1950s

Paul L. Wolf (M.D. 1952) received the 2003 Award for Outstanding Contributions in Education at the annual convention of the American Association of Clinical Chemistry on July 20 in Philadelphia. Wolf is professor of clinical pathology at the University of California — San Diego Medical Center and resides in La Jolla with his wife, Florence Freedman Wolf (M.D. 1954).

Russell Block, Nancy T. Block, Joel Zrull and Nancy Zrull

Joel Zrull (M.D. 1957, Residency 1961) received the Agnes Purcell McGavin Award for Distinguished Career Achievement in Child and Adolescent Psychology from the American Psychiatric Association at its annual meeting in San Francisco in May. Zrull, professor emeritus and former chair of psychiatry at the Medical College of Ohio, resides in Maumee. Nancy T. Block (M.D. 1957) attended the meeting as then-president of the New Jersey Psychiatric Association. She is in private practice (which she says she finds too fascinating to quit) and teaches psychiatry residents as a volunteer faculty member at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey. Block is also a mother of three and grandmother of 10.

1970s

Thomas A. Reminga (M.D. 1973) has been elected to the Physicians Insurance Company of Wisconsin's board of directors. The company is a provider of medical professional liability insurance, risk financing, and consulting services to physicians, dentists, hospitals, allied health care providers, and networks in the Midwest. Reminga practices emergency medicine at Columbia Hospital in Milwaukee.

Brian J. Miles (M.D. 1974) was awarded the Cullen Distinguished Chair in Urology at Baylor College of Medicine in recognition of his contributions to urologic cancer, especially prostate cancer, and to the mission of the college. He resides in Houston.

Gilbert Snider (M.D. 1975, Residency 1981) has written a medical thriller, Brain Warp (iUniverse 2003), about a physician in Manhattan who becomes embroiled in a plot to take over the government of the Ukraine by poisoning its leader. Snider is a neurologist in private practice in Virginia. Find out more about Brain Warp at www.brainwarp.net.

Rosanne M. Leipzig (M.D. 1978, Ph.D. 1981), professor and vice chair for education and Gerald and Mary Ellen Ritter Professor of Geriatrics and Adult Development at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York, was named a 2003 McCann Scholar in recognition of her success as a mentor in the field of evidence-based medicine. She received the $150,000 award from the Joy McCann Foundation on October 11.

1990s

Tuwanda Williamson (M.D. 1999) is working with Direct Relief International as director of a medical team delivering care to indigenous people in the rainforest and upper Amazon in northwestern Bolivia. Williamson and her team travel up and down the Rio Beni River, a tributary of the Amazon, providing medical attention to the locals and educating them on health issues. Common health problems in the region are infection, parasites, amoebic dysentery, malaria, tuberculosis, malnutrition disorders and impetigo.

Lives Lived

Myron Fink (M.D. 1941, Residency 1947), 85, of Toledo, Ohio, died on January 27 at the Hospice of Northwest Ohio. Fink served in the Army Air Corps from 1942-46, and was a graduate of the U.S. Army School of Tropical and Military Medicine and the School of Aviation Medicine. He joined the staff at St. Vincent-Mercy Medical Center in Toledo in 1948, was vice chief of staff from 1967-71, director of the Department of Medicine from 1970-71, and chief of staff from 1971-75.

Reid E. Motley (M.D. 1962) died on March 26 in Detroit after a long illness. He was 69. Upon graduation from the U-M Medical School, Motley served his residency in ophthalmology at the University of Iowa, and then opened a private practice in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Motley and his wife of 48 years, Burtine, enjoyed mentoring University of Iowa athletes, both in athletics and academics. During his life, Motley was active with the Democratic Party and the Cedar Rapids Rotarians, and served as president of the Iowa Board of Medical Examiners, the Iowa Academy of Ophthalmology, and the board of directors for the Cedar Rapids YMCA program. Recreationally, he enjoyed cruising the Mississippi River with his family on his houseboat, the "Motley Crew."

Leland Rickman (M.D. 1980), 47, died suddenly of natural causes while traveling and teaching medicine in Lesotho, Africa, on June 24. In addition to being an alumnus of the U-M Medical School, Rickman received his bachelor's of science degree from the U-M College of Literature, Science, and the Arts in 1976, served his internship and residency in internal medicine at the University of California — San Diego from 1980-83, and completed a fellowship in infectious disease at Naval Hospital San Diego in 1985. After holding several positions with the Navy, he joined the UCSD faculty in 1990. In 1993 Rickman was appointed hospital epidemiologist and medical director of the epidemiology unit, and served as a key member of the antibiotic utilization team. For the last three years, he served as acting associate director of the microbiology laboratory and led clinical microbiology rounds. He also played an active role in preparedness and training for bioterrorism in San Diego County.

Robert C. Vander Wagen (M.D. 1957) of Bullhead City, Arizona, died on June 16 at the age of 72.

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The Cross-Body Block

Medicine, 46; Football, 5