1950s

Frederick M. Kapetansky (M.D. 1957) was presented with the 2005 Excellence in Teaching Award from the Department of Ophthalmology at Ohio State University. The award, presented last June, is based in part upon student evaluations and peer reviews. Kapetansky has been clinical professor in the department for 44 years. Though he resides in Columbus, Ohio, and has a son attending medical school at OSU, he would like his fellow U-M alumni to know he still says, “Go Blue!”

1970s

Walter C. Willett (M.D. 1970) has been selected to receive the 25th annual Bristol-Myers Squibb/Mead Johnson “Freedom to Discover” Award for Distinguished Achievement in Nutrition Research. Willett is chairman of the Department of Nutrition and Fredrick John Stare Professor of Epidemiology and Nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health, and professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School. He received the award in recognition of his development of large studies and methods to assess dietary intake in large populations. This work led to the discovery of significant relationships between nutrition and chronic diseases, including cancers, cardiovascular diseases and diabetes. He resides in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Barbara J. Gruebel, M.D. (Fellowship 1979), was selected by the Consumer’s Research Council of America as one of America’s Top Physicians for 2004-05. After completing her American Lung Association Fellowship in Pulmonary Medicine at the U-M in 1979, she was recognized by the American College of Chest Physicians as one of The Young Pulmonary Physicians of the Future. She served as a clinical associate professor at the University of Texas Health Science Center (1979-93) and as co-director of pulmonary services at Methodist Medical Center (1980- 93), both in Dallas. Gruebel has received the American Medal of Honor for Teaching Abroad (2001) and the International Peace Prize for Lecturing Abroad (2002). She has also lectured at the International Conference on Women’s Health in Beijing, and has been recognized in Who’s Who in Medicine and Health Care (1990-present), International Who’s Who of Women (1992), and Women’s Inner Circle of Achievement (1992). She now lectures in the Nacogdoches, Texas, area and supports the arts and performing arts, civic leadership, and community volunteer leadership (including programs for underserved populations and camps for chronically ill children). Gruebel may be reached at bjgruebel@cox.net.

1990s

Rajabrata Sarkar (M.D. 1990, Ph.D. 1995, Fellowship 1999) was named the 2005 Wylie Scholar in Academic Vascular Surgery by the Pacific Vascular Research Foundation, a San Francisco-based, non-profit organization that supports medical-scientific research and public education about vascular disease. Sarkar is assistant professor of surgery at the University of California — San Francisco School of Medicine and staff surgeon at the UCSF Medical Center and the San Francisco VA Hospital. The award includes a $150,000 grant for the continuation of Sarkar’s independent scientific investigations focused on post-thrombotic syndrome and the role of key proteins in the healing of veins. Sarkar is married with two children and lives in Burlingame, California.

Hyung Tai Kim, M.D. (Residency 1995), in April was appointed vice president of research and development for Ascension Health, a Catholic non-profit health system based in St. Louis, Missouri, that serves 20 states and the District of Columbia. In this role, Kim provides oversight and leadership to internal research resources, strategic partners, and external organizations. Previously, he served as vice president of clinical practice leadership at Thomson Medstat. Kim resides in Ann Arbor.

Lives Lived

James E. Lutz (M.D. 1960) of Redlands, California, died on January 8, 2005 at the age of 69. Lutz practiced internal medicine in the San Bernardino area for 40 years. During his career he served as president of the San Bernardino Foundation for Medical Care and of the San Bernardino Community Hospital medical staff, and served on the hospital’s board of directors.

Rodney Pacifico (M.D. 1997) died on August 28 at his home in Ann Arbor after battling cancer. He was 33. Born in New York, New York, Pacifico graduated near the top of his class from Clarkstown North High School, where he was a star member of the track team and field squad. He then completed the seven-year Inteflex medical program at the U-M in 1997. While at the U-M, Pacifico met Edda Toting, a nursing student, and they married in 1999. Pacifico completed his internal medicine residency in Wisconsin, and a gastroenterology fellowship at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota. He then returned to Ann Arbor in 2003 to accept an attending position at University Hospital. In July of that year, Edda gave birth to their twin daughters, Alexa and Gabrielle.

Elsie Belle Nessia Panlilio (M.D. 1948) died in Atlanta, Georgia, on April 22 after a brief illness. She was 87. Originally from Valladolid, Occidental Negros, Philippines, Panlilio received her bachelor’s degree in chemistry from the University of the Philippines in 1938 before coming to the U-M, where she received a master’s in 1943 prior to her medical studies. She then returned to the Philippines and taught chemistry at her alma mater for seven years before settling permanently in the U.S. in 1955. After starting a family, she returned to her career in 1962 and completed her residency in pathology at Albany Medical Center in New York, then taught pathology there for more than 20 years, retiring in 1987 as professor emeritus. In 2004 she moved to Atlanta to be closer to one of her two daughters.

R. James Russell, M.D. (Residency 1967), of Atlanta, Georgia, died on August 17, 2004, at the age of 75.

Donald H. Ter Keurst (M.D. 1957), 72, of Rockford, Michigan, died on September 10, 2004, after a long illness. He was a graduate of Christian High School and Calvin College, as well as of the U-M Medical School. Ter Keurst served in the Army and was a pediatric physician in Grand Rapids and Grandville for many years.

John Morgan Thompson, M.D. (Residency 1956), of St. Petersburg, Florida, died on July 21. He was 81.

Thompson received his master’s degree from Tulane University in 1946, his M.D. from Johns Hopkins in 1948, and completed his neurological surgery residency at the U-M in 1955. Early in his career, he taught briefly at Johns Hopkins and at Michigan, then returned to his native Florida where he practiced from 1956 until his retirement in 1991. From 1971-86, Thompson served as clinical associate professor of neurosurgery at the University of South Florida School of Medicine in Tampa, and as clinical professor there from 1986 until his death. He staffed the neurosurgical clinic and trained neurosurgical residents at Tampa General Hospital from 1993 to 2005, and was a member of the staffs of several other Florida hospitals during his career. He served in the Navy from 1943-46, and from 1950-52.

Billy J. Tucker (M.D. 1962) died on April 28 at Lake Taylor Transitional Care Hospital in Norfolk, Virginia, after a two-year illness. He was 73. Tucker attended Michigan State University as an undergraduate, and studied briefly at the Sorbonne in France during service in the Air Force. When he returned to the U.S., Tucker completed his medical degree at the U-M, married Cecelia Taliaferro, and moved to Virginia where he opened a private practice in family medicine. Tucker was involved in numerous civic and political activities, and was a member of the Norfolk Medical Society, the Old Dominion Medical Society, the National Medical Association and the Norfolk Alumni Chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity.

Donald F. Woomer (M.D. 1955) died on March 24 at the age of 75. Born in Detroit, Woomer graduated from Wayne State University in 1951, received his M.D. at the University of Michigan in 1955, and completed his internship at Harper Hospital (Detroit) in 1956. He was a flight surgeon in the Air Force in Frankfurt, Germany, from 1956-58, attaining the rank of captain. In 1961 he completed a residency in obstetrics and gynecology at Saginaw General Hospital in Michigan, and then moved to Eugene, Oregon, where he founded Women’s Medical Services, was an associate staff member at Sacred Heart Hospital, and served on the board of directors of Planned Parenthood. Woomer enjoyed fishing, symphony music, and wine.

Henry Naoki Yokoyama (M.D. 1955), 81, died on February 2, 2005. Born in Honolulu, Yokoyama was a Military Intelligence Service veteran and former editor of the Hawaii Medical Journal.

Also:

Reunion 2005

‘Where the Future Is Happening’