Melvin Schapiro, M.D. ’60, has retired after 50 years as a gastroenterologist. In addition to practicing clinical gastroenterology and endoscopy, he has developed multimedia endoscopic teaching and educational programs for national and international gastrointestinal societies. Highlights of his career include serving as an officer of the World Organizations of Endoscopy and Gastroenterology and as president of the American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy. He and his wife, Bobbie, have three sons and five grandchildren. The couple lives in Encino, CA.
Howard Bruckner, M.D. ’64, lives in New York City, where he operates a freestanding cancer center and the MZB Foundation for Cancer Research (bruckneroncology.com). He publishes and reports on new methods of safely expanding applications for targeted drugs to improve the quality of response for various conditions, including just-confirmed cholangiocarcinoma and colon cancer.
Jacob Ackerman, M.D. ’71, lives in Flushing, NY. He still enjoys seeing patients in his office and performing eye surgery, but has turned over the operation of his ambulatory surgery center to his son, Steven. Dr. Ackerman has 22 grandchildren and one great-grandchild. He sends his best wishes to his classmates.
Gary D. Rifkin, M.D. ’71, F.A.C.P., F.I.D.S.A., chairs the department of medicine at the University of Illinois College of Medicine in Rockford. Dr. Rifkin, who is also a professor of clinical medicine and infectious diseases, joined the college faculty in 1978. He has served as the vice chair and the acting chair of the department of medicine and has won several awards. He is board-certified in internal medicine and infectious diseases and is a fellow of the American College of Physicians and the Infectious Diseases Society of America. Dr. Rifkin maintained a clinical practice in Rockford and served as a physician and epidemiologist at several local medical centers from 1978 to 2012.
Robert Ritch, M.D. ’72, lives and practices in New York. In 2017, he received several awards, including the Asia-Pacific Academy of Ophthalmology presidential award and the Joanne G. Angle Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology service award. He also gave the Mansour F. Armaly Lecture at the University of Iowa Glaucoma Conference and was selected as a member of the International Advisory Committee of ARVO-Asia, a conference held by the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology in Brisbane, Australia.
Roger Duvivier, M.D. ’74, F.A.C.O.G., has served for several decades as a volunteer in Guatemala for WINGS, a nongovernmental organization. He is also a member of the Antigua Guatemala Rotary International Club, which serves indigenous populations in need of clean water, sanitation services and education and reproductive healthcare. In March 2018, the Einstein office of diversity enhancement and the department of obstetrics & gynecology and women’s health honored him by holding the fourth annual Duvivier Lecture. The keynote speaker was Albert Galaburda, M.D., a professor of neurology at Harvard Medical School and the director of the office of diversity and inclusion at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston.
Maja Nowakowski, M.D. ’74, develops medical school curricula and teaches immunology at the State University of New York Downstate Medical Center. Her research focuses on human monocyte/macrophage activation and regulation of inflammatory responses in allergy/asthma and HIV-1 infection. Dr. Nowakowski’s twin sons—born at Einstein!—are Mark Nowakowski, now a partner at KPMG LLP, a U.S. audit, tax and advisory firm, and David Nowakowski, director of research at Baring Asset Management. Mark lives in Decatur, GA, with his wife, Katie, and their sons Benjamin, 12, and Sebastian, 10. David lives in London with his wife, May, and their children Siri, 8, and Lucas, 6. Dr. Nowakowski’s daughter, Tamara, is the operations manager at Zeel.com, an in-home massage service. She lives in Pittsburgh with her husband, Stephen McCormick.
Harold Pincus, M.D. ’75, is a professor and the vice chair of psychiatry and the co-director of the Irving Institute for Clinical and Translational Research at Columbia University’s College of Physicians and Surgeons. He received the 2017 Institute of Living’s Charles C. Burlingame Award for contributions to the field of psychiatry. Dr. Pincus also serves as the director of quality and outcomes research at New York–Presbyterian Hospital and as a senior scientist at the RAND Corporation. He lives in New York City.
Steven Rosenberg, M.D. ’75, lives in Palm Beach, FL. He recently was appointed to a third term on the Florida Board of Medicine, and was elected chair of the Joint Committee on Marijuana. His daughter, Miranda, graduated from the University of Pennsylvania Perelman Medical School, where she is serving her internship.
Margo Vale, M.D. ’75, and Michael Vale, M.D. ’75, are happy to announce the births of their grandchildren Charles Henry Vale on July 3, 2016, and Penelope Jane Rubin on February 25, 2017. Charles’ parents are Eddie and Katey Vale of Chevy Chase, MD; Penelope Jane’s parents are Judy Vale and Mike Rubin of Brooklyn, NY.
Andrew M. Gross, M.D. ’77, J.D., lives and works in Dallas, TX. His son, Michael, 27, just graduated from Southern Methodist University Law School and is engaged to be married. His daughter Dana, also 27, is a second-year resident at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, and is planning a career in pulmonary/critical-care medicine. Dr. Gross’ elder daughter, Rachel, 32, is a senior associate at a Dallas law firm.
Jerry O. Stern, M.D. ’77, retired from Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals as a vice president and the global therapeutic area head for virology and liver diseases. He and his wife, Robina, recently celebrated their 47th anniversary. The Sterns’ elder granddaughter, Ava, a high school senior, has worked for the past two summers at Einstein in the lab of Dr. Richard Kitsis. Ava plans to apply to the Einstein M.D./Ph.D. program, and looks forward to a career in biomedical research. Their younger granddaughter, Olivia, is actively engaged in her high school’s science research program.
Paul Blanc, M.D. ’82, lives in San Francisco. His book, Fake Silk: The Lethal History of Viscose Rayon (Yale University Press, 2016), was awarded the 2017 Viseltear Prize from the American Public Health Association for “Outstanding Book on the History of Public Health.”
Joel Cohen, M.D. ’83, recently left his senior faculty position in the department of neurology at Einstein Montefiore to join the stroke unit at Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem, where he lives with his wife, Pearl, and their four children. The Cohens are proud to announce that their daughter, Sara, is engaged to Chanina Landesman of Givat Shmuel, Israel.
Carl E. Rosenkilde, M.D. ’85, retired as a neurologist in February 2017. He lives in Mount Kisco, NY.
Ronald S. Lubetsky, M.D. ’91, lives in Hollywood, FL. In October 2017, Dr. Lubetsky completed a fellowship in integrative medicine at the University of Arizona, Tucson. On March 24, 2017, Dr. Lubetsky and his wife welcomed their son Benyamin Emmanuel Uriel Lubetsky to their family.
Carla Golden, M.D. ’92, works at the Oakland Children’s Hospital and Research Center in the department of hematology/oncology, in Oakland, CA.
Hugh Bases, M.D. ’94, serves as a developmental-behavioral pediatrician at the New York University School of Medicine. His wife, Randi Asher (Ferkauf ’95), is in private practice in New York City.
Malini Sen, M.D. ’95, lives in Kolkata, India, and works at the Indian Institute of Chemical Biology. She is grateful to Einstein for helping shape her career as a scientist. Dr. Sen studies the mechanisms of pathogenesis in microbial infections and would love to hear from classmates with similar interests.
Kristin E. Harkin, M.D. ’97, F.A.C.E.P., lives in New Rochelle, NY, and serves as the chair of the New York State Board of Medicine.
