1999-2000 Events May 11: End-of-Year Party The academic year came to a close with the traditional party at the Drs. Virella home. Dr. Virella summarized the activities of the chapter during the current academic year and stressed the high level of activity of the chapter, thanking the retiring officers Al Cohn (President), Tony Makhlouf (Vice-President) and Odette Houghton (Secretary) for their efforts on its behalf. Next, Matt McEvoy, a Sophomore Medical Student and co-recipient of Last year's Pitts Award that distinguishes the highest ranking freshman, was presented with a $2500.00 dollar check, the first installment of a $5000.00 AOA Research Scholarship that he was awarded by our National Headquarters. The elections for Officers for 2000-2001 went as follows: Dr. Steven Schabel was re-elected for a third term as Treasurer; Michael DeWolfe was elected as President; Amy Anne Donatelli was elected Vice-President, and Emily Ellis was elected Secretary. In addition, a new Webmaster position was added to our roll of student officers. Mark Horney was elected as the first Webmaster for our Chapter. Congratulations and best wishes to all! Click here for pictures of the event.
Spring 2000: MUSC Medical Jeopardy in the The Pharos The Medical Jeopardy organized by our chapter caught the attention of The Pharos, the national magazine of AOA. A column describing our two programs in 1999-2000 was included in pages 36 and 37 of the Spring issue. The same feature is posted on AOA's national website. MUSC Student Receives AOA Student Research Fellowship Matt McEvoy (class of 2002) was one of 44 recipients of these awards, out of 2000 applicants. Matt's project is entitled "The relationship of venous flow rate and lower extremity position with CPM: possible effects of deep venous thrombosis." Dr. H. Del Schutte, Jr. is Matt's mentor for this project. May 4: AOA Assists MUSC & Interfaith Crisis Ministries Dr. G. Virella, councillor of the SC Alpha Chapter, presented a check for $1100 to Sasha Kennison and Stewart Edmunds to assist their participation in the Interfaith Ministries Crisis Clinic. Sasha Kennison and Stewart Edmunds serve as co-coordinators of the COM student-run clinic. AOA and the Interfaith Crisis Ministries are exploring collaborative arrangements that would allow both organizations to expand their community service activities. April 8: Inter-Chapter Medical Jeopardy For the first time in the history of our chapters AOA student members from the Medical University of South Carolina Alpha Chapter and from the University of South Carolina School of Medicine Beta chapter met for a friendly "Medical Jeopardy", molded after the popular TV trivia quiz show. The two chapters collaborated closely in the venture. Both students and faculty members submitted questions in ten categories, previously agreed upon: "Pimping Favorites", "Nobelists", "On the News", "Make the Diagnosis", "TV Medicine", "Zebras", "Truly Gross Anatomy", "Stupid Acronyms", and "Historic Trivia". The questions, submitted in equal numbers from each school, were entered in a spreadsheet, randomized so that questions from both schools were equally represented, and ranked by order of difficulty. The competition, which is to be held yearly and to rotate among participating schools, was held at Charleston on this first occasion. Four AOA student members (three seniors and a junior) competed from each chapter. Ten of the 14 members of the visiting Beta chapter made it to Charleston for the event. The two teams more than held their ground, and in the end, the difference separating the two teams was one fictitious single dollar on favor of MUSC's AOA team. A plaque recording the event and the wining team will be kept at the Medical University of South Carolina until another school wins the event. All those present at this event, participants and spectators, were unanimous in their praise of what was considered as "great fun". At the end of the contest, a group of MUSC's AOA members invited the participants and remaining delegation from the USC's AOA chapter to an informal lunch at Vickery's in Shem Creek. The main goal of the meeting was thus accomplished: what everyone hopes to be a long lasting collaboration between the two chapters of South Carolina was given a great kick-start. We hope that other schools in region 5 will be able to join in this and other joint ventures.
The MUSC and USC teams. For MUSC, from the far left: Charles Mauro, Michael DeWolf, Thena Poteat, and Jimmy Street. April 7: Annual Spring Banquet This year's banquet was held at the Charleston Place on Thursday, April 7, 2000, and was a resounding success. It was attended by over 120, including newly elected members, many of them accompanied by family and friends, the recipient of the Volunteer Physician Awards, AOA officers, and many faculty members. The banquet was presided over by chapter officers, Al Cohn (President), Tony Makhlouf (Vice-president), Odette Houghton (Secretary), and Drs. Virella (Councillor) and Schabel (Treasurer). Drs. Raymond Greenberg (President, of MUSC) and Layton McCurdy (Vice President for Medical Affairs and Dean, College of Medicine) joined them at the head table. In attendance were many of our higher ranking faculty, such as Drs. Joanne Conroy (Senior Associate Dean and Associate Vice President for Medical Affairs), Vic Del Bene (Associate Dean of Student Affairs), Angus McBryde, (Chairman of Orthopedic Surgery) and Peter Gazes (Distinguished University Professor). Many of our outstanding community physicians were present, as well as distinguished alumni members such as Dick Sosnowski, Jane Upshur, Henry Rittenberg and Deek Adkins. Dean McCurdy delivered the invocation and Dr. Greenberg presented the after dinner remarks under the title "Lessons in Caring". His very personal and touching presentation was greatly appreciated by those in attendance. Drs. Virella and Schabel presented the keys and certificates to the newly elected junior and senior members. Newly elected Faculty members, Drs. Janice D. Key and David E. Tate, Alumni Members, Drs. Mark George and Benjamin Clyburn, and Housestaff members, Veena Mathur Chandler, Alex Johnson, and Jeffrey Mandel, were also inducted. Dr. Gene Burges, AOA member, received the Volunteer Physician of the Year Award. March 25: Ten-Mile, Ten-Man Relay Seven College of Medicine teams participated in this year's Ten Man, Ten Mile Relay at Hampton Park. Congratulations to this year's winners, the Class of 2003, whose outstanding performance enabled them to complete the relay in less than one hour! (59mins and 21secs to be precise). All participants received a commemorative tee-shirt and Pfizer pharmaceutical company presented prizes to each team. "Ten Man, Ten Mile Relay" tee-shirts will be available at a small cost to friends and members of AOA who were unable to join us at Hampton Park this year. All proceeds from this annual event benefit the Hugh Aiken and Gordon Lynn Scholarship Fund, which is to be used to support academically qualified College of Medicine students with demonstrable financial need. March 21: Spring AOA Lecture Dr. June Osborn visited our chapter and delivered this year's Spring AOA lecture, "Physicians as Citizens and Humanists." Dr. Osborn captivated the audience with reflections on a wide variety of personal experiences drawn from her long medical career. She stressed several significant points that she believed were essential for the effective insertion of physicians in a society that has become considerably more cynical about science in general and medicine in particular. The need to be aware of cultural diversity issues, the need to effectively communicate with patients, and the obligation to fight for the implementation of sound health prevention and care delivery policies were among the topics highlighted in Dr. Osborn's talk. After the lecture Dr. Osborn had lunch with a large group of AOA student members. March 7: Election of M.D. Members Faculty, alumni and house staff members were elected. Drs. Janice D. Key and David E. Tate were elected as Faculty members. Drs. Benjamin Clyburn and Mark S. George were elected as Alumni. Drs. Veena Mathur Chandler, Alexander R. Johnson, and Jeffrey S. Mandel were elected as house staff members. We also elected Ms. Melissa Powell as the student to receive the Hiram Curry award and Dr. Gene E. Burges as the recipient of the Volunteer Physician Award. Dr. Walton Ector, one of the Charter Members of our chapter, talked about "The Early Years of the Alpha Chapter of AOA in South Carolina." Dr. Ector retraced the steps that led to the creation of our chapter and gave us an update on the present activities and whereabouts of the surviving charter members. February 17: Meeting We had a wonderful time at Dr. & Mrs. Othersen's home. Dr. Othersen is one of the members elected in 1953, the year of the Chapter's installation, and was past Councilor of this chapter. The turn out was excellent and the buffet dinner was delicious. Dr. Othersen made a brief presentation about the Chapter's plans to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of its installation on the year 2003. Dr. Othersen referred to the "historical digs" going on, trying to reconstitute the early history of the chapter. The meeting closed with a general business session. February 16: Medical Jeopardy Our annual student vs. faculty Medical Jeopardy was held at noon in 2W Amphitheater. This year' edition was the most successful ever. The Amphitheater had never been so packed. People were standing inside the projection booth and sitting in the floor by the contestants! A last minute change had to be introduced: Dr. Carabello could not leave Houston and was replaced by Dr. Donna Johnson, from the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology. Dr. Brzezinski, winner in 1998, was cast as the defendant. Dr. Halushka, Director of Clinical Pharmacology, commanded the board from early in the game and managed to ward off strong attacks from Drs. Johnson and Brzezinski. Our local newspaper, the Post and Courier, printed a nice feature on the event in the from page of the Local News section the day after the contest. Congratulations to Al Cohn, Tony Makhlouf and all others that worked hard for the success of this year's Medical Jeopardy. January 28: Scotch Tasting At Dr. Schabel's James Island home. The origin and making of "scotch" were explained in the inimitable Schabel style. A sampling of the different varieties was provided to all present. December 13: Annual Christmas Party Dr. Fred Crawford, Chairman of Surgery, opened his home in Mount Pleasant for the Annual Christmas Party. The view to the marsh from his back porch is breathtaking. The turnout was excellent, and it is always an interesting occasion when Dr. Crawford, Dean McCurdy, and baby Pantsari share the same limelight. We collected a large number of toys that will be delivered to the Our Lady of Mercy Outreach in Johns Island so that they can be distributed to needy children in that community. Many thanks to Dr. and Mrs. Crawford for hosting such a wonderful event. December 1: Meeting Dr. Donna Johnson, Assistant Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology, held the first meeting of the 1999-2000 academic year. We were all impressed with both the view of her beach front condominium at Folly Beach and the feast of food provided for all in attendance. The guest speaker, Dr. Ludwig Lettau , gave a slide presentation entitled "Laughter is Infectious" that was full of medical humor and amusing anecdotes and cartoons. It was an interesting and fun way to start our annual series. November 17: Aids Symposium Dr. John Coffin, Professor of Molecular Biology and Microbiology at Tufts University, was the AOA Keynote speaker and his lecture on "The Continuing Challenge of HIV Infection" was very well attended and thought-provoking. Dr. Coffin also gave a second lecture the next day, on "Modeling HIV Infection." The symposium was once again a true success, and many comments were made in regards to what an asset the symposium is for the Medical University. November 15: Dr. Virella Elected to Board of Directors Our Councilor, Dr. Gabe Virella, was elected to the Board of Directors of AOA as a Councilor Member for one three-year term. Dr. Virella was also appointed to the Chapter Development Awards Committee. As always, we are thrilled to have such an active and enthusiastic Councilor. Congratulations, Dr. V! October 23: Annual Picnic Induction of new members and first full-strength meeting of the year. As has been traditional, Dr. and Mrs. Sosnowski opened their beautiful country home in Johns Island for this event. The weather was beautiful and the party was a great success. Many guests brought their children along, and an excellent time was had by all. Events for the upcoming year were outlined, and members volunteered to assist with the various subcommittees in the organization. Drs. McCurdy and LeRoy Student members
Thelma Lipscomb, our chapter's Executive Administrator September 22: Election of Student Members The election was held in the administration building. All student members as well as several faculty and house staff members were in attendance. Fifteen senior students (13 traditional and 2 parallel) and 6 junior students (5 traditional and one parallel) were elected. July 6: Third Year Orientation MUSC's AOA chapter assisted in the planning and execution of the Junior Year Orientation for the COM Class of 2001. The half-day schedule flowed very smoothly and covered a variety of relevant, need-to-know topics. Subjects ranged from issues of jurisprudence to a panel discussing advance directives and the University's harassment and discrimination policy. Further, in a congratulatory gesture, the entire class was presented with individual copies of Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine as provided by the loyalty fund and the alumni association. In addition to participating as introducers of speakers, AOA members served with various attending physicians and residents on the always-helpful panel, "How To Be a Successful Third Year Med Student." Not only did the day serve as an opportunity for the six senior AOA members to help their peers lessen angst about the upcoming academic year, but the day also served as a reminder to the seniors that they were no longer in their junior classmates' shoes. And that makes everyone a winner. |
