wo worlds came together for Susan Alpert, Ph.D., M.D. ’84, when she heard that Donna Shalala, Ph.D., would be the new leader of the University of Miami. President Shalala was Secretary of Health and Human Services during a good portion of Dr. Alpert’s 13 years of service at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in Washington, D.C.

Though her most recent post at the FDA was at the Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, Dr. Alpert’s full stint at the government association involved much more. She began at the FDA’s Division of Anti-Infective Drug Products, reviewing applications from pharmaceutical manufacturers and developing new drug therapies. As director of the Office of Device Evaluation, Dr. Alpert reviewed medical gadgets before they hit the market, from excimer lasers for LASIK eye surgery to implantable defibrillators.

Her current position in the private sector was a natural progression. Dr. Alpert now supervises quality assurance for products manufactured by C. R. Bard, Inc., as the company’s vice president for regulatory sciences. C. R. Bard is the tenth-largest medical device manufacturer in the country.

And the University of Miami School of Medicine has been ever present each step of the way. Dr. Alpert cites the training she received pursuing a specialty in pediatrics in the University’s M.D.-to-Ph.D. Program as an essential foundation of her medical career. The experience she gleaned working with different communities in South Florida gave her skills in understanding the health care needs of various populations, which she implemented while serving the national community at the FDA. As she has made her way through the country’s top medical circles, Dr. Alpert has remained proud of her roots in Miami.

“It’s wonderful to see how the School of Medicine continues to grow and contribute to the country’s health care in a very visible and high-impact way,” she says.

Dr. Alpert’s own contributions to health care have earned her prominent recognition. Some of her prestigious honors include the Presidential Meritorious Rank Award, given by the White House for exceptional service, and the Secretary’s Distinguished Service Award from the Department of Health and Human Services.

ay Woosley, M.D. ’73, Ph.D., prescribes medications with two goals in mind. As a healer, he wants to see his patients’ health improve. But as a researcher, Dr. Woosley investigates another passion. He wonders, “Why did those drugs work? Why not? How can treatment be better?” He has dedicated his life’s work to putting together the pieces of a therapeutic puzzle.

The first scientist employed in the United States by Glaxo-Wellcome, Inc. (now GlaxoSmithKline), Dr. Woosley built a foundation in pharmacology. After graduating from the School of Medicine, he became an international authority on the treatment of arrythmias, zeroing in on the pharmacology associated with the condition. “I wanted to practice medicine,” he says, “but I also wanted to continue pursuing my interest in medications.”

And he has done just that. Through dedicated research in pharmacology and an emphasis on quality patient care, Dr. Woosley, associate dean for clinical research and director of the Center for Education and Research on Therapeutics at Georgetown University, has identified the causes of patients’ varying clinical responses to drugs. He also has focused on improving the safety of medications. And in recent years, research in Dr. Woosley’s laboratory has revealed the scientific answer to why women are at greater risk of sudden death than men.

1960s

Robert J. Mandel, M.D. ’63, recently retired after a 30-year distinguished career as an attending radiologist. Most recently director of mammography for the Health First Diagnostic Center in Melbourne, Florida, he also served as radiology department chairman from 1982 to 1984 and held several leadership positions, including chairman of the Utilization Review and Continuing Education. In addition to his many professor and chairman positions held at Florida institutions, Mandel also served as a clinical instructor in radiology at the University of Hawaii Medical School in Okinawa during service as a major in the U.S. Army from 1967 to 1969. While there, he received the Meritorious Service Medal. In 1973 Mandel received the Outstanding Alumnus Service Award from the University of Miami. Residents of Indialantic, Florida, he and his wife, Gloria, have two children and two grandchildren.

Mitchell Friedman, M.D. ’69, is currently the Edward G. Schlieder Education Professor of Pulmonary Diseases and chief of the Section of Pulmonary Diseases, Critical Care, and Environmental Medicine at Tulane University Health Sciences Center. He also serves as chief of the Pulmonary Section at the New Orleans Veterans Affairs Medical Center. Dr. Friedman is the principal investigator of a new five-year K30 Clinical Research Curriculum Award from the National Institutes of Health. The grant will support didactic training in the fundamentals of clinical research for trainees from five educational institutes.

1970s

Paul Alan Wetter, M.D. ’75, with 20 years of experience as a gynecologic surgeon, was a pioneer and visionary, performing some of the first laparoscopic surgeries in Florida. He now serves as chairman and executive director of the Society of Laparoendoscopic Surgeons. This nonprofit medical society that Dr. Wetter helped found ten years ago has helped foster minimally invasive surgery practice for patients needing surgery.

Carol Rose, M.D. ’78, an anesthesiologist with the University of Pennsylvania Medical Center, recently took her oath as the 151st president of the Pennsylvania Medical Society. The society represents its members on issues that affect patient care and insists that doctors be allowed to provide their patients with the highest quality of care available.

Paul Schaefer, M.D. ’79, serves as chair of the Radiology Department at Montgomery General Hospital in Rockville, Maryland. Dr. Schaefer also holds the position of president of the Community Radiology Association, a 15-member radiology practice.

1980s

Michael Anchors, M.D. ’80, Ph.D. ’80, has been practicing medicine in Gaithersburg, Maryland. He is the author of the nationally acclaimed book Safer Than Phen-fen, a weight loss program published in 1997 that continues to be used today.

Howard Bromley, M.D. ’81, is currently serving as chief of staff at the Veteran’s Affairs Medical Center in Memphis, Tennessee. An active member of the Army Reservists, Dr. Bromley and his unit—the 330th Combat Support Hospital—served in Desert Storm and will be in the Ecuadorian jungles this year providing medical care for the indigent population.

Scott Berger, M.D. ’86, is medical director for the Delray Outpatient Surgery and Laser Center and recently was chief of staff at Pinecrest Rehabilitation Hospital in Delray Beach, Florida. Dr. Berger has been selected to serve as office surgery inspector by the Florida Board of Medicine for 2001.

1990s

Betty Bellman, M.D. ’91, has a private dermatology practice in Miami Beach, where she resides with her husband, David Rosenbloom, and their one-year-old daughter, Karen.

Albert Canas, M.D. ’91, lives in Miami Beach and is practicing internal medicine, specializing in HIV/AIDS care.

Karen L. Weiss-Schorr, M.D. ’91, had her second child in March. Dr. Weiss-Schorr lives with her husband, Scott Schorr, and their children in Snellville, Georgia.

Vivian Hernandez-Popp, M.D. ’93, is on staff at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation in the Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Management. Dr. Hernandez-Popp’s area of interest is acute postoperative pain control. She resides in Cleveland, Ohio, with her husband, Howard, and their daughter, Victoria.

Eric Cooper, M.D. ’96, will be completing his residency in emergency medicine in Fresno, California, this summer. Dr. Cooper will then move to Maryland with his family to practice medicine at a hospital there.

Chris Niles, M.D. ’96, is working as one of two anesthesiologists in a community hospital at Fort Riley Military Base in Manhattan, Kansas. Dr. Niles and his wife,

Ileana Ramos, M.D. ’96, have two daughters. Dr. Ramos works part-time in a radiology group.

Steven Lemery, M.D. ’99, resides in New York City and has accepted a fellowship position in hematology-oncology at the National Institutes of Health.

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