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School of Medicine  1940s  1950s  1960s  1970s  1980s  1990s  2000s Residency Training & Fellowship Deaths School of Medicine Residency Training & Fellowship Faculty and Staff New directory

 

School of Medicine Alumni John McCoy, 40M, represented the most senior class in attendance at the Medical Alumni Association's awards ceremony during Alumni Weekend last September. Dennis Davenport, 43C, 46M, of Longview, Wash., retired in 1994 and remains involved in medical matters. He is an active member of the Tumor Board and the Oregon Dermatology Society. He is also a captain and medical director in the US Public Health Service. Austin Fortney, 46M, of Jamestown, N.C., pens "Rhymes of the Times" for several local weeklies. In his columns, he sums up current events in concise, four-line verse. Fortney summed up last year's Elian Gonzalez fiasco, writing: "With legal techniques/ (While Miami shrieks)/ The court speaks/ And Elian to Cuba within weeks."     Fortney's column peppers the pages of several Virginia papers as well. Linton Bishop and Joe Wilson, both 47M, were honored by classmate, William Orr, who made the first gift to Emory's new Alumni Teaching Fund, established this year. The fund was set up to develop more reward mechanisms for outstanding clinician/educators like Bishop and Wilson.

Linton Bishop, 47M, and Joe Wilson, 47M

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Norman Stambaugh, 50M, who is retired after 35 years practicing ophthalmology in Dayton, Ohio, recently received a 50-year anniversary award from the state medical society.

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Donald W. Paty, 62M, of Vancouver, B.C., presented at a memorial medical symposium held at the Changzhou Hospital in China. The symposium honored his late father, Robert Morris Paty, 23M, former associate dean and chief of surgery at Emory.     Robert Paty's contributions to medical care in Changzhou, located midway between Shanghai and Nanjing, made him a well-known doctor in China, both in life and death.     Robert Paty first traveled to China as a medical missionary with the Southern Methodist Church. He was stationed at Suchow University to learn Chinese and within a year was assigned to Changzhou Hospital; the previous director had died of typhus. From 1924 onward, Robert Paty worked in Changzhou, building a 300-bed hospital after soliciting funds in the United States.     Robert Paty continued to work in the hospital until 1940 when American citizens in China were asked to leave the country. He returned for 18 months after World War II, leaving because political turmoil prevented him from bringing his family to join him. George T. Demos, 63M, of Englewood, Colo., retired from his practice in otolaryngology--head and neck surgery in February 2000 and is now engaged in a second career -- composing music and choir directing. Ellis L. Jones, 63M, was honored by Atlanta Heart Ball guests and the American Heart Association for more than 25 years of distinguished service as a cardiac surgeon at Emory University Hospital.

Emory's student representatives for the Association of American Medical Colleges nominated Professor of Medicine Kenneth Walker, 63M, for the Humanism in Medicine Award. Students singled out Walker as a positive and caring role model, selecting him from the entire School of Medicine faculty as the doctor they would hope to become. This year, the award attracted nominees from 46 medical schools across the country. Blanton Bessinger, 65M, of St. Paul, Minn., is serving as president of the Minnesota Medical Association. Walker Ray, 65M, of Tucker, Ga., is incoming president of the Medical Association of Georgia. Burton Reifler, 69M, of Winston-Salem, N.C., has been elected to a four-year term as director of psychiatry for the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology. He took office in January. Reifler is chair of psychiatry at Wake Forest.

Ken Walker (center), 63M

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Currently chair of family medicine at the University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, Alan Blum, 75M, is one of the nation's leading health activists and most knowledgeable critics of the tobacco industry. In 1977, Blum founded DOC (Doctors Ought to Care), which will celebrate its 25th anniversary next year. DOC was the first physicians' organization to confront the tobacco industry and train physicians and medical students to counteract smoking in the clinic, classroom, and community. For his work on tobacco issues, Blum received the Surgeon General's Medallion in 1988.     Another effort that sets Blum apart is his art. Since his days as a junior medical student, Blum has captured thousands of patients' stories in his notes and drawings.     "It's a way for me to appreciate and remember the patient as a whole," says Blum.     Blum's sketches have been published in the Journal of the American Medical Association and Literature and Medicine and have been displayed in galleries across the country.     When Blum is invited to speak about his sketches, something he feels is more akin to performance art than to a lecture, he advocates de-emphasizing the medical profession's reliance on technology -- to use less jargon and listen for the poetry in patients. Blum's audience is not limited to fellow physicians but includes anyone who has ever seen a doctor. Thomas Vandiver, 76M. See Harold Hope, Residency Training and Fellowship Alumni. Angela Smith, 79M, orthopedic surgeon at the Sports Medicine and Performance Center at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, was elected president of the American College of Sports Medicine. As president, she's promised to get out the message, to children and adults alike, that "fitness is fun." Teaching by example, Smith's love of and dedication to sport recently won her a fourth National Masters figure skating championship.

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Stuart Garner, 80M. See Harold Hope, Residency Training and Fellowship Alumni. Lewis Gaskin, 80M. See Harold Hope, Residency Training and Fellowship Alumni. Reid Blackwelder, 84M, of Kingsport, Tenn., has received the Humanism in Medicine Award from the Healthcare Foundation of New Jersey. The award honors people who promote the integration of humanism in the care of patients and their families.     Blackwelder, residency program director at East Tennessee State University Family Physicians of Kingsport and associate professor of medicine, is nationally known for his work integrating traditional healing systems into Western allopathic training. Leslie McFann-Tenaro, 77C, 80G, 84M, captain in the US Naval Reserve Medical Corps, is officer in charge of the Fleet Hospital Detachment at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston. Born: To Mark S. Litwin, 85M, and Adam Shulman, twins, Rose Rebecca and Max Jason, on June 21, 2000. Litwin is associate professor of urology and health services in the schools of Medicine and Public Health at University of California at Los Angeles. Born: To Mark W. Hutson, 89M, and his wife, Lisa, their first child, Lauren Margaret, on Feb. 8, 2000. Hutson has been with Atlanta Childrens Medical Group since 1994.

Reid Blackwelder, 84M

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Born: To Steven Lenhard, 93M, and his wife, Wendy, a son, Adam Marcus, on Aug. 9, 2000. The family resides in Marietta, Ga. Born: To Laureen Laughnan Benafield 90C, 94M, and her husband, Bryan, a daughter, Anna Claire, on Sep. 21, 1999. Benafield practices at the Northwest Arkansas Pediatric Clinic. The family resides in Fayetteville. Born: To Sean Kaminsky, 90C, 94M, and his wife, Kristen, their second son, Clark Allen, on Sep. 15, 2000. After completing a fellowship in shoulder surgery and sports medicine at the Hughston Clinic, Kaminsky and his family relocated to Nashville, where he practices with Premier Orthopaedics. Krista V. Lankford, 94M, of Decatur, Ga., has been appointed medical director of the American Red Cross Blood Services, Southern Region. She is also an assistant professor in pathology and laboratory medicine at Emory. Her primary research interest is blood transfusion therapy for children and adults with sickle cell disease. Born: To Cullen D. Morris, 96M, and his wife, Leigh, a daughter, Mary Katherine, on Jan. 7, 2000. Morris is a surgery resident at Emory. Married: Jonathan Vinson, 99M, and Devin Amelia McDonald, on Aug. 25, 2000, in Portland, Ore.

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Married: Jeffrey Lynn Brewster, 00M, and Tammy Lynn Shehane, on May 13, 2000, in Atlanta. The couple has relocated to Louisville, Ky., where Brewster began his pediatrics residency in July.

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Residency Training and Fellowship Alumni Married: Robert Joseph Cox and Angelia Cassady, on March 11, 2000, in Mobile, Ala. Cox is an assistant professor in emergency medicine at the University of South Alabama. Patrick Foley has established a urology practice in Chattanooga, Tenn., and lives just outside of town on top of Lookout Mountain with his wife, Sarah, and their two children. Charlotte Magazine conducted an on-line survey asking physicians in the Charlotte, N.C., area whom they trust to care for their own families. Not surprisingly, many Emory-trained doctors made the short list. Included were Harold Hope, in surgery; Thomas Vandiver, 76M, in obstetrics and gynecology; Stuart Garner, 80M, in pulmonary disease, and Lewis Gaskin, 80M, in ophthalmology. Born: To Jeff Hopkins, of Atlanta, and his wife, Cynthia, a son, Jared Lyle, on Jan. 5, 2000. Hopkins practices at Northside Pediatrics and specializes in adolescent medicine. Charles Kinsella is a pulmonary and critical care specialist at the Center for Respiratory Medicine in Indianapolis. Married: Larry Morris, of Gainesville, Ga., and Marjorie H. Roberts, on Oct. 14, 2000. In November, Emory's Department of Pediatrics held a series of research and pediatric infectious disease seminars in a weekend celebration in honor of André J. Nahmias, Richard W. Blumberg Professor of Pediatrics.     Nahmias, who is also an adjunct professor of pathology and public health at Emory, joined the pediatrics department in 1964. In his 50 years of research and 40 years in pediatrics, Nahmias has contributed to basic and applied research in virology, bacteriology, immunology, epidemiology, and pediatric and perinatal infections.     His research is known internationally, and he is one of the 500 most-cited scientists in the world. Among his many local and national awards, he received the prestigious American Academy of Pediatrics Research Award and the Infectious Disease Society of America Award. Married: Deirdre "Dee Dee" Smith and Paul Stewart on April 15, 2000. The couple resides in White Plains, Ga.

André J. Nahmias

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School of Medicine Alumni Charles Henry Bramlitt, 33M, of Gulfport, Fla., on Sep. 15, 2000, in his home, at age 92.     After retiring from the Air Force as colonel in 1959, Bramlitt worked for the American Medical Association (AMA) in Chicago, rising to director of the department of scientific assembly.     He left the AMA for St. Petersburg, Fla., where he was medical education director for Mound Park Hospital (now Bayfront Medical Center) and Mercy Hospital.     Three years later, he stepped down and was in private practice until retiring in 1987.     Survivors include two daughters, a sister, five grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren. Derrick C. Turnipseed, 37M, of Verona, Wis.     Both in private practice and as city physician, Turnipseed served the citizens of Orlando, Fla., for almost 30 years, retiring in 1986. As city physician, he oversaw everything from physicals to treatment of injuries for police, firefighters, and city employees.     When Orlando consolidated services with Orange County, Turnipseed became bureau chief of the Industrial Medical Unit and helped organize the emergency department at Orlando Regional Medical Center, serving as its chief 1966-1970.     Turnipseed also served as a flight surgeon in the Navy Medical Corps, where he met his wife of more than 50 years, Gladys.     Survivors include two sons, William Derrick Turnipseed, 65C, 69M, of Madison, Wis., and John Michael Turnipseed, of Hollywood, Fla.

Deaths

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Preston DeWitt Conger, 40M, of Spartanburg, S.C., on May 12, 2000.     After serving in the US Army Medical Corps during World War II, Conger settled in Moultrie, S.C., where he joined Frank Gay's general practice in the Colquitt Hotel building. He later opened a solo practice, which he ran out of his home.     When Conger retired on Feb. 6, 1992, the date marked not only his 78th birthday but also 52 years of medical practice. The last 31 of those years, he worked alongside his wife, who was also his office nurse.     Blending the best of "old" and "new" medicine throughout his career, Conger cited the advent of antibiotics as the greatest medical advance he had witnessed and continued to make house calls until the day he retired. John Robinson Cates Jr., 37Ox, 39C, 42M, of New York City, on Aug. 5, 2000. Arthur Bonell Codington, 39C, 42M, of Atlanta, on Aug. 5, 2000. William E. Doggett Jr., 43M, of Birmingham, Ala., on July 18, 2000, at age 80. Doggett died of a heart attack while seeing his last patient of the day. At the time of his death, he was the oldest practicing general physician in Alabama.     "He got his wish," said Doggett's daughter, Corinne Buchanan, a doctor herself. "He died in the trenches."     As a captain in the US Army Medical Corps, Doggett was stationed in China 1947-1948. After returning to the states, he joined Birmingham's Tarrant Medical Clinic, where he practiced family medicine for more than 50 years.     He was a member and past president of the Alabama Academy of General Practitioners, which recently honored him as its oldest actively practicing physician. He was also a member of the Jefferson County Medical Society and served two terms as president of the staff at Medical Center East.     Survivors include his wife of 57 years, Mildred, three sons, two daughters, and five grandchildren. Sayge Hardin Anthony, 45M, of Greenville, S.C., on April 2, 2000. He is survived by his wife, Anne. Gurdon Robert Foster Jr., 43C, 45M, of McDonough, Ga., on Dec. 21, 1999. He is survived by his wife, Jane. Harry E. Halden III, 43C, 45M, of Metairie, La., on July 29, 2000, in his home, at age 78. Halden had served in the US Public Health Service and was retired from private practice in Lakeland, Fla. Survivors include his wife, Helen, four daughters, and eight grandchildren. Fred Iverson Dorman, 49M, of Crescent City, Fla., on July 14, 2000, of prostate cancer and congestive heart failure, at age 85. After service in the Pacific Theater during World War II with the Army Air Corps, Dorman served Lakeland, Fla., as a pediatrician, 1952-1984. He devoted his life to providing medical care for children, as evidenced by his establishment of the Florida Crippled Children's Clinic Association. Survivors include his wife, Muriel.

William E. Doggett Jr., 43M

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Edward Leroy Askren III, 54C, 56M, of Atlanta, on April 30, 2000, of cardiopulmonary disease, at age 68.     After receiving his medical degree from Emory, Askren was a psychiatric resident at the University of Pennsylvania, where he studied under noted therapists Carl Whitaker and Virginia Satir and Gestalt therapy founder Fritz Perls.     Askren returned to Atlanta in 1962, following service in the Air Force as a captain at Vandenburg Air Force Base in Lompoc, Calif., and became a pioneer in the humanistic family therapy movement of the early 1970s.     His practice included therapy for prisoners through vocational rehabilitation. Askren's controversial later work was informed by an interest in astrology, which he used as a personality assessment tool.     Survivors include six children, seven grandchildren, and a sister. Theodore M. Wolff, 53C, 57M, of Miami, on April 15, 2000. After receiving his medical degree from Emory, Wolff completed his residency in psychiatry at the University of Miami, where he later became a clinical professor of psychiatry. Wolff was also past president of the South Florida Psychiatric Society. Survivors include his wife, Elinor, and two daughters. Albert Gersing, 55C, 58M, of Banner Elk, N.C.

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John Peter Syribeys, 56C, 60M, of Atlanta, on Oct. 8, 2000, at age 64. Syribeys practiced general surgery in DeKalb County for more than 30 years. A flight surgeon with the Georgia Air Force National Guard, he retired as brigadier general in 1994, receiving the Legion of Merit Award. Survivors include his wife, Margaret, and three sons. John Lewis Wilson, 61M, of Tallahassee, Fla., on May 28, 2000, at age 64. After completing his cardiology residency at Grady, Wilson practiced medicine for 28 years in Tallahassee, retiring in 1996. Survivors include his wife, Harriet, three daughters, and eight grandchildren.

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Samuel Monroe Howell III, 75M, of Cartersville, Ga., on Nov. 4, 2000. Survivors include his wife, Martha; a son, David; and two daughters, Anne and Rebecca.

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Residency Training and Fellowship Alumni John Bostwick, of Atlanta, one of the nation's leading experts in breast reconstruction after breast cancer surgery, died suddenly and unexpectedly on Jan. 11, 2001.     Director of Emory's Division of Plastic Surgery and chief of plastic surgery at Emory Clinic and Emory University Hospital, Bostwick was known internationally for his work in both aesthetic and reconstructive surgery. He was instrumental in the development and refinement of surgical techniques that use tissue from a woman's own body to reconstruct her breast. Patients and colleagues sought him out from across the world.     Other plastic surgeons referred to his comprehensive, two-volume tome on plastic and reconstructive breast surgery, and hundreds of plastic surgeons traveled to Emory to learn techniques at his side. His popular book, A Woman's Decision: Breast Care, Treatment and Reconstruction, is now in its third edition and is credited with giving women a way of overcoming fear and of becoming participants in the treatment planning process.     Before his untimely death, Bostwick was scheduled to be named the William G. Hamm Professor of Surgery.     "John was remarkable, not only for his surgical skills, which were without parallel, but also for his ever-gracious interest in others, from political leaders and Hollywood royalty who sought him out as a surgeon to the humblest student or staff member," said William C. Wood, chair of Surgery.     Bostwick was a graduate of Emory College, and after receiving his medical degree from the University of Tennessee, he returned to Emory to complete general surgery and plastic surgery residencies. He was named director of plastic surgery and head of Emory's clinical programs in plastic and reconstructive surgery in 1992.     From the start of his career, he was a popular instructor, recently named best teacher in surgery, and was a widely sought lecturer and visiting professor. He was the author or editor of 10 books, many in numerous editions, and over 200 articles and book chapters.     Survivors include his wife, Jane, his mother and sister, two children, and one grandchild.

John Bostwick

Dorothy Brinsfield, professor emerita of pediatrics and former executive associate dean of students in the School of Medicine, died on March 15, 2001, of pancreatic cancer.     As she told it, Brinsfield was initially regarded with a lot of skepticism when she first said she wanted to be a doctor. She was in first grade, and people just laughed. But as it turned out, she really did know what she wanted. She not only became a doctor, but she helped many other women and men do so as well.     She received her MD from Medical College of Georgia in 1950, at a time when becoming an MD was still relatively rare for women. She did postgraduate training at University of Texas and then Emory and rose to become chief resident in pediatrics. She later became Emory's first fellow in pediatric cardiology and in 1970 became director of that division, helping build it into the world-class program that it is today. She was named as the school's first William Patterson Timmie Professor of Pediatrics in 1974.     A leader in clinical medicine, Brinsfield was especially proud of the fact that she performed Egleston Children's Hospital's first cardiac catheterization. This occurred, appropriately, on Valentine's Day, 1975.     That same year, Brinsfield became dean of students in the medical school, following the retirement of Evangeline Papageorge, who told then Dean Arthur Richardson, "Now I can retire in peace," in the assurance that Emory's students would be in excellent hands with Brinsfield. Like her predecessor, Brinsfield was much loved by students, in large part because she showed such concern and affection for them. (She received the Most Outstanding Faculty Award in 1971 and was named Honorary Class Member in 1991.)     She retired from Emory part-time in 1991 (the same year alumni gave her the Award of Honor) and full-time in 1993 but continued to work with the Medical Alumni Board, serving with Papageorge as regent. Her contributions to her profession live on in the work she did to help raise funds for much-needed scholarships for medical students. Lorrie Sue Glassberg, of Atlanta, on March 16, 2000. Julian Gomez, of Charlottesville, Va., in his home, on Jan. 11, 2000. After graduating from the University of Havana School of Medicine, Gomez immigrated to the United States in 1960. He received further training at the Columbia University Psychoanalytic Institute and at Emory, where he later became a clinical professor of psychiatry. Until his recent illness, Gomez had a private psychiatry practice in Atlanta. Survivors include his wife of 42 years, Berta, and their five children. Howard G. Munro, of Hampton Bays, N.Y., on Oct. 29, 2000, at age 63. After graduating from Harvard Medical School, Munro completed his residency at Roosevelt Hospital in New York City. He then served at Shaw Air Force Base in South Carolina. Following his service, Munro completed a fellowship at Grady Hospital. Since 1968, he had been in private practice in Riverhead, N.Y., and was an attending physician at Central Suffolk Hospital. Survivors include his wife, Estelle, and three children. William A. Steed of Augusta, Ga., on March 3, 2000. Survivors include his wife, Jeanette. Alicia Leizman Stonecipher, of Atlanta, on March 28, 2000, at age 40. Stonecipher succeeded in attaining a balance between the demands of her medical practice at Decatur Dermatology Associates and those of her four children, whom friends say were always first and foremost in her mind. Abner Calhoun Witham, of Aiken, S.C., on May 14, 2000, in his home, at age 79.     A captain in the US Army and a veteran of World War II, Witham completed his residency at Grady Hospital in 1949. He continued his education as a research associate at the British Post Graduate Medical School, part of the University of London.     Specializing in cardiology, Witham became an adjunct professor at the University of Capetown in South Africa as well as a professor at the Medical College of Georgia (MCG), where he served for more than 30 years. Accomplishments include founding the section of cardiology in the department of medicine at MCG and serving as its chief for many years.     Witham also served as president of the Georgia Heart Association 1978Ð1979 and president of the Association of University Cardiologists 1983Ð1984. Survivors include his wife, Jane, and five children.

Dorothy Brinsfield

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Faculty and Staff John Bostwick. See page 41. Dorothy Brinsfield. See page 42. Robert Egan, emeritus professor of radiology, on Feb. 4, 2001. Egan is recognized as the developer of modern mammography.     In 1954, while on staff at M.D. Anderson Hospital in Houston, he was charged with developing reliable mammograms. He used a polymer material to simulate breast tissue, embedding blocks of the substance with items of various density, from paper clips to talcum powder, and then x-raying the blocks and studying the film. By 1960, he had a usable system and tested it in clinical trials, showing it to be an acceptable and reproducible technique for early detection of breast cancer.     He was dismayed that the technique would languish unused for years by the medical profession and that few women even knew about it for decades.     "He developed a valuable piece of research, and no one recognized for 25 years how valuable it would become," says William Casarella, Emory's chair of Radiology. "He made a great contribution to the nation's health."     Egan was on the Emory faculty from 1964 until his retirement in 1988. He directed Emory's breast cancer detection project and worked on techniques to enhance cancer detection, including pioneering work in computer-aided diagnosis. John R. K. Preedy, emeritus professor of medicine, on Oct. 2, 2000. In 1958, Preedy, then a young endocrinologist from London, was recruited to join Emory's rapidly expanding Department of Medicine. His office was in the Glenn Building on the Grady campus, and from there he oversaw the development of the new Division of Endocrinology. An expert in estrogen metabolism, he was instrumental in the development of new methods to measure the hormone. In 1981, Preedy took the position of assistant chief of staff in research at the Atlanta Veterans Affairs Hospital, a position he held until retiring in 1986.

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New alumni directory in the works f you have not done so already, you should soon receive a questionnaire from Harris Publishing Company soliciting information for the School of Medicine's new Medical Alumni Directory, due out next January. Questionnaires will be followed by phone calls this summer to verify information on individual listings of the school's 11,000-plus alums. We urge you to complete and return these questionnaires to help us keep up with you and to help you keep up with one another. You will have opportunity to order a copy of the directory during the follow-up call to verify information. In addition to other contact information, the directory will include email addresses. If you have not heard from a Harris representative by September 11, you may contact the company at 1-800-877-6554. If you do not wish to be included in this directory, please contact the Emory Alumni Records division at eurec@emory.edu. Thanks for your cooperation in this project!