Einstein College of Medicine Class Notes

1960s

Joyce Lowinson, M.D. ’62, was honored at the “On the Front Lines of the Opioid Epidemic” conference held at Montefiore and Einstein in September 2019. She is the founding director of the division of substance abuse and a professor emerita of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Einstein.

Anna Chao Pai, Ph.D. ’64, recently published her memoir, From Manchurian Princess to the American Dream. The book highlights the hardships of immigration, the discrimination that she and her family endured when they moved to the United States from China when she was 4 years old, and her enduring faith in the American dream.

1970s

Harold Pincus, M.D. ’75, was named 2019 Mentor of the Year at Columbia University’s Irving Medical Center. He is a professor and the vice chair of psychiatry at Columbia’s Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, and is the co-director of Columbia’s Irving Institute for Clinical and Translational Research. He is also the national program director for the Health and Aging Policy Fellows Program and serves as a senior scientist at the RAND Corporation.

Kathryn (Katy) Stein, Ph.D. ’76, is currently a biotechnology consultant (see katystein.com) after having spent 22 years at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and 14 years in industry. She still loves to work and does not foresee retiring anytime soon. This past spring she was honored to receive the Alumni Association’s Distinguished Ph.D. Alumna Award from Einstein.

Nancy Scattergood Donavan, M.D. ’78, was named the 2019 Southwestern Vermont Health Care Foundation’s Health Care Leadership Honoree. She earned a bachelor’s degree in biology from Franklin & Marshall College in Pennsylvania and studied at the College of Medicine and Dentistry at Rutgers University in New Jersey before attending Einstein. Dr. Donavan completed her internship and residency at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. She has been a member of Southwestern Vermont Medical Center since 1983 and staff president since 1996.

1980s

Hasan Bazari, M.D. ’83, had first thought an inability to speak fluently after he suffered a stroke four years ago could have ended his career. But with renewed determination, he has continued to be active. Today he teaches, oversees reflection sessions in the cardiac care unit, attends conferences, and is proud to be able to venture outside his comfort zone. At Massachusetts General Hospital, he was the program director of internal medicine from 1994 to 2014. He now serves on the Alumni Association Board of Governors at Einstein.

Joel Cohen, M.D. ’83, moved with his four adult children and his wife, Pearl, to Jerusalem, where he has been working in the stroke unit at Shaare Zedek Medical Center. During the past year each of his children has married: Tova to Gil Herrmann, Natan to Sarah Bayer, Meir to Ahuva Ross, and Sara to Chanina Landesman. In October Dr. Cohen welcomed his first grandson, Ariel Yona Landesman.

Joshua Lipsman, M.D. ’83, married his partner of five years, Jonathan Sorge, on July 6, 2019. For the past year they have been living in the Hudson Valley in the riverside village of Athens, New York, where Dr. Lipsman is a trustee on the village board. Earlier this year he became the medical director for Humana’s Medicare Advantage product line. He also partnered with associates in June to open his second boutique medical start-up in New York City, Ever/Body, a cosmetic dermatology practice.

Linda Broyde Haramati, M.D. ’85, is still happy to be at Einstein after all these years. She leads the cardiothoracic imaging division in radiology at Montefiore. She and her husband, Nogah, enjoy spending time with their three grandchildren; the oldest is 2.

Michael Zelefsky, M.D. ’86, is the vice chair of and a professor in the department of radiation oncology, clinical research, and is the chief of the brachytherapy service, at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. He was also appointed to the newly established Greenberg Chair in Prostate Cancer Research. He pioneered the development of MSK Precise, which comprises hypofractionated radiotherapy, real-time image guidance, magnetic resonance imaging planning, and the use of a hydrogel spacer between the rectum and the prostate.

Neal Shipley, M.D. ’87, lives on Manhattan’s Upper West Side and is married; he has three children and two dogs. He has spent most of the past 20-plus years as an emergency department physician and emergency department director. In 2010 he co-founded an urgent-care business in Manhattan. Dr. Shipley is currently the medical director for Northwell Health GoHealth Urgent Care, which has 51 locations in the metropolitan New York area and treated more than 500,000 patients in 2019.

1990s

Yvette Calderon, M.D. ’90, was elected to the board of directors of the American Board of Emergency Medicine. She was also honored with Crain’s 2019 Notable Women in Health Award. She is the chair of the department of emergency medicine at Mount Sinai Beth Israel Hospital.

Alan Dayan, M.D. ’91, is proud to report that his oldest son began his first year at Einstein in August, and was thrilled to join him for the White Coat Ceremony. Dr. Dayan currently lives in Brooklyn with his wife, Perline. They have five children; the older ones are on their way to making their own nests. He practices orthopedic surgery at New York University, specializing in adult reconstruction and sports medicine. Although he has not attended many Einstein reunions, he gives a shout-out to the Class of 1991.

Ian Walters, M.D. ’93, was recently named chief executive officer of Portage Biotech Inc. As board director, he was instrumental in leading the company’s recent acquisition of the drug-development company SalvaRx Limited, which he founded in 2015 and led in its production of cancer immunotherapy drugs. In a career spanning more than 20 years, he has contributed to four significant oncology drug approvals. Before founding SalvaRx he worked at Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS), where he managed physicians overseeing the international development of oncology compounds as well as biomarker and related diagnostic work. Dr. Walters was a core member of BMS’s strategic transactions group, which evaluated and executed licensing agreements, mergers and acquisitions, clinical collaborations, and the company’s immune-oncology strategy.

David Markenson, M.D. ’94, was recently inaugurated as the president of the Colorado Medical Society. He also became the chief medical officer of the American Red Cross, a position he says he could not, when he was in medical school, have imagined ever holding. As a volunteer for the past 15 years, he has served as the chair of the National Science Council of the American Red Cross. He also co-chaired the evidence group for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, which is the parent group of the 192 Red Cross national societies.

2000s

Kyle Lapidus, M.D., Ph.D. ’09, is the founder of Affective Care, an organization that provides and oversees psychiatric care and treatment throughout New York State. He completed his residency in psychiatry at Mount Sinai Medical Center’s Icahn School of Medicine, and is board-certified by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology. In addition to his experience with mood and anxiety disorders, Dr. Lapidus has particular clinical expertise in the management of treatment-resistant depression and obsessive-compulsive disorder. His pioneering studies have appeared in many scientific publications related to the treatment and development of ketamine and dTMS, along with other novel approaches to improving patient outcomes. He is dedicated to developing cutting-edge treatments, and he co-created Validose, an intranasal medical device that facilitates the delivery of medication.

2010s

Caitlin McMullen, M.D. ’10, gave birth to a baby girl in February and is loving family life in Florida. She reports that her mother retired in 2018 after a rewarding 38-year career as a neonatologist and is transitioning to “civilian life” by spending lots of time with her two granddaughters and pets.

Lauren Tannenbaum Roth, M.D. ’16, has returned to Einstein as an attending physician in the Comprehensive Family Care Center and as an instructor of pediatrics at Children’s Hospital at Montefiore. She recently completed her residency at NewYork–Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center. She is excited to work with Einstein medical students and plans to focus on expanding the health curriculum for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer patients, particularly within pediatrics.

Evan Tamura, M.D. ’16, started the Refugee Health Alliance listserv in November 2018 and completed a family medicine residency at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center in June 2019.

Alana Warhit, M.D. ’18, was married on May 27, 2019. She is a resident in psychiatry at NewYork–Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center. Her husband, Kevin Sean Beckoff, is an associate in the real estate group of Kirkland and Ellis LLP in Manhattan.

In Memoriam

Perry Eck, M.D. ’65, age 79, MASH (mobile army surgical hospital) unit physician in the Vietnam War, in private practice for nearly 40 years; March 24, 2019, Rochester, New York.

Jacob Gerstenfeld, M.D. ’60, age 84, retired ophthalmologist and member of Einstein’s second graduating class; June 5, 2019,
Palm Beach Gardens, Florida.

Asao Hirano, M.D., age 92, professor emeritus of pathology and of neuroscience at Einstein, the former Harry M. Zimmerman Professor of Neuropathology at Montefiore, former associate program director of diagnostic neuropathology (electron microscopy studies), and author of more than 800 articles in medical journals and textbooks translated into several languages; July 25, 2019, Sleepy Hollow, New York.

Ernest Kalman, age 85, former member of the Einstein Board of Overseers for many years, co-founded the Hallenbeck/Kalman Cancer Research Laboratory at Einstein; Jan. 16, 2020, Bedford Hills, New York.

Thomas Kaye, M.D. ’78,  age 67, neurosurgeon in the Springfield, Massachusetts, area for 30 years; Jan. 27, 2020, Longmeadow, Massachusetts.

John Larkin, M.D. ’92, age 57, primary care physician in Tipton County, Tennessee, since 2005, formerly in practice in Manhattan; Dec. 16, 2019, Covington, Tennessee.

Charles Robert Michael, age 82, investor and philanthropist who endowed the Charles Michael Chair in Autoimmune Diseases at Einstein; Dec. 5, 2019, Saddle Brook, New Jersey.

Tim Nelson, age 63, Einstein’s telecommunications technician for more than 15 years; Sept. 24, 2019, the Bronx, New York.

Paula Neyman, M.D., age 93, clinical associate professor emerita of pediatrics at Einstein; Oct. 23, 2019, Monroe, New York.

John Robbins, M.D., age 86, former associate professor of pediatrics at Einstein, National Institutes of Health researcher, vaccine pioneer, and winner of the 1996 Albert Lasker Clinical Medical Research Award; Nov. 27, 2019, Manhattan.

Detlef Schlondorff, M.D., age 77, renal investigator for more than five decades and Einstein’s former director of nephrology; Oct. 16, 2019, Manhattan.

Jonathan Warner, Ph.D., age 82, professor emeritus and former chair of the department of cell biology; Sept. 5, 2019, Pelham, New York.