Dear Vanderbilt Medical Alumni:
Our Vanderbilt Medical Alumni Association board (VMAA) includes a number of highly dedicated Vanderbilt University School of Medicine (VUSM) alumni as well as former Vanderbilt University Medical Center house staff trainees. Our board was very fortunate to have been led this past year by W. Bedford Waters, MD’74, (Knoxville, Tennessee) who passed away May 25. Bedford loved Vanderbilt and had endowed a scholarship in his mother’s name, the Irene Georgia Bedford Waters Scholarship. His legacy of service to Vanderbilt, to the VMAA board, and to our VUSM students will be an enduring one, but it will be his loyal and generous friendship that will be most profoundly missed.
The VMAA board is fortunate that our president-elect, retired Maj. Gen. Steve Jones, has agreed to accept the presidency of the VMAA board. He will immediately begin to serve in this role and will lead through Reunion 2022. The executive committee of the VMAA board is also pleased to announce that Mary Laird Warner, MD’90, (Denver, Colorado) has accepted the position of president-elect.
It’s been a busy year for VMAA events with regional dinners in Baltimore, San Francisco, Palo Alto, and Austin and numerous conference receptions at national meetings that include ACS, ACC, AANS, ASTRO, ENDO, IDWeek, and many more. Check our website calendar for a list of upcoming VMAA events.
Each year the VMAA supports several events for our students and house staff: our student-led Shade Tree Trot, VMS III’s Parents’ Weekend, VMS I’s White Coat Donors celebration, several lunch-and-learns (including one for Navy Week), and the VMS II’s “You’re Halfway There Party.” VMAA sponsored a reception for the VUSM Class of 2019’s AOA inductions and co-hosted with the Office for Health Sciences Education our 16th annual VMAA Almost Alumni & Faculty Appreciation Luncheon. We welcomed our incoming house staff at the VUMC House Staff Orientation Picnic and sponsored House Staff Night Outs with the Sounds and Vanderbilt basketball. A “Way Late Play Date” at Nashville’s Adventure Science Museum was a new addition to our House Staff programming this year.
While our next biennial Vanderbilt University School of Medicine Reunion is still a year away, we are actively making plans for this event and encourage you to check our VMAA Reunion website at reunion.vanderbilt.edu/medicine for updates. All medical alumni are invited to join us for Reunion 2020.
Hearing from you is one of the most enjoyable aspects of my role with the VMAA. Please take a moment to submit your “Worthy of Note” news for our next edition of Vanderbilt Medicine Magazine. Send your news and photographs to medalum@vanderbilt.edu; fax to (615) 936-8475; or mail to VUMC, 21st Avenue South and Medical Center Drive, MCN D-8212, Nashville, Tennessee 37232-2106.
We hope to hear from you soon.
Best Wishes,
