Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/863733
industry. The CEO of Beverly Hills (Calif.) Spine Surgery, Siddique earned his MBA degree from the University of Southern California in Los Angeles while maintaining his practice full time. A board-certified neurosurgeon, he has a special interest in minimally invasive spine surgery. Siddique has authored several articles for peer- reviewed journals, including the Journal of Neurosurgery. He earned his medical degree and completed his neurosurgery residency on the Peoria campus of the COM, and he continued with a spine surgery fellowship at the Institute for Spinal Disorders at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. Christine Petzing, MD '99, was named the 2016 Outer Banks Citizen of the Year by The Outer Banks Chamber of Commerce and PNC Bank. Petzing has been a hospitalist with The Outer Banks Hospital in Nags Head, N.C., since 2011, and she has impacted substance abuse, dementia, hospice care, and cancer care in the community. Petzing formed the Physicians' Council on Prescription Drug Abuse, is chair of the Dare Coalition Against Substance Abuse and a member of the county's substance abuse, prevention and education task force. Board-certified in hospice and palliative care, Petzing has served as the medical director for Dare Home Health and Hospice and was recognized as the Physician of the Year by the North Carolina Association for Home & Hospice Care. In addition, Petzing developed a new service for cancer patients known as the Symptom Management Clinic. A Peoria graduate, she has earned numerous awards, including the Merck Award for Excellence in Family and Community Medicine, the American Society of Clinical Pathologists' Award and the Gloria Arndt Award. Alvin Calderon, MA '92, PhD '99, MD '00, presented a Skype lecture to M3 students at the College of Medicine in Urbana- Champaign, titled, "Residency Advice from an MSP Residency Director." Calderon currently serves as the residency program director for Virginia Mason Medical Center in Seattle. Household." A Peoria campus alum, King also presented, "The Business of Medicine" to Urbana medical students. In addition to being the Urbana regional campus' interim assistant dean for academic affairs, King is head of anesthesiology and ambulatory surgery and head of the department of spine and pain management at Christie Clinic in Champaign. Kenneth T. Horlander '91, MD '97, became the chief medical officer and the chairperson and quality officer for the Quality and Risk Management Committee at Emory Specialty Associates in Troup County, Ga. An active pulmonary and critical care physician, Horlander also serves as the director of the intensive care unit for WellStar West Georgia Health System and the president of the Troup County Medical Society. The president of his medical school class, he is looking forward to his 20-year reunion. Michael Suk, MPH '95, MD '97, JD, was one of 18 executives selected as a Baldrige Executive Fellow, a nationally ranked leadership development program. Suk is chairman of orthopaedic surgery at Geisinger Health System in Danville, Penn. as well as Geisinger System Services' chief physician officer. As a Baldrige Executive Fellow, Suk studied with the top leaders of world-class organizations to learn how they achieve strategic and operational excellence and stimulate innovation, using the insights gained in his own organization. He led the development of Geisinger ProvenCare Acute programs in total hip replacement, total knee replacement, hip fracture and lumbar spine. Suk is a member of the board of directors for the Keystone Accountable Care Organization. Khawar Siddique '94, MD '98, Res '04, MBA, was one of 22 spine surgeons honored in 2016 with the Spine Surgeon Leadership Award from Becker's Healthcare, which provides business and legal information for the healthcare JOURNALIST-DOCTOR DREW ON FULL RANGE OF SKILLS IN EBOLA BATTLE HEN AN EBOLA EPIDEMIC STRUCK Liberia in 2014 and 2015, more than 5,000 people in the country died from the disease — as well as thousands more in neighboring countries. Prerna Mona Khanna, MD '91, MPH, who has traveled widely to engage in humanitarian efforts, contributed her unique set of medical, public health and journalism skills to combat this crisis. Khanna, known to many as "Dr. Mona," has a public health degree from Johns Hopkins University and a journalism degree from Northwestern University in addition to her MD from the College of Medicine. While in Liberia, during a three-month deployment with the World Health Organization, she relied on her experience in both fields to help create a video that featured training messages for health care workers who were facing the epidemic. "Because of my medical training, I had content knowledge of what needed to be done in Liberia," says Khanna. "My media background was helpful because I had to take complex ideas and get them across in a straightforward and compelling way." Khanna said the experience "was probably the most impactful humanitarian work that I have participated in to date." Currently the medical director of occupational medicine for Desert Regional Medical Center in Palm Springs, Calif., Khanna has provided volunteer aid to 14 countries over the years and has served as part of the response to disasters like Hurricane Sandy, the 2015 Nepal earthquake and 9/11. Khanna, who was born in India, has been honored widely for her work and won the prestigious Ellis Island Medal of Honor in 2016 from the National Ethnic Coalition of Organizations. She was also named as one of the Chicagoans of the Year by Chicago Magazine in 2015. As a doctor, she is triple-board-certified in internal medicine, public health and occupational medicine. As a journalist, Khanna is an Emmy-award winning reporter whose reports for Fox 32-TV in Chicago and other stations have communicated urgent stories about medical needs of people around the world, including New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, Indonesia after the Indian Ocean tsunami and Hong Kong after the SARS epidemic. Khanna recently returned from her national and international travels to grace the College of Medicine with a warmly received commencement address in Rockford on May 6 (see graduation story, p. 4). — Dan Baron w Prerna Mona Khanna Michael Suk Kenneth T. Horlander Khawar Siddique '97 '98 '99 '00 I L L I N O I S M E D I C I N E 45

