Alumni

1945
Charles E. Reed, a leader in allergic diseases, died July 24, 2020, at 98. He served in the U.S. Army Medical Corps before practicing internal medicine in Corvallis, Oregon. In 1962, Dr. Reed joined the University of Wisconsin-Madison, became head of the Division of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, and implemented a fellowship training program in allergic diseases. He later joined the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. Dr. Reed was president of the American Academy of Allergy and Immunology, senior editor of the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, and co-editor of the book “Allergy: Principles and Practice.” His wife, Janice, four children, 11 grandchildren, three great-grandchildren, and two great-great-grandchildren survive him.

1947
Edgar “Ed” W. Branyon Jr., a radiologist, died Sept. 1, 2020. He was 97. After medical school, he provided primary care to coal miners in Alabama and was a patient in a TB sanitorium for three years. He learned the emerging field of radiology at Vanderbilt, taught radiology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, and practiced in Anniston, Alabama. He served on his local Board of Education during integration, was a member of the State Medical Board of Censors, and served as president of Calhoun County Medical Society and Alabama Academy of Radiology. He loved traveling, fishing, sports, and Alabama football. He is survived by three children, three grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.

Joseph George Furey, an orthopedic surgeon, died Dec. 1, 2019, at 96. After an internship at Brooklyn Methodist Hospital and residency at the Hospital for Special Surgery, he served three years in the U.S. Army Medical Corps as the chief orthopedic officer at La-Chapelle-St. Mesmin, France. Rising to the rank of captain, Dr. Furey cared for soldiers wounded in the Korean War. Upon return, he joined the Department of Orthopedic Surgery at Case Western Reserve and University Hospitals in Cleveland, Ohio, and later practiced in nearby Euclid and Willoughby. He was an avid tennis player who began to ski in his 50s, run competitively in his 60s, and later played golf before developing Parkinson’s disease in his mid-80s. Preceded in death by his wife, Loretta, he is survived by their six children, 10 grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren.

Leonard S. Sommer, a cardiologist, died March 26, 2020, at 95. He served in the U.S. Public Health Service and trained in Boston in the nascent field of cardiac catheterization. He later joined the University of Miami School of Medicine faculty, where he helped spearhead studies into the use of clot-busting drugs for heart attack patients, years before this became the standard of care. He also founded and directed the Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory at the University of Miami/Jackson Memorial Hospital program for nearly 20 years until his retirement in 1998. He was preceded in death by his first wife, Miriam, and his second wife, Anita. Two daughters and two stepchildren survive him.

Roger H. Unger, an authority on the development of diabetes, died Aug. 22, 2020, at 96. In 1959, he developed a test to measure concentrations of glucagon and established that glucagon was a true pancreatic hormone released in opposing partnership with insulin to maintain normal blood glucose levels. Over a 64-year career at UT Southwestern Medical School in Dallas and at the Dallas Veterans Affairs Medical Center, he focused on clarifying the interrelationships among obesity, diabetes, and metabolic syndrome. He was founding director of the Touchstone Center for Diabetes Research at UT Southwestern. The American Diabetes Association, the European Association for the Study of Diabetes, and the Endocrine Society all honored him with their highest awards, and the Universities of Liege and Geneva gave him honorary degrees. Records show that his father, Lester J. Unger, uncle Jonas J. Unger, and first cousin Harold M. Unger received Columbia medical degrees in 1913, 1915, and 1948, respectively. He is survived by his wife, Marlise, four children, and a brother.

1950
Irving “Irv” Paul Ackerman, a longtime internist at Kaiser Permanente, died July 24, 2020, at 92. He attended Columbia College at 16 and graduated Phi Beta Kappa in two years, beginning medical school at age 18. He trained at Massachusetts General Hospital and completed a fellowship in endocrinology at University Hospital in Ann Arbor, Michigan. He saw an alternative to the fee-for-service health care model and in 1970 moved with his wife and young family to California to join Kaiser Permanente Los Angeles Medical Center. He rose to chief of internal medicine, a post he held for 12 years. He was known for the “Ackerman note,” a handwritten note complimenting other physicians for work well done. In 2000, Los Angeles Medical Center named its library after him. He taught until the age of 84. Dr. Ackerman enjoyed exercise, was a record-breaking blood donor, and volunteered at free clinics and voting polls. Three daughters and six grandchildren survive him.

1951
William “Bill” Revercomb, an internist who practiced in Charleston, West Virginia, for 41 years, died Feb. 21, 2020. He was 92. He completed his residency at the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, served in the U.S. Air Force, and completed a fellowship in internal medicine at Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas. In addition to his medical practice in Charleston, he taught at West Virginia University School of Medicine’s Charleston division. He also served on the West Virginia Occupational Pneumoconiosis Board and was a longtime member of Charleston’s Rotary Club. He was an accomplished gardener who enjoyed bridge, tennis, and travel. He is survived by three children and three grandchildren.

1952
Anthony J. Smith, an orthopedic surgeon, died Feb 9, 2020, at age 92. Dr. Smith completed his orthopedic training in New York City in 1957 and practiced in the Coos Bay, Oregon, area for 35 years. He founded the Millicoma Orthopedic Clinic in 1972 and, following his retirement in 1991, started Tioga Orthopedic Services. He enjoyed the arts and the outdoors. Dr. Smith is survived by his wife, Del, two children, three grandchildren, and two siblings.

1953
Lucy Houghton Swift, a pediatric cardiologist, died Feb. 29, 2020, at 93. She practiced and taught at St Luke’s Hospital in New York from 1964 to 1986. In 1990, she moved to Cornwall, New York, where her great-grandfather, Congregationalist theologian Lyman Abbott, had settled his family. Dr. Swift worked as a collaborative physician with Orange-Ulster Board of Cooperative Educational Services for 23 years and served as a medical consultant for 15 years with Inspire, which serves children with cerebral palsy, in Goshen, New York. She was active with the Cornwall Public Library and the Hudson Highlands Nature Museum and played the flute weekly with friends.

Robert van Hoek, an internist who served as Assistant Surgeon General in the U.S. Public Health Service, died Aug. 18, 2020, at 93. He interned at St. Luke’s Hospital in New York and completed a medical residency at the VA Hospital in the Bronx. He served in the U.S. Army Medical Corps before attending medical school and later as a doctor worked at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research and the Armed Forces Radiobiology Research Institute at the National Naval Medical Center. He joined the NIH, where he held several positions and retired in 1976 as deputy administrator of the Health Services and Mental Health Administration. He later taught at Indiana University School of Medicine and was medical director of one of its teaching hospitals, Wishard Memorial Hospital in Indianapolis. He worked as medical director of Group Health Association in Washington, D.C., before retiring in 1984. He was preceded in death by his wife, Kathleen, and is survived by three children.

1954
Henry Bernard Holle, a surgeon, died June 6, 2020. He was 92. Dr. Holle was a World War II veteran who served in the U.S. Army in Nanking, China. He completed his internship and surgical residency at Roosevelt Hospital in New York City, where he met his wife, Laure, a nurse. Dr. Holle completed his senior fellowship in cancer surgery at MD Anderson Hospital and went into private practice in downtown Houston. He taught surgery at the University of Texas Medical School and MD Anderson. He devoted much of his professional life to the Memorial Healthcare System, serving as chief of staff (twice), chairman of the General Surgery Section, and trustee. Dr. Holle loved sailing, dancing, cooking, and reading medical journals and spy novels. Three daughters and two grandsons survive him.

Roger Woodham Jelliffe, a leader in pharmacokinetics, died June 22, 2020, of kidney disease. He was 91. After medical school, he worked for the USC Department of Medicine. He developed optimally precise regimens for patient care involving potentially toxic drugs with narrow therapeutic margins of safety. Dr. Jelliffe created the earliest computer software for individualizing drug dosage and in 1973 founded the USC Laboratory of Applied Pharmacokinetics. In 2019, the American Academy of Clinical Pharmacology established an award in recognition of his lifetime achievement. A polymath who maintained friendships with people worldwide, he was also concerned for social justice in the United States. His wife, Joyce, four children, and five grandchildren survive him.

1954 PhD
William Cooper, who earned his degree in anatomy, died Dec. 28, 2019, in Hilton Head, South Carolina. Following service in the U.S. Navy as a pharmacist’s mate, he taught anatomy at the University of Puerto Rico and at VP&S in the early 1950s. He then joined the University of Colorado, where he was a teacher, researcher, and administrator. He invented the “Cooper Dish” and created many videos and publications in medical and science education. He later worked for the National Library of Medicine and was a consultant. He is survived by his wife, Linda, two sons, six grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.

1955
Lestra Carpé (Benello), an internist, died March 5, 2020. She was 90. After medical school, she completed research in hematology at UC Berkeley then worked in internal medicine for student health at Barnard College, Harvard College, and Dartmouth College. She retired in 1995. Her son, Allen, survives her. Her first son, Julian, died in the terrorist bombing of Pan Am 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988.

E. Frederick Wheelock died Aug. 4, 2020, at his home in Naples, Florida. He began studies at MIT in the fall of 1944 but enlisted in the U.S. Army on his 18th birthday the following February. He was selected for Japanese language school in Minnesota and prepared for deployment to Japan as an interpreter, but World War II came to an end before his deployment. He returned to MIT, where he completed his studies before beginning medical school at Columbia. While at Columbia he married Melba Jean Lowery, a surgical nurse from Albertville, Alabama. After a rotating internship at Billings Hospital at the University of Chicago, he completed a residency at the University of Rochester in New York, then returned to New York City to enter the PhD program at what is now Rockefeller University. After graduating from Rockefeller, he began his research career at Case Western University in Cleveland. He later held positions at Thomas Jefferson University, Hahnemann University Hospital, and Medical College of Pennsylvania. He is survived by his wife, three children, and four grandchildren.

1956
Leo J. Dunn, an obstetrician & gynecologist and leader in women’s health, died Feb. 21, 2020. He was 88. After an internship at the Cincinnati General Hospital, he trained for five years at what was then Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center before joining the University of Iowa faculty. In 1967, he joined the Medical College of Virginia School of Medicine (later Virginia Commonwealth University) in Richmond, Virginia. He chaired the ob/gyn department for nearly 30 years and initiated a nurse practitioner training program. In 1998, he obtained a master’s degree in health administration at VCU and served as the university’s NIH Research Subject Advocate. He was president of the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology and founding member of the Society of Gynecologic Oncologists, among other leadership roles. He was preceded in death by his wife, Beatrice. Their two children, two grandsons, a step-grandson, and a brother survive him.

1957
Lewis “Lew” Arnow, a pediatrician, died May 7, 2020. He played semi-professional baseball before attending Harvard College. After medical school, Dr. Arnow accepted a pediatric internship at what was then New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center and served as a lieutenant at the U.S. Naval Hospital at Newport, Rhode Island. For 40 years, he practiced in the Newport and Aquidneck Island communities. He was chief of the pediatrics department and president of the medical staff at Newport Hospital and an ex-officio board trustee member. In 1969, Dr. Arnow patented a multi-element electric toy and track; over the following two decades he and his wife ran an English riding instruction school at their farm. He loved cricket, and on weekends from April through September, he hosted matches for Middletown’s St. Columba’s Cricket Club. Dr. Arnow was preceded in death by his wife, Rita. His fiancé, Brenda, two sons, and three grandchildren survive him.

John Manley Roberts, a pediatric orthopedic surgeon who helped found Children’s Hospital in New Orleans, died Aug. 8, 2020. He was 88. He completed a surgical residency at Duke University Medical Center. He held successive professorships in orthopedic surgery at Louisiana State University, Tulane University, Brown University, and Boston University before retiring from Boston University in 1999 as professor of orthopedics emeritus. Shriners Hospital for Children in Springfield, Massachusetts, named a teaching center in his name to honor Dr. Roberts’ tenure as chief of staff. He enjoyed working in outreach clinics in Cyprus, Puerto Rico, and the Dominican Republic. He was president of the Pediatric Orthopedic Society and vice president of the American Orthopedic Association and continued to see patients for non-operative treatment until he was 81 years old. He enjoyed sailing and in his later years was active in adult education. His wife, Edith, two children, three stepchildren, and five grandchildren survive him.

Dwight Rienzi Robinson, who had a long career in rheumatology and internal medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital, died June 2, 2020, at age 88, after a battle with Alzheimer’s disease. He conducted postdoctoral studies in biochemistry at Brandeis University, which enabled him to maintain a laboratory at MGH. In 2013, he edited a comprehensive textbook on gout. Dr. Robinson was a professor at Harvard Medical School and the Harvard-MIT Program in Health Sciences and Technology, working tirelessly in patient care, teaching, and research until his retirement in 2015. A “Renaissance man,” Dr. Robinson played the piano and pipe organ and enjoyed dancing, gardening, hiking, tennis, windsurfing, skiing, and raising farm animals. He is survived by his wife, Margaret, four children, 14 grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren.

1958
Robert E. Schaefer, a radiologist, died March 25, 2020, at age 87 of coronavirus complications. He completed a military residency in Adana, Turkey, followed by a radiology residency at Stanford. He moved to Seattle, practiced at Harborview Hospital and Overlake Medical Center, and taught at the University of Washington Medical School. As president of the Northwest Woodworkers Guild, he enjoyed crafting geometric models, furniture, and lathe-turned bowls. He was passionate about abstract math, physics, and astronomy. His wife, Doris, survives him.

1959
Peter M. Berkman, who practiced internal medicine and nephrology for 50 years in Washington, D.C., died June 9, 2020. He was 86. Dr. Berkman spearheaded the formation of the modern dialysis facility at Washington Hospital Center in 1977. Two children and two grandchildren survive him.

Peter Dodge Mott, a geriatrician who dedicated his life to social activism around migrant and rural public health, died May 27, 2020. He followed in the legacy of his father, Frederick D. Mott, MD, who established hospitals in Appalachia for the United Mine Workers and set up the first provincial universal health care system in Canada, in Saskatchewan. Dr. Peter Mott left the private practice of medicine after the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert Kennedy to run health centers in the poorest sections of Baltimore and Tucson. He later directed a regional medical program, overseeing clinics for residents in extreme poverty in western New York state. From age 60, he and his wife published Interconnect, a quarterly dedicated to sharing resources among hundreds of grassroots organizations advocating for Latinos across the United States and Latin America. In 2006, he wrote “Cancer in the Body Politic: Diagnosis and Prescription for an America in Decline.” His wife, Gail, four children, and six grandchildren survive him.

Peter Pressman, clinical professor emeritus of surgery at Weill Cornell Medical College, died April 27, 2020, from the coronavirus. He was 84. He served in the U.S. Army as a surgeon in Korea. He later worked at Beth Israel, Lenox Hill, and NewYork-Presbyterian hospitals. His surgical practice was devoted to treating breast cancer and directed toward earlier diagnosis and fewer surgical procedures. He was the founding member of the New York Metropolitan Breast Cancer Group and a board member of the American Cancer Society. When Dr. Pressmen retired from clinical surgery, he established the Genetic Risk Assessment Program at the Weill Cornell Breast Center. Educating women was a priority. He was co-author of five editions of the book “Breast Cancer - The Complete Guide.” His wife, Peggy, two sons, and five grandchildren survive him.

1961
John F. Ryan, a leader in pediatric anesthesiology, died Jan. 2, 2020, at 84. During summers in medical school, he worked for the U.S. Air Force and developed a calibration technique for measuring micrometeorites used in early satellites and the first attempt to reach the moon. He spent two years at Vandenberg Air Force Base, where, in 1965, he received a commendation medal for his work in establishing the first intensive care unit in the U.S. Armed Forces. He was chief of pediatric anesthesiology for more than 30 years and taught at Harvard Medical School. He published the textbook, “A Practice of Anesthesia for Infants and Children.” He is survived by his wife, Joanna, three children, and three grandchildren.

1962
Khosrow Nasr died Jan. 21, 2020. He completed a residency at Bellevue Hospital’s Columbia Division and a gastroenterology fellowship at Billings Hospital of the University of Chicago. In 1968, he returned to his native country of Iran and joined the medical school faculty of Shiraz (Pahlavi) Medical School, where he became chairman of medicine. Later as dean, he introduced advances in medical education. He left Iran in 1986 for Sacramento, California, where he formed a gastroenterology group and practiced until his retirement in 2015.

1964
Evelyn Grollman Wolff, a physician-scientist specializing in the thyroid, died Dec. 15, 2019, at age 79. She practiced at Bellevue Hospital in the 1960s before moving to Northern Virginia. She collaborated with her father, Dr. Arthur Grollman, in 1970 on the widely used “Pharmacology and Therapeutics: A Textbook for Students and Practitioners of Medicine and Its Allied Professions.” Drawn by laboratory work, she transitioned to endocrinology at the NIH and for the next 23 years became an expert in the thyroid. After retirement, she returned to Manhattan, where she enjoyed everything about being a New Yorker except for not having enough room for her beloved Steinway. Survivors include her former husband, a sister, and a brother.

1965
Anthony “Tony” Horan, a urologist who received honors for research on human spermatozoa motility, died Aug. 13, 2020, at age 80. He completed training in medicine, surgery, and urology at Columbia. He served as an Air Force general surgeon in Cam Ranh Bay during the Vietnam War’s Tet offensive. He practiced urology in New York, Wyoming, and California and in the VA system. His books, “The Big Scare” (2009) and “The Rise and Fall of the Prostate Cancer Scam” (2017), contested what he considered an epidemic of radical prostatectomies. He was also a painter, an outdoorsman, and a singer in community chorales. Dr. Horan is survived by his wife, Marcia Morrison, two sons (including Thomas Bramwell Welch-Horan’08), and three grandchildren. His grandfather, John Rogers Jr., graduated from what is now VP&S in 1892 and developed treatments for thyroid disease.

Angelo James Lopano, an orthopedic surgeon, died May 18, 2020. He was 80. He trained at the University of Pennsylvania and spent two years in the U.S. Air Force as a general surgeon, stationed at Hamilton Air Force Base in California. He completed his orthopedic residency at Harvard University. He joined Monmouth Medical Center, where he served as chairman and program director of orthopedics from 1988 to 2008. He was a fellow of the American College of Surgeons, American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons, and the American Academy for Cerebral Palsy and Developmental Medicine. He was an avid gardener who took pride in growing vegetables and making spaghetti sauce. He is survived by his wife, Amelia, two children, and three grandchildren.

William Boyd McCullough, a minister early in life who became a surgeon and community activist, died April 25, 2020, from Alzheimer’s disease. He was 89. He graduated from Princeton Theological Seminary in 1956. He served as assistant pastor of the Riverdale, New York, Presbyterian Church and pastor of United Church of Van Nest in the Bronx, before completing pre-med studies at City College of New York. He completed a surgical residency at UCSD and trained at Bellevue Hospital in New York City before entering private practice with Surgical Associates of New Haven, Connecticut, in 1971. He taught at Yale School of Medicine and was deeply involved in civic, cultural, and religious organizations in New Haven. He received an award from the Trust for Public Land to recognize his efforts to preserve the Griswold Airport land and transform it into a park. He was an Associate Fellow at Yale University Hopper College and an active member of the First Congregational Church of Madison. While a medical student, he was president of the P&S Club. He is survived by his wife, Barbara, a son, a granddaughter, and a brother.

1967
William “Bill” G. Johnson, professor of neurology at the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School of Rutgers University and former associate professor at VP&S, died Jan. 30, 2020, from complications following a stroke. He was 77. Following residency at New York Hospital, he served in the U.S. Public Health Service at the NIH. In 1975 he joined Columbia as assistant professor of neurology. He became professor of neurology at Robert Wood Johnson Medical School at Rutgers (formerly University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey) in 1992. As a molecular neurogeneticist, he made significant contributions to the understanding of neurodegenerative and neurodevelopmental diseases and disorders and was part of the team that identified the first gene for Parkinson’s disease. At the time of his death, Dr. Johnson was involved in three studies on autism. He was active in church life and was fluent in at least six languages. He is survived by his wife, Sandra, two sons, three grandchildren, and a brother.

Sherman C. Stein, clinical professor of neurosurgery at the University of Pennsylvania, died March 22, 2019. He is survived by his wife, Marilyn, three children, and five grandchildren.

1968
Andrew Slaby, a leader in emergency psychiatry and suicide prevention, died May 4, 2020, from COVID-19. He was 78. After interning at Boston City Hospital, he completed a psychiatry residency and an MPH and PhD at Yale before joining the Yale psychiatry faculty. He became director of emergency psychiatry services for Yale-New Haven Hospital and wrote a textbook. “Handbook of Psychiatric Emergencies: A Guide for Emergencies in Psychiatry.” He taught psychiatry at Brown University and later worked as psychiatrist-in-chief at Rhode Island Hospital and Women and Infants Hospital, medical director of the Fair Oaks Hospital, and psychiatrist-in-chief of the Regent Hospital in New York City. He served as a trustee of the American Association of Emergency Psychiatrists, vice president of the American Suicide Foundation, and president of the American Association of Suicidology. He was community-spirited, serving on the boards of several community organizations. He is survived by two sisters, nieces and nephews, and longtime friend Rosemarie Dackerman.

Robert George Ziegler, a psychiatrist for children and families with a commitment to practical, team-based approaches, died Feb. 24, 2020. He was 78. He was a psychiatrist within the Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at the Cambridge Hospital, assistant professor of psychiatry at Harvard, and clinical director of Boundaries Therapy Center in Acton, Massachusetts. He also directed the family service team within the seizure unit at Children’s Hospital in Boston. He authored many clinical publications, including “Sharing Care: The Integration of Family Approaches with Child Treatment,” “Homemade Books to Help Kids Cope,” and “Does Your Child Have Epilepsy?” He loved literature, plays, cooking, and traveling. Two children, two grandchildren, and a sister survive him.

1969
Jeffrey Alan Weisberg, an entrepreneur who co-founded a chain of urgent care centers in New York and developed medical specialty practices, died April 24, 2020. He was 77. He interned at Mount Sinai Hospital before moving to California to train in internal medicine at Stanford. Drawn to emergency medicine, he became director of the emergency department at Sequoia Hospital and co-founded a group of emergency physicians who ran the ERs at multiple hospitals. He later moved to Chappaqua, New York, and worked at Good Samaritan Hospital. In 1983, he co-founded DOCS Office, an ambulatory care practice in Hartsdale, New York. Over the following 20 years, he developed a chain of urgent care and specialty offices in Westchester. He joined forces with Beth Israel Hospital to open more primary care locations in New York City and to develop new specialty practices, including New York Bone and Joint. He loved performance cars, photography, woodworking, salt-water aquariums, jazz, and folk music. His wife, Cheryl, two children, and four grandchildren survive him.

1970
Richard J. Kates, an obstetrician & gynecologist, died March 9, 2020. He was 75. He trained at Johns Hopkins and Los Angeles County Medical before making Connecticut his home for the past 44 years. He practiced in Hartford, where he specialized in infertility and delivered more than 5,000 babies. He fought a long battle with pancreatic cancer, but he never complained, taking advantage of his time to travel the world, spend winters in Florida, and relax with his family. His greatest love was being a grandfather. His two children and five grandchildren survive him.

Michael L. Tapper, who served for many years as chief of infectious disease at Lenox Hill Hospital, died March 6, 2020. He was 75. He trained in internal medicine at Harlem Hospital and in infectious disease at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. At Lenox Hill Hospital, he established an early New York state-sponsored center for AIDS research and care. Dr. Tapper sat on several CDC committees, was past president of the Society of Hospital Epidemiologists, and a member of many New York state and New York City Departments of Health task forces. He was extremely committed to Columbia College, where he was on the fencing team as an undergraduate. He loved music and supported the Metropolitan Opera. He is survived by a sister.

1975
William B. Solomon, whose NIH grant research at Harvard/MIT resulted in a gene therapy patent, died April 8, 2020. He was 68. Dr. Solomon became a tenured professor of hematology/oncology at Downstate Medical School and an attending physician at Maimonides Hospital. He enjoyed photography, reading, biking in Central Park, and membership at the Park Avenue Synagogue. He is survived by his wife, Terry, two children, a brother, and a sister.

1976
Jay Galst, an ophthalmologist and expert on coins and artifacts with optic themes, died April 12, 2020, of COVID-19. He was 69. He completed a residency in ophthalmology at New York Medical College in 1980 and practiced privately for decades in New York before joining Omni Eye Services. A leader with the New York Numismatic Club, in 2013 he collaborated with Peter van Alfen, chief curator of the American Numismatic Society, to publish a lengthy book about coins related to the eye: “Ophthalmologia, Optica et Visio in Nummis,” translated as: “Ophthalmology, Optics and Vision in Numismatics.” He is survived by his wife, Joann Paley Galst, his mother, a son, a granddaughter, and a sister.

1977
Antoinette “Toni” H. Williams-Akita, a supervising physician at the New York State Department of Health until her retirement in 2015, died April 1, 2020, of COVID-19. She was 68. Dr. Akita trained in psychiatry at Emory University before starting a pediatric residency at Harlem Hospital Center in 1981. There she met another intern who would become her husband, Dr. Francis Akita. He also contracted COVID-19 and recovered to continue practicing at Columbia, where he specializes in neonatology. Toni Akita worked for the U.S. Public Health Service in St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands, before completing a fellowship in allergy and immunology at the Long Island College Hospital in Brooklyn. She briefly operated a private practice in allergy and immunology in the late 1980s. When the H1N1 flu epidemic broke out in 2009, she was on the front lines of New York’s response. She joined the New York State Department of Health in 1992. She enjoyed singing, shopping, and traveling. She is survived by her husband, son, granddaughter, mother, and sisters.

1978
Barbara A. Winkler Monsanto, a pathologist who was dedicated to women’s health in Peru, died April 5, 2020, at age 66 from complications of COVID-19. She completed a residency at Columbia and later worked at CareMount Medical in Mount Kisco, New York. Dr. Winkler was an active member of the American Society of Cytopathology and the College of American Pathologists. She was the force behind the humanitarian efforts at CervicoCusco, a Peruvian nonprofit organization committed to improving the health and quality of life of Peruvian women through the prevention of cervical cancer. She enjoyed tennis, cooking, Broadway, and the opera. Her husband, David Enrique Monsanto, and daughter survive her.

1980

James T. Goodrich, a pediatric surgeon who dedicated his life to saving children with complex neurological conditions and developed a multistage approach for separating craniopagus twins who are fused at the brain and skull, died March 30, 2020, of complications associated with COVID-19. Dr. Goodrich served as a Marine during the Vietnam War. He trained at Presbyterian Hospital and the New York Neurological Institute before directing the Division of Pediatric Neurosurgery at Montefiore for more than 30 years. In 2016, he famously led a team of 40 doctors in a 27-hour procedure to separate the MacDonald twins and became the world’s leading expert on this procedure. He was a professor of clinical neurological surgery, pediatrics, plastic, and reconstructive surgery at Albert Einstein College of Medicine and held the rank of Professor Contralto of Neurological Surgery at the University of Palermo in Italy. He baked holiday cookies for the nurses at the Children’s Hospital at Montefiore, was passionate about medical history and historical artifacts, and enjoyed travel and surfing. His wife, Judy, and three sisters survive him.

House Staff

Alan Bernstein, MD, pediatrics, died Sept. 24, 2019.