A publication for alumni, donors, faculty and friends of UC Davis Health

Volume 15 • No 1 • Spring 2018

Alumni updates

Your hub for staying connected

In the last issue of this magazine, we hope you’ll agree that there was a lot to celebrate, be proud of and be inspired by.

We hope that seeing the photo spread of Alumni Weekend 2017 inspired you to make plans to come back to campus for this fall’s Alumni Weekend — October 19–20, 2018. We hope you were pleased and inspired to see the profiles of our three 2017 Alumni Award recipients.

And now in the pages that follow here, we hope that the class notes from your fellow alumni will inspire you to send us an update of your own.

With that in mind, we encourage you to do three things — all of which can be accomplished by visiting the School of Medicine Alumni Association (SOMAA) website: ucdmc.ucdavis.edu/medalumni.

  • Click Events to see the Alumni Weekend 2018 schedule of activities, lodging information and online registration link. (Register soon for early-bird pricing!)
  • Click Awards to submit your nomination(s) for the 2018 Alumni Awards. We want to honor our alumni and recognize exceptional achievements. Please tell us who you think is deserving.
  • Click Connect to submit a class note or update contact information. We want to hear your latest news, and to know how to keep in touch with you.

The SOMAA website is also a place to give your annual gift online, find a volunteer opportunity that interests you, contact us with your feedback, learn about us — your Alumni Association leadership and staff — and find School of Medicine news of all sorts. It’s all there at ucdmc.ucdavis.edu/medalumni. Let us hear from you!

Portrait of Topher Stephenson, M.D. Topher Stephenson, M.D.
President, UC Davis School of Medicine Alumni Association
Portrait of M.L. Farrell M.L. Farrell
Director, Alumni Engagement

M.D. Alumni

1970s
1974
Donald P. Olson

Casey and I moved from our country property to a home in Eugene in 2013. I retired from internal medicine practice two years ago. Loving retirement — doing some volunteer work in a mobile clinic for the homeless. Spending time with our son, daughter-in-law and grandson in Sunnyvale and our other son in Portland, trailer camping, riding kite boards and bicycles and trying to keep the brain functional. Whoever said being 70 puts some limits on physical activities was telling the truth; thankfully those limits are not so bad. Best wishes to all my classmates and condolences to all those of every year whose misfortune it is to be tied to an EMR.

1977
William B. Jones
William Jones

I’m still working one day a week at a nearby prison; much more internal medicine than EM. Quite interesting. Nancy’s and my 50th anniversary is in June. We’ll have a get together in North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina and are treating ourselves to a Mississippi River cruise from St. Paul to New Orleans in October. Otherwise, some golf and bridge. Semi-retirement is great!

Warren Wong
Wong family

Happily not working full time anymore. Medical director for a Med Technology Firm and I also have my own startup, which is developing an app for people with mild dementia. 30th anniversary is coming up. Son is studying ecology and daughter is an editor at The Atlantic. Grateful, life is good.

1980s
1982
Leslie Jean Andrews

I am happy to announce that I semi-retired on Feb. 28! It was great to see everyone at the alumni weekend and the high number of retired people helped me make up my mind that it was time for me too! I plan to spend more time in Sacramento over the next few months helping my husband Tim with his schoolwork. Send me an email if you want to get in touch!

Anthony A. Marfin

In 2014, after 23 years, I retired from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to join PATH, a Seattle-based non-governmental organization. I currently lead a 20-person team whose goal is to expand childhood vaccination coverage and improve the equitable distribution of childhood vaccines in low income countries. My wife (Dr. Amy Bode, UCD Internal Medicine 1991, but now a VA psychiatrist) and I will celebrate our 27th wedding anniversary in March 2018.

1984
Paul Bigeleisen

I work at the University of Maryland. At my advanced age I still administer anesthesia three days a week. The rest of the time I build robots to replace physicians. One of these robots is the software sold by a company in which I am a partner. It’s called VisualDx. Use your iPhone to take a picture of a skin lesion and your iPhone will give you the diagnosis. My wife Laurie has her own piano studio and is working on her degree in piano pedagogy. My daughter Eve is an art therapist, my daughter Hannah is an artist and my son Aaron is an opera singer.

1986
Loretta Howitt
Howitt family

I am nearing “retirement-graduation” from SCPMG and plan to work as a psychiatrist forever!

Three young adult kids, all with degrees and working their way off the payroll, a man who loves me, and a job with so many layers of meaning. Life is so very good. *Sending strength to my ’86 love and study buddy Lela Emad, who lost two homes in the Santa Rosa fires.

1987
Robert (Bobby) Reid Sloan

Still in Minneapolis and loving it. Doing concussion and spine care and grateful to be employed. We are growing and expanding into a brand new beautiful building this spring. Highlight so far: having free parking for all the Super Bowl activities. Low point: Vikings losing in playoffs. My wife found a Japanese church whose pastor is from Hawaii, so we have a ukulele praise team and are teaching hula to the Scandinavians here. We are blessed and so lucky. It is so much better than we expected in the great North Country and we even got more snow to play in this winter though it is melting again with temperatures intermittently in the 40s. Aloha and you betcha, yah.

Linda Wedemeyer
Wedemeyer family

Board-certified physician informatician working remotely from home for the VA, creating standards based/shareable clinical decision support. Supervise ophthalmology residents in clinic 1/2 day/week. Lowell: mostly retired, practicing law part time from home. Lots of time hiking and photographing geology here in Palos Verdes. Michelle: fourth year neurosurgery resident at USC, engaged, surfs when she can! Rebecca: construction project manager, married, one grand-puppy, snow boards a lot. Loretta: RN on neurosurgery floor at UCLA. Fun stuff: looking forward to REI kayaking/hiking trip in Tetons in June. Picture: the least blonde girls (among their cousins) are mine: Michelle, Rebecca and Loretta.

1989
Corinne Frugoni
Corinne Frugoni

Grateful to be living in a beautiful part of the state “behind the Redwood Curtain” in Arcata with two cats. After working 23 years at a local Indian Health Clinic, I am now happily working part-time two days a week at the Humboldt State University Student Health Clinic. A very big part of my time is spent educating, advocating and promoting Single Payer Health Care, specifically in the form of California Senate Bill 562. The rest of my time I take tango 2 lessons, scull and occasionally interview guests on a show called “Through the Eyes of Women” on our local public radio station KHSU. Not a bad life.

1990s
1990
David King
David King and wife at Machu Pichu

Happy, healthy and in private practice urology in Los Gatos, California. I stepped down as president of the large urology group that I helped start eight years ago to enjoy more down time. Our youngest will be graduating from college this year. Enjoying being empty nesters. Trying to see more of our beautiful local area and doing more traveling.

Esther Langmack

After more than 15 years as a faculty member in pulmonary medicine at National Jewish Health/University of Colorado in Denver I started a medical education consulting, medical writing and editing company in 2017. I specialize in educational strategy and content development, primarily in pulmonary medicine and related fields. I’m still happily married to CT Lin (UCD Internal Medicine, 1993) and we have two kids in high school.

1992
Hugh Cecil

So lucky to have found my Nirvana in Kalispell, Montana. Interventional radiology has been a great choice for me and has grown leaps and bounds. I was the first IR in northwest Montana (and fourth rad in our group), and we’re soon to be 18 rads and four IR’s. It’s been a wild ride managing growth. I’ve also found an additional niche in designing hospital spaces, particularly related to imaging. I feel lucky to have a job I love. On a personal note, Denise and I have moved into the empty nester phase. This place still affords me all the outdoor recreation I crave: fly fishing, rafting, skiing, snow shoeing, paddle-boarding, kayaking, etc. If it’s related to the water, frozen or melted...I’m there! Built a cabin on a lake and plan on moving there permanently this summer. My best to all!

1995
Holly Hauser

Perhaps my biggest contribution to medicine over the past 10 years or so has been my participation in clinical trials as a patient struggling with systemic sclerosis. I have successfully received a stem cell transplant, for which I am incredibly grateful. In addition, I read submissions for funding for the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs, and I work part time as a college consultant. Sending all my love and gratitude to my Class of 1995!

1998
Amy and Brent Culver

Hello to our classmates from 1998. Brent and Amy are now living in Santa Cruz. Brent is the lead rheumatologist in PAMF and is working a full practice. Amy has a part time clinical position and a part time admin position (lead M.D. at her site). Amy is having fun teaching as well as volunteering in the community giving anatomy physiology and sex-ed lectures to local schools (super fun, second career)? We are also working together on a project. We are co-teaching an osteoporosis class for the patients at PAMF, blending prevention and treatment education for our patients. We have two daughters who are continual sources of joy for us, although teenage years are approaching, with the joys and migraines that will provoke. We hope our classmates are healthy and happy and are still enjoying medicine.

2000s
2001
Rom Kandavel
Kandavel family at Taj Mahal

Monica and I settled down in Encino, California. We have two kids, Jayan 11 and Leela eight. Monica works in pediatrics at Kaiser. I’ve been in practice in Encino for 13 years since finishing residency at UC Irvine in ophthalmology. We keep in touch with too few of our many friends from UC Davis. We have yet to return and would love to with our two curious kids in tow. Best in the New Year, Rom and Monica Kandavel.

Jeff P. Sharman

I am living in Eugene, Oregon where I work as a hematologist/oncologist at the Willamette Valley Cancer Institute and Research Center. I have a second responsibility serving as the medical director of hematology research for the US Oncology network. In fellowship, I started doing pre-clinical research using antagonists of B-Cell Receptor signaling in lymphoma and leukemia. That project developed into ibrutinib and idelalisib – two drugs that have changed the management of chronic lymphocytic leukemia. I have also helped develop obinutuzumab, acalabrutinib, polatuzumab and several other compounds. It has been an exciting adventure and has definitely kept me busy. I enjoy taking my family skiing every weekend in the winter and hiking waterfalls in the summer. Best wishes to all.

2007
Patrick J. McGahan
McGahan family

Following my sports medicine fellowship, my family and I returned to Sacramento where I joined a busy private practice. In 2017, I had the opportunity to join my fellow alumni and friends, James Chen ’06 and Edward Shin ‘07, in their private practice in San Francisco. We are all enjoying ourselves in our exciting practice one block away from Union Square in San Francisco. If you are ever in San Francisco, please look us up. On a personal note, I’m blessed to be surrounded by my loving family including my wife, Noelle, and three children: Ava eight, Lucia five, and Jude three. I hope all of my UCD classmates and friends are doing well.

Marina Rasnow-Hill
Marina Rasnow-Hill

2017 was a crazy year – personal health struggles are no joke. I’m grateful to be back on my feet with a new empathy for the complex and chronic patient. I’m working on incorporating functional medicine and acupuncture into my full spectrum family practice and still maintain that elusive life balance. Every day is an adventure and I am striving to make the most of it! I hope all my former classmates are doing well and thriving!

2010s
2016
Reihaneh Forghany
Reihaneh Forghany

Having completed my medical school training at UC Davis, I truly feel blessed to have been able to also complete my preliminary year in internal medicine and now my anesthesiology residency here at this amazing hospital. In addition to being busy with residency training, I have also become a delegate for the California Society of Anesthesiology, where I, along with other anesthesiology physicians, meet with legislatures and policy makers in order to advocate for our patients and the future of the field of anesthesiology. I can genuinely say that UC Davis has formed me into the person that I am today.

2017
Joseph Kim

It’s been a little over half a year now since starting internship at the alma mater and I am happy to say that I could not be more excited about the combined med-psych program and these early steps of my career!

Resident/Fellowship Alumni

1977
Lawrence J. (Larry) Hergott
Larry Hergott

Internal Medicine Residency
Greetings to my internal medicine resident and cardiology fellowship colleagues. I treasure the time we had together, and hope you are well. My cardiology career has consisted of 20 years at Kaiser Permanente in Denver and 17 years at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. I retired from cardiology practice and am now at the University’s Center for Bioethics and Humanities. My scholarly work has been in writing philosophical essays and poems in medical, literary, and theological journals, largely about how medical practitioners and their loved ones lead the medical life. I will now share my academic title, which none of my UC Davis colleagues will believe (neither do I, actually): Emeritus Professor of Medicine, Senior Scholar in Creative Writing, University of Colorado School of Medicine. My very best to you all, Larry Oh, and Diane and I will celebrate our 50th wedding anniversary in August.

1979
Lawrence J. (Larry) Hergott

Cardiology Fellowship
See Residency – 1977

1986
Leslie Jean Andrews

Ob Gyn Residency
See M.D. Alumni – 1982

1991
Anthony A. Marfin

Internal Medicine Residency
See M.D. Alumni – 1982

Robert (Bobby) Reid Sloan

Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Residency
See M.D. Alumni – 1987

1994
Esther Langmack

Internal Medicine Residency
See M.D. Alumni – 1990

1995
Richard S. Isaacs
Richard S. Isaacs

Otolaryngology Fellowship
On June 1, 2017, I was appointed executive director and CEO of The Permanente Medical Group (TPMG) and president and CEO of the Mid-Atlantic Permanente Medical Group (MAPMG) of Kaiser Permanente. Together, TPMG and MAPMG have more than 10,000 Permanente physicians and over 35,000 nurses and staff delivering high-quality health care to nearly 5 million Kaiser Permanente members in Northern California, Maryland, Virginia and Washington D.C. I also serve as co-CEO of The Permanente Federation, LLC, which supports the work of more than 21,000 physicians and 80,000 employees across the Permanente Medical Groups who provide care for more than 11.3 million Kaiser Permanente members. Kaiser Permanente is composed of the Permanente Medical Groups, Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, Inc. and Kaiser Foundation Hospitals. Previously, I served as physician-in-chief for the Kaiser Permanente South Sacramento Medical Center and Trauma Center.

In Memoriam (Alumni)

UC Davis Health expresses its condolences to the families and friends of the following alumni who have recently passed away.

1973
John Longhurst and his wife Cherril
2014
Kristopher Klem