Dear CHOP Alumni Family,

Remember our CHOP Alumni Motto:

CHOP Alumni Association Alumni of the CHOP residency class of 2000-2003 celebrate their 15-year reunion Keep … Tradition, Keep … in Mind, Keep … in Touch!

Keep … Tradition: As I write this at the end of the summer, I have the chance to reflect on our favorite CHOP traditions, many of which occur in the spring. In addition to hosting the annual alumni reception at the PAS meeting, where we see old friends and colleagues, spring is also when we celebrate the annual Richard D. Wood Distinguished Alumni Award, presented at the annual meeting of the medical staff. This year, several members of the Wood family joined us as we honored the one and only Alan Cohen with this award. Dr Cohen has been a leader in pediatric medicine through a lifetime of work as an outstanding clinician, teacher, investigator, and administrator and through his unflagging commitment to CHOP, the institution where he trained and has spent his career. We had a wonderful celebration and congratulate Alan on this honor.

We also celebrated the amazing research accomplishments of our trainees at our Fourth Annual Resident and Fellow Grand Round Lectureships. This year we learned about empowering trainee data-driven improvement using EHRs from Adam Dziorny and Mark Mai; implementation research for cancer treatment in Africa from Christina Hanna; adipose macrophage activity from David Hill; and exome sequencing for hearing loss from Sarah Sheppard. Impressed? You should be! All our trainees did an amazing job.

Keep … in Mind: Later this fiscal year, we will send out a survey to learn more about our Alumni Organization members, seeking to understand what type of content is most engaging, and more. Also, please consider making a gift to the Alumni Organization. You may choose to give to the Alumni Giving Fund or any area at CHOP that touches your heart. Visit chopalumni.org today.

And finally, Keep ... in Touch: Many of our alumni return to CHOP for class-planned reunions. Bimal Desai shared these thoughts about the most recent reunion, and even sent a photo (below): “Members of the CHOP residency class of 2000-2003 celebrated our 15-year reunion. More than 20 alumni and their families came, starting with brunch at Bimal Desai and Naomi Balamuth’s home in University City. Alumni traveled from as far as Los Angeles, Charlotte, Dallas, and Toronto. We were thrilled to be joined by Steve and Zella Ludwig, Cindy Christian, and Tony Mauro. After brunch, we walked to CHOP and met rising chief residents Nina Fainberg and Betsy Salazar for a tour of the hospital, which has more than doubled in size since many of us were last here! Following the tour, we hosted happy hour and family-style dinner at Clarkville Pizzeria and were joined by several former interns (Naomi Balamuth, Sarah Winters, Nick Evageliou, and Alix Seif ). It was a great opportunity to catch up, reconnect, and share our fond memories of residency.”

I have more exciting news to share, but it will have to wait for the next installment. Until then, please feel free to keep in touch!


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