Illinois Medicine

class notes News and Updates From Alumni of the University of Illinois College of Medicine George J. Cooper, MD '38 celebrated his 100th birthday in May of 2013. Celebrating his 75th Reunion this year, he was presented as the 2013 Honorary Reunion Chairman and greeted alumni celebrating their reunion years at the lunch celebration on October George J. Cooper 4. Cooper fondly reflects upon an illustrious career in medicine: Upon completing his medical studies at the COM he joined the Air Force and was stationed as a flight surgeon, initially in San Antonio, Texas, and later in Iceland and England, prior to and during World War II as part of the 8th and 9th Divisions. He later received an honorable discharge at the rank of Major Flight Surgeon. Cooper worked most of his career in industrial surgery, specializing in occupational health and traumatic surgery. He eventually became the president of the Alexian Brothers Hospital and Health Care in Chicago. Cooper retired at the age of 90 and performed his last surgery at the age of 91, and he currently resides in Northbrook, Ill. '38 Joseph Schrodt '59, MD '63, Res '70, was honored by the American Medical Association for his 50year anniversary of graduation from the College of Medicine. Known for completing the first total hip replacement operation in the early 1970s, Schrodt retired in 2002 as an orthopaedic surgeon in Decatur, Ill., after treating 60,000 patients. He is still involved as a member of the board of directors of St. Mary's Hospital, '63 Decatur Memorial Hospital and CHIC, the Community Health Improvement Center. Schrodt decided on orthopaedic surgery after delivering 400 Joseph Schrodt babies while in the military at March Field, Calif., during the Vietnam War. He moved to Decatur with his late wife, Martha, in 1970, and he opened his office in 1978. The Schrodt Health and Science Center at Richland Community College is named for the Schrodts, after he led a $17 million campaign for the building, was a major donor and designed the surgical suite classroom to be as authentic as possible. Richard F. Bruch, MD '72, Res '77, is a board-certified orthopaedic surgeon who began practicing in 1977 and retired in 2011. He continues to work closely with the administrative team of Triangle Orthopaedics in North Carolina as a consulting physician and has been the team physician for the Durham Bulls Baseball Team since 1980. Bruch is a member of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Richard F. Bruch Surgeons and the American Orthopaedic Foot and Ankle Society. Active in medical affairs on the local, state and national level, he serves on the State Health Coordinating Council, which recommends needs to the governor for hospitals, operating rooms and technology equipment. Bruch is past president of both the Durham Orange County Medical Society and the North Carolina Medical Society. '72 Tell us what you're up to! Your classmates are curious about what you are doing. Fill them in by sending your latest news and accomplishments to medcomm@uic. edu, and we'll be sure to include it in the next issue of Illinois Medicine. 38 | Fa l l 2 013 Tom Huberty, MD '74, Res '79, has been an orthopaedic surgeon for the last 34 years in his native Aurora, Ill., and serves on the board of Presence Health. Huberty is the former president of the Kane County Medical Society and served as chief of staff and board member at Provena Mercy Centers. Huberty also served on the boards of Marmion Academy, Rosary High School, the United Way of Aurora and the Tom Huberty Waubonsee College Foundation. After completing his residency at the College of Medicine, Huberty returned to Aurora in 1979 to join the orthopaedic practice of Bill Schwingel, MD, later renamed Castle Orthopaedics. Huberty and his wife, Trudy, have been married for 43 years. '74 Timothy Franson, MD '78, has been named the 2013 recipient of the Weaver Medal of Honor, the highest honor of the Drake University College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences. As a principal in the health and biosciences group at FaegreBD Consulting, Franson leads the regulatory affairs practice. He is the founder of Franson PharmAdvisors LLC, a clinical and regulatory pharmaceutical development consulting firm that merged with FaegreBD Timothy Franson Consulting. From 1986-2008, Franson worked with Eli Lilly and Company, retiring as vice president of global regulatory affairs at Lilly Research Laboratories. During his tenure there, he was directly responsible for Lilly's FDA submissions, regulatory compliance and policy matters. Prior to his career with Lilly, Franson was an attending physician and assistant professor of medicine at Indiana University School of Medicine. Franson serves as president of the U.S. Pharmacopeia '78 Convention and on the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences' Therapeutics for Rare and Neglected Diseases review panel. Chian Kent Kwoh '75, MD '79, Res '82, on July 22 became director of the University of Arizona Arthritis Center, and The Charles A.L. and Suzanne M. Stephens Chair of Rheumatology at the University of Arizona College of Medicine in Tucson, as well as the school's chief of rheumatology and clinical immunology. Prior to his appointment, Kwoh served as director of clinical research Chian Kent Kwoh for the University of Pittsburgh Arthritis Institute, where he headed three major projects funded by the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases: an Osteoarthritis Initiative contract; a Pivotal OAI MRI Analysis contract; and the Multidisciplinary Clinical Research Center for Rheumatic and Musculoskeletal Diseases. He was also professor of medicine in the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine division of rheumatology and clinical immunology, with joint appointments in the Graduate School of Public Health department of epidemiology and in the Clinical and Translational Science Institute. He also served as rheumatology section chief at the VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System. '79 Gregory L. Skuta '77, MD '81, has been named as presidentelect of the American Academy of Ophthalmology. He will serve as president-elect of the AAO in 2013 and as president in 2014. Skuta joined the faculty of the Dean McGee Eye Institute in 1999 and has led the DMEI as president and CEO since 2009. The Edward L. Gaylord Professor and chair of the department of ophthalmology in the University of Oklahoma College of Medicine, Skuta has served the AAO as senior secretary for clinical education and a member of the board of trustees and executive committee. With research expertise in wound healing after glaucoma filtering surgery and glaucoma clinical trials, '81

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