JHFM Yearbook

GEE HARVEY WHEELER

Address: 130 Llanfair Rd., Ardmore, PA 19003
Email: [email protected] Phone: 610-896-7210

Degrees and Certificates: Life Since Graduation:
Emory School of Medicine 1968 After retiring I was drawn into the Women’s March
and this recent crazy world of politics for the first time
Pediatric Infectious Disease Fellow 1968-1969 trying to preserve our democratic values and especially
health care for the next generations, working on the
SUNY Medical Center Pediatric Intern 1969-70 gerrymandering issue- all while digging into closets and
attic finding wonderful old memories and realizing how
Student Health Service U of Pennsylvania 1970-2014 fast my life has moved living every day since med school
and what a blessed life I have had being able to practice
Family Practice Boards 1974-2014 medicine using my head and heart every day and feeling I
have helped so many people through troubled times and
Haverford College Premedical Advisor 1970-2004 made the world a little better.

Lower Merion Pa School Physician 1990-2000 Spouse or Partner’s Name: James English Wheeler

Professional and Volunteer Awards Spouse or Partner’s Alma Mater:
and Recognition: Hopkins School of Medicine 1962
Philadelphia Club of Medical Women 1981-, President
1992 Spouse or Partner’s Professional
and Volunteer Career:
Northeast Association of Advisors to the Health Surgical Pathologist at University of Pennsylvania
Professions President 1980
Children and Grandchildren:
National Assoc Adv to Health Professions secretary1984- What a joy it has been to have raised three children and
now each have given us two grandchildren.
AAMC Group on Student Affairs
John (computer game leader, physician wife, two
Hobbies: daughters)
Singing! Gardening, Grandchild sitting, book group
Rob (Prof at UMaine researcher bio-immunology, wife
Causes or Organizations You’re Passionate About: Italian linguist, two sons)
UU Church , Small Group Ministry
Elizabeth (Cognitive Science PHD now raising a son
Favorite Medical School Stories: and daughter husband neurologist Alzheimer’s research
So many brief memories – Picturing Lehninger writing WashU)
his text on bulletin board, Scott Bruin trying to tape
a lecture and having his recorder thrown off the table,
classmates walking out laughing from epidemiology exam
after figuring out the epidemic was the Titanic, Walking
along Wolfe St and taxi guy stopping and jumping out of
cab saying the president was shot, the smell of formalin
from our cadaver, our first “rounds” on Osler with a
resident shepherding a group of 20 or so of us- me hiding
in the back until first patient --a woman-- pointed me
out and I was given a stethoscope not knowing what end
was up and couldn’t find any heart sounds until after
what seemed an interminable time hearing them on the
RIGHT and the big smile on her face that a girl had
found her heart. Can’t wait to share more at reunion!

51

DAVID S. ZAMIEROSKI

Address: 13203 Lamar Ave., Overland Park, KS 66209
Email: [email protected] Phone: 913-897-0903 Cell: 913-449-6567

Degrees and Certificates: Life Since Graduation:
Johns Hopkins University I took Mary away from her Biochemical studies at
School of Medicine, M.D., Hopkins, but she earned her PhD at Vanderbilt and did
1968 her post-doctoral work at Kansas University Medical
Center so we are both graduates of KUMC. We stayed
University of Pittsburgh Hospital, Rotating Surgical in Kansas City and have devoted much of our volunteer
Internship, 1968-1969 work to KUMC. I retired in 2003 and both Mary and I
are currently cancer survivors. But we managed to build
US Army Medical Corps, 1969-1971 a retirement home on Beaver Lake in NW Arkansas ten
years ago and retreat there whenever we can.
Vanderbilt University Hospital, General Surgery Words of Wisdom:
Residency, 1971-1973 Things have changed so much that I would ask them for
some words of wisdom.
Mid-State Baptist Hospital, Nashville, TN, General Spouse or Partner’s Name: Mary Zamierowski
Surgery Residency, 1973-1976 Spouse or Partner’s Alma Mater:
Tulane University
The University of Kansas Hospital, Plastic Surgery Spouse or Partner’s Professional
Residency, 1976-1978 and Volunteer Career:
Mary came back to work after our second child as
Certification by the American Board of General Surgery my office manager and we ran a “mom and pop”
shop in solo private practice for 25 years - something
Certification by the American Board of Plastic Surgery almost impossible to do now in the current healthcare
environment.
Fellow of the American College of Surgery Children and Grandchildren:
Mary and I have two daughters and two grandchildren.
Professional and Volunteer Awards
and Recognition:
Bronze Star X 2, USAMC, Vietnam, 1969 and 1970
Wound Care Specialist; Founder, Wound Care Centers of
Kansas City; Patents on the VAC and Prevena
Co-Founder and Past President, Plastic Surgery Society of
Greater Kansas City
Founder and Past-President, Kansas City Regional
Simulation Alliance
Co-Founder ZIEL - Zamierowski Institute for
Experiential Learning - at Kansas University Medical
Center
Alumnus of the Year, Kansas University Medical Center
Adjunct Research Professor, Department of Plastic
Surgery, Kansas University Medical Center

Hobbies:
Sailing, kayaking and hiking
Grandchildren

Causes or Organizations You’re Passionate About:
Medical education - particularly simulation.

Favorite Medical School Stories:
I met Marilyn (Mary) Moffitt at the start of our fourth
year. We were married over spring break and returned
to campus to be evacuated from the married students’
apartments and hurried into Reed Hall where we watched
tanks move up on Monument street and where we
saw frequent new plumes of black smoke rise over the
next few days in the “ghetto” as additional homes and
businesses were burned in the riots of ‘68.

52

WILLIAM D. ZIEVERINK

Address: 922 NW 11th Ave., Apt PH-1 Portland, OR 97209
Email: [email protected] Phone: 503-330-7509

Degrees and Certificates: partial differential calculous during Physical Chemistry!
Johns Hopkins University He said: “What, you don’t know what that symbol is?!
School of Medicine, M.D., You are in deep trouble.” My endless thanks to Marty.
1968;
Hopkins was a great experience for me. The intellectual
Boston City Hospital, Boston, Mass. Straight Medical challenge, the focus on excellence and the utter
Internship; commitment to the dignity of the patients all directed
my future life. I was attracted to Internal Medicine, but
Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Jerome Frank, MD, Chair of Psychiatry, urged me into
PA Psychiatric Residency; free quarter with him, and thus I chose Psychiatry over an
offer to be an Osler Intern. I was greatly intrigued by the
Oregon Health Sciences University, Portland, OR, Senior potential of neurochemistry as it related to mental illness.
Resident, Psychiatry; The solutions seemed then to be “just around the corner.”

University of Edinburgh Scotland, UK, Fellow in A Straight Medical Internship at Boston City Hospital;
Psychiatry; Psychiatry Residency at the Hospital; Psychiatry
Residency at the Hospital of the University of
Harvard University, Graduate School of Business Program Pennsylvania; two years in the USAF in Southeast Asia
for Health Systems Management; during Viet Nam, including debriefing recently released
POW’s from Viet Nam prison camps; a senior residency
Stanford University, Graduate School of Business at the Oregon Health Science University of Portland,
Executive program in Organizational Change Oregon, and, after one year at the University, founding of
a Department of Psychiatry in a large community medical
Professional and Volunteer Awards center in Portland. And then on to Business School,
and Recognition: starting my own management consulting company, and
Oregon Doctor Citizen of the Year, Oregon Medical Assn on to a Senior Vice presidency at Sequent Computer
1983 Systems, a spinoff of Intel.

Fellow, American Psychiatric Association, 1984 Lots of very important things in between: In June 1968,
I married my wonderful wife and best friend of 50
Examiner American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology years, Francine Siegal, MD, a Hopkins Medical School
1978-1989 graduate, Class of ’67. Our son was born in 1973 and
our daughter in 1975. Having been educated on the East
Hobbies: Coast, working in New York, London, and Phoenix, they
Reading, travel, gardening, and golf both now live in Portland and have successful careers. We
have no grandchildren.
Favorite Medical School Stories:
Year 1 was a very special year for me. There were few
of us and the bonding was very close; as we were very
young. I remember every member of my Year 1 class.
They populated my medical childhood. It was a year of
emotional growth. I regret that I did not stay in contact
with my Year 1 classmates.

Life Since Graduation:

I joined our Year 1 class in September. This transition to
medical school proved to be a life changing event.

I spent a full five years at Hopkins (spending my summers
in hematology research in Boston that I began in college).
I was stimulated and challenged by the experience, albeit
arduous.

Year 1 story: I would never be where I am today save for
the singular effort of my year 1 roommate, Dr. Marty
Danker, MD who literally taught me, from scratch,

53

IN MEMORIAM

David A. Bass James E. Conant David L. Epstein Charles B. Gibbs

Gary S. Hill Colin Kelly Stephen H. Jeffrey D. Neil
Mayhew

Matthew Pollack John R. Sobotka Denis H. Tyras

54

DAVID BASS

On graduation from medical school, David entered At one point, David was being sought after by Colorado
the Osler House staff as an intern in internal medicine. and Vanderbilt to move and join their faculties. However,
He enjoyed his time there immensely, even the terribly as a means of keeping David at Bowman Gray, he was
long hours. Following internship, he began his first year offered the position of Section Head of Pulmonary at
of residency. Unfortunately, during the early part of Wake Forest. Because he had so enjoyed his time in
residency year, David had renewed problems with his Winston-Salem, David chose to stay in North Carolina,
earlier diagnosed Chron’s disease and required numerous and he moved from Infections Diseases to his promotion
surgeries which precluded his finishing his residency at as Section Head of Pulmonary with the mandate to
that time. build up what had been a very difficult area of medicine
at Wake Forest. Over the next eight years, David, by
However, due to some of the senior staff at Hopkins, building the research base in Pulmonary, was able to
a special grant was created for him that allowed him raise the Pulmonary Department from an area of great
to spend time getting his Doctorate in Philosophy in academic deficiency to one of international renown.
England: the Commonwealth Fund. Therefore, once During this time, David received many, many grants from
again well enough to do so, he spent the next three the NIH, as well as other awards for teaching. (One grant
years at Oxford studying and earning a Doctorate of he received was for 5 million dollars!) Additionally, David
Philosophy in Infectious Diseases. created and headed the M.D.-PhD. Program at Wake
Forest, which was a great success, and he also helped set
On returning to the U.S., he finished his residency year at up some further programs.
Hopkins and went to Southwestern in Dallas to continue
his post-doctoral work. On a personal note, David had many hobbies in addition
to his work. He was an avid photographer, built and
In 1975, we married and moved to Winston-Salem, reconfigured computers, dabbled in woodworking, and
N.C., to work at Bowman Grey School of Medicine (now had an impressive saltwater aquarium where he kept and
part of Wake Forest University) in Infectious Diseases. raised corals and saltwater fish. None of these hobbies
He enjoyed his time in North Carolina thoroughly were done in small ways, but with dedication and gusto.
and especially the milieu and camaraderie at Bowman Unfortunately, around the early 2000’s, David was
Gray. During these years, we had two daughters added diagnosed with an unknown type of dementia, and he
to the family, but David again had exacerbations from had to resign from his position early. He lived with us
his Chron’s disease and required further surgeries, which until mid-2009, when he passed quietly in his sleep. He
required him to take time off from work for three years. is survived by myself, his wife, Leith Bass, and his two
Eventually he returned to work and was very productive, daughters, Elizabeth and Haven.
receiving numerous commendations and awards for his
work and teaching. It has been so long (David passed Sincerely,
nearly nine years ago) that I cannot recall the names or Leith Bass
dates of these awards specifically, but he was highly lauded
in his field.

55

DAVID L. EPSTEIN

David L Epstein, MD Class of 1968, JHUSOM, died David usually was either working, traveling for work, or
unexpectedly at home on March 4, 2014. He was 69 on a beach- Cape Cod in the summer and Aruba in the
years old. He is survived by his wife Susan (JHSOM, winter. And, of course, he went to every Duke men’s
1966), his son Michael, and grandson Sam. basketball game (even the tournaments) as a very vocal
Iron Duke. In his “free time” he collected antique clocks,
After graduating from Hopkins, David interned in walked with his dogs, and played with adored grandson
medicine at the University of Washington, served Sam. David’s only child, Michael, followed in his father’s
two years in the USAF at Brooks School of Aerospace footsteps, not into ophthalmology, but into academic
Medicine in San Antonio, TX, and then went to Harvard medicine, and is a professor of genetics and biostatistics at
for his residency in ophthalmology at the Mass. Eye Emory Medical School.
and Ear Infirmary, followed by two years of research
fellowship at the Howe Laboratory there. He joined A few years before he died, David told me that if he died
the faculty there, soon heading up the glaucoma clinical before me, he wanted me to know that he felt like he
service, while continuing what was to be his lifelong had had a wonderful life, full of opportunities he could
research into the causes of glaucoma and new therapies never have envisioned as a kid growing up in Chicago.
for its treatment. In 1992 he joined Duke Medical School He mentioned how privileged he was that he had gotten
as Chairman of the Ophthalmology Department and to start his career in science and medicine at Hopkins,
Joseph A.C. Wadsworth Professor of Ophthalmology, and where he felt he received the very best medical education,
remained there for 22 years, until his death. He grew the and more importantly, had the best role models, possible.
Duke Eye department into one of the leading programs in It was at Hopkins that David developed his scientific
the country, doubling the clinical and scientific/research curiosity, and love of research. (And, I reminded him at
faculty. He was a prodigious fundraiser, raising $26.5 the time, Hopkins was where he met me.)
million dollars to build the Albert Eye Research Institute;
he increased the eye department’s endowment from $6 to
$38 million, and raised $20 million more for the Hudson
Building, a new clinical care facility that he did not live
to see completed. The Hudson Building contains the
David L. Epstein Glaucoma Clinic, named in his honor.
David held NIH RO1 funding for 33 consecutive years,
published more than 230 scientific articles, and was editor
of Chandler and Grant’s Glaucoma, a textbook originated
by two of David’s mentors at Harvard. He held many
offices in national and international ophthalmology
groups – ARVO, AUPO, Chandler Grant Society, and
AAO, and received numerous awards for his research
and teaching. In 2012, with 2 other scientists, David
co-founded Aerie Pharmaceuticals (now publicly traded
as AERI on NASDAQ), and served as scientific advisor
until his death. Rhopressa, an Aerie developed eye
drop targeting the trabecular meshwork of the eye, was
approved by the FDA in December of 2017. Of all of
his many professional efforts, the one he enjoyed and that
gave him the most joy was mentoring and inspiring young
clinician-scientists to a career that combined research and
clinical interests.

56

GARY HILL

Gary was a man with many gifts – insatiable intellectual French and vast experience of human kidney biopsies and
curiosity, facility with languages, dry wit, friendship and newer techniques, over the next 14 years he made a series
conversation - and diverse interests – medieval cathedral of observations on systemic lupus, hypertension, and
architecture, iconography, piano music and travel. He kidney transplants. These received worldwide acclaim and
loved dinners with family, friends, good food, wine and stamped him and his French collaborators, known as “The
story-telling. Paris Group”, among the foremost investigators of kidney
disease that changed dogma. While on this sabbatical that
Joining the lab of Robert Heptinstall while in medical did not end, Gary also wrote a textbook on urologic and
school was the single most important thing in his career. renal pathology and a French-English medical dictionary
He and Heppy developed a life-long friendship and new that were very well received.
techniques, discovering much about the mechanisms by
which hypertension damages blood vessels and glomeruli We traveled widely taking advantage of dual academic
leading to kidney failure, work that laid the foundation careers with international meetings, consultations and
for present day concepts of end-stage kidney disease. visiting professorships, a home in Baltimore and a
Gary’s appointment as Chief of Pathology at Baltimore charming petite sunny Paris apartment. Gary became
City Hospital later Francis Scott Medical Center and expert in Chartres Cathedral and loved giving tours to
then Hopkins Bay View Medical Center, allowed him to visiting friends from Baltimore and elsewhere. Our sons,
once say “I think I am the only chief of pathology at three Paul and Justin, who had returned to Baltimore are a
hospitals who never had to move his office”. great source of friendship and pride. Gary returned to
Baltimore in June 2012 after being diagnosed with widely
In 1998, eager to return to full time research, he was metastatic lung cancer. He died February 19, 2013 at
thrilled to given access to a collection of serial renal home. He was a young 74.
biopsies from 600 lupus nephritis patients. He moved to
Paris as a visiting professor initially at l’UFR Broussais
Hotel-Dieu at Universite de Paris. Using his fluent

57

MATT POLLACK

Matt passed away on January 30, 2011. He lived One of his most significant interests was the study of
with Parkinson’s Disease for 13 years, during which Pseudomonas aeruginosa. He authored the chapters on
time he continued his teaching, clinical, and research that topic for many years in Harrison’s and other major
responsibilities. Matt trained at Hopkins for 11 years, textbooks, and wrote over two hundred articles. He also
including Medical School, Residency in the Osler Medical had strong interests in the study of monoclonal antibodies
Service, and a post-doc Fellowship in Infectious Diseases. and endotoxin. Matt was incredibly proud of his medical
degree from Hopkins, and always wore the bold Hopkins
Matt and his wife Kathie moved to Bethesda in 1974, regalia for USUHS faculty processions. You know how
where Matt joined the Navy as part of his Berry Plan the flowing gold robe, green stole, and soft hat with the
commitment. After an additional two years at the Navy tassel stood out during graduation ceremonies!
Medical Research Institute, he joined the faculty of the
Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences Matt cherished the lifelong friendships he made at
(USUHS) as a civilian. His roles were teaching students, Hopkins, and would have loved to have been able to join
seeing patients in consultation, both in General Medicine the class for his 50th reunion.
and Infectious Diseases, and he also had a productive
laboratory. He loved his position at USUHS, and spent
the next 32 years there. Matt and Kathie also loved living
in Bethesda, where they raised their son Josh.

58