In addition to sitting on numerous AHA committees, Dr. Schlant chaired the group's 1986 Council on Clinical Cardiology and has also sat on the board of directors for the Georgia Heart Association. He has served two terms as Georgia Governor for the American College of Cardiology and one as president of the Association of University Cardiologists.
Dr. Schlant received both his BA and MD from Vanderbilt University. He completed his medical residency at Peter Bent Brigham Hospital, Boston, and a research fellowship in medicine at Harvard in 1958.
He has been a member of Emory's medical faculty since that time.
The author of hundreds of scientific papers, Dr. Schlant has lectured around the world on topics related to heart disease and has mentored countless doctors-in-training who now are practicing cardiology around the nation. He is co-editor of the definitive cardiology text, The Heart.
The MAA's Award of Honor was presented to Paul W. Seavey, 49C, 53M, professor of medicine at Emory. A native of Clearwater, Florida, Dr. Seavey completed his residency in internal medicine at Duke Medical Center and a fellowship in cardiology under Emory physicians Bruce Logue and J. Willis Hurst. After a decade in private practice, he returned to Emory in 1967 as a faculty member in the department of medicine and as a member of The Emory Clinic. He is acknowledged to be one of the most revered and trusted of all Emory physicians, not just among his many loyal patients but also among his professional colleagues, who routinely turn to him first when they or a family member need medical care.
Gratitude has prompted several patients of Dr. Seavey-most prominently philanthropists John Lupton, Bill Robinson, and several members of the Rollins family-to make substantial gifts to the School of Medicine in his honor to establish the Paul W. Seavey Chair in Internal Medicine and the Paul W. Seavey Medical Endowment. The latter, worth more than $3 million, funds fellowships and supports the activities of young faculty in internal medicine at the beginning of their careers. It is a use that reflects Dr. Seavey's own lifelong commitment to Emory and the practice of internal medicine. The new John W. Rollins Pavilion in Emory Hospital is another of Dr. Seavey's legacies to patient care at Emory. The inspiration and support for this pavilion, which consists of six finely appointed VIP suites, came from businessman and philanthropist John W. Rollins, Sr.-another grateful patient of Dr. Seavey.
Following the award presentations, the leadership of the MAA was transferred from Dr. Croft to Atlanta pediatrician Walker L. Ray, 63C, 65M, who will serve a two-year term as president. Margaret N. Mermin, 62C, 77M, was installed as the 1995-1996 MAA vice president.
A native of Atlanta, Dr. Ray completed his pediatric internship and residency through Emory programs at Egleston and Grady hospitals. After serving a stint in the Air Force, he entered private practice in 1970. He is a member of the DeKalb Medical Society, the Medical Association of Georgia, and the AMA. In his role as MAA president, Dr. Ray serves on Emory's National Council for Medicine. He also served on the search committee for the new medical school dean.
Dr. Ray is the first MAA president to serve a two-year term; the change was made to give the office more stability and to give the person holding it more time to follow through with long-term initiatives.
For Dr. Ray, a main focus of his work as president is to rekindle some dormant relationships between the MAA and many of its local members. "There are literally hundreds of med school and house officer alumni living and working in the Atlanta area who have had minimal contact with Emory since they finished their program here," he says. "There are, of course, many reasons for that, but I am committed to building some bridges to these folks to help overcome those reasons. It can only strengthen our association and better serve the medical school and medical education."
One area Dr. Ray sees for increased interaction between the School of Medicine and its alumni is in the realm of medical school admissions. "I've been an associate member of the admissions committee here for the past five years," he says, "where I've assisted in the process of interviewing and admitting prospective students. In that time, I've never failed to come away energized and recharged with a newfound admiration for the quality of candidates Emory is able to attract. There are 8,000 or 9,000 applicants each year, with about 10% eventually being interviewed to fill about 110 slots. It's an incredibly competitive process that brings one in contact with some truly remarkable young men and women who have the option of going almost anywhere but have decided on Emory. These kids in just a few years will join our alumni association and join us in practice as professional colleagues, and it is incredibly gratifying and important to be able to play a role, however small, in helping secure the very best possible candidates for our medical school."
Dr. Ray encourages alumni who are interested in assisting in this process to contact the medical school's alumni office at (404) 727-5714.
Members of the Medical Alumni Association's Executive Committee include the following:
President: Walker L. Ray, 65M
Immediate Past President: Barbara N. Croft, 78M
Vice President: Margaret N. Mermin, 77M
Trustees: Robert P. Cunningham, 52M; Peggy G. Duke, 77M; M. Felton Hagood, 66M; W. Jefferson
Pendergrast, Jr., 72M; Robert B. Pitts, 84M; Darryl J. Tookes, 87M; and Robert L. Whipple III, 67M
Regents: Evangeline Papageorge, 29G; and Dorothy Brinsfield (residency training alumna)
Reprinted from Emory Medicine Magazine, pp 44-45, Autumn 1996
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