1950s
Oscar C. Beasley, MD’52, resides in a retirement home in Coralville, Iowa.
Kenneth Jacobs, MD, HS’54, spoke during the H. William Scott Jr. Society’s 50th Anniversary dinner on March 4, recalling working with Scott during his training.
1960s
William H. Goodson Jr., BA’57, MD’60, HS’61, and his wife, Elise, are enjoying retirement in a senior living community in Huntsville, Alabama.
Barry Thompson, MD’65, HS’68, and Jo Ann Thompson, BSN’63, now reside in Houston, enjoying living close to their daughter, Kathryn, and her family.
Frank Black, MD’67, retired from emergency medicine in 2015 but has stayed busy by working at Chimala Mission Hospital in Tanzania (2016 & 2018), working in a downtown Indianapolis free clinic, and publishing a book about his years as a missionary doctor, entitled, “Happiness is a Fat Gecko.”
David Gregory, BA’63, MD’67, HS’71, FE’81, associate professor of Medicine, emeritus, was inducted into the Tennessee Healthcare Hall of Fame in October 2022. He and his spouse, Joicelyn, and their son, Selden, enjoyed a holiday in Spain in 2022.
James Bentley, BA’64, MD’69, MA’69, and his wife, Genie (Higginbotham) Bentley, BA’68, received Health Unity Awards from the Dallas nonprofit Project Unity for administering COVID-19 inoculations in disadvantaged communities from 2021 to 2022.
1970s
Vincent Keipper, MD’73, HS’77, and his classmates are memorializing 50 years since graduating from medical school by writing a history of the Class of 1973. At the time of his retirement, he was the acting head of senior care at the former Carolinas Health Care system, running a geriatric clinic, and was the sole physician at two nursing homes. Retirement for him and his wife, Eileen, includes travel to all seven continents, mountain climbing, maintaining a horse farm, golf, and woodturning with a lathe. Their three sons are married, and they have one grandchild.
James Dolgin, MD’77, is semiretired, practicing part time providing bioidentical hormone replacement to menopausal women and andropausal men. “It’s great fun and very rewarding,” he said.
Timothy Schoettle, BA’74, MD’78, is a Seton Society honoree who was recognized at the Ascension Saint Thomas Foundation’s Seton Celebration in April. Schoettle is an American Board of Neurological Surgery-certified surgeon. He received the Vitals Patients’ Choice Doctor Award and the Most Compassionate Doctor Award from 2012 to 2022. Outside of Ascension Saint Thomas and Howell Allen Clinic, he is also dedicated to community service, having served on the boards of many of Nashville’s most noted nonprofit organizations and professional medical organizations.
Ronald Bronitsky, MD’77, HS’80, is now fully retired after working more than 40 years as a pulmonologist and intensivist in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He is learning to play the piano and most recently was the lead player in the musical “The Drowsy Chaperone.”
Susan Niermeyer, MD’79, MPH, is a professor of Pediatrics, emerita, in the Section of Neonatology at the University of Colorado School of Medicine and a senior scientist in the Center for Global Health at the Colorado School of Public Health.
1980s
F. Bradford “Brad” Meyers, BA’76, MD’81, has retired from the U.S. Air Force with 20 years of satisfactory service.
Eric Rowinsky, MD’81, is focusing on cancer therapeutic development. He has played an integral role in the development and registration of more than 10 cancer therapies worldwide. He has two daughters, Anya and Gabriela, and “a bunch of critters.”
Curtis Hagenau, MD’82, HS’83&’87, FE’88, and his wife, Susan, are enjoying retirement, trails, bonsai, wood shop, grandkids, and a camper van — their “dream lifestyle.”
William T. Klope, MD’83, retired on Sept. 1, 2022, after 34 years of practicing urology. He and his wife, Ellen, MBA’82, are looking ahead to grandchildren and a bit of travel.
B. Hadley Wilson, MD, HS’84, FE’87, FACC, former VMAA Board member, is the American College of Cardiology’s 72nd president. “I have been fortunate to observe and learn a tremendous amount about the importance of the ACC around the world for education, leadership, and transforming cardiovascular care and improving heart health for all,” he said.
William “Willie” Ross, MD, MPH, HS’87, was named Person of the Year by the St. Louis American newspaper and is a recipient of the American College of Physician’s Oscar E. Edwards Memorial Award for Volunteerism and Community Service.
Kristina McCain, MD’87, HS’91, retired from Obstetrics/Gynecology in 2022.
Rodney R. Reid, MD’87, is the longest serving chief of Rheumatology in the 91-year history of the Columbia, South Carolina, VA Health Care System. Reid entered his service with the Department of Veterans Affairs, where he became the first African American rheumatologist at Houston VA Medical Center and the first African American rheumatologist on Baylor’s faculty.
1990s
Donald W. Brady, MD’90, HS’93, formerly Senior Associate Dean for Health Sciences Education for VUSM and Executive Vice President for Educational Affairs for VUMC, has been appointed to an expanded oversight role of Executive Vice Dean for Academic Affairs for VUSM. He will merge his current education responsibilities for VUSM and VUMC with the role of Senior Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs.
Mary Laird Warner, MD’90, current VMAA Board President, was appointed Chief Medical Officer at HealthONE’s North Suburban Medical Center in Thornton, Colorado.
Marilynn Michaud, MD’91, HS’94, FE’95, and her husband, Bjarki Olafsson, MD, FE’88, are celebrating becoming empty nesters as the last of their three children heads off to college.
Scott Gibbs, BA’88, MD’92, has a daughter, Mary Virginia, in medical school at West Virginia University (WVU), graduating in 2024, and another daughter, Margaret Ann, is a sophomore and Yeager Scholar at Marshall University. His son, Campbell, graduated from WVU in May 2023 with a degree in economics and history.
R. Brooks Robey, BS, MD, FE’94 (nephrology), FE’96 (physiology & biophysics), recently relocated from the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth and the White River Junction VA Medical Center to New Orleans where he is the associate chief of staff for Research & Development at the Southeast Louisiana Veterans Health Care System, as well as professor of Medicine at both Tulane University School of Medicine and the LSU Health New Orleans School of Medicine.
Morgan Wills, MD’96, HS’00, President & CEO of Siloam Health, has stepped down to take an administrative leadership role as associate professor of Medicine and associate dean for Clinical Education at the Thomas F. Frist, Jr. College of Medicine at Belmont University.
Julie Bastarache, MD’99, HS’99, FE’02, FAC’05-present, has been appointed Assistant Vice President for Clinical & Translational Scientist Development at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.
2000s
Mayur B. Patel, MD’02, HS’12, MPH’12, associate professor of Surgery at VUMC, was honored with the endowed Ingram Chair in Surgical Sciences in March.
Sara Van Driest, MD, PhD, HS’06, assistant professor of Pediatrics and Medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, has assumed a new post as the first-ever director of Pediatrics for the National Institutes of Health’s All of Us Research Program, which aims to accelerate the prevention and treatment of illness through precision medicine.
Kim Sandler, MD’09, HS’14, has been named co-chair of the American College of Radiology’s Lung Cancer Screening Steering Committee.
Brenessa Lindeman, MD’09, has been promoted to vice chair of Education for the University of Alabama at Birmingham Department of Surgery. Lindeman will provide the overarching structure to align the department’s education training programs through competency-based education and workforce preparation.
2010s
Sara Horst, MD, FE’10, MPH’11, associate professor of Medicine, has been named associate vice chair for Digital Health Operations for the Department of Medicine and assistant chief for Clinical Informatics for the Division of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.
Kyla Terhune, MD, HS’11, EMBA, Vice President for Educational Affairs and Associate Dean for Graduate Medical Education, has been named Senior Vice President for Educational Affairs at VUMC.
Sarah Tiggelaar, BS’06, MD’11, started a new position on the family medicine faculty at the University of Rochester Family Medicine Residency program and is the director of the newly expanded Maternity Health Fellowship as of July 1.
Robert Wilson, MD’11, HS’17, who completed residency and fellowship at Vanderbilt for Orthopaedic Surgery and Orthopaedic Oncology, was awarded 2022 Physician of the Year for Baptist MD Anderson Cancer Center in Jacksonville, Florida. He and
Jessica R. Wilson, BS’07, MD’11, MS’16, FE’17, have three children.
Travis Osterman, DO, FE’13, MS’17, assistant professor of Biomedical Informatics, Hematology and Oncology and director of Cancer Clinical Informatics at Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, has been appointed to a new role as Associate Vice President for Research Informatics at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.
Emily (Krainer) Walsh, MD’16, joined the pediatric epilepsy faculty at University of Rochester Medical Center in July 2022. She and her husband, Andrew Walsh, welcomed their first children, twins Jack and Nina Walsh, on Dec. 1, 2022.
Kevin K. Kumar, PhD’14, MD’16, is completing a residency in neurosurgery at Stanford University in June and will start his fellowship in Pediatric Neurosurgery at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital at Stanford.
Eric Rafla-Yuan, MD’16, recently started as senior policy adviser for the County of San Diego. He previously served as health counsel in the United States House of Representatives during the 117th session of Congress and as staff director for the bipartisan 988 & Crisis Services Congressional Task Force.
Leonela Villegas, MD’16, MSCE, graduated from a pediatric nephrology fellowship in June 2022 and started her first position as an assistant professor at the Connecticut Children’s Medical Center. She and her husband, Gregory Rippberger, MD, welcomed their first child, Camila Amelia, on May 6, 2022.
2020s
Shawniqua Williams Roberson, MEng, MD, MSCI’22, recently published a manuscript in JAMA Network Open, titled “Association of Vitamin C, Thiamine, and Hydrocortisone Infusion with Long-term Cognitive, Psychological, and Functional Outcomes in Sepsis Survivors: A Secondary Analysis of the Vitamin C, Thiamine, and Steroids in Sepsis Randomized Clinical Trial.”
Congratulations
VUSM recognized 11 emeriti faculty at Commencement who have served the university with distinction and deep abiding commitment to their fields. They include:
Kathryn Edwards, MD, professor of Pediatrics.
Thomas Golper, MD, professor of Medicine.
Raymond Hakim, MD, PhD, professor of Medicine.
David Head, MD, professor of Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology.
Harold Helderman, MD, professor of Medicine and of Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology.
Bonnie Miller, MD, HS’87, MMHC’16, professor of Medical Education and Administration.
Ann Price, BA’71, MD’78, HS’81, associate professor of Medical Education and Administration.
Stephen Raffanti, MD, MPH’03, professor of Medicine.
David Raiford, MD, professor of Medicine and Medical Education and Administration.
Cindy Vnencak-Jones, PhD, FE’89, professor of Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology.
Elizabeth Weiner, PhD, professor of Biomedical Informatics.