Fall 2002
Volume 19 Number 3
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to the Alumni section: Stanford MD
Cover Story: More Than Medicine
Residents' Dedication Reaches Beyond Clinic Doors
By Krista Conger
Illustration by Christopher Corr
Anisha Patel, MD, MPH, walked into Lisa Chamberlain's office straight
from her first night of call as a new pediatric resident at Lucile Packard
Children's Hospital. Pushing her hair back from her face she snatched
at papers that were threatening to fall to the floor as she pulled out
her notes from their last meeting. "I'd really like to help kids without
health insurance," she announced. Over the next hour Patel and Chamberlain,
MD, MPH, a general pediatrics fellow, began to outline a strategy to
improve children's access to health care by sending letters to state
assembly members, meeting with San Mateo and Santa Clara county administrators,
and handing out information to the parents of Patel's uninsured patients. >> Read Story
Mission: Translational
DNA cocktails and dreams
Patient-specific treatment for Autoimmune diseases might soon be reality
Linley Erin Hall
Photographs Trujillo/Paumier
Bill Robinson, MD, PhD, knows that there must be a better way to treat
his patients who have autoimmune diseases. Currently doctors use harsh
chemicals to knock out the patient's entire immune system when it goes
haywire and begins attacking native tissue instead of foreign invaders.
These treatments make patients more susceptible to infection and cancer
and often do little to relieve symptoms. "We poison them. It's a barbaric
way to treat autoimmune disease," says Robinson, a Stanford rheumatology
fellow. >> Read Story
More Stanford Medicine
Letter from SMAA President
Newton J. Harband, MD
President, Stanford Medical Alumni Association
Summer has faded into fall; a new group of medical students has arrived
and received stethoscopes in an SMAA-sponsored ceremony; and your president
and others, together with Dean Pizzo, have made plans for a wonderful
year – full of activities and changes... >> Read Letter
Alumni Profile: If it's November, this must be Antarctica
This alum's work takes him to environmental extremes
By Mary K. Miller
Photographs courtesy of Paul Ponganis
Here's a typical workday in November for alumnus Paul Ponganis, MD,
PhD: He wakes up, crawls out of his tent to brilliant Antarctic sunshine,
grabs a cup of coffee and checks on his study subjects, 10 plump and
healthy Emperor penguins. During the course of the day, he and his fellow
biologists from Scripps Institution at UC-San Diego might bring one of
the birds into their lab, place a homemade anesthesia mask over its long
beak and, after the gas takes hold, implant an ECG monitor under its
skin or attach a backpack for a video camera. After a quick recovery,
the penguin joins its companions in a fenced yard on the sea ice, complete
with two diving holes enabling the birds to go in and out of the water
at will. For the rest of the day, Ponganis monitors the physiology, behavior
and depth profiles of the penguins during their many foraging dives. >> Read Story
Medical School Recollection: Looking back and looking ahead
An alumnus sees new challenges for Medical education
By Joyce Thomas
Photographs Leslie Williamson
Was it a special place or were we special people at a special time?" muses
William P. Creger, MD, class of 1947, as he recalls his medical school
days in San Francisco. "We were young, it was 1945 and we were winning
the war and living in a fascinating city."
More than 50 years later, Creger, now a Stanford emeritus professor
of medicine (hematology), recalls some non-medical details that made
lasting impressions. >> Read Story
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