Registration Now Open for Medical Alumni Weekend 2014
Spend May 16 to 18 with familiar faces and new places, like the Smilow Center for Translational Research, opened since your last reunion, and the soon-to-be-opened Henry A. Jordan M'62 Medical Education Center.
Click here for information and to register.
Highlights of this year's program include:
Safe From Evil
Park Dietz, MD, MPH, PhD, FEL'78 has testified or consulted in many of the highest profile criminal cases in the U.S., including those involving the assassination attempts on President Reagan and former congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. Dr. Dietz's subjects also include Jeffrey Dahmer and more than 25 other serial killers, the Menendez brothers, the Unabomber, the Beltway sniper cases, and the school shootings at Columbine.
At the Forefront: Tour The Basic Sciences at Penn Medicine
Join Glen N.Gaulton, Executive Vice Dean & Chief Scientific Officer, and a panel of leading researchers for an exclusive look at the most promising areas of discovery at Penn Medicine today, followed by a guided tour of Penn's state-of-the-art lab space.
Penn Pride: the Henry A. Jordan M'62 Medical Education Center
Fully integrated with Penn Medicine's latest clinical and research facilities, the Jordan Center will provide the Perelman School with a spectacular new home. Join Dean J. Larry Jameson, MD, PhD and Senior Vice Dean for Education, Gail Morrison, MD'71, FEL'76 for a discussion of the unique design and features of the Center, the important ways in which the facility will enhance all aspects of Penn Medicine's educational mission, and an update on other exciting happenings at Penn Medicine.
Class Reunion Dinners Saturday night at Philadelphia's iconic Hyatt at the Bellevue. Register here. We hope to see you in May!
Brotherly Love
Kennedy Twins Reunite at Penn Medicine
Identical twins Will and Greg Kennedy spent most of their lives together through college. But after their 2012 graduation from Princeton University, slightly divergent interests in medicine led to an ocean-wide separation.
While Will began his medical education at the Perelman School, Greg traveled to the United Kingdom for a master's degree in the history of medicine at Cambridge University.
Throughout their college years, the Kennedy brothers worked in an oncology laboratory at the Mayo Clinic, with both clearly intrigued by research. Will first became interested in the Perelman School during a medical school information session in his freshman year at Princeton. The Penn Medicine contingent, including faculty and a student panel composed of Princeton alumni, trumpeted the team-based learning environment, early clinical exposure, and expansive opportunities for research and service.
A year-and-a-half later, Will has found all of this to be true. He counts his learning teammates (the group with whom each Perelman student is matched during the first week of the first year) among his closest friends. Also, one of his research projects was accepted for presentation at the annual meeting of the Society for Ear, Nose, and Throat Advances in Children. "The research opportunities and the willingness of Penn's faculty to mentor students is a testament to the supportive environment and sense of community that attracted me here on my interview day," Will said.
As an inaugural Perelman scholar, he also appreciates the chance that he had last year to meet Ray Perelman and thank him personally for his generosity.
Meanwhile, Greg, a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar, was busy abroad poring over the history of medicine. "I am especially captivated by doctors who not only made tremendous advances in clinical medicine, but acted as powerful patient advocates and changed the landscape of healthcare on a national level, such as Sidney Farber, Virginia Apga, and Jack Geiger," he said.
Greg, now living with his brother again, is trying to do just that as a first-year Perelman student. Although many factors drew him to Penn, his brother's presence and a generous merit scholarship and additional financial aid package among them, it was the school's unique ethos that appealed to him. "I was very impressed by a culture that prioritizes team-based, patient-centered learning, tremendous opportunities for scientific research and mentorship, and a strong commitment to local underserved patient populations," Greg said.
Penn's emphasis on early patient contact through the LEAPP (Longitudinal Experience to Appreciate Patient Perspectives) Program was particularly meaningful. Greg was paired with a premature neonate, which deeply resonated with him since he and his brother were also born prematurely at 26 weeks. Greg offered, "Although I had some sense of the severity of our situation through family stories, I think LEAPP has given me a fuller understanding of the physical and emotional impact of prematurity not only on the patient, but on the entire family."
Given their collegial and altruistic natures and steady involvement in the community, both have volunteered at the United Community Clinic, it's safe to say that the Kennedy brothers' reunion at the Perelman School represents a true symbiotic relationship for Penn and Philadelphia.
22 Physicians Receive Penn Medicine's Highest Clinical Award
The inaugural class of the Academy of Master Clinicians was honored this February for exemplifying the highest standards of clinical excellence, humanism, and professionalism.
The Academy of Master Clinicians is a new recognition representing the highest honor a clinician at Penn Medicine can achieve and was announced in July 2013 by J. Larry Jameson, MD, PhD, dean of the Perelman School of Medicine and executive vice president of the university for the health system, and Ralph W. Muller, chief executive officer, UPHS.
"Penn Medicine clinicians are innovators and leaders in their fields. This major initiative recognizes and celebrates their contributions while at the same time strengthening our commitment to leadership in patient care for the future," said John H. Glick, MD who championed the new award. Dr. Glick is the Leonard and Madlyn Abramson Professor of Clinical Oncology, president, Abramson Family Cancer Research Institute, vice president, UPHS, and associate dean for Resource Development. He directed the Abramson Cancer Center from 1985-2006.
Any Penn Medicine employee can nominate a physician for the Academy. Recipients receive a $10,000 award and the opportunity to influence practice across Penn Medicine through such means as mentoring and providing input to leadership on improving the culture of clinical excellence and promoting the ideal patient experience.
The Academy was established in part thanks to the generosity of Independence Blue Cross. Philanthropic support is sought for this significant new initiative to recognize and develop clinical excellence.
To learn more, please visit the Academy of Master Clinicians web site or call 215-898-0578.
To see a gallery of new members, nominating faculty, the selection committee, and family and friends at the celebratory dinner, click here.
The Academy of Master Clinicians, 2013
Professor of Pediatrics and Chief, Division of General Pediatrics at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia |
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Associate Professor of Medicine and Medical Director of Penn Cardiac Care Radnor |
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Associate Professor of Psychiatry at the Veteran's Administration Medical Center |
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Professor of Radiology and Chief of Breast Imaging |
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Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine and Director of EMS Field Operations |
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Adele and Harold Schaeffer Professor in Medicine and Assistant Vice President, UPHS, and Assistant Dean in the Perelman School of Medicine |
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Clinical Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Chair of Psychiatry at Pennsylvania Hospital |
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Associate Professor of Radiation Oncology |
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Sandra J. Lazarus Associate Professor in Dermatology |
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Associate Professor of Surgery and Chief of the Division of Colon and Rectal Surgery |
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Professor of Otorhinolaryngology: Head & Neck Surgery at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and the Veteran's Administration Medical Center and Director of the Penn Center for Voice and Swallowing |
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John J. Mikuta, M.D. Professor of Gynecologic Oncology; Chief, Gynecology Oncology; Director, Center for Advanced Gynecologic Surgery; Director, Gynecology Oncology at Pennsylvania Hospital |
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Professor of Neurology |
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Professor of Surgery and Chief of the Division of Traumatology, Surgical Critical Care and Emergency Surgery |
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Professor of Psychiatry and Pediatrics, and Medical Director of Adult Developmental Disorders |
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Professor of Anesthesiology and Critical Care |
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Associate Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery and Chief of Sports Medicine |
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Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine and Director of the Division of Transfusion Medicine and Therapeutic Pathology |
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Clinical Professor of Medicine and Chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases at Pennsylvania Hospital |
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Parker Family Professor of Neurology and Director of the Penn Parkinson's Disease and Movement Disorders Center |
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Associate Professor of Medicine and Chief of Medicine at Penn Presbyterian Medical Center |
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Professor of Medicine in Hematology Oncology and Director of the Clinical Research Unit at the Abramson Cancer Center |
Sneak Previews
Match Day 2014 and Medical Alumni Weekend 2015
Join in the hoopla for Match Day 2014 on March 21st. We will be live tweeting photos, contests, quotes, and more.
Be ready to send a photo of your Match Day letter or memory. If you were a HOST or a mentor, share in your student's excitement on this big day!
Look for the hashtag #PSOMmatch on Facebook and Twitter and keep an eye out for our Facebook gallery that will be posted after the event.
Medical Alumni Weekend 2015 to Feature Black Tie Gala, Saturday, May 16
All alumni are invited to this special event honoring the School's 250th anniversary at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
A symposium on the future of medicine will be held during the afternoon on Friday, May 15. Plans for both, including ticket prices, will be forthcoming.
Please note that Class Reunion events will occur on Friday in 2015.
We hope you will save the date and help make this an occasion to remember.