Alumni @ UMDNJ

A First in Vermont

noreply@blogger.com (UMDNJ) — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 16:48:00 +0000

Steven DuBoff, DMD '90

UMDNJ-New Jersey Dental School

Steven DuBoff is the first dentist in Vermont to become a Diplomat of the International Congress of Oral Implantology (ICOI). Members of the ICOI achieve that status in recognition of their effors in education and research as well as their clinical experience.

After graduating from NJDS, DuBoff practiced in New Jersey for 17 years before moving to Rutland, VT, with his wife, Lynn, and three children.

Full and Part-time Positions Working with Veterans

noreply@blogger.com (UMDNJ) — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 13:27:00 +0000

If you have relatives or friends who’ve served in the military or have worked with veterans, they may be interested in rewarding work available helping men and women who’ve served in the military. UMDNJ’s highly regarded peer-to-peer veterans helpline is actively searching for compassionate men and women to be trained for both full- and part-time positions as peer support counselors.

The helpline is an innovative support system for veterans returning from military service and attempting to resume their civilian lives. Many encounter challenges with this transition – such as mental health, financial, marital, employment issues – that they can address effectively with the confidential support of peer veterans or others with appropriate experience.

If you know someone who may be interested, encourage them to check the job requirements and apply online at

umdnj.hodesiq.com/ by entering Job Number 11PS917151.

An Artist in the OR

noreply@blogger.com (UMDNJ) — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 15:43:00 +0000

Anthony Berlet, MD '86
UMDNJ-New Jersey Medical School

Anthony Berlet approaches his specialty—plastic surgery—with the passion of an artist. A trained architect, he specializes in the structure of the human body rather than a building. His creations are the planes of the face, the contour of a nose, the reconstruction of a breast. His materials are skin, bone and tissue; his tools are scalpels, clamps, lasers and probes.

As an undergraduate, Berlet majored in architecture in addition to pre-med. He classifies plastic surgery into two types of procedures: those that can be taught, like breast augmentation and tummy tuck; and the more creative three-dimensional procedures, such as rhinoplasty and breast reconstruction, “which are like sculpting.”

He’s illustrated and written many medical textbooks, and in 2009, was asked to curate an exhibition of plastic surgery: “I Am Art—An Expression of the Visual and Artistic Process of Plastic Surgery.” As curator, Berlet selected his own work and that of three colleagues, including photos and videos taken before, during and after surgery. When asked how he does it all, the physician smiles. “I don’t know,” he says. “I wake up every morning with so many great ideas. I just want to make it all happen.”

Recognition for Nursing Alum

noreply@blogger.com (UMDNJ) — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 15:36:00 +0000

Cathie Jones, RN, MSN
UMDNJ-School of Nursing ’08

As a finalist in the teaching category of the 2011 Greater Philadelphia/Tri-State Nurse Excellence Awards, sponsored by Nursing Spectrum magazine, Cathie Jones, a graduate of the Master of Science in Nursing program in Mental Health, was among the 30 finalists recognized for the extraordinary contributions nurses make to their patients, other nurses, and the community.

Jones was singled out for her work as a clinical adviser, liaison and resource to the clinical staff at Kennedy’s Health System’s Behavioral Health Services in Cherry Hill, where she serves as clinical director. With a focus on patient safety and clinical excellence, she has taken a leadership role in several key initiatives, including patient safety rounds, behavioral health’s personal assessment/patient search procedure (aimed at identifying potentially dangerous items), and the establishment of the Tier 1 Alert psychiatric emergency response team that has resulted in a substantial reduction in behavioral disturbances within the hospital setting.

Earlier this year, she was the recipient of a quality award at Kennedy for her leadership role in developing and implementing the Tier 1 Alert program.

Meet Gabby Giffords' Doctor

noreply@blogger.com (UMDNJ) — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 15:05:00 +0000

Gerard Francisco, MD, UMDNJ-New Jersey Medical School '94

His training at NJMS, UMDNJ-University Hospital (UH), and Kessler Institute of Rehabilitation prepared Gerard Francisco, MD, for almost anything but especially helping U.S. Congresswoman Gabby Giffords recover from her gunshot wound. When Francisco learned that he’d be leading the team responsible for Representative Giffords’ physical therapy at TIRR Memorial Hospital in Houston, TX, he was surprised but not overwhelmed. “I’ve had high-profile patients before,” he says. At TIRR, one of the premier brain injury treatment centers in the country, Francisco is the chief medical officer of the Brain Injury and Stroke Program as well as Chair and Clinical Professor of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at the University of Texas Medical School.

Francisco graduated from medical school in the Philippines and at first, he thought he wanted a career in hematology and oncology. He soon discovered that he was more interested in physical medicine and rehabilitation and under Joel DeLisa, MD’s mentorship at UMDNJ, he flourished in the NJMS Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation and at UH. “Here was a Level 1 trauma center. The doctors treating traumatic brain and spinal cord injuries were doing an excellent job and were just as committed to education and research as they were to caring for patients. In a sense, we were taking the disabled and making them abled.” When dealing with the press, he walks a fine line now trying to provide appropriate information without violating privacy rules.” But Francisco reports that Giffords is doing very well and he’s proud of the work he and his colleagues have done. He completed the two year residency at UMDNJ-NJMS in 1994 — where he was chief resident that last year — went off to Texas, and returned to New Jersey to become Director of the Brain Injury Program at Kessler before being lured back south to TIRR Memorial Hospital. “Every day I am grateful for the training I received at UMDNJ. Dr. DeLisa was a great mentor and he’s become a good personal friend.”

Road Trip Circa 1959

noreply@blogger.com (UMDNJ) — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 19:53:00 +0000

Roger Cracco, MD, UMDNJ-New Jersey Medical School ’60
Leo Pisculli, MD, UMDNJ-New Jersey Medical School ’60

Nowadays, med students can take virtual road trips on the internet to “see” where they might want to spend their futures. Back in the summer of 1959, Cracco and Pisculli, members of the charter class, then Seton Hall College of Medicine, had no such luck. “Roger and I drove across the country to check out all the great medical centers before we made decisions regarding internships,” says Pisculli, a neuro-psychiatrist. In Cracco’s 1956 Buick, “We started out in June, the same day I got my driver’s license and our first stop was the American Medical Association convention in Atlantic City.” The cost of gas, food, and motels was so low that they could eat breakfast, have dinner at a restaurant and sleep for about $300 the entire summer. “Of course, we stayed in places that charged $2 to $4 a night,” Pisculli recalls.

“It was a real Lewis and Clark expedition,” remembers Cracco, vice-dean of the College of Medicine at SUNY Downstate Medical Center and Distinguished Service Professor, Department of Neurology. Philadelphia, Chicago, New Orleans, Little Rock and Los Angeles were all stops on their journey. Pisculli says, “I was most impressed with Los Angeles County Hospital, a 3,000 bed facility at the time. For me the trip was a great transition from being a student to becoming a doctor and it opened my eyes to the world beyond the shores of the Hudson River. I went west to that Los Angeles hospital and never came back.” Cracco stayed true to the east coast choosing a Philadelphia hospital first before landing in Brooklyn.

Author Explores Surviving Cancer

noreply@blogger.com (UMDNJ) — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 14:51:00 +0000

Roger B. Granet, MD, FAPA
UMDNJ-New Jersey Medical School '74

Working with cancer patients and their loved ones and educating medical students, residents and fellows are Roger Granet’s true passions in life, along with his love of writing. Over the years, he has published a number of poems in oncology journals, and he has been the editor of the Dell Mental Health Series, a compilation of 10 books that began publication in 1999.

This prolific author and editor blends cutting edge academic psychiatry with years of empathic clinical practice. He has published more than 20 books, including “If You Think You Have Depression” and “Surviving Cancer Emotionally.” He is also the co-author of “Why Am I Up, Why Am I Down?: Understanding Bipolar Disorder” and “If You Think You Have Depression.” Both have been translated into Polish and Spanish editions.

In 2001, he wrote “Surviving Cancer Emotionally: Learning How to Heal,” which led him to establish The Center for Psychiatry and Psycho-Oncology to deal directly with this issue.
Granet is a consulting psychiatrist at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center; a clinical professor of psychiatry at Weill Medical College of Cornell University; a lecturer of psychiatry at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons; and an attending physician at New York Presbyterian Hospital and Morristown Memorial Hospital. He maintains private practices in both New York City and Morristown, New Jersey. “My bottom line is this: I will do anything I can to help those with cancer.”

Drowning Prevention

noreply@blogger.com (UMDNJ) — Tue, 24 May 2011 15:56:00 +0000

Peter Wernicki, MD
UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School ’84

Peter Wernicki, an orthopedic surgeon specializing in sports medicine, gave the keynote address at the World Conference on Drowning Prevention on May 10 in Vietnam. He is medical advisor to the International Life Saving Federation and a member of the American Red Cross advisory council on first aid, aquatics, safety and preparedness.

A native New Jerseyan, he worked as a lifeguard at the Jersey shore as a young man. “Most of a lifeguard's work is preventing drowning, not saving people from drowning, which they also do. If you are a lifeguard and make a whole lot of rescues, you probably aren't doing your job,” he states.

A graduate of the University of Virginia, he is the son of a pharmacist who served in the Medical Corps in an evacuation hospital during World War II. “My father’s amazing stories of what went on in surgery fascinated me. I always knew I wanted to be a surgeon,” Wernicki says. He and his wife, Joanne, a radiologist, practice in Vero Beach, FL.

Wernicki explains that 95 percent of the drownings in the world are in underdeveloped countries, where there are no lifeguards and there is not a culture of swimming. Even in Florida, he says, drowning is the second-leading cause of death in those younger than 15.

“Teaching people how to swim and having them teach others is a low-cost remedy,” he advises. “We have to get the knowledge out.”

Where Family Medicine Matters

noreply@blogger.com (UMDNJ) — Mon, 16 May 2011 14:55:00 +0000

Theodore A. DaCosta, Sr., MD, ’60
Theodore DaCosta, Jr., MD, ’89
John DaCosta, MD,’91
UMDNJ-New Jersey Medical School

and
Judith DaCosta, PhD, UMDNJ-Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences ’91

In the DaCosta family, medicine matters very much. Father, mother, sons, daughters, daughter- and son-in-law, and a grandson are all following in the family footsteps, and many can thank UMDNJ. Eighty-year-old Dr. DaCosta, Sr, who still practices gastroenterology part-time in Orange, NJ, says, “In an afternoon, we’ll sometimes see 50 patients.” His wife, Johanne DaCosta, RN, is “the life support of the practice.” Oldest son Ted, Jr., says that all of them have chosen this career path because of “the passion for patients we learned from our parents.” Second son John spent last year in an area of Kentucky where the nearest gastroenterologist was hundreds of miles away but he’s back now. His wife, Judith, who veered just slightly away from the MD route, earned her doctorate in microbiology at UMDNJ and daughter Anna Maria is an MD who jumped states and went to the University of Pennsylvania where she met her husband, John Choi, an MD as well as a PhD. John’s wife, Maryann, is also an RN who has been a part of the family practice. Youngest daughter, Nancy Giten, PhD, is a clinical psychologist at Hahneman University and in private practice. Even grandson Teddy is a pre-med major at Seton Hall University. (In photo: Ted Sr., Johanne, Ted Jr., Teddy and Nancy DaCosta Giten)

Ted Sr. believes that being in the charter class of 1960 prepared him for almost anything on the job – and in family life too. “By the time I graduated I had already delivered more than 100 babies.” What’s next for this long line of healthcare-givers? Collaborating on a weight reduction center that will combine nutrition and exercise interventions with endoscopic and bariatric surgery. “Obesity is one of the most serious problems facing healthcare today,” says Ted Jr. To get in touch, email tdacosta1@comcast.net.

One of Six RWJ Foundation Fellows

noreply@blogger.com (UMDNJ) — Mon, 09 May 2011 14:48:00 +0000

Echezona Ezeanolue, MD, MPH
UMDNJ-School of Public Health,’05

Last year, Echezona Ezeanolue was one of only six physicians selected nationwide to serve as a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health Policy Fellow by the Institute of Medicine. He is currently spending the 2010-2011 term in the Office of the Secretary at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in Washington, D.C.

Before his fellowship, he was director of pediatric research and associate professor of pediatrics and public health at the University of Nevada’s School of Medicine.

“I joined the faculty after completing my fellowship training in pediatric infectious diseases in the Department of Pediatrics at UMDNJ-New Jersey Medical School in 2005,” he explains. “At the same time, I graduated with an MPH degree in Epidemiology from the School of Public Health. That was a very busy year.”

Honor for World War II Vet

noreply@blogger.com (UMDNJ) — Tue, 03 May 2011 16:20:00 +0000

Maurice Meyers, MD,’60

UMDNJ-New Jersey Medical School

Sixty years after serving in the U.S. Army in France, Maurice Meyers was one of 19 World War II veterans to be appointed a chevalier (French for knight) of the Legion of Honor by French President Nicolas Sarkozy. The ceremony was held on November 11, Veterans Day, at the Lycée Français in New York City.

While the award is generally reserved for French nationals, it is sometimes given to foreigners. Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, General David Petraeus, Julia Childs, and Miles Davis are among the other Americans given this honor. The letter Meyers received says: “This prestigious distinction underlines the deep appreciation and gratitude for your contribution to the liberation of our country during World War II. We will never forget the commitment of American heroes like you to whom France owes so much.” He also earned the Silver Star, the Bronze Star and the Purple Heart from the U.S. Army.

This is a red banner year for Meyers: His first book, entitled Reflections on My War, was recently published by Bluewood Publishing Ltd. Meyers, who lives in Watchung with his wife of 61 years, Ruth, earned his MD from NJMS in 1960 and worked for 40 years as an attending physician at Muhlenberg Regional Medical Center in Plainfield. He has two children and a grandson.

ACD Fellowship for NJDS Alum

noreply@blogger.com (UMDNJ) — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 18:05:00 +0000

Howard Ehrenkranz, DMD
UMDNJ-New Jersey Medical School '72

Howard Ehrenkranz was inducted as a Fellow of the American College of Dentists last fall in Orlando, in recognition of his contributions, leadership, and fine example as a professional person.

In addition, Ehrenkranz is one of only seven general dentists worldwide to receive fellowship status in the Academy of Osseointegration, an international dental implant organization with just 90 fellows among its 5,600 members He is also a fellow of the Academy of General Dentistry, and a member of the Academy of Periodontology, the Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry, and the Northeastern Gnathological Society. He serves as a full attending in the Department of Dentistry at St. Barnabas Medical Center. He has also been appointed to the North American Corporate Advisory Board of Nobel Biocare, the world’s leading dental implant company.

Ehrenkranz has lectured and published internationally on the subject of dental implants, including his paper in the January 2008 Journal of Prosthetic Dentistry, “Complete-Arch Maxillary Rehabilitation using a Custom-Designed and Manufactured Framework: A Clinical Report” and his 2002 Quintessence of Dental Technology article, “The Incorporation of Teeth into the Full-Arch Implant Reconstruction.” He maintains a full-time family and restorative dental practice in Livingston, New Jersey. He has been recognized as a New Jersey Monthly Top Dentist for the last four years, one of only two general dentists in the state to be so honored.

Johnson Named NJMS Dean

noreply@blogger.com (UMDNJ) — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 22:00:00 +0000

Robert L. Johnson, MD

New Jersey Medical School '72

President William F. Owen, Jr., announced this week the appointment of Robert L. Johnson, MD, FAAP, as the Sharon and Joseph L. Muscarelle Endowed Dean at New Jersey Medical School. Dr. Johnson has been interim dean since 2005. Dean Johnson is the first alumnus to serve as the school’s leader. A member of the NJMS graduating class of 1972, he did his residency at Martland Hospital in Newark, then the principal teaching hospital for the medical school. After a two year research fellowship in adolescent medicine at New York University Medical Center, he returned to NJMS as an assistant professor in 1976.

His clinical expertise and research focus on adolescent physical and mental health, especially adolescent HIV and AIDS. Dean Johnson currently chairs the Governor’s Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS and Related Blood Borne Pathogens and the Newark Ryan White Planning Council. He is a board member of the Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education at the National Academies of Science and member of the Community Prevention Task Force of the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

He has served as president of the New Jersey Board of Medical Examiners, chair of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Council on Graduate Medical Education, a member of the National Council of the National Institute of Mental Health and member of the NIH AIDS Research Council.

Alum Heads UMDNJ Board

noreply@blogger.com (UMDNJ) — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 18:01:00 +0000

Kevin Barry, MD, MBA
UMDNJ-New Jersey Medical School ’87

The first alum to claim the top leadership position at UMDNJ, the nation’s largest public health science university, is Kevin Barry, a confident, calm, successful anesthesiologist at Morristown Memorial Hospital who was first appointed to the University’s Board of Trustees in 2007 by then Governor Jon Corzine. Last September, current Governor Chris Christie gave him the top spot on the Board. “It is both a privilege and an honor, especially returning to the Stanley S. Bergen Building which I still reflexively refer to as Martland Hospital.”

In an interview for the winter 2011 issue of Pulse magazine, Barry recalled completing his clinical rotations a few floors below the Board’s offices in the building that was once a hospital. “I received a set of vaccines here before heading off to Kenya for a medical mission,” he adds. “This is home. I’ve come full circle.” Barry was a Phi Beta Kappa graduate in biochemistry from Rutgers in 1983 and interned at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center before going for his anesthesia residency at The New York Hospital and Hospital for Special Surgery. He also received his MBA from New York University’s Stern School of Business in 1995. A member of the Board of Directors at UMDNJ-University Hospital, president of Anesthesia Associates of Morristown since 1994, and on the healthcare transition team for the Christie administration, he believes, “This University is positioned to make greater strides towards becoming a national leader in health education and research.”

Plenty of Stamina

noreply@blogger.com (UMDNJ) — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 20:47:00 +0000

Marjorie Jones, MD, UMDNJ-New Jersey Medical School ’60

Fifty years ago, when she started medical school at Seton Hall College of Medicine, which is now NJMS, Marjorie Jones’s male classmates told her she was taking a spot that should have gone to a man. “All we women – there were nine out of a class of eighty – were going to do was get married and have children. We were never going to practice medicine.” She can laugh about this now, especially because she is still practicing pediatrics.

Born in Harlem, this mother of three, who married just before residency, opened her own practice in 1966 and still works from her home in Bergen County four days a week. In addition, Jones runs a clinic at Holy Name Hospital in Teaneck for children whose parents can’t afford medical care, is on staff at Englewood Hospital and serves as physician for the Hackensack school system. “I cover five elementary schools and one middle school, doing physicals, testing and immunizations.” She even found time and energy to go to Haiti last year on a medical mission. “There was so much trauma there.” Still in love with medicine after all these years, she says, “I have plenty of stamina.” Those poor guys back in 1956 had no idea who they were dealing with.

Bringing Dead Science Writing to Life

noreply@blogger.com (UMDNJ) — Tue, 11 Jan 2011 20:31:00 +0000

James Netterwald, PhD
UMDNJ-Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, ’05

Two roads diverged in his professional world and James Netterwald decided to take the path less traveled by scientists with PhDs in microbiology and molecular biology. He spent six years earning that doctorate from GSBS in Newark and working in a research laboratory. After graduation, he decided that life in the lab was not exactly his final destination. “My new career was born out of a desire to live the life of a college professor without having to obtain a fulltime faculty position. I wanted to perform life science research without having to write grants…but I wanted to spend the lion’s share of my time writing articles, and books,” he admits.

So, with his new doctorate in hand, Netterwald took his first professional writing job as an associate medical director at Medical Knowledge Group in New York and a year later, left to pursue an editorial position at a pharmaceutical trade publication called Drug Discovery & Development magazine. In April 2009, he founded BioPharmaComm, LLC, to provide writing, editing and consulting services to life science industries.

“My clients include science trade publications, medical education, pharma-biotech and public relations companies. As a seasoned writer and editor, I know what it takes to clearly communicate science to the world,” he says. “I can bring previously dead, ineffective writing back to life.” Even a quick reading of Netterwald’s sample stories posted on his website, http:www.nasw.org/users/netterjr/ demonstrates his ability to make scientific topics soar journalistically. Imagine a story about polymerase chain reaction (PCR), for instance. Netterwald invites readers with the question: “Was Kerry Mullis insanely brilliant or brilliantly insane?” Everything from epigenetics to autism and neuroimaging receive this expert treatment.

Last October, an essay by Netterwald titled “Back to the Lab” and published in The Scientist, Magazine of the Life Sciences, caught our attention. This science-writer missed that life in the lab. “I was told that it couldn’t be done – a writer could never return to the lab after a five-year hiatus. Part of me wanted to prove them wrong,” he explained in his published piece. And he did. Netterwald has been doing research in the laboratory of William Ward, PhD, a Rutgers University professor and president of a small biotechnology company, Brighter Ideas, Inc, specializing in the production of antibodies against green fluorescent protein. “I’m a visiting scientist. Returning to the lab is possible; it just takes a little adjusting.” But he’s also a writer and entrepreneur, proving that it is possible to choose more than one professional road. To reach Netterwald, email: james.netterwald@yahoo.com

Moving Up, Moving On

noreply@blogger.com (UMDNJ) — Wed, 22 Dec 2010 16:50:00 +0000

Peter J. Pappas, MD, FACS

UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School '87

Kudos to Peter J. Pappas on his recent appointment to the position of chair of the Department of Surgery at The Brooklyn Hospital Center, the 653–bed, Brooklyn academic and clinical affiliate of Weill Medical College of Cornell University. Following his graduation from RWMS, Pappas completed an internship and residency in surgery at Cooper Hospital University Medical Center in Camden and subspecialty training in vascular surgery at New Jersey Medical School, where he served on the faculty for 15 years. He was a professor in the Department of Surgery and the Department of Pharmacology and Physiology, and served as residency program director for the general surgery residency program and the vascular surgery residency. He was also director of the Division of Vascular Surgery and the Vascular Laboratory.

The author of more than 60 peer-reviewed manuscripts, Pappas is a member of the New Jersey Vascular Society, Peripheral Vascular Surgery Society, American Venous Forum, Society for Vascular Surgery, American Association for Vascular Surgery, and the Eastern Vascular Society. He is the current president of the American Venous Forum, a nationally and internationally recognized society dedicated to improving the care of patients with venous and lymphatic disorders.

Big Talker Takes Action

noreply@blogger.com (UMDNJ) — Wed, 22 Dec 2010 16:42:00 +0000

Anthony J. Mazzarelli, MD, JD, MBE
UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School '02

Anthony Mazzarelli, or “Dr. Mazz” as he is known to his radio audience, is the host of his own program on CBS Radio’s The Big Talker, 1210 AM in Philadelphia, where he offers all sides of major issues and current events of interest to his radio fans. He has impressive qualifications: in addition to his MD, he graduated cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania Law School and earned a Master’s Degree from the Penn’s Center for Bioethics in 2003. But more than talk, there’s plenty of action. Mazzarelli is the Medical Director of the Department of Emergency Medicine at Cooper University Hospital in Camden as well as an of-counsel attorney with Long and Marmero, LLC in South Jersey.

Earlier this year Cooper sent a medical team to Haiti within days of the earthquake, headed by Mazzarelli. The team of 18 healthcare professionals, a mixture of physicians, nurses, and technicians, took care of hundreds of patients at three different locations and led the transformation of a Haitian orphanage into a fully functional transfer hospital.

In 2002, Mazzarelli was named one of the Ten Outstanding Young Americans by the United States Junior Chamber of Commerce for his work in starting a clinic for uninsured patients in Camden as an RWJMS student. Last year, Philadelphia Magazine recognized Mazzarelli as one of the area’s Top Physicians Under 40. This year, he was named one of Philadelphia Business Journal’s 40 Under 40 Most Talented, and was awarded the South Jersey Young Professional’s Association Halo Award.

Academic Leadership for PA

noreply@blogger.com (UMDNJ) — Mon, 29 Nov 2010 18:40:00 +0000

William Kohlhepp, PA'79

UMDNJ-School of Health Related Professions Physician Assistant Program

William Kohlhepp of North Haven, Connecticut, was appointed associate dean of the School of Health Sciences at Quinnipiac University. Kohlhepp, who joined the faculty of the Physician Assistant Program at Quinnipiac in 1996 and holds the title of associate professor of physician assistant studies, has held several leadership positions across campus, including chair of the Faculty Senate. He continues to maintain his clinical expertise in occupational health and has been active in both the state and national physician assistant organizations. In 2000, Kohlhepp served as president of the American Academy of Physician Assistants. In 2006, he served as chairman of the National Commission on Certification of Physician Assistants.

Nursing School Grad Heads Hospital

noreply@blogger.com (UMDNJ) — Fri, 29 Oct 2010 15:29:00 +0000

Deborah Zastocki, RN, DNP

UMDNJ-School of Nursing '08

Deborah Zastocki, president and CEO of Chilton Memorial Hospital, was named one of New Jersey’s 2010 Best 50 Women in Business by NJBIZ. An administrator, nurse, teacher, and author, she has been commended for transforming the hospital's financial performance in her first year as CEO and implementing organizational strategies that dramatically impacted employee satisfaction.

She began her nursing career in 1974. Zastocki was a member of UMDNJ-School of Nursing’s first Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) graduating class in 2008 and received the doctoral student Excellence Award for Outstanding Academic Performance.
She came to Chilton as vice-president of patient care services in 1990 and became the hospital's CEO and Chief Nurse Executive in 2000.

In 2002, she was elected president of the Association of Health Care Executives of New Jersey (AHENJ). With the organization's backing, she worked closely with graduate schools to provide education, networking and mentoring opportunities to new and prospective health care leaders. In 2005, she was presented with the AHENJ Annual Distinguished Service Award in recognition of her significant contribution to, and impact on, healthcare in New Jersey and the field of healthcare in general.In addition to her duties as Chilton’s President and CEO, Zastocki has served on the boards of numerous community and professional organizations, including the New Jersey Hospital Association Policy Development Committee and the American College of Healthcare Executives Programs, Products & Services Committee; taught a graduate course at William Paterson University on leadership styles, conflict management, team building, and ethical and legal issues; and contributed to nursing textbooks and co-authored Home Care: A Technical Manual for the Professional Nurse and Home Care: Patient and Family Instructions. An advocate for women, she speaks with and mentors women in the community on career development, professional growth and work-life balance.

A Marriage Made at RWJMS

noreply@blogger.com (UMDNJ) — Wed, 27 Oct 2010 13:55:00 +0000

Vanita Kamath Braver, MD
Joel Braver, MD
UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School '91

Vanita Braver is the psychiatric medical director at Bonnie Brae, a residential treatment center for adolescent boys, located in Liberty Corner, New Jersey. She completed her psychiatric training at Cornell’s New York-Presbyterian Hospital.

A nationally renowned child and adolescent psychiatrist, Braver is often called upon to offer her expertise on topics related to children and parents. Her work has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, Child Magazine and Parents Magazine. She is
also the best-selling author of a children’s picture book series, called “Teach Your Children Well,” designed to teach important life lessons about values and to serve as a positive teaching tool for parents and educators. “Writing these books was a natural extension of who I am and what I do. I was inspired by the child within me, but more so by my work as a child psychiatrist and mother of three children.”

She is married to Joel Braver, a radiation oncologist at Steeplechase Cancer Center at Somerset Medical Center, who also has a private practice in Somerville. He was listed as a Top Doc in the 2009 spring issue of Inside Jersey Magazine. They met as medical students in1987.

The bottom line for Vanita Braver is that she loves all her roles — wife, mother, psychiatrist, educator and author — and feels passionate about each of them. “If you really want to do something, the key is to have your priorities straight,” she says, “Have support, and maintain balance.” Both doctors note that over the years, they have learned not to strive for perfection but to define success on their own terms.

Baltimore's New Health Commissioner

noreply@blogger.com (UMDNJ) — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 16:45:00 +0000

Oxiris Barbot, MD
UMDNJ-New Jersey Medical School

Baltimore’s mayor announced in early July that the city’s next health commissioner would be Oxiris Barbot, who has served for seven years as medical director of New York City’s Office of School Health. As head of the program, which was run jointly by the health and education departments, she was in charge of implementing health policy in the nation’s largest school system. While there, she created an electronic medical records system for more than a million students.

Barbot, who began her life in the South Bronx projects and is fluent in Spanish, graduated from Yale before coming to UMDNJ and did a pediatric residency at George Washington University/Children’s National Medical Center.

Finding his Passion

noreply@blogger.com (UMDNJ) — Mon, 27 Sep 2010 17:03:00 +0000

Shaum Kabadi, PhD, MPH '09
UMDNJ-School of Public Health

Shaum Kabadi discovered his research passion while using the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey [NHANES] cross-sectional data to look at the relationships between specific vitamins and minerals and the onset of Type 2 diabetes.
A biochemistry major as an undergrad, Kabadi took a different route at SPH, where he focused on epidemiology. He says that studying associations at a population- based level is likely to have larger implications in the future.

Although his current coursework consumes most of his time — he is working on a PhD at Drexel University — Kabadi is working with data from NHANES to assess the effect of obesity on diabetic peripheral neuropathy risk. Collaborating with a neurologist, he hopes to publish this research soon. His ultimate goal is a position with the Chronic Disease Department of the Centers for Disease Control as a practicing epidemiologist.

An Aspirin A Day

noreply@blogger.com (UMDNJ) — Tue, 21 Sep 2010 14:48:00 +0000

Edward J. Petrus, MD

UMDNJ-New Jersey Medical School '66

Every graduate of NJMS this May received a gift from Edward Petrus: a copy of his book about aspirin called Aspirin, The Golden Pill. This board-certified ophthalmologist who received training in neurology lives in Austin, TX, chose aspirin because it’s the most popular drug in the world. “There are about 29,000 research and medical articles on aspirin but I felt there was a need for a concise review of the uses and consideration for taking aspirin,” he explains. Petrus is more than a physician-author, however. This doctor invented and patented Fasprin, a low-dose aspirin tablet that dissolves quickly in the mouth, gets into the bloodstream within five minutes and avoids irritation to the stomach. “Rapid absorption is important when you are having a heart attack or stroke,” he says. Long-term use of aspirin may double the chance of living a healthy life into your 90s, according to Petrus. “When you swallow an aspirin tablet, it sits in the rugae of the stomach, causing ulcerations and possible bleeding. All swallowed tablets are absorbed by the liver with only about half the drug reaching circulation. I am currently working on other analgesics to be orally absorbed.”

Petrus, who founded Advanced Medical Instruments and Nobel Laboratories, holds 13 patents and will soon be awarded a 14th. His inventions and products are as varied as topical ibuprofen cream, insect repellent, sun screen and a computer-generated program that determines an individual’s dietary supplement profile. “I file patent and trademark applications and prosecute them myself,” he says.After graduating from NJMS and completing an internship in San Francisco, Petrus became a captain in the U.S. Army Medical Corps. Later, his residency in ophthalmology took him to Temple, TX. “I was in private practice in Texas for years and taught laser surgery until my retirement which was when I started developing medical products. As an ophthalmologist, I had the honor of operating on my grandmother and aunt for cataract surgery.” Feel free to get in touch: DRPETRUS@NOBELLABS.COM

Keeping Athletes in the Game

noreply@blogger.com (UMDNJ) — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 17:47:00 +0000

F. Kennedy Gordon, MD
UMDNJ-New Jersey Medical School '87

Sports have certainly been a prime factor in Dr. F. Kennedy Gordon’s life-plan. The “Elite” in the name of his company, Gordon Elite Sports Medicine, P.C. was inspired by his father-in-law, Charles Biot, who played as a centerfielder with the Newark Eagles, New York Black Yankees and Baltimore “Elite” Giants of the Negro Leagues from 1939 to 1941, when Word War II cut short his athletic career. “My father-in-law was integral to the struggle of African-Americans to be accepted as professional athletes,” Gordon states proudly.

Following his graduation from NJMS, Gordon completed a four-year Internal Medicine residency at Newark’s UMDNJ-University Hospital, followed by a year as Chief Medical Resident at East Orange Veterans Administration Medical Center. It was in 1992, during his Sports Medicine fellowship at Kaiser Permanente in California, that he became interested in acupuncture to alleviate pain and return athletes to the field quicker. He advanced his knowledge by studying medical acupuncture at New York Medical College, and in 1999, he established Gordon Elite Sports Medicine in Union, NJ, where he incorporates acupuncture into many of his treatments.

In 2000, Gordon was honored with an invitation to be a staff physician at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Lake Placid, NY, where athletes were preparing for the 2002 Winter Olympic Games. In 2002, his expertise was recognized again when the NY Giants football team hired him to treat their players. Since that time Dr. Gordon currently treats many members of different teams in the NFL. He is a black belt in Tae Kwon Do and the Medical Director for the NJ division of USA Tae Kwon Do. He is also a competitive USA Track and Field Masters runner, specializing in the 400 meters.

At NJMS, Gordon was mentored by Dr. Robert Johnson, now acting dean, “who had a big impact on me.” He shares his own life-philosophy with high school and college athletes under his medical care: “Focus on what’s important—faith, family, schooling, and thinking outside the box. Be clear on your personal route to happiness.” His own education, he says, has prepared him to do exactly what he wants to do.