Class Notes

Spot an alum in the news?

Please send info to:
Rosanne Spector
Stanford University Medical Center
Communication & Public Affairs
701 Welch Rd., Suite 2207
Palo Alto, CA 94304
Fax: (650) 723-7172
Email:

1940s
1970s
1980s
1990s
Obituaries

1940s

HARRY PARSONS, ’46 — He attended a fundraiser last summer for the cardiac service of the Auburn (Calif.) Faith Sutter Hospital and got into the spirit of the occasion by showing up in costume. Both Parsons and his wife, Rubyann, dressed up for Auburn’s “Downtown Gala, A Heart-felt Event.” The gala was celebrated in photos that ran in the town newspaper, The Sentinel. His health has been poor but his wife takes good care of him; several years ago while they were driving he suffered a cardiac arrest and she successfully administered CPR. He made a full recovery.

C. SEYBERT KINSELL, ’47 — He retired after 30 years of practice, and writes: “Always grateful to Stanford for my education and wonderful experiences on the Farm and in medical school.”

| Back to Top |

1970s

MICHAEL C. GRAVES, ’70 — He was appointed to the neurology faculty at UC-Los Angeles.

CHARLES A. CZEISLER, ’78 (MD/PhD) — He was reappointed team leader for the Human Performance Factors, Sleep and Chronobiology Team of the National Space Biomedical Research Institute. He is the Frank Baldino Jr., PhD, Professor of Sleep Medicine at Harvard and a senior physician at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. The NSBRI, funded by NASA, is a consortium of more than 70 U.S. institutions studying health risks related to long-duration space flight.

| Back to Top |

1980s

JESSICA DAVIDSON, ’89 — She sent a note full of good news: “The last year has been very eventful,” she wrote. “I got married to Ken Bullis, a computer programmer, we moved into a new house, and we had a baby boy, Jeremy.” She added that Ken will be adopting her daughter Shira and noted that she has been in internal medicine at the Palo Alto Medical Foundation for four years.

PETER KIM, ’86 — He was elected to the board of directors of Fox Chase Cancer Center, Philadelphia. Now with Merck Research Laboratories he previously was a member of the biology faculty for 13 years at MIT. Kim, a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the Institute of Medicine, has made fundamental discoveries about how viruses enter cells. His awards include the Ho-Am Prize for Basic Research from the Samsung Foundation, the NAS Award in Molecular Biology and the Eli Lilly Award in Biological Chemistry.

| Back to Top |

1990s

JACOB EAPEN, ’93 (pediatrics residency) — He was recognized by the California Medical Board for outstanding services to the state. This is the first award of its kind and the only physician recipient of the state honor.

| Back to Top |

Obituaries

ALEX POLJAK, MD, class of 1991, died July 3, 2004, from an undetected heart condition while bicycling with his wife and son. He was 41. Born in Ukraine, Poljak graduated magna cum laude with a degree in biology from the University of Pennsylvania in 1985. After earning his medical degree from Stanford in 1991, he served an internship at California Pacific Medical Center, a residency in radiology at Yale-New Haven Hospital and completed a fellowship in medical informatics at Yale medical school. He co-founded and established companies that specialized in computer-based systems used by physicians and health-care workers. Poljak was a member of the American Medical Informatics Association and the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine and published his research in numerous journals. He served as an emergency room physician, an urgent-care provider and family practitioner in many hospitals and clinics in Connecticut. Most recently, he was director of occupational medicine at Greenwich Hospital. Poljak is survived by his wife, their 12-year-old son, his parents and a sister.

RICHARD A. NIMER, MD, class of 1955, died Nov. 17, 2003. He was 78. He served in World War II and received a number of honors, including the American Theater Medal, Good Conduct Medal and the Victory Medal. Nimer completed his undergraduate degree in chemistry at Brigham Young University in 1950. He was named valedictorian of his class and was a member of the Phi Eta Sigma Society. After attending Stanford medical school, he completed an internship at the University of Utah, where he also completed a residency in internal medicine. He returned to BYU and served as director of the student health center. Nimer then went into private practice and specialized in internal medicine. He was a founding member of the Central Utah Medical Clinic in Provo. Aside from his commitment to patient care and the field of medicine, Nimer was dedicated to his faith. He served as bishop of a BYU student ward. In his spare time, he enjoyed creating miniature ships in his woodworking shop. Nimer is survived by his four children, 10 grandchildren, two great-grandchildren, a brother and a sister.

Extended obituaries are online from the Stanford Medical Alumni Association. Paper copies are available from the SMAA: (650) 234-0619.

| Back to Top |

 Back To Contents