1994 - 10th reunion

It is hard to imagine that 10 years have already passed since we left (OK, since most of us left) en masse from New Haven. To celebrate the occasion, a strong contingent from the Class of 1994 gathered in New Haven to reminisce. Constantino Pena, positioning himself at the top stair in the Starr Atrium of the newly built Anlyan Center (can you believe the new anatomy labs are ventilated so that first-years don’t constantly smell of formaldehyde?), offered a big hearty welcoming wave to all classmates as they entered the opening reception. Tino, an interventional radiologist in Florida, traveled solo to New Haven. His two daughters stayed home with wife Barbara (M.D. ’95), an ER doc, who is expecting their third this fall. Tino has been in touch with Jae Lim, who is a neurosurgeon in Spokane, Wash.

Other classmates attending the Friday evening clambake included Victoria Holloway, assistant vice president of R&D, L’Oreal Institute; Marsha Roberts, a California-based radiologist; and Marie Eason. Marsha and Marie, unfortunately, could not stay for Saturday, as they had more social calls to make in the D.C. area. Also traveling from California was Kirk Essenmacher, director of marketing strategy for Genentech’s oncology portfolio, his wife, Kirsten, and their 11-month-old daughter Stella. Kirk reports news from Joetta (Davis) Maier and Alexa (Boer) Kimball, neither of whom could make the trip east, and from Dov Goldstein, who is back in Philadelphia as the CFO of Vicuron Pharmaceuticals. Kirk, who still makes his famous daiquiris, is not sure of the proper method for putting kumquats in the beverage.

Kevin (Bishoff) Carlson and Nancy Christmas, each with a baby in tow, carpooled up from D.C. Kevin is an internist-geriatrician in Maryland and has three kids all under the age of 5. Still as energetic as ever, she left many of us thinking “I don’t know how she does it.” Nancy is a retinal surgeon in Alexandria, Va. My daughters, after playing with Nancy’s son Abbott, started lobbying for a new baby brother.

Len Landesberg arrived Saturday in time for the sherry luncheon where he, Tino and Kirk finally concluded that, after 10 years, they still looked the same (and very different from the other luncheoners who mostly hailed from classes in the 1960s).

The Saturday evening class dinner was held at my house in Guilford, Conn. Interestingly, we had more children in attendance than adults. Debbie Schussheim, her husband, Adam, and their two children drove up from Westport, Conn., where Debbie practices endocrinology. Belinda Chan arrived with her two boys, who very quickly bonded with my son, Noah. Kudos to Belinda, who recently went into a solo internal medicine practice and hung her shingle in Branford, Conn. Kirk Essenmacher, Nancy Christmas and their families completed the dinner crowd.

Many other classmates sent me e-mail offering their regrets for not being able to attend. Melissa Berhow just started a new anesthesiology position in Palo Alto. Scott Dessain, a proud dad to two lovely daughters, is an assistant professor of hematology at Thomas Jefferson Medical College and conducts research to develop fully human monoclonal antibodies. Beverly Naiman and Brian Lee live with their two boys in Virginia, where Bev is a pediatric ER physician and Brian is a critical-care physician who is double-boarded in ER as well. Bandy Lee is back in New Haven as an assistant clinical professor of psychiatry at Yale. Greg Licholai does venture capital investing and speaks regularly with Stephen Jackman. Dave Aghassi is practicing dermatology in Boston.

I look forward to seeing everyone back in New Haven for our 15th year celebration in June 2009!

Bonnie E. Gould Rothberg