Lou Aledort, M.D. ’59, retired in May 2022 after 56 years at Mount Sinai and the Icahn School of Medicine. For the past nine years, he and his partner, Natasha, have traveled a great deal, recently spending time in Turks and Caicos, and they plan to go to Amsterdam in the spring to see the tulips in bloom.
Miriam Levitt, M.D. ’71, is the medical director of the school district in Bronxville, N.Y. She has an active pediatric practice and serves on the voluntary staff and faculty at Einstein and Montefiore. Approved for COVID-19 vaccine administration, she has given 1,097 doses since the vaccine’s release. She is co-chair of the Class Ambassadors Committee of the Einstein Alumni Association board of governors. Dr. Levitt and her husband, Harvey, live in Scarsdale, N.Y., where she has served as the fire commissioner, police commissioner, and mayor. She and her husband have three grown children and seven grandchildren.
Eric Heyer, Ph.D. ’74, M.D. ’75, is an emeritus professor of anesthesiology and neurology at the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. He entered with the Einstein class of 1972 and retired in 2016. Shortly after retiring, he was awarded a National Institutes of Health grant to study the effect of carotid endarterectomy on cognitive performance after surgery. He currently is looking into volunteer positions.
David Wisotsky, M.D. ’74, is the chief executive officer and medical director of Tenafly Pediatrics, a private pediatric practice with 10 locations in northern New Jersey. He is looking forward to seeing all his classmates at their 50th reunion in the near future.
Ross Levy, M.D. ’76, will be adding to his collection of grandchildren this fall. Currently he has three: Samuel and twins Mae and Margot. He is looking forward to meeting two more: a brother for the twins in October and a sister for Samuel in November. Dr. Levy is still working full time at CareMount Medical in Mount Kisco, and he spends his free time at Candlewood Lake.
George Y. Wu, M.D., Ph.D. ’76, received a Fulbright Scholarship to teach the Egyptian medical community about challenging problems in liver disease. He is spending four months at the National Research Centre in Cairo. Dr. Wu is a professor emeritus at the University of Connecticut Health Center, former chief of gastroenterology-hepatology and director of the hepatology section there, and the former Herman Lopata Chair in Hepatitis Research.
Sten H. Vermund, M.D. ’77, has been named vice president/president-elect of the Connecticut Academy of Science and Engineering. He has served as the dean of the Yale School of Public Health since 2017. Dr. Vermund also is a member of the Einstein board of governors.
Ruth Muschel, M.D., Ph.D. '78 Steven Merahn, M.D. ’82, wrote and published Care Evolution: Essays on Health as a Social Imperative, a collection of essays based on his diverse career across the healthcare system that presents an “aspirational vision for the health of our nation.” A review called it “an intensive, mindful critique of modern healthcare that confronts its flaws and proposes solutions.”
Debrah Aronson-Simkovic, M.D. ’83, and Neal Simkovic report that they were thrilled to celebrate the marriage of their daughter Sherry to Marty Feuerstein-Mendik on June 26, 2022.
Stuart Marcus, M.D. ’83, Ph.D., is dedicated to the treatment of cancer. He is the founder and chief medical officer of SonALAsense, a California-based company founded in 2019 that provides a drug-device combination treatment for recurrent glioblastoma multiforme and other deadly cancers.
Marc Berger, M.D. ’87, is a co-chair of Commission 52, which is leading the procurement of sponsors for two bills to award Congressional Gold Medals to the 52 Americans who were held hostage for 444 days by the Islamic Republic of Iran from 1979 to 1981. The Congressional Gold Medal is the highest award that Congress can bestow.
David P. Eisenman, M.D. ’89, has been selected to serve as a member of the National Academy of Sciences’ engineering and medicine standing committee for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control Center for Preparedness and Response. The committee will discuss the scientific, technical, and social issues related to public health emergencies. Dr. Eisenman is an internist, a health services researcher, and a professor at the David Geffen School of Medicine and the Fielding School of Public Health at the University of California–Los Angeles. He also is the director of the Center for Public Health and Disasters at the Fielding School and the deputy director of the Center for Healthy Climate Solutions.
Lane Palmer, M.D. ’89, is a professor of urology and pediatrics at the Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell and the chief of pediatric urology at Cohen Children’s Medical Center at Long Island Jewish Medical Center. He recently finished his term as president of the Societies for Pediatric Urology and is currently serving as president of the New York section of the American Urological Association. Dr. Palmer’s wife, Lisa Menasse-Palmer, M.D. ’89, is happily retired after many years as a pediatrician and clinical geneticist. They have three children: Samantha, a veterinarian who will be married this fall; Robert, a consultant at Deloitte; and Elisabeth, a junior at the University of Michigan.
Reynaldo Alonso, M.D. ’91, was named the chief of internal medicine at Kaiser Permanente Los Angeles Medical Center in August 2021.
Hugh Bases, M.D. ’94, is a clinical associate professor of pediatrics at the NYU Grossman School of Medicine and the program director of the developmental-behavioral fellowship. He reports being happy to have had a mini-reunion this year with classmates Caroline Gessert, M.D. ’94, and Jeff Hurwitz, M.D. ’94!
Sherry C. Huang, M.D. ’94, has been appointed the inaugural vice chancellor for graduate medical education and the enterprise-wide designated institutional official at Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences in Newark, N.J. In this role, she will be involved in integrating the Rutgers and RWJBarnabas Health graduate medical education programs. She will help design a statewide training environment for more than 1,600 residents and fellows.
Kim Landzberg, M.D. ’95, and Brian Landzberg, M.D. ’95, report that they had a great time at their 27th Einstein reunion. They got to mix and mingle with alumni from surrounding classes and had fun meeting new alumni as well. They hope to see more classmates at the next reunion!
Camille A. Clare, M.D. ’97, M.P.H., has been appointed the new chair of the department of obstetrics and gynecology and a professor at the State University of New York Downstate Health Sciences University College of Medicine and the School of Public Health.
Vicki L. Goodman, M.D. ’98, has been appointed executive vice president, product development and medical affairs, and chief medical officer at Exelixis, a genomics-based drug-discovery company. She will lead Exelixis’s clinical development and medical affairs efforts and play a leadership role in building an Exelixis team that will expand the company’s development activities on the East Coast.
Jennifer Meyer, M.D. ’98, specializes in preventive medicine, women’s health, and eating disorders at the Medical Clinic of Houston. She is also a clinical assistant professor of medicine at the Baylor College of Medicine and assistant professor of clinical medicine at the Houston Methodist Institute for Academic Medicine.
Stefanie J. Schluender, M.D. ’99, is a colorectal surgeon at Colorectal Surgical Specialists in Tucson, Ariz. She was named a top doctor by Tucson Lifestyle magazine, according to the Castle Connolly Regional Top Doctors listing, and cited in its Exceptional Women in Medicine list.
Anne E. Goldfeld, M.D. ’81, professor of medicine and of pediatrics, Harvard Medical School; senior investigator in the program of cellular and molecular medicine, Boston Children’s Hospital; professor of immunology and infectious diseases, Harvard T. C. Chan School of Public Health; infectious-disease physician, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston.
Nereida C. Correa, M.D. ’85, M.P.H., associate professor of obstetrics & gynecology and women’s health and of family and social medicine, senior adviser to the Hispanic Center of Excellence, and co-director of the Summer Undergraduate Mentorship Program, Einstein; attending physician, North Central Bronx Hospital of the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation.
Ruth J. Muschel, M.D., Ph.D. ’78, professor emerita of molecular pathology in the department of oncology, University of Oxford, the United Kingdom.
Jerry A. Winkelstein, M.D. ’65, professor emeritus of pediatrics, of medicine, and of pathology, the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine; professor emeritus of immunology, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
Janina R. Galler, M.D. ’72, professor of psychiatry, Harvard Medical School; senior researcher, division of pediatric gastroenterology and nutrition, Massachusetts General Hospital for Children.
E. John Gallagher, M.D., founding chair of emergency medicine and professor emeritus of emergency medicine, of medicine, and of epidemiology & population health, Einstein.
Adam J. Friedman, M.D. ’06, professor and chair of dermatology, founding residency program director, director of translational research, and director of the Supportive Oncodermatology Program, George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences.
Dionna W. Williams, Ph.D. ’14, assistant professor of molecular and comparative pathobiology, the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine; assistant professor of molecular microbiology & immunology, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health; co-director of the Central Nervous System Dysfunction Scientific Working Group, Johns Hopkins Center for AIDS Research.
Kenneth A. Goldstein, M.D. ’00, has been appointed regional medical director of ambulatory surgical services for Northwell Health’s northern region. He served as chief of vascular surgery at Phelps Hospital and Northern Westchester Hospital in Westchester County, N.Y., for the past six years. Dr. Goldstein is married and has two children.
Neeta Ogden, M.D. ’00, is a nationally recognized allergy, asthma, and immunology specialist. He is a member of the medical-scientific council of the Allergy and Asthma Foundation of America, a fellow and spokesperson for the American College of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology, and a member of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology.
Neelufar A. Mozaffarian, M.D., Ph.D. ’01, has been appointed chief medical officer at GentiBio, a biotechnology company. She has more than 25 years of pharma and biotech experience and has worked with multiple small- and large-molecule immunology/autoimmunity programs that cover all phases of drug development.
Steven E. Helft, M.D. ’02, is a gastroenterologist at CareMount Medical in Poughkeepsie, N.Y. He is looking forward to a hiking trip in Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado.
Daniel Cousin, M.D. ’05, co-founded Doctors for Providers, a company that connects providers with collaborating physicians. It acts in a matchmaking capacity, allowing more people to receive healthcare while there is a shortage of physicians. He reports that he finds it rewarding and fulfilling, like academics and teaching.
Shelly-Ann Sharpe, M.D. ’05, was selected this year for the clinical quality fellowship program of the Greater New York Hospital Association.
Josh Levitsky, M.D. ’08, M.S., has been named president-elect of the American Society of Transplantation, which has more than 4,000 members. The society is the largest transplant organization in North America and is a recognized authority on research, advocacy, education, and organ donation. Dr. Levitsky, a professor of medicine in the division of gastroenterology and hepatology at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, is also a professor of surgery in the divisions of organ transplantation and of medical education. His research involves liver transplant immunosuppression, transplant organ tolerance, and biomarkers. He is the principal investigator or a co-investigator for several National Institutes of Health, pharmaceutical, and investigator-initiated trials.
Benjamin J. Levy, M.D. ’14, joined the department of orthopaedic surgery at Einstein and Montefiore in May 2022. Before that, he had been an orthopaedic surgeon at UBMD Orthopaedics & Sports Medicine in Cheektowaga, N.Y., and was a clinical assistant professor in the department of orthopaedics at the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at the University at Buffalo. Dr. Levy received the Arciero-Warner Research Award from the New England Shoulder and Elbow Society and was named an emerging leader by the American Orthopaedic Association.
Sabriya Stukes, Ph.D. ’14, is the new chief scientific officer at IndieBio in Manhattan, where she is creating a community of scientists and engineers dedicated to designing innovative and inclusive solutions for unmet clinical needs. Previously she was the associate director of the City College of New York/City University of New York master’s degree program in translational medicine to train scientists and engineers in medical technology innovation and commercialization.
Evan Tamura, M.D. ’16, and her husband, Chris, are expecting a baby in mid-October. Dr. Tamura is still working at a federally qualified health center in Columbus, Ohio, practicing full-spectrum family medicine. More than 75% of her patients are monolingual Spanish immigrants, and she reports that she is grateful to be able to keep working with the patient population that drew her to primary care in the first place. She also serves on the board of directors of the Refugee Health Alliance in Tijuana, Mexico.
Jenny Lu, M.D. ’22, married Cameron Rotblat on Feb. 20, 2022, at the Camden County Boathouse in Pennsauken, N.J. About a month later, she matched to a neurology residency at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center in New York City.
Keep your classmates up to date by submitting your news to Einstein magazine. We look forward to including you. Email us at einsteinalumni@einsteinmed.edu.
