Dr Murray Brennan at the University of Otago yesterday. Photo by Linda Robertson.

Dr Brennan, who has spent his entire career in the United States, will today give a graduation address in Dunedin. He has another link to the South, because son Sean is a Gibbston winemaker, a fact Dr Brennan finds remarkable, given his son grew up in the US.

Dr Brennan bluntly admits that a ''big ego'' came with being a high-profile surgeon.

He performed his last operation only a few months ago, joking yesterday he was determined to stop two years before someone told him to. He now has to reinvent himself - there is no plan to retire, or at least, he ''will not let retirement interfere with work''.

He is vice-president and international programmes director at the Bobst International Centre in New York.

He is also forthright about the US health system: ''It's broken, completely broken''. It was a situation in which everyone - patients, doctors, hospitals, insurers - were ''villains''.

Patients had unrealistic expectations, yet the main failure was of the US as a wealthy country not providing a universal healthcare system.

The very poor were looked after by the existing system, he said, and it remained to be seen how successfully President Barack Obama's reforms plugged more of the gaps.

He is grateful for the free education he received as a student in the 1960s, but said New Zealand students should still be pleased higher education is cheaper here than in the US. Originally from Auckland, the former student union president and Otago rugby representative said his Dunedin education set him up for his high-flying career.

He did not want to sound boastful, insisting he was ''not the smartest guy in the class''. Hard work propelled him to the top of his profession, a feat most people could achieve if they put the hours in. In the early days of his surgical career, he worked 100 hours a week, and then 80 hours a week for about 30 years.

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Eminent surgeon to give graduation address

Wei-Loon Leong, a double alumnus of UB, has returned to Buffalo from China eight years after his graduation to be the universitys first director of international alumni relations.

Leong brings with him expertise in international education marketing, project management and business development, and has a global perspective that he says will help him deal with the many different experiences, cultures and values that prevail among 230,000 UB graduates from more than 130 countries.

A native of Malaysia, he earned a BS in electrical engineering from UB in 2003, and an MBA in 2005 from the UB School of Management. Since his graduation, he has helped the expansion of an American manufacturing operation to China and held management positions at a major international school in Beijing, where the market is quite competitive and dynamic.

During that time, he served in a voluntary capacity for the UB Office of International Education as its China liaison for student recruitment and alumni development.

Leong will report to Nancy Wells, vice president for development and alumni relations. In his new position, he will work to strengthen relationships between UB and its overseas alumni constituencies in support of the universitys recruitment, development, research and teaching efforts.

His experience and notable skill will permit him to make vital contributions to our work in all of these areas and we are delighted to have him, Wells says.

Stephen Dunnett, vice provost for international education, also praises Leongs unique skill set. Wei Loon also has extensive experience in Asia, where most of our international alumni live; familiarity with the UB Alumni Association; and is well prepared to advance our alumni and development efforts overseas.

Leong says the job is just what he hoped for.

After eight years working in Beijing, my wife, Xiaoli, and I were looking for a place to settle down and raise a family, he says.

Like many professionals living in Beijing, we lived in a high-rise apartment for many years. Buffalo has a very different environment, but one we were seeking. There are many comfortable homes with lawns, yards with lots of kids running around outside. It reminds me of how I grew up, and that is very appealing, he says.

Originally posted here:
Malaysian alum to lead international alumni relations

BROWNSVILLE Before the University of Texas Board of Regents in Austin announced Thursday that UT-Rio Grande Valley was the name of the new merged university in South Texas, Chancellor Francisco Cigarroa pondered the Shakespearean question: What's in a name?

For the thousands of Valley residents who weighed in on their preferred name for the university, the answer was unquestionably important.

I love the name, said Philip Martinez, a 20-year-old psychology major. The name fits the region.

The university will be a merger of UT Brownsville and the UT Pan American in Edinburg, forming a single institution that stretches across the Rio Grande Valley.

Martinez, 20, joined dozens of students and faculty at the UTB on Thursday, to witness a live feed of the announcement. When the letters UT-RGV were read aloud, a cheer rang out across the packed room.

I was a bit on edge that UTPA was one of the options, said Robert Cruz, 27, a music major. I wanted to be part of something original.

The name was selected over other options: the University of Texas-South and UTPA. But UT-RGV was the clear favorite in Brownsville.

From Nov. 11 to Dec. 6, more than 20,000 people some using social media, others making phone calls weighed in on their preferred name for the new university.

Amid an outpouring of support from students and alumni, UTPA was a late addition to the list of options.

UT-RGV probably makes the most sense, said Russell Harwood, director of the UTB chess program. Outside of Texas, people might not be familiar with the Rio Grande Valley, but we're proud of it.

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Name for merged university is UT-Rio Grande Valley

Medical students and faculty are putting on a show

The University of Cincinnati College of Medicine will celebrate 10 years of the IvaDean Medical Student Scholarship Fund with the annual IvaDean Scholarship Benefit Concert at 7 p.m. tonight, Dec. 6, in the Medical Sciences Buildings Kresge Auditorium, 231 Albert Sabin Way.

The event will feature musical performances from UC College of Medicine faculty, staff, alumni and students. It supportsthe IvaDean Medical Student Scholarship Fund for medical students in need of financial assistance. A silent auction, also benefiting the fund, will begin at 5:30 p.m.

The fund is after assistant dean and medical registrar IvaDean Lair, and was created by the outgoing medical class of 2003 as a way to honor Lairs decades of service to the college and provide relief to students burdened by the escalating costs of medical school tuition.

More than $1.8 million has been raised for the fund, with $447,500 awarded to 82 students in scholarships. Students are awarded scholarships based solely on financial need.

The concert is open to the public. Tickets are $5 for students and children and $15 for adults, and can be purchased at the door (cash or check). All event proceeds will directly support the IvaDean Medical Student Scholarship Fund. For more information, call 513- 558-5577.

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CANCELED: Let it snow: College of Medicine concert still on

Fort Lee, New Jersey (PRWEB) December 11, 2013

For its 125th anniversary, IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law chose to honor Michael Maggiano, senior partner at the injury law firm Maggiano, DiGirolamo & Lizzi. He is one of a select few IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law graduates who was recognized for their contributions and profound impact on the legal world.

After almost a year-long process that garnered more than 400 nominations, the selection committee narrowed the list to 125 Alumni of Distinction. Alumni selected represent classes from the late 1800s to the 21st century. These 125 Alumni of Distinction represent a cross-section of the community that is as diverse and multi-faceted as the law school itself. Some are lawyers and legislators. Others are civic leaders, entrepreneurs, journalists and authors.

Michael Maggiano, Class of 1974, is regarded as one of the finest civil trial attorneys in New Jersey.

Specializing in personal injury cases, with an emphasis in trucking related accidents, medical malpractice, products liability and construction accident cases, Michael Maggiano has secured numerous multi-million dollar verdicts and settlements in New York and New Jersey. He is a frequent speaker at conventions and seminars around the country on topics ranging from the intricacies of legal techniques and strategies to specialized medical situations and has appeared on local and national television on various legal topics.

Maggiano has served as President of the Association of Trial Lawyers of America in New Jersey and is a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers. He received the Trial Bar Award from the Trial Attorneys of New Jersey in 2004 and has been named one of the Top Trial Lawyers in Personal Injury Litigation and one of the Top 100 Lawyers in New Jersey by New Jersey Monthly Magazine. Maggiano has been named as one of the Best Lawyers in America by a national poll of his peers& for over the past 10 years. He has also been named by NewsWeek and U.S. News and World Reports as one of New Jersey's Top Personal Injury Lawyers.

In an interview with IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law, Michael described what the honor meant to him. Most importantly with such a great honor comes great duty and responsibility. To do the right thing no matter what cost to you. This award inspires me to continue to be able to undertake representation of those who but for the contingency fee trial lawyer would be without a voice in the courtroom.

About Maggiano, DiGirolamo & Lizzi: The New Jersey personal injury lawyers at Maggiano, DiGirolamo & Lizzi represent victims and their families who have been seriously injured or killed due to the negligence of others. The attorneys have successfully resolved many difficult and complex cases against the largest companies, government agencies and their insurance companies. For more information visit http://www.maggianolaw.com

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Michael Maggiano Honored Among Top 125 Alumni in Law School’s History

By Sammy Batten

You'd think an athletic director might take his time finding just the right replacement for the best coach in school history.

But Ron Wellman needed only one week to decide Dave Clawson was the right person to take over for the personable, highly respected Jim Grobe and pull Wake Forest football out of a five-year slump. Grobe resigned just last week after 13 seasons on the job, paving the way for the hiring of Clawson.

While introducing the Demon Deacons' 32nd head coach Tuesday afternoon, Wellman revealed some of the qualities that led him to hire Clawson from Bowling Green of the Mid-American Conference instead of the guy most deemed the top candidate initially, Pete Lembo from Ball State.

In order, Wellman wanted someone with head coach experience, a proven winner who had worked at private institutions and was consistent with the "ideals'' of Wake Forest.

"We found that man in Dave Clawson,'' Wellman declared Tuesday, and a quick look at the resume verifies Clawson meets at least three out of those four criteria.

Head coach at two Football Championship Subdivision schools - Fordham and Richmond - and at Football Bowl Subdivision Bowling Green for a combined total of 13 seasons. Check.

Produced NCAA playoff teams at Fordham and Richmond, and last weekend coached the Falcons to the MAC championship. Check.

Spent a good chunk of his coaching career at smaller, academically intense private schools like Lehigh, Villanova, Fordham and Richmond. Check, check and check.

Whether Clawson embodies the Wake Forest "ideals'' part remains to be seen. But the quickness with which Wake Forest moved on securing Clawson indicates Wellman sees a lot of the same characteristics in him that he saw back in December 2000 when hiring Grobe away from Ohio University.

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Batten: Wake Forest moved quickly on new football coach Dave Clawson

With just 17 shopping days to go, Mount St. Mary Academy in Kenmore tried a variation of shop till you drop this weekend, by giving harried parents the opportunity to drop and then shop.

In an effort to help shoppers while also raising some funds for an alumni scholarship program, the all-girls Catholic school ran its first-ever Holiday Drop and Shop program for four hours Sunday afternoon.

For $5 per child, parents could enroll their little ones for an afternoon of supervised activities in the schools gymnasium, ranging from movies and snacks to crafts and games like Holiday Bingo and Pin the Nose on the Snowman.

Then, the parents could either adjourn to the nearby student dining room, where holiday gift vendors had set up about 10 tables to peddle their wares, or leave the kiddies behind and head off to the stores.

We call it a drop and shop because people can drop off their kids, said Alexandra Fussell, the schools alumni coordinator and a member of the Class of 1996. Then they can shop here or go to the mall.

The vendors included independent craft artisans and shops, such as Around-again Baby Clothes of Snyder, Parkside Candies or Fussells Heart-felt Crafts, and home-party consultants for retailers such as Pampered Chef, Silpada and Discovery Toys.

Fussell said the organizers expected as many as 50 people to take advantage of the drop-off program and, as of 2 p.m., eight kids were enrolled. Mount St. Mary students staffed the childrens activities tailored for children 4 and older.

We want to make sure theyre potty-trained, said Amber Hartman, a member of the Class of 1993, who oversaw the kids area. Were not changing diapers.

Vendor arts-and-crafts fairs are not uncommon, especially this time of year, so organizers came up with the drop-off feature as a way to differentiate the schools effort.

Its wonderful, said Bridget Janese, from the Class of 1995, who dropped off her 4-year-old daughter, Sophia, while her sister-in-law watched her youngest child. Shes watching a movie now, but Im sure shell love the arts-and-crafts table and pin-the-tail-on-Frosty.

Continued here:
High school alumni group lets parents drop, then shop

The University of Minnesota Medical School is the medical school of the University of Minnesota. It is a combination of two campuses situated in Minneapolis and Duluth, Minnesota.

The Duluth campus, formerly the University of Minnesota Duluth School of Medicine, has approximately 60 students enrolled for each of the first two years of medical school. After that point, they are automatically transferred to the Twin Cities campus for their clinical rotations. The mission of the Duluth Campus is to select and educate students who will likely select Family Medicine/Primary Care and practice in rural locations. Duluth is also a primary site for the Center for American Indian and Minority Health which aims to educate increased numbers of Native American students as medical professionals.

The larger of the two campuses is in the Twin Cities. This campus has approximately 170 students in each of the first two years of medical school with a mixture of traditional medical students and students pursuing combined advanced degrees such as a Ph.D. through a MSTP scholarship. As the larger of the two campuses, the Twin Cities campus provides increased opportunities for research and specialty care and also provides the main clinical education site for both campuses. Thus at the end of the fourth year, the total graduating class at Minneapolis usually exceeds 220 students. The University of Minnesota Medical school makes use of several teaching hospitals in the Twin Cities area. The University of Minnesota Medical Center is just one of these, others include Hennepin County Medical Center (HCMC) and the Minneapolis Veteran's Administration Hospital.

In addition to training medical students for their MD degrees the University of Minnesota Medical School also has several residencies as part of their graduate medical education programs.

In 2009, US News & World Report ranked the University of Minnesota Medical School 35th in the United States for medical research and 7th for primary care.[1]

A 2010 study in the Annals of Internal Medicine found the University of Minnesota Medical School to be one of only two of 141 medical schools in the United States to be in the top quartile for NIH funding, output of primary care physicians, and social mission score.[2]

The University of Minnesota Medical School began in the late nineteenth century when three of the private medical schools in the Twin Cities in Minnesota offered up their charters and merged their programs to form the University of Minnesota Medical School.[3] A fourth school was absorbed in the early twentieth century. As a consequence of these mergers in 1888 and 1908 the School is the only medical school in the Twin Cities or Duluth, and is one of only two in the state, the other being Mayo Medical School in Rochester, Minnesota.

The University of Minnesota Medical School has made use of many facilities over the years. Older buildings still prominently standing include the Mayo Memorial Building (1954) and Jackson Hall (1912). Jackson Hall was built as the home of the Institute of Anatomy and is still the site of anatomy instruction for medical students, undergraduates, and students of dentistry, nursing, physical therapy, and mortuary science.[4] More visible today are the 1978 Phillips-Wangensteen and Moos Tower buildings. A new University Hospital overlooking the river was completed in 1986.

The Duluth program began in the late 1960s. It is now a branch campus of the Medical School, specializing in the training of physicians for rural and small-town settings in rural Minnesota.

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11.26.2013 UM Alum Receives Long Overdue Bachelors Degree

Robert J. Mandel, M.D., a member of the University of Miami School of Medicine class of 1963, had an appointment with President Donna E. Shalala November 15. Mandel had retired after a long and distinguished career as a radiologist at Holmes Regional Medical Center in Melbourne but one thing that bothered him was that he never received his bachelors degree from UM because he was admitted to medical school after just three years.

During his meeting with the President, he told her his story, handed her his academic record and said, Ive always told my kids to finish what you start. Is there any way I can get that bachelors degree?

Passing the paperwork across the conference table to Leonidas G. Bachas, Ph.D., Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, the President answered, That would be the decision of the Dean.

But then she couldnt wait any longer. She pulled a degree out from under the table and handed it to Mandel. Im very pleased to present you your bachelors degree, she said.

Mandel was thrilled, and posed for pictures with the President, Dean Bachas and Jeffrey Block, M.D., President of the Medical Alumni Association. Im surprised! Mandel said. I was just going to ask if it would be possible.

President Shalala was alerted to Mandels desire to get his degree after he attended his 50th medical school reunion during Alumni Weekend last March and spoke to Steven Falcone, M.D., interim Executive Dean for Clinical Affairs and interim Chief Executive of the UHealth Clinical Practice.

Its wonderful to be able to recognize alumni who have matriculated through both the undergraduate and medical campuses of UM, and for various reasons did not receive their undergraduate degrees, Falcone said. All of these med school graduates were ahead of their time, as a six- or seven-year program did not exist back then.

Mandels UM connections cross the generations: His son, David W. Mandel, Ph.D., PT, is an assistant professor in the Department of Physical Therapy.

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UM Alum Receives Long Overdue Bachelor’s Degree | Miller ...

In sweltering heat that failed to melt the enthusiasm of graduates and their supporters, the University of Massachusetts Worcester awarded 211 degrees, including two honorary degrees, at its 40th Commencement exercises on Sunday, June 2. Honorary degrees were presentedto cardiologist James Dalen, MD, MPH, a founding UMass Worcester faculty member and champion of integrated medicine, and former MIT president Susan Hockfield, PhD, the first life-scientist to lead the prestigious institution. UMW awarded 117 doctor of medicine degrees; 32 doctor of philosophy degrees in the biomedical sciences; one master of science in clinical investigation degree; five MD/PhDs; and, in nursing, 49 master of science degrees, two post-masters certificates, one PhD and two doctor of nursing practice degrees. Read the complete story.

The Worcester Telegram and Gazette applauds UMass Medical School in a June 5 editorial, recognizing the critical role UMMS plays in developing primary care physiciansas the nation deals with a shortage in the field. "The University of Massachusetts Medical School has been part of the solution since it opened in Worcester, using tuition incentives and other means to steer medical students into primary care, the editors wrote. The school held its graduation Sunday, sending 54 percent of its new MDs into residency programs in internal medicine, family medicine or pediatrics. Read the complete story.

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UMass Medical School Alumni Online Community - NetworkUMass ...