Class Notes

Jack C. Westman (M.D. 1952, Residencies 1958 and 1959) has co-authored The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Child and Adolescent Psychology, a research-based book that provides insights for parents, students, teachers, social workers and other professionals. He is professor emeritus in the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, and formerly served as director of the Child Psychiatry Division for the University of Wisconsin Hospitals in Madison. Westman has published 10 books and more than 140 professional articles.

 

Gus Gill (M.D. 1969, Residency 1975), director of the International Health Institute at the Charles Drew University of Medicine and Science in Los Angeles, California, will receive the honor of having the first medical school in Angola named for him. The Angolan government plans to open the school at the Universidade da Cidade de Luanda by 2013. Gill is being recognized in honor of his role in advising the Angolan government on improving the country’s system for delivering health care in rural and urban areas following its declaration of political independence. He also serves as senior advisor to the president, president of the academic senate and associate professor of otolaryngology at Charles Drew University.

 

Debra Koivunen (M.D. 1978) has been promoted to associate dean of graduate medical education at the University of Missouri School of Medicine, after serving as director of the general surgery residency program for 14 years. She completed her residency in general surgery at the University of Missouri in 1984.

Herbert Malinoff (M.D. 1978, Residencies 1983 and 1989) was elected secretary of the American Society of Addiction Medicine, a position he’ll hold through 2013. He practices pain management and addiction medicine as an adjunct faculty member in the U-M Department of Anesthesiology/Back and Pain Clinic, and is in private practice in Ypsilanti.

Robert D. Ross (M.D. 1981), professor of pediatrics at the Wayne State University School of Medicine and a pediatric cardiologist and director of fellowship programs at the Children’s Hospital of Michigan, was elected president of the Society of Pediatric Cardiology Training Program Directors. During his term (2011-13), he’ll chair the steering committee that will revise training guidelines for the subspecialty. Additionally, Ross has led medical missions to the Dominican Republic since 2003, with the goal of treating children with congenital heart defects and training local heath care providers to operate independently. The Ross Classification of heart failure in infants is named for him, based on his research in the field.

 

Mitesh Patel (M.D. 2009) has been selected as a 2012 Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Clinical Scholar. As a scholar, he will learn to conduct innovative research and work with communities, organizations, practitioners and policy-makers in order to take a leadership role in improving health and health care in the U.S. He will begin his fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania and a Veteran’s Affairs Medical Center in the fall of 2012. Patel is currently in his third and final year of an internal medicine residency at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. —MF

 

Tom Coles: Marathon Man and the Silver Ribbon

When the oldest of his seven children became ill with schizophrenia at the age of 20, Tom Coles (M.D. 1956) was already somewhat acquainted with the stigma surrounding mental illness.

“My father had major depression and was treated with electroshock treatments in the 1950s,” he says. “We knew he was ill, but he never talked about it.” Such silence was nothing new to his dad, either. Coles’ paternal grandmother was hospitalized from 1927-42 before being discharged to a group home in Windsor, Ontario, not far from Allen Park, Michigan, where Coles grew up. She lived four more years, dying when Coles was 15, “but my father never took me to see her,” he says.

In the 34 years since his son became ill, Coles, who spent 38 years as a hospital and medical administrator, has dedicated himself not only to his son’s care but also to shifting the paradigm that so often thwarts effective treatment.

Completing his first marathon at age 48, Coles went on to finish five more. After a three-year break, he became aware of the National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression (NARSAD). With new inspiration to raise money for the organization, he went back to finishing an annual marathon, doing eight. NARSAD, now known as the Brain and Behavior Research Foundation, has awarded nearly $300 million in research grants since 1987, with more than $4.2 million given to researchers at the U-M. Coles served two six-year terms on its board of directors, helped form its National Leadership Council, and until two years ago was president of a local affiliate of the National Alliance on Mental Illness, which he still serves as treasurer.

When his six younger children became somewhat concerned about him running the 26.2-mile course in his mid-60s, they gave him a bicycle, and he used it to complete five century rides (100 miles in a day) for the same cause.

Coles completed four more marathons from age 68 to 77. He now resides in Grosse Pointe Woods, Michigan, with his wife of 55 years, Nancy. Even though, at 80, he doesn’t run anymore, he completed this October’s Detroit Free Press International Marathon at a brisk walking pace, with some occasional jogging.

He is also involved in the Silver Ribbon Coalition, which seeks to raise awareness about brain disorders in much the same way as the celebrated pink ribbon campaign has for breast cancer.

“Difficult illnesses often get hushed up,” he says, “and the lack of awareness, and the stigma, causes people not to go for treatment. And we know that earlier treatment of all illnesses can result in better outcomes.”

Coles’ son is a continued source of inspiration. “He received a degree in electrical engineering from Wayne State three years ago,” he says. “That’s a marvelous achievement.”

But the stigma is still far from being conquered. Coles says, “Wearing a silver ribbon often causes questions. Questions result in talking and education. Education will help decrease stigma, resulting in patients, I think, going for earlier treatment.”

So the struggle goes on. “The issues which I became involved in when I was working continue to be an important part of my life, and will be as long as I can do things.” –JEFF MORTIMER