CMS Reunion Memories

Classes ending in 4 and 9

CMS Class of 1964

60th Reunion

Arthur S. Levine, MD '64

As with others admitted to CMS, I was a high-risk candidate – so seen by the other schools to which I had applied - non-traditional in every sense: majored in Russian Literature as an undergraduate, edited the “Columbia Review,” published poems and stories, worked in the off-Broadway theater, fulfilled Columbia’s science requirement with Spherical Astronomy ( only because it was a joint class with Barnard women ), and satisfied the gym requirement with bowling! Applied to med school only because on the eve of my college graduation, my father asked me what I was going to do to make a living. Fortunately, I had heard that the one mammalian clone with the longest period of dependency on one’s parents was …. the medical student! So I applied, with the aim of becoming a psychoanalyst; that seemed vaguely literary and even romantic. However, in my sophomore year at CMS, I saw the photos made by Rosalind Franklin of the crystal structure of DNA, and told my father that I finally knew what I really wanted to do, which was to drop out of med school and get a PhD in molecular biology. My Dad said that was a fine idea, but if I did that, he would send me an invoice for every day of my education in which he had already invested… starting with Day Care! So not only did I stay, but ultimately I did become a molecular biologist – urged earlier to consider research by Clifford Pilz, my wonderful attending at the V.A., and by Lee Levitt – then the psychiatry chair. I turned down the MGH for my residency and went to Minnesota, where one could enroll in the graduate program while still an intern. In fact, internship was a breeze, given the exceptional clinical education that I had received at CMS. Notably, during the June internship orientation, led by Wesley Spink, the “father of brucellosis,” he welcomed all of the new interns on day 1 “from Harvard, Yale, Hopkins … and Dr. Levine .” Nonetheless, the next June I was named “intern of the year,” and soon thereafter was accepted by the NIH as a PHS officer, in fulfillment of my draft mandate.
(Although when I gave this great news to my mother, she noted that had I gone to Viet Nam instead of Bethesda, I would have had a chance to see the ruins at Angkor Wat in Cambodia; she was the only Jewish mother who wanted her son to be a poet, not a doctor.)

Mervyn A. Sahud, MD '64

I had Taken all sciences at College including physical chemistry and always went to summer school. My class was comparative embryology (4 credit). I met a premed from Cornell and we became friends. He said he needed this science course to get an official acceptance from the Chicago Medical School. I was planning to go to dental school like me dad (Columbia). The 2 of us got A's. He went to Chicago Medical School and I asked my advisor who said "Go for it." The applications went in and all I got was wait list at GW and Einstein. The letters were heartbreaking but for some reason I got a call for an interview and CMS and casually brought my letters of waitlist with me. Dr. Ryan sent me to 3 professors for interview. I remember answering about the boiling point of water and luckily got it right as I had been at 6,000 feet (Yosemite). DR. Ryan asked me where I had applied and took out the 2 letters and showed them to him. As luck would have it he was impressed. I got my acceptance letter about 10 days later. I cried reading it and my mom ran into my room with "What's wrong?"

I trained further at UCSF in San Francisco and felt very well prepared. After internal medicine I hooked up with the hematology training program. I got interested in platelets and coagulation. After 2 fellowship years and an NIH Special Fellowship Award for 2 more years that began my academic career. I started right off doing research and with Y professor wrote a seminal paper on platelet function which was accepted in the New England Journal. In short, 81 papers later, my boss (Dr. Paul Aggeler) passes away along with my monetary support. I have staying in the laboratory medicine with a time in clinical practice as will. Always had a laboratory. Switched to Quest Diagnostics for 8 years and not I remain a consultant for a small growing lab in Santa Clara.

I restarted a prosector award at CMS and got letters of thanks from the 3 latest winners. I dearly remembered Dr. John Chiakolus and want to honor him. We need $50,000 to do that. Please help reach this goal if you are able. He was a special person and wonderful teacher.

CMS Class of 1974

50th Reunion

Michael E. Dobmeier, MD '74

Michael Dobmeier, originally from Rochester NY, entered CMS as a 3rd year transfer student from Belgium, where he began his medical studies in French. He practiced internal medicine and upon retiring continued per diem work and volunteering at a community health clinic, St Joseph's Neighborhood Center, until COVID.

"Not many schools accepted transfers. But a few — CMS among them — would once you passed Part 1 of the national boards. A couple friends I was close with in Belgium saw that I had transferred successfully. One got accepted to Rush Medical College, the other was originally rejected at CMS. I stopped in to see the dean of admission and pleaded his case. the dean took another look at his application and lo and behold, he offered him an acceptance! The dean was a very down to earth good person."

"I have a plaque on my desk, a quote from Sir William Osler, 'The practice of medicine is an art, not a trade; a calling, not a business; a calling in which your heart will be exercised equally with your head.' I think that sums up a lot of what was engendered in Chicago."

"I certainly remember, 'See one, do one, teach one!' Although that's a bit exaggerated…obviously you see more than one and do more than one before you teach someone else. But it really was the way you learn and pass it on..."

"In primary care, you get to be very close to your patients. As I dealt with them on a daily basis I was reminded of the mentors I had in school, and I thought that was always what kept me grounded.... I remember there was a chief pediatric resident from Syria. She was so very on top of the game and willing to share it. They help shape you in a very positive way."

Sidney Fishman, MD '74

Sidney Fishman became a board certified otolaryngologist and head neck surgeon. He joined the practice of his otolaryngologist father, who passed away three years later. Retired from practice, he currently owns and manages a franchise location of an IV vitamin therapy clinic.

"My father graduated from University of Illinois but I had never been to Chicago. When I was accepted at CMS and got in my car and drove out from California, it was a very foreign thing to get through the winters, and the school was on Ogden in the big city.

"I'm very grateful I trained in Chicago. The experience of the medical school and clinical training was very tough. I think we got a very good strong education."

"We had 83 people in the class. We had to show up at 8am on Ogden. Dr. Leroy Levitt walked in at five 'til eight am and said if there are any packets on the table at 8:00 am we're replacing them with the waiting list.... there was one left but luckily someone came with 30 seconds to spare"

"We had a lot of very, very competitive personalities. On the weekends a lot of people would study at Northwestern and half the library was filled with CMS students..."

"I remember the anatomy professor would call your name in the middle of a lecture as he's drawing with all these colored chalks... classmates were taking notes like crazy and they'd end up with colored pants."

"A month before the end of the year they told us, 'you're having an all-day comprehensive exam on the whole year. Then you'll go home with only one summer off, and you'll get a postcard if you're invited back...' Same thing the second year, we didn't have time to study for boards, they said just take our exam."

Barry A. Levin, MD '74

Barry Levin is a retired general orthopedic surgeon with expertise in trauma. Before moving to West Virginia and subsequently retiring, he was on faculty at Cleveland Clinic.

"Everyone in my family was a physician. I had three cousins who went to CMS. I didn't get in right away. I went to Guadalajara for year. My CMS acceptance arrived the day I got back from my honeymoon. I got on the next plane and went--I didn't even mail back the letter. I handed it to the associate dean, Dr Shaffer.

I'll always remember him. He was very encouraging. You've got a lot of stuff to learn and you're scared you're going to flunk...He handled us all so well... The CMS faculty coached us through handling all these characters and personalities in our rotations."

"We lived in Oak Park and had one car. My wife got a great job teaching in Cicero. I took the 'L' to school and got a ride home every day from Dr. Seminelli. I used to tell him every day how hard the material was and he'd say 'don't worry about it...' He was great."

"I've had a great life because of Chicago Medical School."

"They sent me out to work with a family practitioner in Elgin. Across the hall was a fairly famous orthopedic surgeon who was referred all his patients with back and joint pain. I spent 6 weeks watching him inject backs and joints which turned out to be the best thing in my practice. Every day I had 7 or 8 patients who needed injections … I didn't learn it in my residency, I learned it in Elgin."

David J. Oxman, MD '74

"I'm thankful for CMS for accepting me and for the education it provided to me. I was able to match to my first choice resident program at Long Island Jewish. I am forever grateful that CMS gave me a chance to become a doctor, when all the other schools rejected my applications. The education was top notch."

Paul R. Sohmer, MD '74

Paul Sohmer's career spans multiple specialties and executive management of medical service technology. He practiced in pathology, trained in orthopedic trauma, conducted academic research, investigated health care problems like the shelf life of blood, and led venture capital businesses. Paul's father was a family practice physician and his mother was a nurse, "a strong influence, if not totally ordained, it was pretty close." CMS was a logical choice after four years in college at Northwestern.

A rotation in bone pathology and tumors inspired Paul to become a pediatric orthopedic surgeon. He moved on to Emory University, but suffered a fractured hip dislocation in an auto accident, with a long time to go before he could stand in an OR again. He moved on again to the shock trauma unit at University of Maryland, specialized in multiple system injuries, where he developed expertise in managing bleeding. Paul subsequently became a senior investigator on the CPD adenine trials to extend the shelf life of blood which concluded with FDA approval of the product.

As head of the Pathology Institute at Alta Bates Medical Center in Berkeley, he developed agreements to take products to market and did the first commercial introduction of a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test to detect HIV in blood samples, a venture which transformed his career into physician CEO. He subsequently helped start a genetics testing company that branched into practice acquisition, and evolved from "a physician who happens to be a CEO to a CEO who used to be a physician."

Dr. Sohmer is currently involved with the Stanford Research Institute as a consultant mentor working with students on taking products to market.

"I learned how to deliver babies during my rotations at Cook County (Stroger) Hospital. I was a third-year. They gave me a book, threw me in a room, and said you better learn — there's 50 babies being born overnight. It was a do one, see one, teach one kind of experience and it really was fabulous."

"As a high school kid for four years I worked in the pathology lab at Mt Sinai Hospital (NY).... there was a pathologist there who was a showman beyond showman, with a thick Viennese accent. Thursday mornings there was a morgue conference, a resident would hand him an organ and he'd tell a story. It was this astounding kind of show... I was always somewhat theatrical myself, and that's part of the reason I started in pathology..."

"We had a good class, I think everyone got along very well, but medical school was more of an individual kind of game."

Ronald J. Tatelbaum, MD '74

Paul's father was a family practice physician and his mother was a nurse: "a strong influence, if not totally ordained, it was pretty close." CMS was a logical choice after four years in college at Northwestern.

"My draft number was 190 or 200. I started applying to medical schools, got accepted at Case Western's dental school, and then in May Chicago Medical School accepted, I told them 'I'll be there tomorrow."

"I went to Chicago not knowing anybody and nothing about Chicago. I wrote to the school asled if anybody was looking for a roommate? My father and I flew out to Chicago and met (the late) Michael Goldman and his father. It was striking how close our families were, and that started a long relationship. They knew everything about Chicago. We had an apartment lined up by the end of one day."

"I remember we were so exhausted from studying, driving back from Mundelein or Northwestern library and falling asleep at the street lights."

"My very first clinical rotations were OB/GYN. I remember doing circumcisions at Mt Sinai. We used to line 'em up …the medical students did the circumcisions back then, with very little supervision. That's embedded in my mind to the point that I never wanted to go into OB."

"I remember once I was on an emergency rotation at Mt Sinai. There was a baby who had to be transferred to Cook County Hospital, and the method of transportation was a police paddy wagon, so I'm holding this baby in the back of the paddy wagon."

"The education I got at CMS prepared me very nicely for my internship and residency. I'm very grateful to the school ... I was a better student in medical school than in college, because of the atmosphere and just the culture of learning. The most support was from fellow students. We learned a lot from one another. 8 or 12 of us would go as a group to study together, constantly interacting and supporting each other. There's very little time off from being a student, just eating, studying, eating, studying."

"[After cardiology fellowship] I determined I'd rather be a big fish in a small pond than a small fish in a big pond. My wife and I found two cardiologists searching for a third in Poughkeepsie NY. One of the reasons they hired me was that I was Chicago Med, and they only interviewed AOAs. That made the difference."

"I look at Chicago Medical School as the foundation. I went from high school to college completely unprepared, from college to medical school better prepared, but from medical school to internship I was up there with the best of them."

"Unfortunately I already have a commitment on [Reunion] weekend. I wish everyone a safe and joyous time together! I do miss many of my classmates and those with whom I have not been able to stay in touch. My four years in Chicago were some of the best years of my life and for that I am forever grateful."

Scott L. Zollett, MD '74

Scott Zollett, whose father was a physician and brother was a year ahead of him at CMS, practiced internal medicine with an emphasis on geriatrics until retiring during the pandemic.

"I always remember Chicago, I came from a small town. My brother was at Cook County (Hospital) for a surgical rotation, I was there for OB/GYN. I think that year they had 60,000 deliveries … just the quality and amount of stuff that you see in the hospitals."

"My brother lived down the street from me. They were married, they'd invite me over for dinner and I'd have to take off my clothes on the balcony because of the formaldehyde."

"The worst year of my life was first year in medical school ... First day going into the cadaver lab, there must have been 400 pages in the anatomy book, we were behind from the very first day we got there. But I didn't have time to be nervous or upset because everyone was always behind. It was so much work the first year. After the first year, the school has a lot of money invested in you, they do everything they can to help you."

"There were married people in the class, and I wasn't. I didn't know anybody, I became good friends with Sheldon Greenberg who was also single and David Oxman. We just made a connection."

"My brother and another fellow and I and our father owned race horses. We had horses in Chicago at Sportsman's Park ... When I was a resident I think I made about $15,000 or $20,000. We had horses at the invitational race, the three top races ... All those horses won. I laughed and said, 'those horses made more in one evening than I made all year.'"

CMS Class of 1979

45th Reunion

Kwan Kew Lai, MD '79, DMD

Infectious disease specialist Kwan Kew Lai, MD came to the United States on a full scholarship to Wellesley College from an impoverished family in Penang, Malaysia. She completed a dental degree at Harvard before entering Chicago Medical School and served on the Harvard Medical School faculty. A three time recipient of the President’s Volunteer Service Award, she has volunteered to combat HIV/AIDS in Africa and provided disaster relief all over the world during wars, famine, and natural disasters, including the Ebola outbreak and the COVID-19 pandemic in New York. The author of two memoirs, her latest publication is an inspirational children's book, "The Girl Who Taught Herself to Fly."

"I transferred to Chicago Medical School in the third year from Harvard School of Dental Medicine. The first two years were with the Harvard Medical School, so we hardly went to the dental school until our third year. It was a shock for me that you came from caring for the whole person to looking only at the oral cavity. It made me think this is not the profession I want to spend my life in. I went to the dean of student affairs at the medical school and dental school to discuss my future. The medical school had stopped letting people transfer … my dean who was also my advisor was really upset with me that I was changing my mind, so I actually finished my dental experience including earning my boards."

"I applied to oral surgery which is the toughest fellowship program. I decided if I stick to dentistry I should do something challenging. At the time I was told there was only one female oral surgeon in the entire country. So it was all very new."

"At Vanderbilt the person in charge of the program made me wait an hour for my interview. He said he was surprised I was still waiting and that if I wanted to come to his program I should graduate from medical school and reapply. When I heard that I was really in a quagmire but canceled all my other interviews and applied to three medical schools and just kept my fingers crossed. My dean said if I didn't get into medical school and wanted to get a job in dentistry, I will make sure you won't get a job. Mt Sinai and Montreal told me you already have a professional degree, we're not going to take a place from another student who wants to become a doctor.

"My first rotation was pediatrics. I could not see children suffer. I had a very good surgical rotation instructor, Dr. Maker, who was very dedicated and hardworking … We met him every day including weekends. He treated us as though we were his children. He was amazing. He taught us that you don't need very expensive equipment to know the patient's physical ailments. He was just using his hand to palpate the belly … nowadays we have such extensive investigative tools, but I think the way he taught us to use our tactile sense and listen with the stethoscope that people kind of forget."

"I eventually ended up in infectious diseases … The intellectual part is there. I liked that you can cure someone but you are not attached to one organ...infectious disease is everywhere. Infectious disease especially affords me going out into the world to volunteer in the Third World helping to fight infection."

CMS Class of 1984
40th Reunion

Eugene Freid, MD '84

Initially heading into pediatrics following graduation, Eugene Freid pursued additional areas of training, eventually specializing in anesthesiology. He has worked in a variety of settings including academics, private practice, and hybrid academic/private practice. Currently he is an independent contractor for surgery centers, principally caring for children having dental procedures and adults undergoing spine surgeries.

"I was told that I had decided I was going to be a doctor by the time I was walking and talking. Maybe it was an admiration for the pediatricians who took care of me. It was something I always wanted to do. I am one of the few in my family with a college degree much less a postgraduate education."

"I did a pediatric residency first before my anesthesia training. For the first bunch of years, I did both children's and adult anesthesia, and was a pediatric ICU attending as well from the time I finished training in 1990 to 2012. I decided at that point I would keep up my support certification for critical care but just do anesthesia alone."

"There was a reunion 15 or 20 years ago, all of a sudden I got a call at 9 o'clock at night from three or four of my classmates in Chicago. They called to bug me, asked why I wasn't there. We were on the phone for about an hour."

"A portion of my third year was at Cook County [Hospital]. You didn't get a lot of spoon feeding there. It was a busy busy place. I think it was a good start for me. Even though I ended up in pediatrics, Dr Weil made a good attempt to get me into critical care. I was really committed to taking care of children. But what I learned from them helped me aim my way to having a career in children's intensive care. Dr. Weil was one of the founders of adult intensive care, and he was in southern California. He and Eric Rackow setting up an ICU training center at the VA Medical Center there. They all kind of built something that was just in its infancy back then."

Russell Greenfield, MD '84

Dr. Greenfield began his medical career in emergency medicine, and served as department director of a residency program in the field before transitioning to integrative medicine. He is presently a senior physician consultant with the VA, and a content provider for a California university developing a whole health doctoral program. He sends regards to former roommate Barry Latner and classmates Nancy Simpkins, Bruce Kerner, Richard Drachtman, and Wesley Leong, and regrets he cannot attend the 40th reunion as his daughter is getting married the same weekend.

"Our anatomy professor was just a remarkable man. Our group email was that we had lost this giant we had all learned from. We had a really sweet and excellent professor of histology. The rotations helped me decide my ultimate career choice, which was initially emergency medicine. A lunch and learn elective was offered in ER by a CMS grad, Daniel Samo, MD '74, he got a fire lit inside me. He invited us to come to the emergency department, I worked a shift with him. I thought I was interested in family medicine, but of all things I didn't like it in my first rotation. I did more emergency medicine through CMS, and outside rotations, which solidified my choice."

"We all knew we were involved in serious study, that great responsibility was coming our way, but it wasn't in a heavy way that our instruction actually took place. It was really more collegial and supportive, not heavy-handed. We were never meant to feel like we were servants to the interns, residents and staff … so different from so many of the colleagues I've spoken with from other schools."

"We really did have this rich experience across multiple clinical rotation centers. For a large portion of our fourth year we could travel to do rotations, and I took full advantage of that, I did rotations in North Carolina, New York, Akron Ohio, and Denver. All of them were important because they were all emergency medicine so I could see what I was looking for in a residency program."

"Our class had folks from so many different experiences … I came right out of college. Others had worked for years in other fields, who had kids already, one guy was in a blues band … ultimately it was just people coming together to be in service to others, that was our calling."

"We worked really hard together, but we also had the sophomore show, and intramural games, and opportunities to smile together that made a huge difference."

"The feelings I have for Chicago Medical School are joyful. I'm filled with gratitude. [CMS] helped give me these opportunities, but also provided me with lifelong friends."

Joseph F. Pensabene, MD '84

"I remember Dean Booden saying, 'It's all up to you. These are the hurdles you have to jump over, which was was more of a motivation.' Now that we're short staffed and there are so many retirements, I think Dr. Booden had the right philosophy [admitting transfers]. I never felt at all second class."

"I transferred in as an M3 from Mexico, which was unbelievable that CMS was willing to give us a chance. One of the happiest day of my life was receiving that acceptance, being given a chance to graduate from a US medical school. Back in 1980s, white males were on the bottom of the list for med school because of all the upheaval in women's and minority rights. We were fortunate enough to come back."

"Doing OBGYN at Cook Co is an experience I'd never trade. I remember starting my day drawing blood and then jumping in as first assistant for deliveries, breaches. Psychiatry at the VA was phenomenal, seeing conditions you'd never observe elsewhere. Working with vets was a hoot--they used to smoke in the lobby! I remember a man with one leg, with an ashtray taped to his wheelchair, inhaling a cigarette through his stoma!

Robert Vottero, MD '84

The Class of 1984 was the first Freshman Class to transition from 2020 Ogden Avenue, Chicago to 3333 N Green Bay Road, North Chicago in January 1981. Everything was so new and updated for the time! Lecture rooms that rotated, spacious library with 24 hour study rooms (compared to Ogden Avenue). Max Harry Weil, MD, PhD, was hired as Chairman of Medicine during our 2nd year and he brought with him quality physicians (Eric Rackow, MD, Brian Kaufman, MD, Jay L. Falk, MD, Mark Astis, MD, Dan Rudman, MD and many more) who took the Department of Medicine to a new level of excellence. On a personal level, I met my wife (Sue) studying for National Boards Part I in 1982, but in a different library in Park Ridge, IL. We married 2 weeks before Medical School graduation."

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