Evelyn Wolf Rokito, M.D. ’61, is emeritus at Nassau County Medical Center but is still working part time doing disability physical examinations for Nassau County and New York State employees. Both of her sons are orthopedic surgeons (chief of shoulder surgery at NYU Langone Health and chief of sports medicine at Long Island Jewish Medical Center/Northwell Health); her daughter is an attorney in Chicago. Dr. Rokito reports that she has seven beautiful grandchildren and is still living a fulfilling life.
Joseph Bloom, M.D. ’62, reports that he has no promotions, no appointments, no career changes, no moves, no births, no marriages, and no interesting stories to share with alumni. But he is still writing about state mental hospitals and watching the cacti grow.
Paul Rochmis, M.D. ’64, and his wife, Ann, are approaching their 58th year of marriage. They are both retired, she from psychiatry, he from rheumatology. They enjoy gardening, reading, and working out. The two hold videoconferences weekly with their four kids and some of their seven grandchildren. Dr. Rochmis sends out a monthly email newsletter to patients, and he lectures on gout. He stays in touch with Artie Goldstein, M.D. ’64, his longtime Princeton University and Einstein classmate. Dr. Rochmis and his wife report that they will be happy to wine and dine any former classmates who may be passing through their lovely area of Virginia.
Leslie Wolfson, M.D. ’66, says that after a career in neurology that included an Einstein residency, two years in the air force, 18 years at Einstein, and 31 years at the University of Connecticut, he has morphed into an emeritus professor. His wife, Linda, who had been a counselor at Housatonic Community College, has also retired, leaving them free to enjoy their three children and nine grandchildren. They are excited about following the career of their oldest granddaughter, Emery, who is a first-year student at Einstein.
Barbara Barlow, M.D. ’67, is the founder and executive director of the Injury Free Coalition for Kids, one of the country’s most effective injury-prevention programs. It was started while Dr. Barlow was the chief of pediatric surgery at Harlem Hospital. The coalition helped reduce major injury to Harlem children and received a $15 million grant so that the program could be replicated across the United States. It is now in 44 trauma centers nationwide. On Nov. 18, 2022, the coalition started National Injury Prevention Day, which promotes community injury-prevention activities. Learn more at Injuryfree.org.
David Abramson, M.D. ’69, reports that his paper “Molecular Changes in Retinoblastoma Beyond RB1: Findings from Next-Generation Sequencing” was the seventh-most cited in the journal Cancer in 2021. He continues to run the ophthalmic oncology service at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center; it is now the largest such service in a U.S. cancer hospital.
Lawrence Marton, M.D. ’69, serves as a consultant to industry and to nonprofit, government, and academic institutions. Dr. Marton is an emeritus member of the board of trustees of the American Association for Cancer Research Foundation and is on the board of directors of Cancer Commons. In the for-profit sector, he serves on the boards of Cellsonics, Matternet, Microsonic Systems, NaNotics, Omniox (also serving as executive chair), RenovoRx, and xCures. Previously, Dr. Marton was the dean of the University of Wisconsin Medical School and chaired the department of laboratory medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, where he was a professor of laboratory medicine and of neurological surgery.
Jerry Appel, M.D. ’72, is still working full time as a professor of medicine in nephrology at Columbia University Medical Center. He sees patients daily, does clinical research, and teaches. He is married to Alice Appel, Ph.D. ’75; their son Jacob is an associate professor of psychiatry at Mount Sinai, and their son Seth practices intellectual property law in Chicago. Their grandkids are starting to look at colleges.
Andrew Levitas, M.D. ’72, retired in 2017 as a professor of psychiatry and the medical director of the Center for Excellence for the Mental Health Treatment of Persons with Intellectual Disabilities and Autism Spectrum Disorders at the Rowan University School of Medicine. He continues to stay active as part of the volunteer faculty. Dr. Levitas is a member emeritus of the scientific and clinical advisory committee of the National Fragile X Foundation. He and Phyllis, his wife of 53 years, who worked in the field of cognitive rehabilitation, have two grown sons and recently welcomed a granddaughter. He has published his second novel, The Third Book of Samuel. His first novel, Alumni Notes (2011), was set at Einstein in 1973 (as are parts of The Third Book of Samuel).
Dan Mayer, M.D. ’73, reports that he is happily retired from clinical practice and works at home as a caretaker for his wife. He is also a decision editor for the Western Journal of Emergency Medicine and JACEP Open, teaches evidence-based medicine to dental residents, tutors his grandchildren, and is learning to play classical guitar.
Stanley Harris, M.D. ’74, reports that a podcast about his book The People Value Proposition, See One, Do One, Teach One … LEAD was conducted by the American Association for Physician Leadership. Listen to the Soundpracticepodcast here.
Mitchell Geffner, M.D. ’75, received the 2022 International Outstanding Clinician Award from the European Society for Paediatric Endocrinology. He is the first U.S. physician to receive the honor, which was presented in September 2022 in Rome. Dr. Geffner is a pediatric endocrinologist at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles and the Ron Burkle Chair in the Center for Endocrinology, Diabetes, and Metabolism. He also serves as the co-director of the Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia Clinic at the hospital.
Sidney Goldfarb, M.D. ’75, has been married for 50 years to a New York Medical College grad, also Class of 1975. Both retired one year ago, he from urology and she from psychiatry. Dr. Goldfarb practiced in Princeton, N.J., a former home of Albert Einstein. He reports that he patented a drug, but it never made it into production. He and his wife now live in Newtown, Penn.
Robert Katz, M.D. ’75, retired from the practice of pathology, but then served as the president of the Board of Health of Morris Township, N.J., through the pandemic.
Harold Pincus, M.D. ’75, reports that the John A. Hartford Foundation’s board of trustees recently approved more than $17 million in funding for seven programs, including a Health and Aging Policy Fellowship, which provides professionals in health and aging with a year of financial support, policy placements, career opportunities, and expanded networks to directly experience the policy-making process and become effective advocates for older adults. The fellowship program is directed by Dr. Pincus, professor and vice chair of psychiatry at Columbia University and co-director of Columbia’s Irving Institute for Clinical and Translational Research.
Sam Moskowitz, M.D. ’76, is working as a gastroenterologist partner in the multispecialty Brooklyn Surgery Center, rated by Newsweek in 2022 as number one in Brooklyn and in the top five in New York State. He has also achieved three fellowship titles: FACP, FACG, and AGAF.
Kenneth J. Pellegrino, M.D. ’78, retired in March 2020 after working for nearly four decades at the practice he started in 1981, Brookfield Family Medicine, which became Western Connecticut Health Network and is now Nuvance Health. For one year, he also helped his town vaccinate more than 10,000 residents against the COVID-19 virus. Dr. Pellegrino and his wife are now undertaking the bittersweet task of downsizing from their Connecticut home of 20 years and transitioning to a new lifestyle in San Luis Obispo, Calif., where their three married children and numerous grandchildren live.
Miriam Greenberg, Ph.D. ’80, has been named a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) for her contributions to the field of lipid function. AAAS is the world’s largest general scientific society and the publisher of the Science family of journals. Dr. Greenberg, professor of biological sciences at Wayne State University in Detroit, is an expert on Barth syndrome, a rare and life-threatening X-linked genetic disorder that primarily affects males. Her research aims to determine the efficacy of potent new compounds, which may offer potential treatments for the disease.
Steven Merahn, M.D. ’82, is back in the Bronx as the medical director for Partnership Solutions, Inc., which manages two New York State–based nonprofit organizations dedicated to supporting individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. They are Care Design NY and Partners Health Plan.
Brian Delaney, M.D. ’83, has transitioned to part-time clinical work but has been doing more teaching at Einstein as an assistant professor of family and social medicine. He reports that being around wonderful colleagues and students is exciting and keeps him motivated. He continues to be a regular “gym/pool rat” at Einstein’s Falk Center. He and his wife, Muriel, welcomed their fourth grandchild, Seth Delaney Whelden, in September 2022. Seth was born to Dr. Delaney’s son-in-law Caleb Whelden and daughter Charlotte Delaney, M.D. ’16, who practices at Main Street Pediatrics in Hopkinton, Mass. Seth joins his older brother, Oliver, at home. Dr. Delaney’s older daughter, Kelly, son-in-law Mark, and grandkids Naomi and Jason continue to live and work in the Washington, D.C., area.
Jeremy Nadelmann, M.D. ’85, is happy to report that his youngest daughter, Julia, matriculated at Einstein as a member of the Class of 2026. His oldest daughter, Jennifer Nadelmann, M.D. ’18, is a surgical retinal fellow at Weill Cornell Medicine. His middle daughter, Emily Nadelmann, M.D. ’21, is a dermatology resident at Montefiore. Dr. Nadelmann is in his 32nd year of clinical practice as a noninvasive cardiologist in New Haven, Conn. He is an assistant clinical professor at the Yale School of Medicine, and for the past five years he has been working at the Yale New Haven Hospital Heart and Vascular Center.
Etta Eskridge, Ph.D. ’86, M.D. ’95, has been working as a specialist in palliative medicine at the Rochester Regional Health system since 2013. She has served as a board member for the Global AIDS Interfaith Alliance and has spent time volunteering in Malawi, Africa, where the alliance has rural clinics and trains nurses to support the fragile health infrastructure there. Her son Alex is finishing his first semester at New England Law in Boston. She sends greetings to all.
Judy Yee, M.D. ’87, was awarded the 2023 Society of Abdominal Radiology Gold Medal, the highest recognition given by the society. Dr. Yee was commended for her mentorship, clinical acumen, substantial scientific contributions, and leadership.
Hiroshi Mashimo, M.D., Ph.D. ’88, established and continues to serve as the director of the Swallowing and Motility Disorder Center at VA Boston Healthcare. His translational research involves novel endoscopic imaging and therapeutics. As part of the VA Innovators Network, Dr. Mashimo is involved with wearables and nonendoscopic capsule imaging modalities for medical diagnostics. He serves as president of the world organization for specialized studies on disease of the esophagus, OESO.org. He reports that he has three wonderful children who have grown up and left the nest but share many of his interests, including martial arts, photography, cooking, and outdoor sports.
Evan Goldstein, M.D. ’89, became the president and chief of the medical staff at Boca Raton Regional Hospital in Florida, a 380-bed academic teaching hospital, on Jan. 1, 2023.
Giselle Corbie, M.D. ’91, has been named the vice provost for faculty affairs at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Dr. Corbie is the Kenan Distinguished Professor of Medicine, the director of the Center for Health Equity Research, and the associate provost for rural initiatives. For more than 25 years she has developed a successful, continuously funded independent research portfolio that has garnered awards from the National Institutes of Health. She recently served as the president of the Society of General Internal Medicine and in 2018 was elected to the National Academy of Medicine.
Imran Khan, Ph.D. ‘93, M.B.A., announces the publication of his first novel, a geopolitical thriller, Gambit on the Devil’s Chessboard . Dr. Khan says Einstein is referenced in the novel. He is a professor of pathology and laboratory medicine at the University of California, Davis, Health System. Researching tuberculosis has taken him worldwide, leading to trials of novel TB diagnostics in countries such as India, where it is endemic, and revealing the threat poverty poses to the planet.
Michal A. Elovitz, M.D. ‘94, has been named the dean for women’s health research and the director of the Center for the Advancement of Female Biology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. A leader in maternal-fetal medicine and an expert in preterm birth, Dr. Elovitz joined Mount Sinai from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, where she was the Hilarie L. Morgan and Mitchell L. Morgan President’s Distinguished Professor in Women’s Health and a professor of microbiology, as well as the founder and director of the Maternal and Child Health Research Center, vice chair for translational research, founder and director of the Prematurity Prevention Program, director of the Maternal-Fetal Medicine Fellowship, and creator and lead mentor of the Women for Women’s Health Mentoring Group.
Reena Karani, M.D. ’97, M.H.P.E., has been elected chair of the National Board of Medical Examiners (NBME), the first woman of color to serve as chair in the organization’s 108-year history. She previously served as treasurer of the NBME. Dr. Karani is director of the Institute for Medical Education and a professor of medicine, medical education, and geriatrics and palliative medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City. Dr. Karani is a founding co-director of the Harvard Macy Program for Postgraduate Trainees. She served as a member of the council and chair of the Education Committee for the Society of General Internal Medicine, and she is on the board of directors of the American Geriatrics Society.
Roger Greenberg, M.D., Ph.D. ’00, is the J. Samuel Staub, M.D., Professor of Cancer Biology at the University of Pennsylvania’s Perelman School of Medicine. In addition to running his own research group, he is the director of the Penn Center for Genome Integrity and the scientific director of the Basser Center for BRCA. This year he received the William L. Gerald Award from Memorial Sloan Kettering for research that has provided novel insights into cancer biology.
Lisa Senzel, M.D., Ph.D. ’01, is a clinical pathologist at Stony Brook Medicine. She and her husband have three children.
Neeral Shah, M.D. ’01, is an associate professor of gastroenterology and hepatology with tenure at the University of Virginia, where he is the GI fellowship program director and the director of the Academy for Excellence in Education at the school of medicine. He recently authored The Infographic Guide to Medicine.
Dan Cousin, M.D. ’05, co-founded Doctors for Providers to extend the reach of patient care through collaborative-medicine models, a new trend in healthcare. Einstein alumni interested in learning more are encouraged to go to the website. He also founded Medsurity Experts to combat problems that exist in the medicolegal field.
Akiva Dym, M.D. ’17, has resettled in New Jersey with his wife, Stephanie, and three children. Dr. Dym is an assistant professor of emergency medicine at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School and does clinical work at University Hospital. He is also the assistant medical director for emergency department quality and observation services. Dr. Dym is completing his M.B.A. at Rutgers.
Elia Rackovsky, M.D. ’18, and Naomi Schwartz, M.D. ‘19, were married on June 13, 2022. Dr. Rackovsky is completing his training as a fellow in pediatric critical care medicine at the Children’s Hospital at Montefiore, and Dr. Schwartz works as a pediatrician with Optum in Mount Kisco, N.Y.
