for 
30  years. 

Kenneth  Smith    67HS-M  of 
Anderson,  SC  on  November  19. 


Lynwood  Harding  '73MHA 
(HA)/ AH  of  Emporia,  VA  on  May 
18,  2000.  Lynwood  served  as  director 
of  Western  State  Hospital  in  Staunton 


D 


for  12  years.  He  led  the  hospital  to 
national  recognition  while  the  facility 
was  recovering  from  scandalous  alle- 
gations. He  also  was  a  pioneer  in 
using  computers  and  networking 
to  "bring  things  together,"  said  the 
current  director.  He  served  as  an 
assistant  professor  at  the  University 
of  Virginia. 

Mary  Creed  Johnson  '76BS 
(RS)/AH  of  Richmond,  on  July  6, 
2000  after  a  long  battle  with  cancer. 
Mary  was  79. 

Raymond  McGehee  III  '79DDS 
of  Oakland,  MD  on  July  2,  2000  as 
the  result  of  an  allergic  reaction  to 
multiple  bee  stings.  Raymond  prac- 
ticed dentistry  in  Arlington,  VA  and 
Oakland,  MD.  Raymond  was  47. 


Suzanne  Alexander  '86BS 
(RSI/AH&C&A  of  Richmond,  on 
August  1 1,  2000.  Suzanne  was  40. 
Rex  Bennett  '85Cert(PC)/AH 

of  Manakin  Sabot,  VA  on  October  7. 
Rex  ministered  in  many  Baptist 
Churches  in  Virginia  and  Maryland 
for  50  years.  He  retired  as  resident 
chaplain  and  personnel  manager  for 
Bliley  Funeral  Home's.  Rex  was  70. 
James  Charles  '82PhD 
(P&TI/BH-M  ofHeathsville.VA, 


on  July  25,  2000.  James  was  63. 
Donna  Sarver  '87BS/P  of 

Roanoke,  VA. 

David  Tolman  '87MD  ofRich- 
mond,  on  August  14,  2000.  "He  was 
always  on  the  cutting  edge  of  new 
things  and  new  technology,  but  the 
reason  I  would  send  patients  to  him 
was  because  he  was  a  patient's  doctor, 
too,"  Dr.  Thomas  Kerkering,  who 
worked  under  David,  told  the  Richmond 
Times-Dispatch.  David  was  the  former 
director  of  MCV's  heart  failure/car- 
diac transplant  program.  "He  felt  that 
he  was  certainly  a  physician  to  help 
people  and  that  was  his  one  and  only 
goal,"  said  Keith  Kissee,  his  partner,  as 
reported  in  the  Times-Dispatch. 


Mark  Farin    94HS-M  ofNew 
Jersey,  on  July  26,  2000.  Mark  was  the 
pilot  of  a  plane  that  went  down  during 
a  short  flight.  Mark  was  a  pediatric 
cardiologist  in  Newark.  Richard 
Schieken,  professor  and  chairman 
of  pediatric  cardiology  at  VCU,  said 
he  knew  Farin  during  his  fellowship 
in  pediatric  cardiology.  "He  was  a 
very  personable,  caring  young  man," 
"he  really  cared  about  his  patients,  a 
very  diligent  guy." 


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on  this  issue  of  Scarab.  If  it  has  "MCVAA" 
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the  following  membership  benefits. 

■  Discounts  on  borrowing  privileges  at  the 
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■  Discounts  on  merchandise  and  apparel  at 
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s  Playing  privileges  for  the  Thalhimer  Tennis 
Courts,  including  the  bubble 

a  Eligibility  to  apply  for  Alumni  Association 
group  major  medical  insurance  coverage 

■  Alumni  recreational  sports 
membership  benefits 

a  International  auto,  hotel  and  air 
reservations  service 

■  Car  and  hotel  discounts 
Plus  new  benefits: 

■  Discounts  on  Kaplan  courses  for  alumni  and 
their  immediate  families  preparing  to  take 
the  USMLE,  GRE,  GMAT,  LSAT,  MCAT, 
DAT  or  SAT/ ACT 

■  Special  privileges,  such  as  access  to  an  online 
alumni  directory,  when  the  new  VCU/MCV 
Web  site  goes  live. 

If  you're  not  a  member,  don't  miss  out. 
Join  us  today!  Fill  out  the  membership 
form  below. 


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Or  Think  Big 

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total  individual  Life 

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total  joint  Life  Membership 

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MCVAA's  golf  shirt.  It's  100%  combed  cotton 
with  generous  cut,  tri-color  knit  collar  and  w 
sleeves,  taped  shoulder  and  neck  seam,  side 
vents,  classic  three-button  box  placket,  hoi 
toned  buttons.  Hunter  with  navy  and  khaki 
with  an  MCVAA  seal.  Sizes:  M,  L,  XL,  $37.  X. 
$41.  Add  $5  for  shipping. 

Tee  Time!  MCVAA  golf  ball  and  tee  set  i.._ 

great  gift  for  the  golf  lover  (above  with  golf  shirt). 
1      rith  MCVAA 
eal  and  nine  tees.  $10  plus  $2.50  shipping. 


HCVAA  Chair  and  Rocker  are  made  of  solid 
.  ardrock  Maple.  Laser  Engraved  with  MCVAA  Seal 
and  can  be  personalized  with  name  and  year.  Black 
Boston  Rocker  $295.  Black  Captain's  Chair  with 
light  wood  arms  and  back  $295.  Personalization 
$25.  Allow  six  weeks  for  delivery.  Please  place 
orders  with  Standard  Chair  at  (800)  352-5885. 


95%  cotton,  5%  polyester,  set-in 
ribbed  collar,  cuffs,  and  waistban 

coverseamed  neck,  shoulders,  an 

waistband.  Colors:  forest  green,  navy,  and 
ash.  Sizes:  M,  L,  XL,  XXL.  $30.00.  Add  $5.00 
for  shipping. 

Tee  Shirt.  100%  preshrunk  heavyweight 
cotton,  5.8  oz.  oversized,  taped  shoulder  to 
shoulder,  seamless  collar,  double  needle 
stitching  on  sleeves  and  bottom  hem.  Color: 
hunter,  ash,  natural,  white.  Sizes:  M,  L.  XL, 
XXL  $14.00.  Add  $5.00  for  shipping. 


Quantity  Description  Cost/Item      Total  Cost 


NAME  (Please  Print) 


SHIPPING  ADDRESS  (If  different  from  above) 


Subtotal  _ 

VA  residents  add  4.5%  tax  _ 

*  Shipping  Costs . 


Total 


DAYTIME  TELEPHONE 


Send  orders  with  payment  to: 

MCV  Alumni  Association  of  VCU 
1016  East  Clay  St. 
P.O.  Box  980156 
Richmond,  VA  23298-0156 
For  credit  card  only 
Or  fax  to  (804)  828-4594 

*AII  shipping  costs  are  based  on  US  shipping  only. 
Please  call  MCV  Alumni  Office  for  shipping  costs 
outside  the  continental  US. 


NAME  (as  it  appears  on  credit  card) 
(check  one)  □  MASTERCARD    J  VISA 


CARD  NO. 
EXPIRATION  DATE 


.rfDico^  MCV  Alumni  Association  of  VCU 

P\|  SCARAB 

IM  P.O.  Box  980156 

\  .   &  Richmond,  VA  23298-0156 


Nonprofit  Organization 
U.S.  Posta 


Permit  No.  869 
Dulles,  Virginia