Alumni News

1970s

Dennis A. Ausiello, MD’71 has joined the board of directors at Rani Therapeutics, a pioneer in oral biologics. He most recently served as chief of Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) from 1996 until 2013. Currently the director of the Center for Assessment Technology and Continuous Health, he founded this program as a joint effort between MGH and Massachusetts Institute of Technology physicians, scientists, and engineers to provide real-time measurement and analysis of the human phenotype in wellness and disease.

Robert J. Spiegel, MD’75 has joined the Scientific Advisory Board in Oncology at CERENIS Therapeutics, an international biopharmaceutical company dedicated to the discovery and development of HDL-based innovative therapies for treating cardiovascular and metabolic diseases, as well as new HDL-based vectors for targeted drug delivery in the field of oncology. He has over 30 years of extensive R&D and operational experience in biopharmaceuticals including Big Pharma, biotech, and academic startups, as well as interactions advising venture capital and private equity.

1980s

Francisco A. Arabia, MD’83 has been appointed physician executive of advanced heart failure and mechanical circulatory support at Banner Health. He is an internationally recognized surgeon and executive leader in thoracic, cardiothoracic vascular, and transplant surgery. He most recently worked at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, where he served in several leadership roles focused on advanced heart disease, mechanical circulatory support, cardiothoracic surgery, and comprehensive heart transplant programs. He will also serve as professor of Surgery at the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Phoenix, with a joint appointment at the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Tuscon.

Harry L. Leider, MD’83 has been appointed chief medical officer and executive vice president of Gelesis, a biotechnology company developing first-in class mechanotherapeutics to treat obesity and other chronic diseases related to the gastrointestinal pathway. He most recently served as chief medical officer and group vice president at Walgreens.

Richard S. Levy, MD’83, GME’86 has joined the board of directors at Kodiak Sciences Inc., a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company specializing in novel therapeutics to treat high prevalence ophthalmic diseases. He served as executive vice president and chief drug development officer of Incyte Corporation for many years.

Kathleen A. Cooney, MD’84 has been appointed chair of the Department of Medicine at Duke University School of Medicine. She is a medical oncologist and internationally known physician scientist. She most recently worked at the University of Utah School of Medicine, where she was the H.A. and Edna Benning Presidential Endowed Professor, chair of the Department of Internal Medicine, and member of the Huntsman Cancer Institute.

David A. Mankoff, MD’85 has joined the scientific advisory board at ImaginAb Inc., an immune-oncology imaging company. He is Gerd Muehllehner Professor of Radiology, vice chair for research in Radiology, and director of the PET Center at the Perelman School of Medicine.

Ronald Alan Paulus, BS’84, MD’88, MBA’88 has joined the board of directors of Vocera Communications, Inc., a leader in clinical communication and workflow solutions. He has been the president and CEO of Mission Health, a $1.9 billion regional integrated delivery system serving western North Carolina. He has published numerous peer-reviewed articles and speaks regularly on the topics of healthcare quality and efficiency, human-centered innovation, physician leadership, and new models of care.

1990s

Gary M. Phillips, BA’87, MBA’91, MD’92, GME’97 has been appointed president and chief executive officer of OrphoMed, Inc., a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing first-in-class dimer therapeutics. He has over two decades of experience in the pharmaceutical and health care industries, leading commercial operations, clinical medicine, business strategy and development functions. He maintains an active medical license and practiced as a general medicine clinician/officer in the U.S. Navy, from which he was honorably discharged as Lieutenant Commander.

Jin-Moo Lee, MD, GME’97 has been named Norman J. Stupp Professor of Neurology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. He studies how the brain “rewires” itself after injury to find ways to enhance recovery. He has also been instrumental in improving care for stroke patients as co-chief of the Stroke and Cerebrovascular Disease Center at Barnes-Jewish Hospital. He has worked to integrate patient care across the Barnes-Jewish network to allow smooth transitions from inpatient to rehab.

Nahush A. Mokadam, BA’94, MD’98 has been appointed division director for Cardiac Sugery at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center. He is an international leader in heart failure who specializes in heart transplants and ventricular assist devices. He most recently worked at the University of Washington Medical Center as the LeRoss Endowed Professor in Cardiovascular Surgery, surgical director of heart transplant and mechanical circulatory support, and program director for the cardiothoracic residency.

Christina M. Coughlin, MD’99, PhD’99 has been appointed chief medical officer and executive vice president at Tmunity Therapeutics, Inc., a private clinical-stage biotherapeutics company focused on saving and improving lives by delivering the full potential of T cell immunotherapy. She is responsible for clinical development, program leadership, and regulatory affairs.

2000s

Nishan M. de Silva, MD’00, MBA’00 has been appointed chief executive officer at Dermtreat, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on mucosal diseases. He has nearly 20 years of experience in biotechnology, venture capital and health care management consulting. He most recently served as president of Poseida Therapeutics, where he helped build a clinical-stage oncology pipeline and raise more than $70 million in funding.

Beau M. Ances, BA’93, MSc, PhD’00, MD’01 has been named the inaugural Daniel J. Brennan, MD, Professor of Neurology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. He develops diagnostic tools and treatments for Alzheimer’s disease.

Allan S. Stewart, MD, GME’02 has been appointed chief of Cardiac Surgery at Miami Cardiac & Vascular Institute, part of Baptist Health South Florida. He has over 13 years of experience in transcatheter aortic valve replacement procedures, being the second to ever perform this procedure in the United States, and has completed 1,200 since. He most recently served as director of the Center for Aortic Disease, co-director of the Heart Valve Repair Center, and medical director of International Medicine at Mount Sinai Health System in New York.

D. Chimene Richa, MD’05 has been appointed medical director at Knowledge to Practice (K2P), a leading provider of personalized, competency-based lifelong learning for practicing physicians, hospitals, and health care systems. Prior to this position, he was a clinical assistant professor of Ophthalmology at University of Maryland School of Medicine and also served as associate program director and director of medical student education for the department. As the medical director for K2P, he will continue limited clinical practice at the University.

Ali Behbahani, MD’07, MBA’07 has been promoted to general partner at New Enterprise Associates, Inc. He is a health care investor focused on the biopharmaceutical and medical devices sectors. He joined NEA in 2007 and was promoted partner in 2013.

2010s

Janet Haas, MD, GME’10 has been appointed honorary chairwoman of the Pennsylvania Early Learning Investment Commission. She is also the chairwoman and a past president of the William Penn Foundation. She practices palliative medicine at the Abramson Cancer Center of Pennsylvania Hospital. She is board-certified in Rehabilitation Medicine and has cared for brain-injured patients at Temple University and Moss Rehabilitation Hospital.

 

Obituaries

1950s

Luther W. Brady, MD, GME’56, a radiation oncologist; July 20. He was a renowned radiation oncologist and authority on tumors of the eyes, and practiced medicine for more than a half century at Hahnemann University Hospital. In 2006, he founded Philadelphia CyberKnife, a Havertown center featuring the first linear accelerator with a robotic arm for performing precise radiation treatment. In the 1940s, he earned a bachelor’s degree in zoology and a medical degree from George Washington University. He received post-graduate training at the U.S. Naval Hospital in Bethesda, Md.; Jefferson Medical College; and the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania.

David Faegenburg, BA’52, MD’56, a radiologist; May 10. For nearly 50 years, he was a committed and esteemed radiologist. He excelled in school and attended the University of Pennsylvania on full scholarship, first as an undergraduate and then at its medical school.

John M. Akin Jr., MD’53, GME’60, a surgeon; March 1, 2013. He attended Birmingham-Southern College where he was president of the student body, an SAE, ODK, Magna Cum Laude, and voted by faculty as Senior Contributing Most To The School. In 1949, he entered the University of Pennsylvania and was elected to AOA honorary society. He interned and completed his surgical residency at the Hospital of University of Pennsylvania. He became chief surgical resident and diplomate of the American Board of Surgery. In addition, he was a captain in the United States Air Force Medical Corps at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida from 1955 until 1957. He entered the private practice of general surgery at Montclaire Baptist Hospital in Birmingham, Ala., and was director of the surgical residency program, which he helped establish, for many years. He taught third-year medical students at the University of Alabama School of Medicine. He was president of the Jefferson County Medical Society in 1976, vice president of the Medical Association of the State of Alabama in 1978, president of the Birmingham Academy of Medicine in 1974, on the board of directors for the American Cancer Society, a member of American College of Surgeons, and a member of Norton Board of Birmingham-Southern College.     

1960s

Joseph H. Wearn, MD’64, a former pediatrician; Dec. 16. He was a pediatrician for three generations of children in the region of Tacoma, Wa. He was an early advocate and leader in establishing Mary Bridge as a regional medical center for children and the newborn intensive care unit at Tacoma General. He served in the U.S. Army and was an Eagle Scout. He received the Wright Brothers Master Pilot Award for 50 years of safe aviation flying, and he was an advisor and mentor for Aviation Explorers, Post 1735, at Tacoma Narrows Airport.

Herbert M. Loyd, MD, GME’66, a retired radiologist; Aug. 20, 2017. He graduated magna cum laude from the University of Texas in 1955 with a BA in Zoology and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. He was voted the outstanding pre-medical student by the faculty. He received his medical degree from Louisiana State University in New Orleans in 1959, was elected to AOA honorary society, and served a rotating internship as senior assistant surgeon at the Public Health Service Hospital in Baltimore. Following the internship, he fulfilled his military obligation at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md. and later began a four-year residency program in radiology at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, and served a fifth year as a staff radiologist to complete his specialty training. He joined Houston Methodist Hospital in the Texas Medical Center in 1967 as a diagnostic radiologist, became chief of the Scurlock Outpatient Department in 1980, and retired in 1997. During that time, he also served as clinical associate professor at Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, where he was recognized as a gifted teacher. He was a Diplomate of the American Board of Radiology, a member of the Radiological Society of North America, Texas Radiological Society, and Houston Radiological Society. In retirement, he enjoyed volunteering and teaching weekly seminars to transitional radiology residents and technicians at Methodist Hospital.

Irving S. Wiesner, BA’62, MD’66, a psychiatrist; April 9. He received a fellowship in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at the Pennsylvania Child Guidance Center, and completed his residency at the University of Pennsylvania Health System and the Albert Einstein Montefiore Medical Center. He was a practicing psychiatrist at Swarthmore Medical Center with prior training in internal medicine and gastroenterology. He was the past chairman of the Committee on Religion, Spirituality, and Psychiatry of the American Psychiatric Association; the past president of the Psychiatry Section of the Christian Medical and Dental Association; and the author of three books dealing with psychiatry and the Christian faith.

1970s

Herbert I. Goldberg, MD, GME’71, an emeritus professor in Radiology; March 26, 2017. He graduated from the University of Vermont College of Medicine in 1956 and completed an internship at Bellevue Hospital. He completed his residency at Penn Presbyterian Medical Center and received a fellowship at New York Presbyterian Hospital-Columbia Presbyterian Center. In 1967, he became a professor of Radiology; in 1978, he became a professor of Radiation Oncology; and in 1984, he became a professor of Neurosurgery. In 1992, he joined the 25-Year Club at Penn, and became emeritus professor of Radiology in 1998.

Norma O. Goldstein, PhD’71, a retired biologist; April 12. She received her bachelor’s degree from New York University in 1942, her master’s degree from Columbia University in 1949, and her PhD from the University of Pennsylvania in 1971. She was a cell biologist whose work spanned periods at Woods Hole Marine Biological Laboratory (now Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution), the University of California at Berkeley Department of Zoology, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and multiple research laboratories at the University of Pennsylvania. She worked at the University of Pennsylvania for the last several decades of her career, where she studied animal and human gene sequencing to illuminate their relationship to aging and pathology of human heart, lung and skin diseases.

Morris Tobin, BS’67, MD’71, a nephrologist; June 18. He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry in 1967 and a Doctor of Medicine in 1971. He went on to receive his specialty training in Internal Medicine and a fellowship in Nephrology at the University of Buffalo. After completing his training, he relocated to Paris, Tex., to start his private practice in 1979. He served the Northeast Texas and Southeast Oklahoma community for almost 40 years as a devoted physician and helped establish the first dialysis unit in NE Texas along with the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word from San Antonio. Throughout his career he served as chief of Medicine at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Paris, Tex., and served on various committees at St. Joseph’s and McCuistion hospitals, including ICU, Pharmacy, and Infection Control. He worked as a consulting physician for the Choctaw Nation in Oklahoma since starting his practice. Most recently he was on staff at Trinity Mother Francis in Sulphur Springs, Tex. He was a large advocate and supporter of Doctors Without Borders.

Janet De Hoff Sparks, MT’72, PhD’80, a professor; Dec. 3. She earned a degree in medical technology from the University of Pennsylvania School of Allied Medical Professions, followed by a PhD at Penn and a post-doctoral fellowship at the Wistar Institute. For 35 years, she was a professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the University of Rochester. Throughout her entire life, she worked in cardiovascular diabetes research and was a member of many organizations and a fellow of the American Heart Association. She authored numerous scientific publications and was involved in peer review activities serving as a member or chairman of multiple review panels. She served as director of a graduate cluster as well as a member of departmental and university committees.

Donald B. Thornton, MD’72, a physician of pulmonary disease; Dec. 10. He graduated from the University of Michigan with a BSE in Bioengineering and worked for North American Rockwell Corp as a Human Factors Engineer where he worked on life support systems and workspace analysis for the Apollo 7 mission. He received a fellowship from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and studied further at the University of Washington School of Medicine where he had a Post-Doctoral Fellowship in Pulmonary Disease Research. Following internship and residencies, he joined the U.S. Navy Reserve as a medical officer. Beyond his private practice in San Diego, he provided medical services to poverty-stricken communities in Africa and serviced incarcerated populations in Michigan.

Harvey E. Bernstein, MD’73, a pediatrician; April 6. He received his medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania and completed his residency at Albert Einstein College of Medicine at Jacobi Medical Center. He worked at Smithtown Pediatric Group as a pediatrician.

Dong Myung Kwak, MD, GME’75, a physician; May 5. He received his bachelor’s and medical degree from Pusan National University in South Korea and completed his residency at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. He was a physician at Overlook Medical Center in Summit for over two decades and, most recently, at various surgical centers in New Jersey.

1980s

Lawrence Scott Linder, MD’88, a former director of emergency medicine at the University of Maryland Baltimore-Washington Medical Center; May 1. He received his bachelor’s degree at Franklin & Marshall College and his medical degree at the University of Pennsylvania. During medical school, he sang in the university choir and once performed at Carnegie Hall. He conducted his internship and residency at Christiana Hospital in Newark, Del. In 1991, he moved to Maryland and joined the staff of then-North Arundel General Hospital where he served as chief of Medicine. His final post was chief executive officer of the University of Maryland Community Medical Group where he retired.

Faculty

Herbert I. Goldberg, MD. See Class of 1971.

Norma O. Goldstein, PhD. See Class of 1971.