Alumni

1945

Theodore Van Itallie, an obesity expert and leading researcher in metabolic diseases, died Sept. 14, 2019, at the age of 99. He demonstrated that weight loss was a function of calorie reduction and publicly refuted the “calories don’t count” school of weight loss. He served in the Navy Medical Corps and saw active duty in the Pacific theatre before completing residency training at St. Luke’s Hospital. He accepted a research and teaching position at Harvard Medical School and returned to St. Luke’s as director of medicine in 1957. St. Luke’s became a Columbia University teaching hospital under his leadership. From 1975 to 1988, he ran the first NIH-funded center for obesity research. He later consulted on clinical research and devoted special attention to ketone esters as a therapeutic agent for Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases. He was a dedicated amateur historian, authoring numerous articles on the history of the Florida west coast. Dr. Van Itallie is survived by his five children, six grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren.

1946

Horace M. Shaffer, who practiced internal medicine in his hometown of Trenton, New Jersey, until 1987, died Sept. 5, 2019. He was 96. After graduating with his MD, he served in the Navy on the ship USS Franklin D. Roosevelt. He was an intern at Bellevue Hospital and completed his residency at Veterans Hospital. He studied the classics, humanities, languages, and visual arts, and he practiced Dzogchen, a form of Tibetan Buddhism. Dr. Shaffer is survived by his wife, Joyce, three of his four children, two stepchildren, seven grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.

1948

Arthur Aufses, an esteemed surgeon and chair of surgery at Mount Sinai Health System in New York City for 22 years, died April 15, 2019. He was 93. He introduced laparoscopic surgery, oversaw the expansion of ambulatory surgery, and introduced the hospital’s transplant program. In 1988, Dr. Aufses organized the surgical team that performed the first liver transplant in New York state. He supported inclusion of female and minority surgeons. He co-wrote two books about the history of Mount Sinai Hospital.

1949

William C. Fisher, an army colonel and chief of dermatology at William Beaumont Army Medical Center in El Paso, Texas, died April 22, 2019. He was 95. Dr. Fisher served as a medical corpsman during World War II, as a captain in combat in South Korea, and as commanding officer of the 8th Field Hospital in Nha Trang, Vietnam, during the Tet offensive. He later practiced dermatology in Farmington, New Mexico. He loved international travel. He is survived by his wife, Carolyn, four children, five grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren.

James Royal Malm, professor emeritus of surgery at VP&S, died Sept. 21, 2019. He was 94. He enlisted at age 17 in the V12 Navy College Training Program and attended Princeton before receiving his MD degree from Columbia. During the Korean War, Dr. Malm was called into active duty and served as a junior medical officer aboard USS Philippine Sea, often in Korean waters, and recalled performing an appendectomy during a typhoon. He returned to New York City for general and thoracic surgical residency training at what was Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center and was appointed to the faculty in 1958. He was appointed chief of the cardiac surgical service in 1960 and held the position for more than 30 years. Dr. Malm and his close partner, Dr. Frederick O. Bowman, performed pioneering work in and developed therapeutic standards for the surgical treatment of tetralogy of Fallot. He also created national standards for thoracic surgical education and residency training programs. He retired from surgical practice in 1991 and was honored by VP&S with a Distinguished Service Award in 1996. He enjoyed tennis, skeet and trap, fishing, and golf. He is survived by his wife, Constance, four daughters, six grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren.

1950

J. William Silverberg, a psychiatrist, died July 21, 2019, at the age of 95. Dr. Silverberg enjoyed bluegrass, Lindying, water skiing, tennis, and food. He is survived by his wife, Shirley, three children, several grandchildren, and a great-grandson.  

1953

Marvin Zimmerman, an internist, died April 21, 2019. He was 90. After completing his internship at Mount Sinai Hospital, he served as a doctor at the Air Force base at Laredo, Texas. He went on to residency at Yale New Haven Hospital. He enjoyed traveling to exotic places and was an avid tennis player and sailor. He loved museums and opera and was a founding member of Long Wharf Theatre. He is survived by his wife, Beverly, three children, and six grandchildren.

1954

Burton D. Cohen, longtime professor of medicine at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, died Feb. 5, 2019. He served in the Army in the Pacific during World War II. He trained in internal medicine at Bellevue Hospital, where he entered the new subspecialty of nephrology. He completed training as chief medical resident at Memorial Sloan Kettering. Dr. Cohen was a clinical investigator for the Veterans Administration in New York and later a career scientist for the Health Research Council of New York City. He joined the staff of the Bronx Hospital (later Bronx-Lebanon) and became director of the Department of Medicine, a position he held until retirement in 1994. He continued to publish original research in the specialized field of renal failure even after retirement. Dr. Cohen was a dedicated guitarist who also loved tennis, sailing, and windsurfing. He is survived by his wife, Sunantana, three children, and three grandchildren.

Paul Gulyassy, a nephrologist, died May 15, 2019. He was 90. He completed his residency at UCSF, with a pause to join the Army medical corps at Fort Knox, Kentucky, where he achieved the rank of captain. He later joined the biomedical research team of Dr. William Schwartz at Tufts University. In 1962, he joined UCSF’s new Cardiovascular Research Institute. He was assistant professor of medicine at Moffitt Hospital, UCSF, and was later recruited to create the nephrology division at UC Davis, where he stayed for more than 20 years. Dr. Gulyassy loved Mexico, the arts, and tennis, which he played into his 80s. He is survived by his wife, June, two daughters, and two grandsons.  

Glenn Langer, a cardiologist who helped disadvantaged students attend college, died June 19, 2019. He was 91. After medical school he served two years in the Army in Texas. In 1960, he joined the American Heart Association Cardiovascular Research Laboratories at UCLA. Beyond being a notable professor of medicine and physiology, he directed cardiovascular research and became vice chair of physiology and associate dean for research. Upon retirement in 1997, his philanthropy grew into the Partnership Scholars Program to support pre-college youth. The program has awarded scholarships, cultural experiences, and mentorship support to 622 students in Los Angeles and Mendocino counties. Dr. Langer loved nature, world literature, music, and dogs. He is survived by his wife, Renate, a daughter, a stepson, four grandchildren, and three step-grandchildren.

1955 Stanley Bergen, the founding president for 27 years of the University of Medicine & Dentistry of New Jersey, died April 24, 2019. He was 89. Dr. Bergen was serving as first senior vice president of the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation when the state of New Jersey, in response to a shortage of doctors and dentists, selected him to establish the health sciences campus in central Newark. Breaking ground in 1971, it was the first medical school in the state and is now part of Rutgers. He also was instrumental in creating the Cancer Institute of New Jersey. Dr. Bergen was a defining figure among New Jersey health care policymakers and a firm believer in health care as a human right. A native of New Jersey and graduate of Princeton, he also served in the Army and the National Guard. He is survived by his wife, Suzanne, three children, and five grandchildren.

John S. Wilson, a surgeon, died Sept. 9, 2019, at age 88. He served his internship and general residency as chief resident at Bellevue Hospital and completed his surgical residency at Hartford Hospital in Connecticut. Before moving to Silver City, New Mexico, in 1964, Dr. Wilson served four years as a captain and surgeon in the Army, stationed in La Rochelle, France, and Fort Sam Houston, Texas.

1956

Christopher Hodgman, professor emeritus of psychiatry at the University of Rochester, died June 2, 2019. He was 87. He served as a captain in the U.S. Army in Germany. He completed residency in psychiatry at Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester. He is survived by his wife, Joanna, four children, eight grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.   

1957

Hugo L. Deaton, who practiced general, vascular, and thoracic surgery, died Feb. 12, 2019. He was 87. He completed his residency at Duke University, then joined his father-in-law, the late Glenn R. Frye, as a partner in the Hickory Surgical Clinic, where he practiced for 30 years. He served as president of the North Carolina Surgical Association. He was a member of the Holy Trinity Lutheran Church. Dr. Deaton loved sailing, which he taught himself on the Chesapeake Bay as a teenager. He is survived by four children and 11 grandchildren.  

1958

Uriel Barzel, professor of medicine at Albert Einstein College of Medicine and attending physician in endocrinology and metabolism at Montefiore Hospital Medical Center in the Bronx, died Sept. 19, 2019. He was 90.  

Lawrence P. Green, a Navy veteran and member of Lafayette Church of the Nazarene in Lexington, Kentucky, died July 19, 2019. He was 86. He is survived by his wife, Shirley, three children, 12 grandchildren, and nine great-grandchildren.   

Donald Lindberg, a groundbreaking expert in medical informatics who directed the National Library of Medicine within the NIH for 31 years, died Aug. 17, 2019. He was 85. He led the National Library of Medicine into the computer era and made its holdings available to researchers globally by overseeing the digitization of Index Medicus into PubMed, which provides free internet access to research published by international, refereed medical journals. During his tenure, the library launched MedlinePlus.gov and ClinicalTrials.gov, widely used online repositories of genetic and genomic sequences. The Unified Medical Language System was developed to integrate diverse biomedical vocabularies with inter-operable search terms. Dr. Lindberg also supervised the free use of clinical terminology standards for electronic health records, as well as the diffusion of specialized resources in fields including toxicology, health services research, public health, consumer health, disaster and emergency response, and the history of medicine. Dr. Lindberg wrote several books and held recent medical faculty appointments at the University of Maryland and the University of Virginia. He is survived by his wife, Mary, two children, and two grandchildren.

Allan Lawrence Toole, a surgeon and associate professor at the Yale School of Medicine, died Sept. 2, 2019. He was 87. His internship, fellowship, and residency were at Yale, followed by his chief residency in surgery at the VA Hospital in West Haven, Connecticut. He opened a private practice with his lifelong friend and medical partner, Dr. Harold Stern, and was affiliated with Yale-New Haven Hospital and the Hospital of Saint Raphael. Dr. Toole performed one of the first pulmonary embolectomy procedures during open-heart surgery. He was a golfer, gardener, swimmer, and devoted hockey fan. He is survived by four children and eight grandchildren.

Robert Van Cleve, a cardiologist, died July 8, 2019. He was 87. He completed his internship and two years of residency at the University of Virginia Hospital, followed by work at Barnes Hospital in St. Louis. He was lieutenant commander at Balboa Naval Hospital in San Diego. He went on to a cardiology fellowship at Harvard and in 1965 moved to Jacksonville, where he became the second board-certified cardiologist in north Florida. He valued knowing his patients, volunteering his time to treat people who could not pay, and teaching doctors and nurses in training. He was an elder and trustee in the First Presbyterian Church. He is survived by his wife, Sarah, four children, and 11 grandchildren.  

Carl Weiss, an orthopedic surgeon, died Aug. 1, 2019. He was 84. He served two years as a captain at Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana. Dr. Weiss later practiced at Garden City Orthopedics in Long Island. He is survived by three children and eight grandchildren.  

1959

Robert Alan First, an orthopedic surgeon and Vietnam veteran who received a Bronze Star, died Feb. 9, 2019. He was 85. His post-graduate training was in Boston at Brigham and Women’s, Children’s, and Massachusetts General hospitals. A major in the Army medical corps, he spent a year with the second MASH unit in Chu Lai. He later practiced orthopedics in Concord, Massachusetts. He was affiliated with Emerson Hospital, Harvard, and Tufts and was a fellow of the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons. His hobbies included woodworking, gardening, golf, and riding his BMW motorcycle. He owned a pack of West Highland terriers. He is survived by his wife, Susan, three biological and three chosen children, and two grandsons.  

See our article on Ken Forde.

Mark Izard, a nephrologist whom colleagues called the “father of dialysis in Connecticut,” died July 15, 2019. He was 86. Born and raised in New York City, he moved to Connecticut for residency, where he was chief resident, president of the house staff, and editor of the Hartford Hospital Bulletin. He practiced internal medicine and nephrology for 50 years at Hartford Hospital, where he introduced kidney dialysis. He also developed percutaneous renal needle biopsy. He was on the faculty of the University of Connecticut, a nephrology consultant to the state Veterans Administration, chief of medicine at Bradley Memorial Hospital, and director of dialysis at Springfield Hospital. He chaired the Connecticut Commission on Dialysis and received many awards from the Kidney Foundation. Dr. Izard loved boating, supported the arts, and held a lifelong interest in historical preservation.  

Jean K. Miller, a psychiatrist, died May 11, 2019, at the age of 85. She practiced in Bronxville until March of 2019. An avid birder and traveler, she visited all 50 states and toured around the globe. In her youth, she was a bicyclist and mountain climber. She is survived by four children and 10 grandchildren.

S. Richard Prothero, an orthopedic surgeon, died Jan. 5, 2018. He was 85. He conducted original laboratory research on diabetes in rats as an undergraduate at Bates College. After his internship at Mary Imogene Bassett Hospital in Cooperstown, New York, he served as a captain in the Air Force. He completed a residency in orthopedic surgery at Columbia, then joined Cape Cod Hospital in Hyannis. He liked to fix things, starting with bicycles and clocks, and, later, broken bones. Dr. Prothero collected stamps and was a star athlete, winning the Maine state championship in doubles tennis. He is survived by his wife, Helen, five children, and nine grandchildren.

1961

Alfonso H. Janoski, a retired endocrinologist and health care administrator, died May 4, 2019. He was 83. He served from 1965 to 1969 in the Army Medical Corps, attaining the rank of major. Former assistant professor of medicine and director of endocrine laboratories at the University of Maryland, he also maintained a private practice from 1982 to 1989 and directed the endocrine and metabolism clinic at Franklin Square Hospital. He became medical director of Prudential Healthcare in Baltimore in 1989 and later chief medical officer for the Tennessee Health Partnership in Knoxville, a managed care organization with 180,000 members. Before retirement, he was a medical officer at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Division of Medical Imaging and Radiopharmaceutical Drug Products. Dr. Janoski enjoyed golf, fishing, and model cars. He was a communicant for 50 years of the Roman Catholic Shrine of the Sacred Heart in Baltimore. He is survived by his wife, Judith, two children, two step-children, and four grandchildren.

1961 PhD

Gordon I. Kaye was a professor emeritus of pathology and laboratory medicine at Albany Medical College and a pioneer of alkaline hydrolysis, or flameless cremation. He died Feb. 9, 2019, at the age of 83. He received his first introduction to the excitement of laboratory research as a child at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden near his home. He was associate professor of surgical pathology and director of the F. Higginson Cabot Laboratory of Electron Microscopy at Columbia until he was named chair and Alden March Professor in the anatomy department at Albany Medical College in 1976. He consulted as editor of the Anatomical Record and reviewer of several medical journals. In 1993, his research, including the use of nuclear tracing isotopes, led him to found WR2 with Dr. Peter Weber to develop the necessary equipment for alkaline hydrolysis, which safely destroys all pathogens including prions that cause mad cow, scrapie, and chronic wasting diseases. He enjoyed cooking, baseball, and boating. He supported public libraries, public and private education, and classical music. He is survived by his wife, Nancy, two daughters, and three grandchildren.

1962

Myles Behrens, a world-renowned ophthalmologist and co-chief of the neuro-ophthalmology clinic at the Harkness Eye Institute at Columbia until his retirement in 2011, died April 5, 2019. He was 80. He was recognized with the Heed Ophthalmic Foundation Award in 1986 for his leadership, teaching excellence, and significant clinical and research contributions to the field of neuro-ophthalmology. He is survived by his wife, Marsha, two children, two step-children, and nine grandchildren.

Despine Coulis, a pediatrician and one of only eight women in her medical school class, died May 28, 2019. She was 82. After residency she settled in New Haven, Connecticut, and worked in public health to help children and families. She later practiced in Missouri and Massachusetts, serving the community at Greater Lowell Pediatrics until 2000. Devoted to the arts, Dr. Coulis loved the symphony and the opera. She also traveled extensively. She took college courses almost up to the time of her death. She is survived by her daughter and three grandchildren.  

Karl William Waterson, a dermatologist, died Feb. 16, 2019. He was 83. An Army captain at Fort Totten, New York, he later trained in dermatology at UCSF and practiced for more than 40 years in locations including New York, California, New Jersey, West Virginia, Missouri, Michigan, and New Hampshire, where he started a private practice in 1991. He was a member of several choirs and delighted his family with renditions of Neil Diamond. He also loved golf. He is survived by his wife, Lucinda, three sons, four step-children, 10 grandchildren, and a great-granddaughter.  

1969

Olufemi Ogundipe, an internist, died Feb. 17, 2019. He was 76. Known as “Dairo” to high school friends and “Femi” to his wife, Dr. Ogundipe was born in Lagos, Nigeria, and attended Haverford College in Pennsylvania. He completed his fellowship in endocrinology at UCLA. A humorous and jovial man, he was a scholar of the arts and sciences who emphasized the importance of academics and education to his family. His three children, who survive him, became a nephrologist, a dentist, and a psychiatrist. He is also survived by his wife, Josephine, and three grandchildren.

1970

Richard G. Carlson, board-certified in pediatrics and internal medicine, died Jan.  31, 2019. He was 74. A native of Connecticut, Dr. Carlson graduated from Trinity College. He worked in New York at Presbyterian and Lincoln hospitals. Later he worked for student health services at Albert Einstein College of Medicine and became director of student health at Columbia. He is survived by his wife, JoAnne, and three children.

Robert M. Schmidt, a physician-scientist and educator in hematology, died March 12, 2019. He was 74. Dr. Schmidt also received degrees from Harvard, Northwestern, and Emory universities. The founding director of the hematology division at the Centers for Disease Control in the early 1970s, he made significant contributions to understanding sickle cell anemia. He was on the faculty of Morehouse School of Medicine and founded the International Health Resource Center at Wilcox Hospital in Hawaii. In 1983, he returned to San Francisco as chair of the health professions program at San Francisco State University. His productive scientific career was cut short by a traumatic brain injury at the age of 52. He was a music lover who played the church organ from a young age. He is survived by two sons and two grandchildren.  

1972

Randolph Woodward, an internist with a private practice in Atlanta for 38 years, died May 1, 2019. He was 73. He studied political science at Yale, where he wrestled and played lacrosse, having won a state championship in wrestling in high school. Dr. Woodward completed his internship year in New York City before moving to Atlanta in 1973, where he completed his internal medicine residency and cardiology fellowship, both in the Grady/Emory program. He loved to travel to such far-off places as Pakistan and the Galapagos, and he hiked the Camino de Santiago in Spain. He enjoyed playing tennis and golf. He was an avid reader. He is survived by his wife, Anneke, two children, and five grandchildren.

1973

Eric Michelson, whose research and teaching contributed to cardiovascular therapeutics, died May 29, 2019. He was 71. He completed his residency at the University of Pennsylvania and advanced training in cardiology and cardiac electrophysiology. In 1979, he became chief of clinical research at Lankenau Hospital and Medical Research Center in Pennsylvania. In 1988, he moved to the Likoff Cardiovascular Institute of Hahnemann University Hospital in Philadelphia, where he directed the cardiology division and fellowship. He authored or co-authored more than 150 original papers. After his academic career, he directed pharmaceutical research at Astra Zeneca.  

1974

James. A. Quinn, a cardiologist, died Aug. 22, 2019. He was 70. He was a resident of Cedar Grove, New Jersey.

1975

Max Kahn, a pediatrician, died Sept. 12, 2019. He was 72. He served as intern and resident at Bronx Medical Center (Jacobi Hospital) and Albert Einstein College of Medicine and practiced pediatrics at North Central Bronx Hospital before co-founding Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine LLP in 1979 with his partner, Dr. Michael Levi. The practice became New York City’s largest, non-hospital-sponsored private pediatric clinic. Dr. Kahn was a clinical instructor at Albert Einstein College of Medicine and Mount Sinai Hospital and School of Medicine and clinical associate professor of medicine at NYU. Sesame Street Parents magazine enlisted him as medical adviser from 1996 to 2001. His pediatric practice expanded to nearby Scarsdale, New York, growing from two physicians to 10. Although “retiring” in 2017, Dr. Kahn continued to see patients and make house calls while pursuing interests including ancient Greek, Talmudic studies, and major league baseball. He is survived by his wife, Kathy, and two children.

1980

Addition: The notice of Warren Grundfest’s death (in the Spring/Summer 2019 issue) should have included his sister, Sharon Grundfest-Broniatowski’73, as a survivor.

1982

Jonathan Strongin, who practiced pulmonary and critical care medicine and served as president of the medical staff and chief of pulmonary medicine at Cambridge Health Alliance, died Feb. 9, 2019. He was 67. He trained in internal medicine at Cambridge Hospital and Beth Israel Hospital and completed his pulmonary fellowship at Massachusetts General Hospital. He loved travel, folk music, and his dog. Dr. Strongin also earned a PhD in anthropology at Columbia University. He is survived by his wife, Ellen, and two children.  

1986

Cheryl Ann Jay, clinical professor of neurology at UCSF and director of San Francisco General Hospital’s neurology clinic, died Feb. 12, 2019. She loved art and was involved with issues of national and international social justice. She was known for her eclectic cookbook collection and extensive travel history.