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BUFFALO PHYSICIAN
Volume 30, Number 4
ASSOCIATE VICE
PRESIDENT FOR
UNIVERSITY S E R V I C E S
Dr. Carole Smith Petro
DIRECTOR O F
PUBLICATIONS
Kathryn A. Sawner
EDITOR
Jessica Ancker
ART DIRECTOR
Alan J. Kegler
ASSISTANT DESIGNER
Julie Greiten
PRODUCTION MANAGER
Ann Raszmann Brown
STATE UNIVERSITY O F
NEW YORK AT BUFFALO
S C H O O L O F MEDICINE
AND BIOMEDICAL
SCIENCES
Dr. John Naughton, Dean,
Vice President for Clinical Affairs
EDITORIAL BOARD
Dr. John A. Richert, Chairman
Dr. Martin Brecher
Dr. Harold Brody
Dr. Richard L. Collins
Dr. Jack F. Coyne
Dr. Alan J. Drinnan
Brian Duffy
Dr. James Kanski
Dr. Barbara Majeroni
Dr. Elizabeth Olmsted
Dr. Charles Paganelli
Dr. Stephen Spaulding
Dr. Bradley T. Truax
Dr. Franklin Zeplowitz
TEACHING HOSPITALS AND
LIAISONS
The Buffalo General Hospital
Michael Shaw
The Children's Hospital of Buffalo
Erie County Medical Center
Mercy Hospital
Millard Fillmore Health System
Frank Sava
Niagara Falls Memorial Medical
Center
Roswell Park Cancer Institute
Sisters of Charity Hospital
Dennis McCarthy
Veterans Affairs Western New York
Healthcare System
© The State University of New York
at Buffalo
Buffalo Physician is published
quarterly by the State University of
New York at Buffalo School of
Medicine and Biomedical Sciences
and the Office of Publications. It is
sent, free of charge, toalumni, faculty,
students, residents and friends. The
staff reserves the right to edit allcopy
and submissions accepted for
publication.
Address questions, comments and
submissions to: The Editor, Buffalo
Physician, State University of New
York at Buffalo, Office of Publi­
cations, 136 Crofts Hall, Buffalo,
NY 14260

Dear Alumni and Friends,
As THE MEDICAL SCHOOL ENTERS its next sesquicentennial period, the
faculty have begun to introduce new, significant innovations into the
curriculum. You are already aware from earlier reports that the third
and fourth years have been reorganized to include a Family Medicine
clerkship in the third year, and two advanced modules, one each in
Internal Medicine and Surgery, in the fourth year. These changes have
increased our emphasis on ambulatory education and generalism, and
they havestrengthened students' experiences in medicineand surgery.
In this academic year, major restructuring of the first two years
begins with the implementation of two interdisciplinary courses, each
of which will span two years. One, the Clinical Practice of Medicine, integrates all the
previous coursesthat taught clinical skills, epidemiology, preventivemedicine, and commu­
nity health. The second course, the Scientific Basis of Medicine, emphasizes problem-based
learning. Each course uses small groups and emphasizes independent learning.
Clearly the introduction and implementation will require additional curricular reorga­
nization in the years to come. UB is fortunate that the first two directors are skilled and
dedicated educators. Andrea Manyon, M.D., assistant professor of family medicine, will
direct the Clinical Practice of Medicine course, and Murray Ettinger, M.D., Distinguished
Teaching Professor of biochemistry, will direct the Scientific Basis of Medicine course.
In preparation for these major undertakings, retreats have been held with the involved
chairmen, faculty, and administrators. A two-and-a-half day workshop directed by a team
from McMasters Medical School in Hamilton, Ontario focused on conducting problembased learning courses.
The medical students are quite enthusiastic about the new directions. We will keep
you posted on the school's progress in subsequent issues of Buffalo Physician.
Sincerely

John Naughton, M.D.
Vice President for Clinical Affairs
Dean, School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences

Dear Distinguished Alumni,
THE CLASS OF 2000 has just begun medical school. They can almost

touch their dream. When it's fulfilled, will their dream be anything
like they imagined? 1 think so. More than half of these men and
women will dedicate themselves to some form of primary care. They
will engage themselves with the poor, the unemployed and
underserved, the pregnant teen with AIDS, and the unwanted child.
Managed care will not result in doctors overlooking these individu­
als. The medical community needs to remain stronger and more
powerful than any special interest group. The students of the Class
of 2000 will carry the message into the 21st century that doctors will
heal and protect all patients, regardless of their ability to pay, or the pain and disease they
may have.
The Medical Alumni Association is dedicated to helping these medical students enter
into the 21st century with a sense of vision and hope. Dr.Jack Richert, who has navigated
the Alumni Association for the past 14 years, has fulfilled that mission as a liaison between
the medical school and its graduates. It is with his leadership that we originated and
supported some 37 new activities, including; the Match Day scroll, the hosting program
for residency interviews, the Freshman Orientation Program, the Hope and Healing
Project, student travel to scientific meetings, receptions at national medical meetings, the
newsletter, community physicians' programs, and the past presidents' dinner.
Dr. Richert has just announced his forthcoming retirement. Thank you, Dr. Richert,
for your vision and energy. You will be missed and always remembered.

Send address changes to: Buffalo
Physician, 146 CFS Addition, 3435
Main Street, Buffalo, NY 14214

Sincerely,

Cover photo by Frank Cesario

Jack F. Coyne, M.D.
President, Medical Alumni Association

•

I U F F I L
The Class of 2000
A FRESH PERSPECTIVE
ON MEDICAL SCHDDL

14

V O L U M E

3O .

N U M B E R

4

AUTUMN 1996

Double doctors
RESIDENTS EARN M.D.S
ALONG WITH THEIR ORAL

FRDM UB'S NEWEST

SURGERY CERTIFICATION

STUDENTS

by Andrew Danzo

20

The Women's
Health Initative
•N E W O M A N ' S S T O R Y

by Jessica Ancker

by Jessica Ancker
photos by Frank Cesario

Research and hospital
news

A student's perspective
by Victor Filadora, class of 1998

PHOTO DYNAMIC
THERAPY; THREE HOSPI­
TALS EXPLORE MERGER;
ECMC EXPANDS INTO

Letters

Then and Now
A DOCTOR FOR ALL

COMMUNITY; HENRY

SEASONS: ALBERT

HEIMLICH

JAMES MYER

Medical school news

by Bernard Wiggin

MEL DIEDRICK; TEACHING
AWARDS; STUDENT AWARD;
SIMULATED PATIENTS

Young faculty profile
ALAN J . LESSE, M.D.

Alumni news
NEW ALUMNI POSITIONS;
REUNION CHAIRS

Classnotes

RESEARCH

Photodynamic therapy:

will oxidize anything it touches, kill­
ing the cancer cell but sparing sur­
rounding tissue.
Because laser light doesn't penetrate
far into tissue, PDT can only be used on
tumors that are on or near the surface of
organs that can be reached with an en­
doscope. Also, it is a local therapy; a
treatment in one region of the body
won't catch metastases elsewhere.
Although it is not appropriate for all
cancers, PDT is cheaper, quicker, and
safer than many conventional cancer
therapies. Photofrin's main side effect is
that it renders patients' skin highly sen­
sitive to light. If they do not avoid pro­
longed exposure to the sun for 30 to 60
days after treatment, the photodynamic
effect can cause severe sunburn. Re­
searchers are trying to develop new drugs
without this side effect.
In early experiments in the 1970s,
Dougherty and his colleagues used PDT
and conventional lamps to kill tumors

DEVELOPED IN BUFFALO TO
BENEFIT CANCER PATIENTS EVERYWHERE

T STARTED OUT AS A NUISANCE that puzzled lab
technicians: A chemical that was used to identify
live cells in a culture could kill the cells if they were
exposed to light.
"I said, 'Hmm' when I found out
about that," remembers chemist Thomas J. Dougherty, Ph.D., a UB research
professor of radiation oncology at
Roswell Park Cancer Institute. "The
technician mentioned it to me asa warning, but I decided to see if this was
something we could use."

Canadian company that manufactures
it under the name Photofrin.
"Dougherty is the seminal figure in
PDT," says Frank Mahoney, a project
officer at the National Cancer Institute,
which funds Dougherty's research. "Many
of the people in the field around the
country have passed through his lab."

"The very first approval was a big hurdle because the FDA didn't
know anything about it, and they had to look at the manufacturing
methods and the laser equipment, as well as the drug."

Was it ever. What began as a chemical's
troublesome property led to a whole
new modality of cancer treatment called
photodynamic therapy, or PDT.
Thanks in part to Dougherty's contin­
ued research activity in the field, Buffalo
is now home to two photodynamic
therapy centers. Researchers around the
world are using PDT to treat cancer and
other diseases, and the first PDT drug
received Food and Drug Administration
approval last year.
The drug, porfimer sodium, was pat­
ented by Dougherty and Roswell Park
Cancer Institute. It is licensed to a

o

PDT is a multistep process in which a
harmless drug absorbed by body tissues
is activated by laser light and releases
cytotoxic substances inside tumors.
First, the patient is injected with
Photofrin, which is taken up by cells
throughout the body, especially by rap­
idly dividing cancer cells. Then doc­
tors use a fiberoptic to deliver a beam
of laser light at the correct frequency
to the tumor. When Photofrin absorbs
energy from the light, it releases a
molecule called singlet oxygen. This
molecule is so reactive that during its
one-millionth-of-a-second life span, it

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Thomas Dougherty, Ph.D., watches as colleague
B. Dale Wilson, M.D., uses photodynamic therapy
to treat a patient with basal cell carcinoma.

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that had metastasized to the skin. "I
found out later that a couple of re­
searchers had tried something similar
much earlier—one in the 1930s, and
one in the 1960s. But in those days, the
equipment wasn't up to the demands,
and they never did anything about it,"
Dougherty says. "It just shows you that
there's nothing new. Somebody's always
thought of it before."
By 1980, with the development of
lasers that could focus light of the
correct wavelength through endo­
scopes, researchers in Japan began
treating lung cancer.
Scientists around the world have used
PDT successfully on esophageal, blad­
der, stomach, and cervical cancers. In
this country, Photofrin and the PDT
laser equipment is only approved for
treating late-stage esophageal cancer.
Early-stage lung cancer may be next.
"The very first approval was a big
hurdle because the FDA didn't know
anything about it, and they had to look
at the manufacturing methods and the
laser equipment, as well as the drug,"
Dougherty says. "I think future approv­
als should come much more quickly."
Dougherty also blames himself for a
tacticaf error that may have slowed the
process of getting Photofrin on the mar­
ket. He and his colleagues started their
own company to manufacture the drug,
but lack of funds forced them to sell to
Johnson &Johnson. The company then
sold the rights to Photofrin to the Cana­
dian company, QLT, which finally made
a success of it.
"The new drugs will move through
the process quicker, because we won't
make the same mistakes," Dougherty
says with a chuckle.
Under Dougherty, the Photodynamic
Therapy Center at Roswell Park is de­
veloping new PDT drugs, participating
in clinical trials of new drugs and thera­
pies, and investigating the mechanisms
that make PDT work. Roswell Park treats
about 100 patients a year with PDT.

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Meanwhile, following the FDA ap­
proval of Photofrin and PDT, the Buf­
falo General Hospital has opened its
own photodynamic therapy center to
begin treating esophageal cancer. The
Buffalo General center is under the di­
rection of Thomas S. Mang, Ph.D., the
former director of Roswell Park's PDT
center and a longtime colleague of
Dougherty's. In addition to patient treat­
ment, the Buffalo General center will
also conduct phase II and III trials on
another photosensitive drug, tin ethyl
etiopurpurin, which is sensitive to a
different wavelength of light. These tri­
als will build on successful preliminary
trials on several cancers, including AIDSrelated Kaposi's sarcoma and recurrent
breast tumors.

Hiree hospitals explore merger
THE BUFFALO GENERAL Hospi­
tal, the Children's Hospital of Buf­
falo, and Millard Fillmore Health
System have announced they are ex­
ploring the possibility of merging.
Officials from the three hospitals
say that leadership committees are
meeting to discuss whether a merger
would be beneficial.
It is not the first time that the
region's hospitals have explored the
possibility. In 1977, officials from
Buffalo General, Children's, Deacon­
ess, and the former E.J. Meyer Me­
morial Hospitalasked medicalschool
dean John P. Naughton, M.D., to
lead a study into the feasibility of a
merger. His report recommended
forming a new nonprofit corpora­
tion to manage the consolidated
hospitals, reduce underused bed ca­
pacity, and eliminate redundant ser­
vices. However, the plan failed to
win the necessary support from the
medical or lay community, or the
Erie County Legislature. +

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Other potential uses for photodynamic
therapy include treatment of psoriasis,
port wine stain, and macular degenera­
tion, says Mang, UB research associate
professor of oral surgery. Because pho­
tosensitive drugs accumulate preferen­
tially in cancer cells and fluoresce when
exposed to the correct wavelength of
light, they can also be used to pinpoint
very early-stage cancers of as few as 100
cells.
Dougherty welcomes the new PDT
center at Buffalo General.
"It's very helpful to have other people
involved in PDT, because you expand
your knowledge base," he says. The two
neighboring centers are about to begin
collaborating on a PDT training pro­
gram for gastroenterologists.
"Besides, we are a research hospital,"
Dougherty adds. "It's important to get
this technology out into other kinds of
hospitals where it will benefit more and
more people." +
—BY JESSICA ANCKER

ECMC expands into communityy

T

HE ERIE COUNTY MEDICAL
Center Healthcare Network has
opened four community-based
primary care health centers, as
well as the four already on the
ECMC campus.
All four provide health services
for children, families, and seniors. In
addition, the Cleve-Hill Family Health
Center includes a dialysis center, and
the Dr. Matt A. Gajewski Human Ser­
vices Center has pharmacy services,
general dental services, eye and foot
care, and human services.
"We've seen tremendous growth in
outpatients in the last couple of years,
particularly in family medicine," ex­
plained hospital spokesman Joe Grano.
"Since the industry is moving toward a
more deregulated environment, it's very
important that we maintain and build a
strong outpatient base." +

6

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HOSPITAL

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Henry Heimlich, M.D., gives grand rounds at Buffalo General
DDLY ENOUGH, he has never
used the technique that has made
his name a household word. Henry
Heimlich, M.D., laughed when
asked about his own experience
with the Heimlich maneuver.
"You know, the chances of one per­
son out of the entire population of the
world ever being in the situation of
needing to use it are very slim," he
pointed out during a coffee break in
grand rounds at the Buffalo General
Hospital in July.

The 76-year-old surgeon and re­
searcher was in town to give a grand
rounds presentation that whirled from
subject to subject—from new ways to
save lives with the Heimlich maneuver
to plans to combat AIDS with malaria.
"I just wanted you to know that my
life is not over," he told the assembled
residents and students.
In an unexpected twist, Heimlich took
the opportunity to criticize the Ameri­
can Red Cross on the subject of the
Heimlich maneuver.
He insisted that the American Red
Cross is resisting evidence that the Heim­
lich maneuver should be the first rescue
method used not only on choking vic­
tims, but also on victims of drowning.
According to Heimlich, the Heimlich
maneuver expels water from the lungs,
jump-starts breathing, and massages the
heart. Thus, he said, it should be used
before mouth-to-mouth resuscitation is

o

A thoracic surgeon, Heimlich first
gained prominence in the 1950s with
his invention of the Heimlich operation,
in which a damaged or defective esopha­
gus is replaced with stomach tissue. His
Heimlich valve, which permits chest
wounds to drain and seals them to pre­
vent lung collapse, saved lives during
the Vietnam War and is still routinely
used in thoracic surgery.
He published his description of the
Heimlich maneuver in 1974, after ex­
perimenting with pressure to different
parts of the chest and back.
He has founded his own nonprofit
research and public education organiza­
tion, the Heimlich Institute, in Cincin­
nati, OH, and serves as its president.
Heimlich concluded his Buffalo Gen­
eral talk by discussing his current re­
search into malariotherapy.
In the 1920s and 1930s,doctors treated
tertiary syphilis by infecting the patient
with vivax malaria,which was then cured
with quinine. A 1992 review article in
the Journal of the American Medical Asso­
ciation concluded that the lack of mod­
ern controlled trials means that the effi­
cacy of the treatment was never proven.
Heimlich pointed out that infection
with plasmodium vivax is now known
to increase the patient's levels of certain
cytokines. He believes that these give a
boost to the immune system that may be
therapeutic for diseases including AIDS.
His preliminary study on eight AIDS
patients in the People's Republic of China
indicated that a three-week course of
malariotherapy increased patients' CD4
counts, he said. He presented his un­
published results at the 11th Interna­
tional Conference on AIDS in Vancouver,
British Columbia, in July.
Heimlich predicted that because ma­
lariotherapy was cheap, it would be ig­
nored by the big drug companies. Nev­
ertheless, Heimlich claimed, "This is the
most promising method that was pre­
sented at that meeting." +

tried on drowning victims. "It's ridicu­
lous to think you can blow air through
water-filled lungs," Heimlich said.
He said the Red Cross has included
the Heimlich maneuver in its own
drowning guidelines, but doesn't con­
sistently teach it. He accused the orga­
nization of being afraid to alter its pro­
tocol because it didn't want to admit
that the old one was flawed.
"People—particularly children—are
dying because the Red Cross has not
followed its own guidelines,"
Heimlich charged. "It's a coverup of past failures. The public
has to be told that the same
Heimlich maneuver they
know for choking has to be
used for people who are
' drowning." Heimlich has
filmed two public service an­
nouncements on his theory.
According to the American
Red Cross handbook CPR for
the Professional Rescuer, the organiza­
tion recommends using the Heimlich
maneuver on a drowning victim only if
the airway is obviously blocked, or if
resistance to mouth-to-mouth resusci­
tation suggests a blocked airway. A
spokesperson for the American Red
Cross declined to comment on
Heimlich's charges, saying only that the
organization relies on medical consen­
sus when drawing up its guidelines.
At this point, medical consensus does
not support Heimlich. The Emergency
Cardiac Care Committee of the Ameri­
can Heart Association recommends CPR
and artificial ventilation for drowning
victims. An Institute of Medicine panel
concluded that "the available evidence
does not support routine use of the
Heimlich maneuver in the care of neardrowning victims." Their report was
published in the May-June 1995Journal
of Emergency Medicine.
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-BY JESSICA ANCKER

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TWO READERS RESPONDED
TO THE SUMMER ISSUE OF

BUFFALO PHYSICIAN MAGA­
"I N THE E ND— H OW

ZINE ,

DOES MEDICINE DEAL WITH

LETTERS

DEATH." THEY HAVE GIVEN
US THEIR PERMISSION TO
PUBLISH THEIR LETTERS.

Assisted death is protected by the IIS. Constitution

Doctors must relieve pain

F

i

To THE EDITOR:

To THE EDITOR:

n important fact that dominates the discussion of
physician-assisted death was essentially absent in the
articles on this subject in the Summer issue of Buffalo
Physician magazine.
Physician-assisted "suicide"—whether by removal
of life-support or by making available a means to
terminate life by the patient's own hand—is not an act that can
be proscribed or allowed bylegislative or executive action; it is
inherent in the individual rights protectedby the Constitution.
Recent court cases have clearly placed this act in the
same domain as that of the right of a woman to control her
own body in her decision whether to continue or terminate
a pregnancy. As Ronald Dworkin discusses in Aug. 6 New
York Review of Books, the federal and state judiciaries are
clearly establishing a reading of the Second and Fourteenth
Amendments that extends the right to due process and to
equal protection to individual action concerning one's own
body as long as that action does not have consequences for
another person or society at large.
That is, the courts are saying that the state has no
legitimate interest in what I do with my body, period.
With respect to abortion, of course, this reading of the
Constitution has raised the strong and significant question
of the rights of the fetus, but with respect to a person's right
to die, there is no such competing interest.
Essentially, all of the physicians interviewed for the
Buffalo Physician articles were expressing their moral values
concerning life and death. It is certainly their right to do so,
and it is their right to practice medicine in a fashion
consistent with those moral values. However, their moral
values have no standing in this issue as it is a point of law.
What these articles could have done was to start from this
legal reality and then to discuss how this reality was to be faced
and dealt with in the patient-physician setting. As the articles
pointed out, physician-assisted suicide is a reality. Physicians
are not being convicted for it, even if prosecuted, and, at this
point, it appears to be constitutionally protected. OK, so now
what do we do to make this work?

ifteen years ago, my wife was suffering constant pain
from bony metastases. I gave her the sedative, anal­
gesic, and antidepressant tablets I had and called the
physician in charge for a prescription for stronger
narcotics.
She sent me on an errand, and when I returned, she
had killed herself.
I blame myself for not supplying adequate analgesia,
whether narcotics administration likes it or no. I do not
blame her physician, for he was doing what many of us did,
which is to worry more about addiction than about ad­
equate analgesia. This I have avoided since.
In the 1940s, one of our teachers told us about an old
doctor (him?) who treated terminal patients in pain by
leaving a bottle of morphine tablets. "One or two for sleep
or pain. If you take ten, you will not awaken."
The pagan Seneca is quoted as saying, "If you can no
longer live honorably, you may die honorably."
Properly used narcotics will alleviate most pain. But
there will be a difficult remaining few who find their lives
intolerable and need a kindly assisted exitus.
Few physicians could overcome ethics and training to
do killing deliberately. Probably physician referral to the
judicial process followed by technician intervention if or­
dered makes the most sense.
There is an old Welsh legend about the "black draught"
that a doctor gives to the terminal patient. The caring
physician should not have to carry the "black draught" in
his bag. Some of my old patients used to ask to see my "black
draught" bottle. When they found I had none, they seemed
relieved, as I would be.
Sincerely,

Donald N. Groff, M.D. '45

Sincerely,

Daniel J. Kosman, Ph.D.
UB Professor of Biochemistry

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CO
CO

<

THE O OF

2000
A fresh perspective on medical
school from UB's newest students
BY JESSICA ANCKER
PHOTOS BY FRANK CESARIO

"STUDY HARD.

Fill out this questionnaire. Sit for this

identification picture. Have compassion for your patients. Coop­
erate with your classmates. Sign up for this club. Study hard!"
In a whirlwind of tours, lectures, instructions, and good
advice, UB's Class of 2000 has been inducted into the world of
medical school. Every day, professors make sure the new students
understand the magnitude of their course load; school adminis­
trators make sure they know where to turn for help; senior
students make sure they know where to go out on Friday nights.
"I'm getting so much good advice I'm not sure who to listen to,"
says a bewildered—but pleased—first-year student, Julie Cheng.

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Chuck Lau
Jmajored in chemical engi­
neering as an undergraduate at UB, but
he chose medicine because he wants to
deal more closely with people. "I'd like
to meet different kinds of people every
day, and develop personal relationships
with them."
Lau says the little things are impor­
tant in the doctor-patient relationship.
He remembers once undergoing some
medical tests, and watching as the doc­
tor started writing up his report.
"He could have told me right away
that everything was fine, but he didn't
say a thing until he was done filling out
his forms," Lau says. "When I'm a doc­
tor, I'll try to remember how nervewracking that was!"
The son ofTaiwanese immigrants, Lau
has been a scout leader, an emergency
room volunteer, and a designer of
websites. "I thinkthere are otherthings
I would be good at, but I want to apply
my skills to an area where I can make the
most difference," he says.
He hopes to find time during the next
four years to go fishing—at least once in
a while.

Orientation
In brief talks in Farber Hall's Butler Auditorium during the
three days of orientation, Deanjohn P. Naughton, M.D., and
other UB administrators and professors outline the first-year
curriculum. Associate Dean Dennis Nadler, M.D., tells the
students that they must shoulder the responsibility of the
profession immediately, without waiting for graduation. To
emphasize that, he leads the class in reciting a version of the
Hippocratic oath. Then he says, "Welcome to the profession
of medicine!"
In a lighter moment, several senior students present a skit
about cynical med school applicants. Outside the interview
room, the mock applicants freely chat about their ambitions
("Surgery!" "Proctology!"). But in the interviews, they all
parrot the answer they figure will get them into medical
school: "Definitely primary care!"
On the last day of orientation, the upper-level students
divide the first-years into teams and send them on a scavenger
hunt that introduces them to restaurants and landmarks all
around Buffalo.

Gross anatomy
The first moment of gross anatomy lab feels like the real
beginning of medical school.
The students file in quietly, noting the smell of formalde­
hyde and trying not to be nervous. In the lab, they are urged
to respect those whose bodies are on the covered tables, and
they observe a moment of silence.
"The tension was just building," Gretchen Schueckler says.
"All I could think of was opening the cover, but first there was
the introductory stuff, which seemed to go on and on."
"I went in thinking, These are not people; they're just
bodies,"' says Chuck Howarth. From that point of view, the
introduction isn't exactly helpful. "Suddenly, it puts them
back into the 'people' category."
It is a relief, the students say, to uncover the body and get
to work on the back muscles, selected as the first assignment
because they are relatively easy to work on, and because the
back of the cadaver is usually less upsetting to view.
Lynn Barnhard admits, "I was looking around a little to see
if anyone was going to faint." No one does.

did," Barnhard says. "That's what you're there for. You're not
just there to sit in a classroom all day, you're there to do
something."
But despite the changes in the curriculum, there's no way
to avoid lecture classes altogether. By the end of the first week,
Butler Auditorium, which had been so exciting during orien­
tation, is becoming old hat.
The students are eager for labs, visits with doctors and real
patients, and other forms of hands-on learning. Some stu­
dents choose to participate in a special section of the histology
course in which an interactive computer program replaces
videotapes. They also turn to an anatomy program that lets
them perform an ideal dissection. In a virtual dissection, slips
of the scalpel aren't irrevocable—each muscle, organ, and
bone can be replaced!

Student fellowship
Within a week, most of the 135 students have met each other.
Feeling a sense that they are all fighting a common battle
against the massive workload, they begin forming study
groups and teams.
"The joy for learning is pulling people together," Charles
Olisa says. He contrasts medical school with the intensive
pre-medical course he has just completed, where he found the
students competitive and a little suspicious of each other.
"Here, there is no caution, or competition. People are eager to
get in there and participate."
Teamwork comes easy, Howarth says, because of the
character of the students. "They're really nice people—which
I guess isn't a surprise, because the school is looking for that
kind of person to become a doctor."
"We're all so happy to be here, I think," says Eric Kirker.
"I've been walking around with a big stupid smile on my face
all week."
If they have happiness in common, they also share trepida­
tion. "I can't imagine how I'm going to learn all this stuff.
Luckily, I know everyone else is scared, too," says Howarth.
"I can tell right now that I'm going to be a miserable person
for the next four years," he adds, grinning so widely it's hard
to believe he means it. +

Butler Auditorium —again?

W h o are t h e m e m b e r s o f t h e Class o f 2 0 0 0 ?

As part of UB's drive to begin clinical instruction earlier, the
students take an intensive first-aid course in their first few
weeks of class. The course includes certification in cardio­
pulmonary resuscitation.
"I was really pleased that that was one of the first things we

Their year of graduation isn't the only number that makes UB's
Class of 2000 unique.
The class's mean MCAT score of 10.39 has set a new high,
in a substantial jump from last year's average of 9.77. And the

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students' undergraduate grade point averages
have also set new records—3.56 in science
courses and 3.65 overall.
"People always say the quality of education
is going down in this country, but it's certainly
not true of our applicants," comments admis­
sions director Thomas Guttuso, M.D. '60.
In part, that's because so many students are
applying to UB. The number of applicants for
this year's class was 3,39f (down slightly from
a peak in 1994); there were 25 applicants for
each of the 135 slots.
But UB doesn't select its students based
solely on grades and test scores.
"We try to judge maturity, empathy, demon­
strated interest in medicine and in the commu­
nity and society," Guttuso says. "We're looking
for something inside their hearts and souls, and
not just inside their brains."
As a result, it's no wonder this year's stu­
dents sound idealistic, enthusiastic, and dedi­
cated. An entrance survey conducted by assis­
tant dean Frank Schimpfhauser found that the
top reason students gave for becoming doctors
was a desire to help people and deal with them
directly. Less frequently mentioned were earn­
ing a comfortable income, exercising leader­
ship, or winning community respect.
The students are fairly savvy about the future
of medicine. They understand that the changing
marketplace is creating a greater demand for
generalists, and they also know that UB is em­
phasizing primary care. About 50 percent of the
entering class say they plan to enter one of the
three primarycare fields—general internal medi­
cine, general pediatrics, and family medicine.
Schimpfhauser's previous surveys have found
that about 50 percent of students will change
their career preferences during medical school.
Even with all of those changes, however, just
under half of last year's class did end up entering
a primary care residency.

Reflecting the applicant pool
UB favors applicants from western New York;
as a result, most members of the Class of 2000
are from the western part of New York State.
The school also favors qualified members of

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Lynn Barnhard

knows all about being a patient. Her enthusiasm

for ballet, soccer, swimming, and cheerleading led to tendinitis and
orthopedic problems at a young age.
"Since it's your body, you're interested in it. I learned a lot about it."
Sports are still important to her, though these days she only has
time for a quick bike ride.
Barnhard says her early experiences also taught her a lot about
doctors, especially pediatricians, and how they interact with children
and their parents. "That helped me develop a sense of what kind of
doctor I'd like to be," she says.
At Canisius College, she majored in biology and psychology and won
guaranteed admission to UB's medical school as a sophomore under
the early assurance program.

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underrepresented minority groups, such
as Native Americans, African-Americans,
and Latinos. Eight students are members
of underrepresented minorities—down
from previous years largely due to greater
competition from downstate medical
schools, Guttuso says.
The average age of the students is 23,
but 17 of them are 26 or older. Eleven
members of the class have already earned
master's degrees; for the first time in
several years, none have doctorates.
Women make up 47 percent of the
class. Most students majored in science as
undergraduates, but as always, a substan­
tial minority (46) studied non-science
subjects instead. Many of them (32) earned
their undergraduate degrees at UB.
"In terms of demographics, we're gen­

erally approaching a mirror image of
the applicant pool," Guttuso notes.

Career Number Two
Seventeen members of the Class of2000 are

In t h e i r h e a r t s a n d s o u l s
The lengthy admissions process involves
an initial screening and interviews of
almost 500 candidates by the 51 mem­
bers of the admissions committee.
"It's fantastic. You meet unbelievable
young men and women," Guttuso says.
Over time, Guttuso has noticed
changes in the applicants.
"They've gotten more knowledgeable
and wordly, more aware of problems
that exist in the country and in the
world," he says. "They're more mature.
When I think of the way I was when I
was 21,1 wouldn't have stood a chance
with these people." +

26 or older. Most of them had begun careers
and were earning comfortable salaries.
What made these people want to return to
school for four grueling years ?

was ascending
the career ladder in her human resources
jobs in the banking industry when she
realized her work wasn't fulfilling.
"Every day at the bank, I thought,
'I'm doing nothing for society!remem­
bers Schueckler, 28.
In an attempt to find more meaning­
ful work, she began volunteering in the
Sisters Hospital emergency room in her
spare time. "I loved working in the hos­
pital. Believe it or not, I even loved the
way the hospital smelled!" Then her
younger brother was accepted to the UB
medical school.
"That kind of put things in perspec­
tive for me," Schueckler remembers.
She quit her bank position, got a job at
the Buffalo General Hospital as a clerksecretary, and started working toward
getting into medicalschool herself. "The
initial pay cut was very difficult. I had to
move out of my own apartment and
move in with strangers. Plus, I was
spending thousandsof dollars on school,
so I had even less money!"
She needed three years of evening
classes in biology, chemistry, and phys­
ics before she could take the MCATs.
Shueckler says that for the first time she
found herself doing well in science. "In
college, I was young, I was immature, I
was distracted. But when I was taking
evening classes, I loved it."
During her years of preparation, she
GRETCHEN SCHUECKLER

le doesn't
ding the t
Itherwise,

began working at UB's Primary Care
Resource Center, putting her human
resources background to work counsel­
ing and recruiting medical students.
All her efforts paid off: Shueckler was
admitted to UB as part of the Class of
2000. "When I found out, I cried. It was
the most incredible feeling."
"My parents always told me, 'You
would be the luckiest person in the
world if you had a job you love,'"
Schueckler says. "I think I've
found it."
Medical school is the culmination of a
lifelong dream for CHARLES OLISA, a dream
born during his childhood in a Nigerian
refugee camp.
During that country's civil war in the
1960s, Olisa lived and worked with his
uncle, a doctor.
"It was terrible," Olisa remembers.
"There was a cholera epidemic going on
and there were dead people all over the
place."
What reallyimpressed the young man
was the single-minded dedication of his
uncle and the rest of the medical team in
caring for the victims and stemming the
epidemic.
"Cholera is very contagious. They could
have caught it, but all they thought about
was serving the sick people."
Despite a four-year gap in his educa­
tion caused by the civil war, Olisa won
a scholarship to come to the United
States and study agriculture at Central
Missouri State University. "My first
choice was always medicine, but I
couldn't get a scholarship to do that."
After earning his degree, Olisastarted
thinking about medical school again.
But his mother in Nigeria retired, and he

began working to help support his
younger brothers. Most recently, Olisa
worked for Corning Inc. During this
time, he became an American citizen.
"I always wanted to be a doctor, but
as the years went by 1 thought it was
slipping away."
Finally, last year, he decided to go for
it. He quit his job, and moved to Brook­
lyn, where he took an intensive postbaccalaureate pre-medical course and
worked with AIDS patients at Montefiore
Hospital.
When he got a telephone call telling
him he was admitted to UB, he didn't
believe it. "I thought it was one of my
friends playing games with me," he says.
It wasn't until he received a faxed letter of
admission that he decided it must be real.

"It's a miracle, as far as I am con­
cerned," hesays. "I wake up every morn­
ing and thank God."
At 38, Olisa is the oldest member of
the Class of 2000. But he says there is
such a sense of teamwork among the
first-year medicalstudents that hedoesn't
feel his age sets him apart.
He does believe he has an easier time
ignoring distractions. "It's taken me so
many years to get here that I'm not going
to let anything stand in my way!"
Olisa hopes to join the National
Health Service, which will underwrite
his medical education in return for sev­
eral years of primary care work in
underserved areas. "All I want to do is
provide service where it is needed." +

The Oath of Medicine
Chuck Howarth

has a lot of unlikely skills,

and they all came in handy during his first days in
medical school.
Hisfouryears asan emergency medicaltechnician made the CPR course a breeze. His under­
graduate major in mechanical engineering had
given him a thorough knowledge of the equations
governing capillary diffusion. And his high school
job as a meat cutter had taught him what he
needed to know to find his cadaver's scapula on
the first try.
But just because medical school feels famil­
iar, that doesn't mean it's boring—especially
since Howarth was admitted to UB from the
waiting list at the last minute. "I'm just so happy
to be here. It's all so cool."
A moment later, he is bemoaning the loss of
his free time. He has always juggled hobbies,
volunteering, school, and his job as a mechanical
engineer, where he's been involved in products
as disparate as a baby stroller and an
artificial heart. "Doing a lot of different things
always makes me happy. Now, I'm goingto have
to focus on one thing."

For the first time, UB administered a professional oath to students on
the first day of orientation. "We want them to start internalizing these
principles from day one," said associate dean Dennis Nadler, M.D.
The oath used at UB is adapted from one written by Louis Lasagna,
M.D., dean at the Tufts University School of Medicine.
"I swear to fulfill, to
the best of my ability and P®*"
judgment, this covenant:
I will respect the hardwon scientific gains of
those physicians and sci­
entists in whose steps I
walk, and gladly share
such knowledge as is
mine with those who are
to follow.
I will apply for the benefit of the sick all measures which are
required, avoiding those twin traps of overtreatment and therapeutic
nihilism.
I will remember that there is both art and science to medicine, and
that warmth,sympathy, and understanding may outweigh thesurgeon's
knife or the chemist's drug.
I will not be ashamed to say, 'I know not,' nor will 1 fail to call in my
colleague when the skills of another are needed for a patient's recovery.
1 will pursue the expansion of my knowledge throughout my life for the
benefit of my patients.
I will respect the privacy of my patients, for their problems are not
disclosed to me that the world may know. Most certainly it is not my
place to judge them.
Most especially must I tread with care in matters of life and death.
If it is given me to save a life, all thanks. But if it be merely within
my abilities to help ease suffering at the end of a life, may I face
this awesome responsibility with humbleness and awareness of my
own frailty.
I will remember that I do not treat a fever chart, or a cancerous
growth, but a sick human being, whose illness may extract a substantial
toll from both patient and family. My responsibility includes all related
problems if I am to care adequately for the sick.
I will prevent disease whenever I can; for prevention is preferable
to cure.
I will remember that I remain a member of society, with special
obligations to all, those sound of mind and body, as well as the infirm.
If I do not violate this oath, may 1 enjoy life and art, respected while
I live, and remembered with affection thereafter. May I always act to
preserve the finest traditions of my calling and may I long experience
the joy of healing those who seek my help." +

A party aboard the U.S.S. Little Rock on Buffalo's
waterfront gives the new students a welcome chance
to relax and mingle. The event is sponsored by the
Medical Alumni Association.

Julie Cheng

comes from a family of doctors and

nurses. But she says, that made it all the more important
to decide for herself whether medicine was right for her.
A native of Staten Island, Cheng worked for a year in a
clinic in New York's Chinatown doing public health and
educational activities. She also traveled to Brazil with a
Christian group called Youth with a Mission. The group
accompanied a doctor who was visiting remote areas of
the Amazon region.
Cheng was inspired by the doctor's dedication and
skill. "There was no electricity, so everything he did he did
with no diagnostic equipment or technology."
She was also impressed by the importance his visit
assumed for the local people. "They had no doctors, so
they would travel for days to come to see him."
The trip made her realize something important about
the role of medicine in her life. "It's a way I can combine my
faith and my skills."

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The former and current
OMS department chairs;
Joseph E. Margarone,
D.D.S and Richard E.
Hall, D.D.S.,Ph.D., M.D.

DOUBLE
DOCTORS

surgery certification

by Andrew Danzo

0

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UB's six-year oral and maxillofacial surgery
residency is now among a growing minority
nationwide in which residents earn a medical
school diplomaalongwith
"The medical education is involved in all my

their OMS certification.

cases. It gives you a better global perspective

The program, a joint

on how to take care of those patients."

effort of the School of

J E F F R E Y

Dental Medicine and the

S .

K I N G S B U R Y ,

D . D . S . ,

M . D .

School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, is
based in UB's Department of Oral and
Maxillofacial Surgery. It has graduated six oral
and maxillofacial surgeon/M.D.s since 1994.
"It is quite successful," says Joseph E. Margarone, D.D.S., the former chair of the
Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, who won the support of the medical and dental
schools to initiate the program. "We have developed a wonderful relationship. The cooperation
is more than I had hoped I could achieve at the time."
UB's dental and medical schools have long had a close relationship. Students from both
have mingled in shared basic science lectures for years. A number of faculty members have
appointments at both schools. The dental school also cooperates with the medical school and
area teaching hospitals as part of the Graduate Medical Dental Education Consortium of Buffalo.
"That is a model that has caught the attention of people outside of Buffalo," notes John
Naughton, M.D., UB's vice president for clinical affairs and dean of the medical school. "You
don't often see dental schools and medical schools working together like that."

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Recent graduate Jeffrey S.
Kingsbury, D.D.S., M.D.,
practices in Buffalo.

DOUBLE
DOCTORS
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Not that there isn't a bit of subtle rivalry. In Squire Hall, the dental medicine building, the
new residency is known as the Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery/M.D. Program. But Medical OMS,
or MOMS, is the favored label over at the medical school's end of campus.
Licensing boards do not require a medical diploma to practice as an oral and maxillofacial
surgeon, nor does the American Board of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, the specialty's national
certifying body. Nonetheless, oral and maxillofacial surgeons have long received quite a bit of
medical training, including clinical rotations in medicine and surgery. Margarone proposed the
OMS/M.D. program shortly after the OMS residency was lengthened from 36 months to 48
months.
"With that 48 months, we were almost but not quite mimicking the third- and fourth-year
clinical courses of medical school," he recalls. "It seemed foolish that all this education was being
acquired, but when they got through it they didn't have a medical degree."
The first year of the six-year program is a combination of a traditional oral surgery residency
and second-year medical school courses, after which the residents must pass the first part of the
U.S. Medical Licensing Examination. During the second and third years of the program, the
residents complete the last two years of medical school. They then do a year of general surgery in
Buffalo, followed by two years of oral surgery, which includes
clinical work, electives, and research. Along the way, the

"It's really the specialty that bridges the

residents must complete at least six months in other surgical
specialties, such as neurosurgery or otolaryngology.

gap between medicine and dentistry."

William L. Cecere, D.D.S., M.D., who graduated from
the residency in June and now practices in Buffalo, says that

R I C H A R D

it sharpened his abilities. "We learned invaluable patient

E .

H A L L ,

D . D . S . ,

P H . D . ,

M . D .

care, patient management, and basic surgical skills," he says.
The residency experience also promotes closer ties with medical colleagues. "We have a
very good relationship with the surgical community," Cecere says. "I think it also helped in that
a lot of people didn't know what oral and maxillofacial surgery was all about. It was an education
for the medical community."
The specialty includes the diagnosis and treatment of diseases, injuries, and defects
involving both the functional and esthetic aspects of the hard and soft tissues of the oral and
maxillofacial region. Oral and maxillofacial surgeons might be called upon to treat anything from
impacted wisdom teeth to jaw dysfunction to serious facial injuries. They play a particularly
important role in early detection of oral cancer. And, as the American population ages, oral
surgeons are expected to encounter more complex medical problems.
"Most people think it's just pulling teeth out, but it's not," notes Margarone.
"It's really the specialty that bridges the gap between medicine and dentistry," says Richard
E. Hall, D.D.S., Ph.D., M.D., Margarone's successor as department chair.

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Hall's own education "bridges the gap" very well. He earned his D.D.S. from UB,
then went to the University of Rochester to a joint program in which he earned a Ph.D.
in microbiology along with certification in OMS. Then, Hall earned his M.D. at UB.
Margarone points out that an M.D. alone does not qualify oral and maxillofacial
surgeons for broader hospital privileges or wider scopes of practice than their singledegree counterparts. The M.D., however, does open the door to more advanced medical
training and specialization in areas such as plastic and reconstructive surgery or cranialfacial surgery. Of the UB program's graduates, four are in
private practice. Another went on to a burn fellowship in

"It does not make anybody a better

Chicago and is now in a plastic and reconstructive surgery
fellowship, and the sixth is completing a fellowship in

surgeon. It does enhance their total

aesthetic facial surgery.
The M.D. adds to the surgeon's clinical perspective. "It

approach to a patient.

does not make anybody a better surgeon," Margarone says.
"It does enhance their total approach to a patient."

I O S E P H

M A R G A R O N E ,

Research can also be an important part of the MOMS

D . D . S .

residency. The Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Sur­
gery has been intensely involved in three research areas: laser surgery, photodynamic
therapy, and endocrine control of cancer. "The clinic feeds the basic science with the
observations to direct it, and the basic science feeds back into the clinic," says Charles
Liebow, D.M.D., Ph.D., the department's research director. Liebow, who once served as
associate scientific director of the National Pancreatic Cancer Project, works with OMS
residents and dental Ph.D. students on a variety of research projects.
Some intriguing observations have come from laser surgery. "Patients seemed to
have decreased pain and much less bleeding, almost hemostatic," Cecere remembers
noticing. The observations led to experiments on how laser surgery wounds heal. "I was

DOUBLE
DOCTORS
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able to show that there was an increased amount of epidermal growth factor and nerve
growth factor in areas of the hamster cheek pouch."
Jeffrey S. Kingsbury, D.D.S., M.D., who worked on laser-cancer research before
graduating from the residency in 1995, has a new paper in publication on photodynamic
therapy's effectiveness in treating precancerous lesions. Now in private practice outside
Buffalo, he continues to do research. "It's done at times that would otherwise be off time
or leisure time," he says.
Part of his week goes to Erie County Medical Center and the Buffalo General Hospital,
where he and his partner, Joseph E. Margarone III (the son of the
former department chair), are involved with both outpatient and

Oral and maxillofacial surgeons might

inpatient care. At ECMC they're more likely to see gunshot wounds
than impacted wisdom teeth. "The medical education is involved in

b e called upon to treat anything from

all my cases," Kingsburysays. "Itgives you a better global perspective
on how to take care of those patients."

impacted wisdom teeth to jaw dys­

According to the American Association of Oral and Maxil­
lofacial Surgeons, 39 of the nation's 106 OMS residency programs

function to serious facial injuries. They

now offer integrated OMS/M.D. training.
"It's not a requirement to practice," says Cecere. "But you
never know if it will be required in the future to belong to some

play a particularly important role in

of these HMOs and insurance companies. There is an element of
discrimination already against single-degree oral surgeons in the

early detection of oral cancer. And, a s

health-care industry."
The program receives about 100 applicants a year for its two

the American population ages, oral

openings, Hall says. Applicants are evaluated by a joint board
composed of members of the admissions committees of the dental

surgeons are expected to encounter

and medical schools. Medical school admissions director Thomas
Guttuso, M.D., was invaluable in helping to create the OMS/M.D.
program and setting up its admissions and interview process, Hall

more complex medical problems.

and Margarone say. He remains a strong supporter.
The MOMS program aims to cultivate the common ground between medicine and
dentistry, they say. In parts of Europe, they point out, dentistry was traditionally
considered a specialty of medicine rather than a separate discipline.
"1 look at our department and our specialty as the causeway and the port of interaction
between the medical school and the dental school," Hall says. "The medical component
changes the perspective of the individual in assessing and caring for the patient." +

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One woman explains
what the Women's Health
Initiative means to her

The women in the
dietary and hormone
groups are also being
recruited to partici­
pate in a randomized
calcium and vitamin
D trial intended to
quantify the effect of
those nutrients on
bone fractures and
colorectal cancer.
une DiGiacomo doesn't mind answering nosy questions about
Depending
on
when they join the
her most private feelings, medical history, and general aches and study, the women in
pains. In fact, she willingly drove an hour to Buffalo from her the WHI will be fol­
lowed for nine to 12
home in rural Indian Falls, NY, for the ordeal. "I'm doing it for years.
UB has also re­
my daughter," she says. "If this can help her and other women in the ceived funding and
NIH approval to con­
future, it's worth it."
duct two ancillary
studies, the Women's
The 67-year-old DiGiacomo is one of
Principal investigator Maurizio Health
Initiative
164,000 women across the nation who Trevisan, M.D., the chairman of UB's Memory study, which
are participating in one of the largest Department of Social and Preventive will measure the ef­
clinical trials ever; the $625 million Medicine, says that the Women's Health fects of hormone
Women's Health Initiative. Sponsored
Initiative is also designed to address replacement therapy
by the National Institutes of Health, the previous research biases toward middle- on cognition; and a
multifaceted study is expected to pro­ class white subjects. There are extra study of the relation­
duce a vast database on the health of efforts to recruit African-Americans, ship between bone
postmenopausal women.
Asian-Americans, Native Americans and density and perio­
The research will focus on diseases other minorities, and to enroll women dontal health.
that are unique to women as well as from all economic groups.
Recruiting women
those that manifest themselves differ­
UB, one of 40 participating centers for the hormone trial
ently in women and men—topics that around the country, is expected to reach has been the hardest,
have receivedscant attention in the past. its goal of enrolling 3,900 subjects this the researchers say.
Morbidity and mortality from cardio­ winter. The women, all between the Some women refuse
vascular disease, cancer, and osteoporo­ ages of 50 and 79, are being divided into to try hormones
sis will be studied.
two trial groups and an observational under any circum­
"Women are different from men, and group.
stances because of the
people are finally beginning to realize
In a dietary modification trial, 1,067 fear of cancer, while
that," says Karen Falkner, Ph.D., the women are being taught how to severely others can't wait to try
WHI recruitment coordinator for UB.
reduce their fat intake. In a hormone them because of the
"Part of the problem, of course, is replacement trial, 611 women are being relief they provide from hot flashes and
that there haven't been a lot of women randomized and given hormones or pla­ other symptoms of menopause. It's hard
researchers, and women researchers cebo. The remaining 2,222 women— to find women who do not have strong
generally have more of an interest in including DiGiacomo—make up the opinions about hormone replacement
doing research on women," adds Jean observational group. These women will and therefore would be willing to be
Wactawski-Wende, Ph.D., a co-princi­ answer annual questionnaires and have placed in a random trial, they say.
pal investigator.
two physical checkups three years apart.
"This is an extremely important part

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says June DiGiacomo,
a participant in the
Women's Health
Initiative at UB.

•'/

>1

4s
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t<

*

of WHI, because there is conflicting
information about hormone replace­
ment, and there are really no long-term,
clinical trials," Trevisan notes.
While enrollment is nearly finished,
it will be years before the first results are
released. Meanwhile, both researchers

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and subjects take pride in feeling that
they are part of a historic endeavor.
"We all have daughters," DiGiacomo
says, gesturing to several other WHI par­
ticipants in an office in UB's Farber Hall.
The women, several of whom are friends,
chat about their families and drink coffee

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as they fill out the questionnaires.
"I know that this isn't going to do me
much good because we won't start to get
any answers for another ten years," she
adds. "But it will do other women some
good. That's why I wanted to do it." +
— B Y

J E S S I C A

A N C K E R

0

IE
*

MEDICAL

What medicine looks like

man of the medical school's Department
of Pathology. Terplan let Diedrick set up
an easel in a corner of the department and
soon named him assistant curator of the
Pathology Museum at $70 a month.
When a photographer at Buffalo Gen­
eral Hospital died, Diedrick took a twoweek crash course in the use of the camera
and was hired in his place, bringing his
monthly salary up to $200.
"That was enough to get married on,in
those days," he says. In 1937, he married
the hospital's chief switchboard operator,
Bertha Wagner.
Another supporter at the medical
school was Wallace
Hamby, M.D.
"Luckily, I was
there when neuro­
surgery came to Buf­
falo," Diedrick says.
"Wally Hamby had
just recendy estab­
lished a new neuro­
surgerydepartment.
And I was interested
in this new and ex­
citing division of sur­
gery. I was in the
right place at the
right time." Hamby
not only gave Diedrick steady work in
a fascinating new field, but champi­
oned the need for real medical illustra­
tion throughout the school.
"Hamby encouraged Mel," agrees
Mildred Sanes, the former medical
editor of the Buffalo Evening News and
a friend of Diedrick's. "He felt there
was a future for him at the university."
And there was: Diedrick became
an integral part of the school, illustrating
lectures, presentations, and articles for
publication in medical journals.
Then came World War II. With many
physicians away at the front, the demand
for illustrations dwindled. To support his
growing family—including his young
sons, Douglas and Curtis, Diedrick painted
physicians' portraits.

SEEING ANATOMY THROUGH MEL DIEDRICK'S EYES

F

or more than 40 years, Melford
Diedrick advanced the state of medi­
cal scholarship in Buffalo and con­
tributed to medical learning and
research throughout the world.
But Diedrick isn't a doctor. He's
an artist.
Diedrick, now 84, was the first trained
medical illustrator in Buffalo and served
as UB's director of medical illustration
from f947 until his retirement in f977.
A Buffalo native, he studied illustration
at the Rochester Athenaeum and Mechan­
ics Institute (now the Rochester Institute
of Technology) in the early 1930s. Soon
his longtime fascination with medicine
and human anatomy led him to thejohns
Hopkins University. There he studied
in a department called Art as Applied
to Medicine under German emigre Max
Broedel, considered the father of medi­
cal illustration in the United States.
From dissecting cadavers and observ­
ing autopsies, Diedrick learned not
only how to draw the human form, but
how it worked.
"Max Broedel was a great influ­
ence," notes Harold Brody, M.D., re­
tired chair of UB's anatomy depart­
ment anda close colleague of Diedrick's.
"He was a passionate person about
details—he felt every detail of a medi­
cal illustration had to be absolutely
correct."
Despite his training, Diedrick
found that bringing medical illustration
to Buffalo wasn't easy.
"When I first came to the University of
Buffalo in 1935," recalls Diedrick, "the
dean of the medical school didn't know
what I meant by medical illustration. I had
to pull an example out of my briefcase to
show him."
"The faculty didn't know either. They

0

were largely clinicians, and didn't realize
how illustrations could help in their teach­
ing. For example, Dr. Roswell Park wrote
an important surgical text, but it had few
illustrations, and they were poor ones."
Armed with his "graduation certifi­
cate" from Johns Hopkins (a hand-writ­
ten letter from Broedel), Diedrick took his
mentor's advice and offered his services to
the university free of
charge. Relatives provided
room and board. He
earned pocket money the
first summer by substitut­
ing for vacationing morgue
attendants and cleaning
animal cages. And he

Mel Diedrick admires his great-grandson, Michael
William White. Above, an illustration that Diedrick
considers one of his best: "Gracilis muscle used to
repair severe radiation damage," created for John
Graham, M.D.

preached the gospel of medical illustra­
tion to anybody who would listen.
One of his first converts was Kornel
Terplan, M.D., the newly named chair­

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MEDICAL

SCHOOL

Things picked up when Max Thorek,
M.D., offered him the opportunity to es­
tablish a Department of Medical Illustra­
tion at his American Hospital in Chicago.
The offer spurred UB to act, and in 1947,
the university gave Diedrick the title of
director of medical illustration at a salary
matching the Chicago offer.
"Mel was an on-the-spot illustrator,"
recalls Brody, who regularly requested
Diedrick's services. "He would go into the
surgery room and drawwhile surgery was
being done, making sketches which he
would develop later."
"Occasionally physicians would try to
tell Mel how they wanted him to make a
drawing," says Sanes with a smile. "He
had no hesitancy about telling them that
medicine was their field but drawing was
his, and that he was the best judge of how
to present the subject."
His drawings played an important role
in teaching medical students in this coun­
try and abroad, including Sweden, where
he went at the invitation of a surgeon at
the University of Goteborg. His illustra­
tions have been included in a number of
surgical atlases. He also illustrated in the
entire 500-page text Vaginal Surgery, by
two former members of the UB faculty,
David Nichols, M.D., and Clyde Randall,
M.D., which is now in its fourth edition.
The illustrations were some of the last
Diedrick drew professionally.
"The last illustrations 1 did were the
most exciting for me," he says."They were
the most productive for clinical work."
He also helped make medical matters
more comprehensible to the general pub­
lic. In the 1950s, he illustrated a medical
television show, "Modern Medicine," and
later illustrated some of Sanes' weekly
features in the Buffalo Evening News.
But he didn't spend all his life at the
easel. In 1946, he became a founding
member of the Association of Medical
Illustrators. He served as its president in
1963, and 30 years later was the recipient
of its Lifetime Achievement Award—the
seventh member to have been chosen.

An enthusiastic violinist, he was a
founding member of the Cheektowaga
Community Symphony Orchestra in 1961
and played in its violin section for11 years.
In 1982, Diedrick moved to
Queenstown, MD, where he now lives
with his son, Douglas. His wife, Bertha,

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died in 1995.
Brody recalls fondly what he valued
about Diedrick's drawings. "His aim was
to teach the body, not idealize it. That
perhaps is what is most important about
his work." +
— B Y

L U K A S

H A U S E R

Siegel awards recognize
excellence in teaching

T

he Louis A. and Ruth Siegel Teaching Awards recognize excel­

lence in teaching by members of the preclinical, clinical, and

volunteer faculty at UB. Based on student nominations and
review by a student committee, they are presented at the

medical school's spring faculty meeting. The awards were estab­

lished by the late Louis A. Siegel, M.D., a volunteer faculty member

of the Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics.
1996 PRECLINICAL AWARD:
Perry Hogan, Ph.D.,
Physiology

Commendations:
Charles Severin,
Ph.D., Anatomical
sciences
Perry Hogan, Ph.D. John Wright, M.D.,
Pathology
Roberta Pentney, Ph.D., Histology
James Marshall, Ph.D., Social and
Preventive Medicine
Reid Heffner, M.D., Pathology

1996 CLINICAL AWARD:
Jerry Chutkow, M.D., Neurology

Commendations:
Mary Jane Petruzzi, M.D., Pediatrics
Harvey Bumpers, M.D., Surgery

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Scott Zuccala, M.D., Obstetrics and
Gynecology
Mary McGorray, M.D., Medicine
Ehsan Afshani, M.D., Radiology
Robert Scheig, M.D., Medicine

1996 VOLUNTEER AWARD:
Thomas J. Foels, M.D., Pediatrics

Commendation:
Tad Traina, M.D., Pediatrics

1996 HOUSE STAFF AND SPECIAL AWARDS:
Karen Houck, M.D., Obstetrics and
Gynecology
Leszek Kolodziejczak, M.D.,
Surgery
Jose Aranez, M.D., Obstetrics and
Gynecology
Patricia Sticca, M.D., Pediatrics
Calphor Carty, M.D., Pediatrics
Kee Wee, C.C. IV
Anand Singh, C.C. II

©

Tut the hest seat in the house
in yourgarage.

©

Gift establishes award for minority medical sludenls

i

$10,000 gift from the National Medical Association will support an
annual award to honor a graduating minority medical student.
Charles L. Anderson, M.D. '73, spearheaded the NMA's
fundraising efforts to establish the award in the name of the Buffalo
chapter of the NMA.
"As a student at UB and now as a member of the clinical faculty
at the medical school, I've become very much aware of how important it
is for minority medical students to be honored for their hard work," said
Anderson, UB clinical assistant professor of family medicine and imme­
diate past president of the Buffalo chapter of the NMA, which is the oldest
and largest organization for minority physicians in the United States.
Award recipients will be chosen on the basis of academic achievement,
leadership qualities, and commitment to serving minority populations.
"Only 6 percent of American physicians are minorities. We must
recognize the medical students who are representative of these minority
groups and who clearly reflect the NMA's vision," said Buffalo NMA
chapter president Luther K. Robinson, M.D., UB associate professor of
pediatrics and director of clinical genetics and dysmorphologyat Children's
Hospital of Buffalo.
The first award will be presented next spring. +

1997 Buick Riviera
Riviera: the most sophisticated
personal luxury car Buick has
ever offered. It is designed to stir
the spirit and excite the soul.
We at Paul Batt Buick are proud
to serve the people of Buffalo and
its surrounding communities. For
the last 43 years, we have offered
the lowest prices possible, along
with the very best in service.
We value the professional and
the hard working labor force in our
community and will continue our
efforts to maintain their loyalty.
When you enter our showroom
you will find helpful people, not
pressure—so when you think of
Buick sales and service, we know
you'll think of us!
Joseph R. Pera
Paul V. Batt, Jr.

Margaret Paroski, M.D., past president of the Medical Alumni Association, William Siener, Ph.D., the
director of the Buffalo and Erie County Historical Society, Kenneth J. Levy, Ph.D., senior vice provost of
UB, and medical school dean John Naughton, M.D., meet to dedicate a plaque at one of the original
sites of the UB medical school in downtown Buffalo.

0

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1717 Walden Ave., Buffalo, NY

891-5595
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A PART OF HISTORY...

THE UNIVERSITY AT BUFFALO SCHOOL OF MEDICINE AND BIOMEDICAL SCIENCES has a long and distinguished
history—and you are part of it.
In celebration of its Sesquicentennial, a beautifully illustrated pictorial history of the Medical School
is available for your personal library or office.
This hardcover, 192-page keepsake, Another Era, contains 250 photos, including rare, historical
photographs that will transport you to a time when...

Q)
a)
u

Medical School tuition was $65 a year and "good board,
with room, fuel and lights" could be found for $4.50 a week.
UB medical students were the first in the United States to witness a clinical demonstration
of o live birth—which caused an outcry in newspapers nationwide!
Retrace 150 years of achievement, trials and tribulations in this special limited volume, and take pride
in the Medical School's vision for its future.

To order Anotherfraby credit card call Wadsworth Publishing Company at 1-800-369-2646 ext. 3339
—

I

$39.95 including shipping and handling. Gift cards available upon request. Charges will appear on your statement as Wadsworth Publishing.

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©

MEDICAL

PI

S C H 0 0 I

Simulated patients help teach med students

E

ach examining room in the Uni­
versity Physicians Office holds a
man or a woman in a white coat
prodding and questioning a gownclad patient.
Seems like business as usual—
only these patients aren't sick. They're
actors making $12 an hour to help teach
medical students how to be doctors.
In these "standardized patient ex­
ams," actors follow scripts detailing a
standardized patient's history, physi­
cal conditions, and personal character­
istics. Some of the medical problems
portrayed include lung cancer, ectopic
pregnancy, AIDS, and depression.
Medical students are videotaped and
scored after each 15minute clinical en­
counter. The exams
are meant to test com­
munication, historytaking, and physical
exam skills.
Students talk to pa­
tients and may go so
far as to feel a stomach
or look in an ear, but
do not perform any
other physical exams.
If the student recom­
mends that the stan­
dardized patient un­
dergo a particular test
or exam, the patient
will offer paperwork

©

showing simulated results of the test.
The actors are ordinary people in­
The standardized patient exam pro­ cluding medical personnel from the
gram began three years ago after a University Physicians Office, their
survey showed that professors and friends and family, and graduate stu­
medical students wanted more pre­ dents who respond to postings on bul­
cise, standardized, and immediate letin boards. Karen Zinnerstrom, the
methods of assessing clinical ability.
patient recruiter and trainer, said that
A growing number of medical she looks for people who "don't mind
schools around the country use stan­ talking about their bodies and aren't
dardized patient exams; the National condescending towards students."
Boards are expected to incorporate
Some of the 20 patient profiles are
them within a few years. UB does not written at UB, while others are pro­
use the scores for promotion or gradu­ vided by the National Boards or other
ation now, but may do so in the future. medical schools in the U.S. or abroad.
"You really utilize what you've read UB uses 40 actor-patients in all, with
and what you've learned," says Keung two actors trained to portray each stan­
Lee, 29, a fourth-year student in the dardized patient.
M.D./Ph.D. program. "It's not what
After each exam, the medical stu­
you know, learn, or read in a text­ dent fills out a form assessing the
book, but how you apply that knowl­ patient's condition and outlining treat­
edge to realistic situations."
ment plans.
Standardized testing with trained
The patient also fills out a form
actor-patients is intended to be uni­ evaluating the student's performance,
form, objective, and reliable, accord­ including whether students properly
ing to Frank Schimpfhauser, Ph.D., washed their hands and introduced
assistant dean for educational research. themselves at the beginning of the exam.
The program has
had the unexpected
benefit of making the
standardized patients
much more savvy in
their real-life dealings
with doctors. Heidi
Kueber, a doctoral stu­
dent in education who
has served as a stan­
dardized patient since
1994, says, "I have be­
come a better patient,
and when I have to
choose my next doc­
tor, I will feel more
comfortable doing it."
+
—ERIN S T . JOHN KELLY

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A STUDENT'S

PERSPECTIVE

Could medical school provide
a different learning environment?
BY VICTOR FlLADORA

r

at grades and test scores to measure
stamina, motivation, and persistence."
If Gomez is correct, and grades do rep­
resent other factors in addition to knowl­
edge, there should be alternative ways
to gauge a student's success.
There are many medical students who
strive to perform well for reasons other
than obtaining good grades. If students
are not motivated by grades, why con­
tinue with that system? Do professors
not feel confident enough in their stu­
dents, or in their own objective evalua­
tion skills, to use more innovative meth­
ods? How will medical school graduates
be measured? By their practices, or by
grades?
Studying for grades is a non-produc­
tive way to demonstrate knowledge. Per­
formance-based compensation, on the
other hand, is a system that is used for
professionals in many fields, and should
be considered as a possibility in
medical education as well.
Thomas Guttuso, M.D., direc­
tor of admissions at UB's medical
school, stresses that it is impera­
tive to have a good knowledge base
to be a successful physician. "No
matter how good your personal
qualities may be, your effective­
ness as a good physician is based
on your knowledge base. So the
better your knowledge base is, the
better you are able to integrate that
knowledge into a clinical setting,
and the more effective you will be."
An important factor in attaining
that knowledge base is motivation.
The intelligence may be there, but if
the individual is not properly moti­

very studenr in medical school is
an accomplished individual with
J a solid educational background.
V In order to gain admission, stuI dents have met a standard of edu* • cational excellence, measured by
grades and test scores.
Since the first day of kindergarten,
these grades and scores have represented
competency and success, and they have
become a part of our identity.
Acceptance into medical school is the
culmination of years of hard work, dedi­
cation, and accomplishment which is
based in large part on academic success.
In professionalschools such as medi­
cal school, why does competency con­
tinue to be judged by grades after stu­
dents have proven their worth through
the admission process?
Ellis Gomez, M.D., of Niagara Fam­
ily Health Center believes that "we look

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vated, the highest levels of success will
not be achieved.
New incentives would increase indi­
vidual motivation and create students
who are more eager to learn. Does it
make more sense to reward students
with grades, or with opportunities that
could further their careers and benefit
the school?
Rewarding students with grants for
summer research, internships, or oppor­
tunities to study abroad instead of grades
could create a whole new breed of stu­
dents. Pride would no longer be bound to
a letter. It could be attached to meaning­
ful events throughout a student's educa­
tional experience and would create a
valuable knowledge base in each of us.
Students can read about any topic,
but the most effective learning occurs
when you actually participate person­
ally. Performance-based opportunities
could provide students with the ability
to experience many things they have
only read about.
They would also help students to
retain their love for medicine. Many
students have very fine thoughts in their
hearts and souls as to why they want to
enter medicine. They're usually very
humanistic, and unfortunately many of
them change because of what they go
through in medicine. Performancebased opportunities could assist stu­
dents in maintaining that motivation
and focus.
The fundamental question that must
be asked is what makes more sense? Do
medical schools want to produce clini­
cians with good grades being the mea­
sure of competency, or would it better
serve the profession to provide meritbased opportunities as motivation to
those who perform at the highest levels
of mastery? +
In every issue, Buffalo Physician invites a current medical
student to write an opinion piece about a topic of his or her
own choice. Victor Filadora is in his third year at UB School
of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences.

©

Alan J. Lesse, M.D.

protective capsule. "We're not sure
how it manages to evade the host's
defenses in the absence of a cap­
sule," Lesse says.
BPF has also been identified in
central Australia. The emergence
of the same infection in widely
separated populations of H.
aegyptius means that the bacteria
has acquired virulence more than
once—and could do so again.
"Our hypothesis is that the viru­
lence of the BPF organism arises
from a confluence of several differ­
ent virulence factors," Lesse ex­
plains. "When all the factors are
present, then you can have an or­
ganism that invades the host."
Lesse and his colleagues have iden­
tified some of those virulence factors
in the surface proteins of the BPF
organism. Some can arise spontane­
ously even when there's no outbreak

In 1984, a small town in Brazil was devastated by a deadly illness.
Ten children, ranging in age from three months to eight
years, were suddenly attacked by a virulent disease that
caused high fever, vomiting, abdominal pain, purpura, and
shock. Within 48 hours, all the children were dead.
The illness was named
Brazilian purpuric fever (BPF). It
took several years and other out­
breaks before researchers discov­
ered that the disease was caused by
an unexplained mutation of a very
common bacteria, Haemophilus
influenzae biogroup aegyptius.
This particular bacteria usually
causes nothing more serious than
conjunctivitis. Somehow, in the
BPF outbreaks, it had been trans­
formed from an annoying local
infection to an overwhelming sys­
temic disease with a 70 percent
mortality rate.
It may not be immediately obvi­
ous why a faraway childhood dis­
ease should be of interest to Veter­
ans Affairs medical center research­
ers in Buffalo. But this summer,
the VA's Alan J. Lesse, M.D., won a
$160,400 grant to perform a fouryear study of the disease.

macology and Toxicology, and
Microbiology, Lesse is also the as­
sociate program director for the
Department of Internal Medicine's
house staff. In addition to his re­
search, Lesse sees patients in the
VA's clinic and wards, and teaches
pharmacology and microbiology
at UB. He has twice been the recipi­
ent of UB's Siegel Award, which is
based on student nominations for
excellence in teaching.
Lesse, 40, earned his bachelor's
degree and M.D. from the Univer­
sity of Virginia, completed an in­
ternship and residency in internal
medicine at Temple University,and
did a combined fellowship in in­
fectious disease at the University
of Virginia and its Affiliated Hospi­
tals Program in Roanoke, VA.
It was during his fellowship that
Lesse first started researching H.
influenzae in connec­
tion with meningitis.
After coming to Buf­
falo, he turned his at­
tention to the bac­
teria's lipooligosaccharides. When the
Centers for Disease
Control distributed
the BPF bacteria to in­
terested researchers,
Lesse joined col­
leagues at UB to in­
vestigate it.

Lesse explains that Brazilian
purpuric fever, which has been
classified as an emerging disease
and a potential threat to the U.S., is
relevant to the entire world. "No
one knows how the Haemophilus
bacteria acquired thevirulence fac­
tors that make it so deadly. If we
understand how that works, it
might help us learn something
about other emerging diseases."
Researchers also want to know
whether bacteria can transfer these
virulence factors, or epitopes, to
other bacteria of the same or differ­
ent species, he adds.
An associate professor in UB's
Departments of Medicine, Phar­

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of BPF. In fact, one of the epitopes
has been discovered in a 1981 culture
from a patient in Buffalo.
"You might be able to find in
nature an organism that has one or
two of these factors," Lesse says.
"Our goal is to identify all or most
of these factors and then deter­
mine how they interact with the
host to cause the disease." +

fay Jessica Ancker

One mystery is
that, unlike many
virulent bacteria, the
BPF organism is not
surrounded by a

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Why stay home for
the holidayo?

Reunion chairs prepare
for reunion weekend festivities

I

ft,

t's not too early to plan for the 1997 Spring Clinical Day and Reunion Weekend.

A cocktail reception will be held on Friday, April 25, 1997. The 60th Spring

Clinical Day and Reunion Dinners will be on Saturday, April 26.
For more information, call the Medical Alumni Association at 716-829-2778.

The reunion classes are the classes of 1947, 1952, 1957, 1962, 1967, 1972,

1977, 1982, 1987, and 1992. Here's what your reunion chair has to say to you!

CLASS OF 1947

I
I

$399 mo. 59 mo. leave

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#
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W

CLASS OF 1957
CLASS OF 1952

The front-wheel drive 1nfiniti® G201

Germante Bancaldo, chair

It's time to get to­
gether! We need to
see each other.

Burton Stulberg, co-chair

Don't miss the 45th
reunion. How great
it will be to see
how nobody really
changes. It won't be
hard to get reacquainted—and what
fun it will be to get
together again.

$319 mo. 50 mo. leant . $0 down



CLASS OF 1962
Sebastian Fasanello

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Our past reunions
have been wonder­
ful—this one will be
magnificent!!

1^9

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Help us to win the
attendance trophy
again by your pres­
ence at your 45th.

Xj:

Like every Infiniti, the G20 comes with an
extensive list of standard luxury features; A
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Neat Fuhr, co-chair

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A 45th reunion may
not seem as impor­
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don't waituntil then!
Come to your 45th!

Let's all get together
and reminisce about
the last 50 years as
physicians.

«

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Near Eastern Hills Mall

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down. (G20-5495) (130-5450). Bank fee + tax and
license due at inception. 12,000 annual mileage. $.12
per mile in excess.

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©

HURWITZ & FINE, PC
A T T O R N E Y S

CLASS OF 1967

Donald Miller and Thomas O'Connor, co-chairs
Thirty years ago we partied big time.
Let's plan to do it again. It won't be the
same unless you are here. We'll be in
touch with all the details.

CLASS OF 1982

CLASS OF 1977

NEEDS OF THE
HEALTH SCIENCES
COMMUNITY
• Managed Care
• Purchase & Sale of Practices
• Business & Tax Planning

CLASS OF 1987

• HCFA Safe Harbor Regulations
and Physician Self-Referrals
• Contracts with Private
& Public Entities
• Employee Relations
Counseling
Alan Beitler, co-chair
Ten years—how time flies! Do you won­
der where everyone is, and what they
are doing? Come to our reunion, catch
up, and have a great time. See you there.

• Fringe Benefit Programs
• Representation Before
Government Agencies on
Audit & Business Issues

Thomas Smith, co-chair
Ten years is no t long enough to forget all
the fun we shared. Hope to see all at the
reunion.

• Facility Finance
and Construction
• Credentialing

CLASS OF 1 992

and By-Laws

Paul Paterson, chair
Five years—such a
short time, but so
much has happened.
Come get together in
April 1997 to catch
up! +

Nedra Harrison, co-chair
It has been 20 years since graduation!
We have a lot to share with everyone.
Come, enjoy, share, and have fun!

• Hospital/Medical Staff Issues

Please contact
Robert P. Fine or
Lawrence M. Ross
at 716-849-8900

Gregory Young, co-chair
Twenty years have come and gone. Don't
miss this chance to get together before
any more slip by! Nedra and I are look­
ing forward to seeing you. Take the time
to help us renew old friendships.

©

L A W

SERVICING
THE LEGAL

Michael Cesar, chair
"Blessed is the man
that walketh not in
the counsel of the
ungodly, nor standethinthewayofsinners, nor sitteth in
H Br
the seat of the scorn• m
ful. But his delight is
in the law of the Lord, and in his law
doth he meditate day and night."

CLASS OF 1972
Murray Morphy, chair
Jimi Hendrix and
Janis Joplin won't be
here, but we hope
you will. Share life's
best revenge and live
well with your 25th
reunion classmates
next spring.

A T

1300 Liberty Building
Buffalo, New York

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Save $60 off
Next Computer
Purchase!

UB alumnus heads
medical society

'66, is medical director and administra­
tor of the Millard Fillmore Surgery Cen­
ter and chair of the hospital's Depart­
ment of Anesthesiology. He served as an
anesthesiologist in
the Vietnam War.
Elizabeth F.
Maher '85 is the
organization's new
treasurer. An at­
tending physician
at Medina Memo­
rial Hospital, she
is also a clinical in­
structor in the UB Elizabeth L. Maher

B

ussell W. Bessette, D.D.S. '69,
M.D. '76, was installed in May as
the new president of the Medical
Society of the County of Erie.
Bessette, who is in practice with
the Buffalo Medical Group, P.C.,
is the clinical chief of plastic surgery at
Buffalo General Hospital and a clinical
professor of surgery at UB.
Currently serving a six-year term on
the New York State Public Health Coun­
cil, he was appointed chair of the group
this June. Bessette is also a past president
of the UB Medical Alumni Association.
Two other UB alumni were also in­
stalled into new positions with the Medi­
cal Society: Franklin Zeplowitz '58 as
president-elect, and Nedra J. Harrison
'77 as vice president. +

Zeplowitz chairs
UB fundraising organization

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ranklin Zeplowitz '58 is the chair
of the James Piatt White Executive
Committee. Founded in 1986, the
James Piatt White Society is made
up of donors whose annual gifts to
the medical school are $1,000 or
more. It is named after one of the
founders of the UB medical school. +

ack F. Coyne '85 began his tenure
as president of the board of the
Medical Alumni Association at this
year's Spring Clinical Day in May.
Coyne, a pediatrician at Niagara
Falls Memorial Medical Center, is
also a Greek Orthodox priest with a
particular interest in providing medical
and social services to the poor. He is
medical director at Memorial Pediatrics,
which provides a wide range of services
for children and families. He is also the
medical director of child
advocacy teams in Erie and
Niagara counties that in­
vestigate sexual abuse.
Coyne's message to fellow
alumni appears on the in­
side front cover of this is­
sue of Buffalo Physician.
The Medical Alumni
Association's new vice
Jock F. Coyne
president, Jared C. Barlow

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COMPAQ.

Department of Emergency Medicine.
Maher chaired and mediated the May
1996 Spring Clinical Day program. +

New alumni board
members elected

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Alumnus chairs radiology
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of UB's Department of Radiology.
DelBaso, the author of Maxillofa­
cial Imaging, is director of radio­
logy at Erie County Medical Cen­
ter. He also holds faculty appointments
at the Uniformed Services University of
the Health Sciences in Bethesda, MD,
and UB's School of Dental Medicine. A
colonel in the U.S. Army Reserves, he is
chief of radiology with the 865th U.S.
Army Reserve General Hospital in
Niagara Falls, NY. +

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®

Elliott C Lasser, M.D, radiologist
LASSER WINS DISTINGUISHED ALUMNUS AWARD
FOR HIS WORK IN THE FIELD OF CONTRAST
MATERIALS RESEARCH

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A N C K E R

lliott Lasser '46 didn't choose radiology. He was ordered into it.
His career choice was made for him at Camp Lejeune, NC,

where he was serving in the U.S. Navy after going through

college and UB medical school in the accelerated military
training program.
"Our commanding officer, who hap­
pened to be a radiologist, had developed
an anemia of some kind," Lasser re­
members. "He came to me and said,
'Lasser, from now on you're the radiolo­
gist around here.' I went to the books
frantically looking up everything I
needed to know."
Despite this unpromising beginning,
Lasser's marching orders developed into
a lifelong love of radiology. During
nearly 50 years of research and practice,
Lasser has established the field's stan­
dard screening tests for new contrast
media, learned how to identify patients
at risk of severe reactions to contrast
media, and determined ways to prevent
the reactions. He is also the founder of
an unusual set of international meetings
that regularly bring together academics
and representatives of rival pharmaceu­
tical companies to discuss contrast me­
dia research. Contrast Media Research
'97 will be held in Kyoto, Japan.
"If I really contributed anything of
substance, that's probably the thing that
will have the greatest impact over time,"
says Lasser, 73. "It's the only meeting
where representatives of various com­
panies discuss their work without try­

©

ing to hide everything from each other.
It's contributed to the speed with which
research is being carried on in this field."
Lasser has served as chief of the radi­
ology departments at Roswell Park Can­
cer Institute, the University of Pitts­
burgh, and the University of California

at San Diego, where he is an emeritus
professor and an active researcher.
"As long as I have the interest and
funds I hope to keep on going," says
Lasser, the winner of this year's Distin­
guished Alumnus Award from the UB
Medical Alumni Association.
Lasser began his formal training in
radiology, after his two-year stint at
Camp Lejeune was up, at the University
of Minnesota, where he completed a
radiology residency and earned a
master's degree in radiology.
He trained in neuroradiology at
Serafimer Hospital in Stockholm, Swe­
den, where he learned special proce­
dures involving insertion of catheters to
inject contrast media to targeted struc­
tures. Later, as chair of radiology at
Roswell Park, he began investigating
the causes of the occasional reactions to
the contrast media, which could range
from mild to fatal.
"Every radiologist has had patients
who experience reactions. I never had a
death myself, but I was lucky," he says.
"I went to the standard textbooks ex-

Elliott Lasser, M.D. (right), with Medical Alumni Association president Jack Coyne, M.D., and Dr. Lasser's
wife, Phyllis. Lasser was awarded the Distinguished Alumnus award in an October ceremony in Buffalo.

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RARANSKI
AI'A'JUJUIJN
"EVERY RADIOLOGIST HAS HAD PATIENTS
WHO EXPERIENCE REACTIONS," LASSER
SAYS. "I WENT TO THE STANDARD TEXT­
BOOKS EXPECTING TO FIND ALL THE INFOR­
MATION I NEEDED, AND TO MY SURPRISE I
DIDN'T FIND ANYTHING ABOUT IT."
Your advertising presents your
company

image

to

the

public... and to prospective
pecting to find all the information I
needed, and to my surprise I didn't find
anything about it."
Contrast materials and patient reac­
tions became the focus of his research.
He has found that patients with asthma,
allergic diathesis, or certain other hy­
persensitivities are more likely to expe­
rience contrast media reactions. He has
indentified at least three mediators that
play a role in contrast media reactions:
histamines, heparan sulfate, and bradykinin. Lasser's recent research involves
nitric oxide and contrast media reac­
tions.
It was Lasser who helped demon­
strate that a simple two-dose course of
oral corticosteroids protects patients
from reactions; the treatment is now
routinely used for high-risk patients.
Tests he developed are now used rou­
tinely by pharmaceutical companies
evaluating new contrast media for tox­
icity.
His interest in contrast media reac­
tions led to research into asthma that
has suggested a possible evolutionary
advantage to the condition. Lasser has

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shown that a substance commonly found
in asthmatics' blood, heparan sulfate,
appears to protect against arteriosclero­
sis. Asthmatics also have higher blood
levels of high-density lipoproteins, pro­
viding another level of protection against
arteriosclerosis. "When I presented this
to my own group, my colleague said,
'How can I get asthma?'"
In his free time, Lasser enjoys tennis
and golf. He also recently took up wood
carving. He says he had never forgotten
the good smell of carved wood from the
summer camp he attended as a child, so
with his wife, Phyllis, he took a few
lessons from a friend. "I picked up a
piece of wood from his wood pile, and
tried it, and lo and behold, 1 wasn't as
much of a klutz about it as I thought I
would be." In fact, he has become pro­
ficient enough that his wife stopped
doing it—she says he's too competitive
about it.
Lasser has no plans to give up radiol­
ogy any time soon, though.
"Throughout my whole career I've
been paid for something I love doing,"
he says. "I'm very lucky." +

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T H E N a n d n o f

Albert James Myer, the founder
of the National Weather Service
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he man who developed the National Weather Service would have enjoyed the
satellites and computers that it relies on today. Albert James Myer, who earned his
M.D. from the University of Buffalo in 1851, was a man for innovation and advance.
Myer, born September 20, 1828, spent much of his
father, a Buffalo judge, died in 1857.
youth in Buffalo with a straitlaced aunt who taught him
He developed a military signaling system called
the severe mores of a God-fearing Scottish home.
"Wigwag" cross signal communications, using
At the age of 14, he went to Geneva College (now
flags in the day and torches at night. After the
Hobart and William Smith), where hespread himself thin
military adopted the Wigwag system, Myer be­
between studies, sailing, horseback riding, and faculty
came a signal officer and later took charge of
baiting. His interests were the sciences, languages, and
the signal office. He served with valor in the
mathematics, but for five years top grades eluded him.
Civil War, where his signals helped summon
After the University of
Buffalo Medical School
was founded in 1846,
Myer returned to Buffalo,
HE DEVELOPED A MILITARY SIGNALING SYSTEM CALLED "WIGWAG"
becoming a telegraph op­
erator by night and a
CROSS SIGNAL COMMUNICATIONS, USING FLAGS IN THE DAY AND TORCHES AT
medical student by day.
His graduate thesis, "A
NIGHT. AFTER THE MILITARY ADOPTED THE WIGWAG SYSTEM, MYER BECAME A
Sign Language for Deaf
Mutes," showed his early
SIGNAL OFFICER AND LATER TOOK CHARGE OF THE SIGNAL OFFICE. HE
interest in visual commu­
nications systems.
Myer suffered a physi­
SERVED WITH VALOR IN THE CIVIL WAR, WHERE HIS SIGNALS HELPED SUMMON
cal breakdown after his
graduation in 1851 and
RELIEF TROOPS TO HELP THE UNION CAUSE IN SEVERAL TIGHT SPOTS.
was ordered to have a
complete rest. He soon
recovered to practice
medicine in Charleston, SC, and Monticello, FL. In 1854,
relief troops to help the Union cause in several
he received a commission as an assistant surgeon with the
tight spots.
U.S. Army.
He was reorganizing the corps when he be­
He served at Forts Davis and Duncan in the heart of
came involved with a bill authored by congress­
Apache country in Texas; married his grammar-school
man and general Halbert E. Paine of Milwaukee
sweetheart, Kate Walden; and became wealthy when her
to create a national weather service. A Joint

©

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T H E N

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Congressional Resolution was passed and signed into law in
1870 by President Ulysses S. Grant.
To set up the new service, Myer asked for $15,000 for the
first year and $25,000 for the second year. He solicited advice
from scientists around the world, and expanded the Fort
Whipple Signal School in Arlington, VA, to train weather
observers.
(Fort
Whipple has since been
renamed Fort Myer in
his honor.)
In October 1870,
25 weather observers
with the rank of ser­
geant were sent on de­
tached duty to 25 loca­
tions between Boston,
MA, and Omaha, NE.
The reports were tele­
graphed to Washing­
ton and a selected list
of reports sent back to
the stations in under
90 minutes.
At first, reports con­
sisted only of current
weather information.
Myer himself issued
the first forecast on
November 8, 1870,
and soon hired profes­
sional forecasters.
The
National
Weather Service be­
came a success almost
overnight. Metropoli­
tan newspaperslike the
New York Herald be­
gan to publish the com­
plete daily output of
the weather bureau.
More forecasters
were hired and trained, and demand grew for such services
as flood warnings and river stage reports.
Under Myer, the National Weather Service began to
exchange reports with Canada, and observation stations
were established on Mt. Washington in New Hampshire and
Pike's Peak in Colorado. Instrumented balloons were flown
over the U.S. and Europe. Two polar expeditions carried
observers from Myer's bureau.

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In 1873, the International Meteorological Conference in
Vienna adopted Myer's idea of asking all countries to make
simultaneous observations each day at 7:55 a.m., Washing­
ton time. Two years later, the first international weather
bulletin was issued from Myer's office, followed in 1878 by
a weather map covering the northern hemisphere.
With his service
attracting interna­
tional acclaim and
curiosity, Myer re­
turned to Buffalo in
failing health in 1880.
Upon hearing of his
illness, Congress pro­
moted him to briga­
dier general.
Myer died Au­
gust 24 of that year in
Buffalo's Palace Ho­
tel overlooking Lake
Erie, surrounded by
his wife and their six
children and bya spe­
cial staff of medical
friends. He had truly
expended his life in
the service of his
country.
+

The late Bernard
Wiggin worked for the
National Weather
Service in Buffalo
from 1945 to 1965.
This story is condensedfrom an article
published in the December 1970 Smithsonian magazine, with
the gracious permission of the author's wife, C. LeonaWiggin.
In June of this year, the National Weather Service,now under
the jurisdiction of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Ad­
ministration, dedicated its new weather forecast office in Buf­
falo to Myer. It is the only weather forecast office to be dedicated
to an individual.

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1 3 5

CLASSNOTES

9

3

O

staff of the Cornwall Hospital in

s

and Lisa is in eighth grade.

Cornwall, NY.

KENNETH GOLDSTEIN '39.

ELLIOTT A. SCHULMAN '74,

of Williamsville, NY, retired in

D A N I E L A . P I E T R O ' 7 3 , of

of Wynnewood, PA, has moved

1983. He spends six months in

Canton, MA, was recently named

his neurology practice to Crozer-

Florida and six months in

medical director and vice presi­

Chester Medical Center in

Williamsville each year, and he

dent at Sturdy Memorial Hospi­

Chester County, PA. He is the

tal in Attleboro, MA. He also

director of the Center for Head­

continues to practice cardiology

ache Management. He and his

on a limited basis at the Harvard-

wife, Bonnie, have two sons:

Brockton-West Roxbury Veter­

David (10) and Andrew (9).

plays tennis three times a week
and golf four times a week.

T H E O D O R E W . K O S S ' 4 1 , of

ans Affairs Medical Center, and

Smithville, TN, had a total hip

is assistant professor of medi­

replacement but writes that he

cine at Harvard Medical School

KATHLEEN BRAICO '74, of

was "up and about in no time."

and Brigham and Women's Hos­

Queensbury, NY, share a pediat­

Retired, he livesa half-mile from

pital. He recently celebrated his

ric practicewith three other doc­

his fishing boat, Marian, and goes

25th wedding anniversary and

tors and a nurse practitioner in

fishing every day.

19

6

s

I R V I N G S . K O L I N ' 6 5 , ofWinter Park, FL, will participate as

BRAICO

'74

Glens Fall, NY, at the edge of the

of surgery at UB and an adjunct

Terresa are at Tufts University,

Adirondacks. As well as practic­

clinical associate professor at the

Daniel is a junior in high school,

ing general pediatrics, John is
heavily

New York College of Osteopathic
Medicine.

involved

in

tionwide studies of a new psy­
choactive compound to be tested

ALAN

in the treatment of schizophre­

Wilmington, DE, was voted by

nia. He also made a presentation

fellow physiciansone of the "Top

J.

FINK

'70,

of

AND CALL ME IN THE
MORNING!
ft

on "New advances in the treat­

Docs in Delaware" in neurology

ment of drug dependency" at

in Delaware Today magazine.

the winter meeting of the

Fink

American OsteopathicSociety in

Lippmann '70, who is in pulmo­

St. Petersburg, FL.

nary medicine in Philadelphia,

higher education level than

was named to a "Top Docs" list

any other car owner group,

of Kailua-Kona, HI, writes, " I

writes

that

Michael

M I C H A E L B A R O N ' 7 1 , of

1996 and working for Kaiser

Blountville, TN, is affiliated with

Permanente at their Kona Clinic

Midway Medical Group in

as the pediatrician."

Bristol. He writes, "I am con­

of East Aurora, NY, has been
elected 1996-97 president of the
Sisters Hospital medical staff. A
surgeon specializing in breast
care, Eckhert is the medical di­

hospital are trying to manage
health care and not be managed
by it."

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Center. He has been chief of

Washingtonville, NY, has been

surgery at Sisters since 1988. He

elected president of the medical

E.

K N I P P ' 7 2 , of

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0w*\ fOefe/.

* Saab purchase prices starting

tinuing my practice of pulmo­
in an area where the doctors and

yOuf

* Fact: Saab owners have a

nary and critical care medicine

rector of the Sisters Breast Care

©

iryJ

in Philadelphia magazine.

am moving to Hawaii in August

KENNETH H. ECKHERT '68.

the

TAKE TWO...

principal investigator in two na­

DONALD J . WALDOWSKI '65,

and

has four children. Michael and

is an assistant clinical professor
0

JOHN

(1 Mile east of Rich Stadium)

(716)662-8008

CLASSNOTES

neurodevelopmental evalua­

in the United Kingdom, and I

as director of refractive sur­

Carolina in Charleston, SC. 1

tion of children with learning

teach at both Tufts Medical

gery and director of the

have just begun a general ra­

disabilities. Kathy also serves

School and the New England

Montefiore Laser and Eye Cen­

diology practice at Heritage

as the medical director of the

School of Acupuncture. My

ter. He previously spent more

Hospital in Tarboro, NC, and

Hole-in-the-Woods camp for

first two books, Natural Medi­

than 12 years in Tampa, FL,

at an outpatient clinic in Rocky

seriously ill children in Lake

cine for Heart Disease and

where he served as director of

Mount, NC. I am married with

Luzerne, a Paul Newman

Natural Medicine for Back Pain,

cornea services and vice chair

four children, ages 7-13."

camp. She describes it as "not

have just been published by

of the Department of Ophthal­

unlike repeating one's resi­

Rodale Press." Emma, the old­

mology at the University of

dency every summer!"

est of his four children, is start­

South Florida.

G L E N N S . R O T H F E L D ' 7 5 of

'76, M.D. '79. of Williamsville, NY, was chosen for the

ing at Columbia University
this fall.

Somerville, MA, is the founder

LEONARD G. FELD, PH.D.

B A R R Y R O S E N B E R G ' 7 8 , of

American Health special issue

Rocky Mount, NC, is board

featuring "The Best Doctors in
America: The Nation's Top

and medical director of Spec­

L E W I S R . G R O D E N ' 7 7 , of

certified in internal medicine

trum Medical Arts of Arling­

Pleasantville, NY, has returned

and practiced in West Palm

M.D.'s Chosen by their Col­

ton, MA, a primary care prac­

to New York to join the full-

Beach, FL, for 10 years. "I have

leagues." Chief of pediatric
nephrology at the Children's

tice combining conventional

time faculty of the Department

recently made a change in

and complementary medicine.

of Ophthalmology, Montefiore

careers, having completed a

Hospital of Buffalo and a pro­

He writes, "I trained in acu­

Medical

Albert

radiology residency at the

fessor at UB, he is a pediatric

puncture in Leamington Spa

Einstein College of Medicine,

Medical University of South

representative to the National

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CLASSNOTES

Pediatric Transplant Commit­

JOHN CLAUDE KRUSZ '83,

It was great seeing everyone at

tee of the United Network of

of Dallas, TX, is the medical

the reunion. See you all again

Organ Sharing.

director of Nursefinders Home

in 5?"

Health Co. He writes that he is
the only board-certified neu­

C A R L G . C O L T O N ' 8 6 , of

rologist also certified in

Lancaster, PA, began working

pain management in the

as a gastroenterologist in July

north Texas area.

1995 in Lancaster. He and his
wife, Mary Katherine, have

Buffalo
Physician
has
e-mail!

three children: Ashley (8),

'84, of Worthington, OH,

Brittany (5), and Graham (2).

was granted tenure at Ohio

M I C H A E L T . R O S S ' 8 1 , of

Detroit, MI, is developing and
implementing a customer ser­
vice and communication train­
ing program for medical and

State University, where he

ANDREW P. GIACOBBE '86,

was promoted to associ­

of Buffalo, NY, is enjoying his

ate professor of neurology.

third year of plastic surgery

He remains director of

practice in Buffalo and recently

neuro-oncology. His fam­

became certified by the Ameri­

ily announces the birth of
daughter Ashley Rene New­

can Board of Plastic Surgery.
He and his wife, Laura, re­

ton, born onjanuary 23, 1996.

cently celebrated the birth of

She weighed 8 pounds, 13

their second child, Andrew

ounces and was 22 inches long.

Alexander. Their daughter,
Cristina, is 4.

Ashley's older brother, Alex,
is 3.

Our e-mail address

support staff of the Henry Ford

for dassnotes and

Health System in Detroit. He
continues to work in emer­

J O N W A R D N E R ' 8 5 , of Ann

gency medicine. He writes,

Arbor, MI, is "in busy group

private practice in central New

"Jacob Edward, our third

PM&R practice at St. Joseph

Jersey as a board-certified

child, joined the family on

Mercy Hospital and a clinical

general surgeon. She has two

March 29. We're ecstatic.

instructor at the University of

boys: Jonathan (5), and

Vanessa, now 7, enjoys piano,

Michigan Medical School. Had

Nathaniel (1). She writes that

a rendezvous with Jim Esser

classmate Bob Halpern is an

comments is
bpnotes@pub.buffalo.edu
Please send us the

ballet, and acrobatics. Joshua,
3, loves raising Cain."

latest news about
ARLENE ROSE CURRY '82,

your life, career, and

of Brooklyn, NY, is working
fulltime in the Department of

L E I L A S . G R A Y S O N ' 8 7 , of

Freehold, NJ, has relocated to

'85 at the University of Michi­

emergency department physi­

gan/Indiana University foot­

cian at Edward Hospital in
Naperville, IL.

ball game in Bloomington in
October 1995. He came in from
Kentucky. Michigan won."

PEGGY (MOREY) STAGER
'88, of

Cleveland Heights, OH,

family. Don't forget

Emergency Medicine at Saint
Vincent's Hospital in New

K A R I N E . C H O Y ' 8 6 , of Las

to include your home

York City. "My husband,

Vegas, NV, writes, "I'm leav­

nounce the birth of their son,

ing the chilly winds and snow­

address and the year

John, and I are the proud par­
ents of Alyssa (4 1/2) and
Tristan (1)."

Samuel, on April 1, 1996.

you earned your M.D.
from UB.

A L B E R T S P E A C H ' 8 2 , ofLex-

ington, KY, and his wife, Terri
Speach, announce the birth of
Byron Nelson Speach on
May 2, 1995.

©

HERBERT B. NEWTON

B U F F

falls of New England for the
heat of the Desert Southwest
to start up a new pediatric
clinic for Kids Health Care, an
outpatient center affiliated
with Columbia-Sunrise Chil­
dren's Hospital in Las Vegas.
Everyone come visit and play!

and her husband, Richard, an­

M I T C H E L L T U B L I N ' 8 8 . and

Mary C. Davitt '88, have re­
cently moved to Albany, NY,
where they have joined the
faculty of the Albany Medical
College as assistant professors
of radiology and pediatrics,

CLASSNOTES

respectively. They proudly an­
nounce the birth of their sec­

DOUGLAS P. PREVOST '90,

ond son, Joshua Martin, born

of Snyder, NY, writes, "My

April 15, 1995.

wife, Anita, and I are proud to
announce the birth of our

P A U L A S A N D L E R ' 8 9 , of

fourth child, Jack Anthony,

Yonkers, NY, has started a fel­

who arrived May 8, 1996. He

lowship in neurology, voiding

joins his two brothers, Ryan

dysfunction, and urodynamics

(4) and Connor (2 1/2), and

at Columbia University. Be­

his sister, Claire (17 months).

fore that, she had been in pri­

It is quite a houseful!"

vate urology practice in
Beckley, WV, since complet­

H O W A R D L . S T O L L III ' 9 0 ,

ing her residency injune 1994.

Vf

of Charlottesville, VA, is com­
pleting a residency in radio­

H O W A R D C H A N G ' 8 9 , of San

logy at the University of Vir­

Diego, CA, will be joining the

ginia, and will be returning to

pulmonary and critical care

Buffalo to join the Southtowns

medicine group at Sharp Me­

Checkpoint
Foreign Car, Inc.

Radiology Group. "My wife,

morial Hospital in San Diego.

Sales and Service

TheDollar
Doctor...

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487 Kenmore Avenue
Buffalo, NY 14223
836-2033

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237 MAIN STREET Tel: 854-7541

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CLASSNOTES

Theresa, and I had our first

resident in orthopedics at the

child, Christopher Howard

University of Colorado. They

Stoll, on Nov. 16, 1995."

add, "Neil Waldman '92 lives

ROHIT "ROB" BAKSHI '91,
of Buffalo, NY, writes that he
is "pleased to have returned to

c

around the corner. He just
took

an

ER

position

in

Montrose, CO, and is married
to Nori Garcia, D.D.S."

his hometown to begin an aca­
demic practice at the Dent

A N D R E W B A U E R ' 9 3 , of

Neurologic Institute and the

Tacoma, WA, completed his

UB DepartmentofNeurology."

pediatric residency at Madigan

After medical school, he served

Army Medical Center in

an internship at Massachusetts

Tacoma and is moving to

General Hospital and Harvard

Heidelberg, Germany. In

Medical School before com­

March, he presented a poster

pleting a neurology residency

at the Uniformed Services Pe­

at the UCLA Medical Center.

diatric Society meeting in

He has recently completed an

Maclean, VA. Bauer has a new

MRI and CT neuroimaging

daughter, Samantha, born

fellowship at the Dent Insti­

Jan. 18, 1996.

Marriott

tute. A board-certified neu­
rologist, he will concentrate

MICHAEL F. SWEENEY '93,

on both clinical and research

of Akron, OH, is married to

interests in the areas of

Liz (Zylka) and has a daugh­

neuroimaging and multiple

ter, Molly Erin (1 1/2). He is

sclerosis, as well as a general

in the fourth year of his OB/

neurology practice.

GYN residency at Akron City

elebrate the

From elegant parties to informal get-togethers, let
the Buffalo Marriott host a celebration filled with
warm fellowship and gracious hospitality.
A

,

For Exceptional Entertaining . . .
Banquet rooms accommodating 10 to 1000
"(S) Superb catering with choice of packages
Expert planning assistance

Hospital.
MARY

For Your Office Festivities . . .

(CAPPUCCINO)

BONAFEDE '91 and JOE
BONAFEDE '91 , of Cleveland
Heights, OH, announce the
birth of their first child, Jo­
seph Samuel ("Sam") on
Jan. 15, 1996.
GAYLE(FRAZZETTA) SINGH
' 9 2 and VINEET SINGH '92.
of Denver, CO, announce the
birth of Vijay Rocco Murphy
Singh in September 1995. They
write, "Call for the story of
(Vijay's) name. He spends

*•'*»

O B I T U A R I E S

Enjoy a special holiday luncheon or dinner
with Panache Restaurant's delicious steaks,
seafood and pasta.

G O R D O N J . H I P P E R T ' 4 5 . of

For Anytime Holiday Cheer!

Tucson, AZ, died May 12. He

fgj Stop in The Night Club Lounge for dan<
and socializing with old friends and new!

served as a captain in the U.S.

Book your holiday party today!

Army Medical Corps before

Call the Catering Office
at 689-6900 Ext. 61.

returning to UB for his resi­
dency in obstetrics and gyne­

Harriott.

BUFFALO

cology. A founding member of
the American College of Ob­
stetrics and Gynecology, he

1340 Millersport Highway
Amherst, NY 14221
(716) 689-6900
(800) 334-4040 FAX (716) 689-0483

was chief of staff at St. Mary's
Hospital and Tucson Medical
Center.

most of his time eating and
laughing—the apple doesn't
fall far from the tree." Gayle is
enjoying private practice in
family medicine, and Vin is a

©

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PI.ANTING A TREE UNDER WHICH YOU WILL NEVER SIT
DR. DEVILLO W. HARRINGTON, class of 1871, knew how to make his money grow. In fact, this man who in 1905 provided $5,000 through

his will for the University at Buffalo School of Medicine, is still supporting UB today through the endowment his bequest created.
T H I S P E R M A N E N T endowment in Dr. Harrington's name has grown to over $300,000 and today it supports the famous

Harrington Lecture Series, which twice a year brings distinguished scientific speakers to the School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences.
DR. HARRINGTON'S LEGACY to UB is just one of many bequests which have established permanent and important endowed funds at

the school. They enable UB to provide scholarships to outstanding students, enhance scientific research, support excellence in teaching
and meet the ever-changing needs of the school.
You TOO can provide the School of Medicine with a measure of permanence through a bequest. Proper estate planning helps
you develop a smart financial plan. A charitable bequest provides the satisfaction that comes from planting a tree under which you
will never sit, but which will bear fruit for generations to come.
FOR A CONFIDENTIAL consultation on making a bequest to the UB School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, or to receive

materials to share with your attorney or estate planning advisor, please contact:
STEPHEN A. EBSARY, JR.
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UNIVERSITY AT BUFFALO
UNIVERSITY AT BUFFALO

(716) 829-2773