Etc.

Class Notes

1975

David McClellan (M.D., ’75) served as physician of the day for the Texas Legislature May 21, 2007. A Bryan family medicine physician, David is a member of the Brazos-Robertson County Medical Society and Texas Medical Association.

1977

Marylee Kott (M.D., ’77) was recognized as one of the UT Medical School at Houston Dean’s Teaching Excellence Award 2006-07 in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine.

1978

Diana Fite (M.D., ’78) received the Council Meritorious Service Award during the American College of Emergency Physicians 2007 Scientific Assembly. Diana is a clinical assistant professor in the Department of Emergency Medicine and the past president of the Harris County Medical Society. She also was featured in a NY Times article about having a second chance following a stroke.

Wiley “Chip” Souba (M.D., ’78) was named interim senior vice president, executive dean and CEO for Health Sciences of the Ohio State University Medical Center.

Arlo Weltge (M.D., ’78) clinical associate professor of emergency medicine at the UT Medical School at Houston, was elected president of the Harris County Medical Society Central City Branch. The Central City Branch serves physicians in the Inner Loop, including the Texas Medical Center. As president of the Central City Branch, Arlo also serves on the executive board of the Harris County Medical Society, the largest county medical society in the United Stated with a membership of more than 100,000 physicians and medical students.

1983

Tara J. Myers (M.D., ’83) announces the release of her first book, Stealing Medicine.  Based on her experience as an emergency room physician and volunteer work with a national disaster medical team, Stealing Medicine is a romance thriller set on the Texas Gulf Coast and in the jungles of Costa Rica. Stealing Medicine received honorable mention at the 7th annual National Physicians Writing Contest. Tara and her husband, John, live in Houston, where Tara still practices emergency medicine.  They have two daughters, Brea, a senior at Southern Methodist University and Alissa, a sophomore at the University of Oklahoma. Tara’s next book, Meningitis, a medical thriller, is coming out in the spring of 2008.

1984

Andy Harper (M.D., ’84) was recognized as one of the UT Medical School at Houston Dean’s Teaching Excellence Award 2006-07 in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences.

1985

Daniel Salinas (M.D., ’85) was named senior vice president and chief medical officer at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta. Daniel comes to Children’s from WellPoint Inc., where he was regional vice president and national medical director. Previously, he served as vice president and medical director for Blue Cross Blue Shield of Georgia and had various leadership roles at Kaiser Permanente. He and his wife, Cynthia, have two children and reside in Roswell, Ga.

1986

Harold Taylor (M.D., ’86) was nominated to be a Cincinnati Health Care Hero for 2007.

1988

Ken Ferguson (M.D., ’88) is a nationwide consultant in the area of holistic, integrative alternative and antiaging medicine and is based in Galveston.

1991

Celeste Brabec (M.D., ’91) is with Reproductive Resource Center of Greater Kansas City, a regional infertility and in vitro fertilization clinic providing fertility services for the greater Kansas City and Midwest area. Her practice Web site is www.rrc.com.

1992

Mark Chassay (M.D., ’92) served as physician of the day for the Texas Legislature in March. Mark, an Austin family medicine physician, is a member of the Travis County Medical Society, American Medical Association, and the Texas Medical Association. Physicians participating in the Family Physician of the Day Program volunteer their time to staff the Capitol Health Services Clinic in Austin. As physician of the day, Chassay was available to treat emergencies in the Capitol building or on the grounds. His primary concern was the care and well-being of the legislators and their staffs because many of them reside in Austin only during the legislative session and do not have primary care physicians in the capitol.

Pamela Promecene (M.D.,’92) was recognized as one of the UT Medical School at Houston Dean’s Teaching Excellence Award 2006-07 in the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences.

1995

Lynne Baumgartner (M.D., ’95) was featured in an Athens Daily Review newspaper article about her ob/gyn practice at Athens Women’s and Children’s Center in Athens, Texas.

1996

Liza H. Leal (M.D., ’96) chief medical officer of Meridian Medical Dental Executive Healthcare, has been named Entrepreneur of the Year by Sterling Bank’s Fort Bend Women’s Business Initiative. Leal provides consulting services to physicians establishing pain management centers for their practices and is certified by the American Academy of Pain Management. She recently published the book Live Well Today With Chronic Pain and serves as a correspondent on pain and pain management for the UPN and Telemundo networks.

1997

Kimberly Buenger (M.D., ’97) writes that Giacomo Filippo Iero joined big brothers Giancarlo, 4, and Alessandro 2, Dec. 29, 2006.

Clifford DePrang (M.D., ’97, R, ’02) has joined Abilene Sports Medicine and Orthopedics. He and wife, Rosanna, have two children, Ava and David.

Lowell Ku (M.D., ’97) recently received the 2007 Fellow of the Year Award, which was selected by the residents at the University of Louisville, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology. Lowell also received the Resident of the Year in 2004 and 2005 while in ob/gyn residency at John Peter Smith Hospital. His research on “Decreased IL-2 production from T cells in a low estrogen environment” has been accepted for oral presentation at this year’s annual meeting for the American Society for Reproductive Medicine.

Ryan Nash (M.D., ’97) is director of Jefferson Clinic, a multispecialty physician practice in Birmingham, Ala., and was named to the Birmingham Business Journal’s Top 40 Under 40. He is married to Sarah, and they have three daughters, Victoria, 4, Annelise, 2, and Caroline, 8 months.

1998

Steve Kolb (M.D., ’98) and his family have moved to Columbus, Ohio. Steve has begun work as an assistant professor in neurology and in molecular and cellular biochemistry at the University of Ohio Medical Center. This year he opens his own lab to study the molecular basis of motor neuron diseases.

Joy LeBlanc (M.D., ’98) writes, “Andy and I are excited to announce the birth of our fifth child, John David LeBlanc, who was born on June 20, 2007. I am back working almost full time again in my ob/gyn practice in the Pearland/Clear Lake area.”

Nathaniel Strobel (M.D., ’98) was recognized as one of the UT Medical School at Houston Dean’s Teaching Excellence Award 2006-07 in the Department of Pediatrics.

2000

Jeffrey Friedrich (M.D., ’00) recently completed his fellowship in hand surgery at the Mayo Clinic and has moved to Seattle to join the faculty of the University of Washington.

Allison Gorrebeeck (M.D., ’00) writes, “Christopher and I joyfully welcomed the arrival of our first child on March 31, 2007. Ava Elaine Gorrebeeck was born at Eglin Air Force Base weighing in at 5 pounds and 15 ounces.”

2001

Lisa Otto Cash (M.D., ’01) reports that she married Douglas Cash Jr., an investment advisor, May 19, 2007, at the beautiful Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden in Richmond, Va.

Jeremy Britten (M.D., ’01) has joined Hendrick Health System in Abilene, Texas, specializing in orthopaedic surgery.

2002

Alyssa Throckmorton, (M.D., ’02) writes that she married fellow Vanderbilt resident Thomas “Quin” Throckmorton in April in Nashville. “I finished general surgery and he finished orthopedic surgery in June. We are both now at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. I am doing a one-year research fellowship in breast surgery. He started a shoulder and elbow fellowship in August.”

Oscar Vela (M.D., ’02) was promoted to facility medical director of First Choice ER’s Spring, Texas location. He did his residency at Texas Tech University’s Department of Emergency Medicine.

Ian Villanueva (M.D., ’02) completed his general surgery training at Loyola University Chicago in June 2007. He and his wife, Mae, former coordinator of the Office of Admissions at UT Houston, have moved to Charlotte, NC, where Ian is now the advanced laparoscopic bariatric surgery fellow at Carolinas Medical Center.

2004

Katherine Crenwelge (M.D., ’04) a pediatrician, joined Oregon Medical Group in Eugene.

Karma Hudson (M.D., ’04) writes, “We are proud to announce that Lillian Grace Soleil “Lily” Hudson was born Oct. 24, 2006. She weighed 7 lb. 10 oz, was 18” and healthy. She came while in my less busy PGY3 year of residency in psychiatry at UT Southwestern in Dallas. I’m in my PGY4 year now and plan to work in the DFW area after finishing up next June.”

Laura Huete (M.D., ’04) announces the birth of Emma Margaret Huete on Feb. 19, 2007, who weighed in at 7 lbs., 2 oz. She is a family physician in private practice in San Antonio.

2007

Eddy Furniss (M.D., ’07) was inducted into the LSU Athletic Hall of Fame. A 2000 graduate of LSU, Eddy won the Dick Howser Award in 1998, which is given to college baseball’s National Player of the Year. A two-time, first-team All-American, he helped lead LSU to College World Series titles in 1996 and 1997. He was also named to the Academic All-American team three times. The 1996 SEC Player of the Year, Eddy is the league’s all-time leader in hits (352), home runs (80), runs batted in (308), doubles (87) and total bases (689). He finished his career as the fourth-leading home run hitter in college baseball. He was matched to a residency in family medicine at John Peter Smith Hospital in Fort Worth, Texas.

Additional class notes at www.utmshalumni.org