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32 | The College of Medicine is coming to your area soon! SAVE THE DATE for the following alumni events: SEPTEMBER 19 & 20 college of Medicine homecoming in chicago OCTOBER 15 nyc alumni Reception OCTOBER 29 chicago scholarship Dinner NOVEMBER 2 san francisco alumni Reception NOVEMBER 7 chicago alumni Reception FEBRUARY 5 st. Petersburg, fla. alumni Reception FEBRUARY 8 Miami alumni Reception MARCH 12 Phoenix alumni Reception APRIL 19 los angeles alumni Reception If you're interested in attending an alumni meeting with the dean or helping organize one, please contact Jenna Plakut, Director of Development and Alumni Relations, at (312) 355-1171 or jplakut@uic.edu. alumni connections by Kevin McKeough and Jenna Plakut ean DiMitRi azaR, MD, Mba, has worked to engage coM alumni and friends in many locales where the college of Medicine's far-flung alumni live and practice. this past winter, the dean continued to travel across the country to meet with alumni and friends of the college to share with them recent developments happening at the college. the dean's latest sojourns began when university of illinois President Robert Easter, PhD '76, hosted a private reception for alumni and friends of the college of Medicine at the president's house on feb. 15. easter and azar were joined by Michele Mariscalco, MD, the newly appointed regional dean of the college of Medicine in urbana champaign (for more on her, please see campus notes, page 10). the 37 guests included David Hagan, MD '80, a Rockford campus alum who practices in nearby Gibson city, ill., and previously had met azar during the dean's visit to that small town. "i think it's wonderful that we have a dean who wants to see how medicine is practiced in rural communities," says hagan, who is a preceptor in the rural medicine program. "he truly seemed to be impressed by how the program is preparing students to practice in small communities around the state." next, azar traveled to florida from feb. 19-21. in naples, he met with about 25 alumni and friends at the artis-naples, figge conservatory & baker Museum. "there's a lot of issues that are shared with us that we otherwise really wouldn't have any understanding of, such as the vast changes in the way education is done compared to when i was in medical school," says Jim Greer, MD '69, who along with his wife has attended the dean's gatherings for several years. "i think it's great to have that dialogue." the dean's meetings with sunshine state alumni also included a viewing of the chihuly collection in st. Petersburg and a docent-led tour at the Perez art Museum in Miami. the most distinctive location during azar's trips, however, probably was the Musical instrument Museum in Phoenix, where he welcomed 30 guests on March 26. the crowd included Douglas and Margaret Colbeth, who endowed ui health's colbeth child and adolescent Psychiatry clinic. "i enjoyed hearing what's going on with the school, and i liked seeing the dean. seeing someone and hearing them speak and chatting with them puts a face to it," says Richard Jonas '77, MD '81, who attended the event. his son Daniel Jonas in august begins his second year as a student at the college of Medicine in Peoria. los angeles is the land of freeways, so it was apt that during his visit there, the dean met with alumni at the Petersen automotive Museum. More than 60 guests attended the gathering, which was hosted by Bruce Gillis '69, MD '74, MPH, who asked fellow attendees to consider paying it forward to the next generation of l o s a n G e l e s Dean Azar shared updates and innovations happening on campus with Los Angeles area alumni during a gathering at the Petersen Automotive Museum. medical students. "Many of us paid very little to become a doctor, at least monetarily, and to become a doctor the hardest thing was getting into medical school," Gillis said. "that's not true anymore — the hardest thing is paying for the tuition. … all of us want to leave a legacy. sometimes the legacy are our children, or our grandchildren, or what we discover in our professional lives. but each and every one of us can leave a legacy to the university." on the RoAd WIth deAn AZAR d