Class Notes

2025-2020

Olawunmi D. Akinsilo, MD’23 is living in the Big Easy and serves as Medical Director of Occupational Health at Ochsner.

Minju Kim, MS’23 is a researcher specializing in computational biology, bioinformatics, and the analysis of large-scale omics data. With experience developing predictive models, variant annotation pipelines, and applying machine learning to biological and biomedical datasets, she is passionate about using her scientific and computational expertise to advance public health, support medical and plant biology research, and drive innovation in biological data science.

Laraib Saleem, MPH'23 is an an emerging public health professional working as a Public Health Educator at the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, Bureau of Environmental Disease and Injury Prevention. He was the Environmental Justice Scholar (volunteer) for the Anti-Racism Environmental Justice program at Mount Sinai, Department of Environmental Health and Medicine, which promotes community advocacy on environmental and social justice among underserved communities of East Harlem. During his academic and professional experience, he worked on different global public health research projects. He was a former Asthma/COPD Community Health Liaison at the New York City Health and Hospitals. He is a sustaining member of the American Public Health Association and the Royal Society for Public Health, served on the Reviewers' Board of Athens Journal of Health and Medical Sciences, and was a reviewer of the American Public Health Association Annual Meeting and Expo 2024 and 2025.

Akash Desai, MD’22 completed a one-year fellowship in Advanced Clinical Ultrasound at Highland Hospital in Oakland, California, following graduation from his emergency medicine residency in 2022. He is now an Assistant Professor at the University of California, San Diego, where he serves as Emergency Ultrasound Fellowship Director for the UC San Diego Ultrasound Fellowship and as Director of Emergency Ultrasound at UCSD East Campus Medical Center.

2019-2010

Roberta K. Sefcik, MD’17 recently completed residency and fellowship training and is finishing her first year in practice at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston. She looks forward to hearing what her classmates have been up to.

David Terca, MD’17 moved to Australia and began working as an Emergency Department Staff Specialist at the Royal Hobart Hospital in Tasmania.

Sunil Srinivas, MD’15 began a new position on December 1, 2023, as Assistant Professor in the Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Cardiology, at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center in El Paso, Texas.

Naomi James, MD’11 spent 10 years as a hospitalist at a community hospital outside of Austin and now practices at the Portland VA.

1999-1990

Pavani Kalluri Ram, MD'98 was inspired by the incredible example of Sinai's own Dr. Phil Landrigan to join the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as an Epidemic Intelligence Officer after completing medical school and an internal medicine residency at Washington University in St. Louis. She served as a medical epidemiologist at CDC and thereafter joined the faculty at SUNY Buffalo for more than a dozen years.  In the last 9 years, she has worked in various roles at the US Agency for International she is continuing her efforts to do good in the world in different ways, launching a practice (drpavaniram.com) to offer leadership and resilience coaching, with a focus on physicians, public health and global health workers, and others in purpose-driven professions. She also offers mediation services, including medical and family mediation. 

Michael Sanders, MD'97 is still blissfully married to Deborah Gruber, MD'95. They have three children (19, 22 and 24), two cats, and an Australian Shepherd (none of them want to be doctors). He reports he is "keeping Long Island sane and neurologically intact."

Nazim S. Turhal, MD’97 is a former Professor of Medicine at Marmara University and later served as a staff physician at Anadolu Medical Center, a Johns Hopkins International affiliate in Istanbul, Turkey. After completing his Medical Oncology training at Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York, he established the Medical Oncology Fellowship Program at Marmara University, which became one of the most competitive and respected programs in Turkey. Dr. Turhal played a key role in securing recognition for Marmara University as the country’s only Comprehensive Cancer Research Center at the time, through extensive research collaborations with the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC). He co-founded the Medical Oncology Section within the European Union of Medical Specialists (UEMS) and served two consecutive terms as its President. A leader in international oncology collaboration, he co-initiated Onco-Bridge to promote education and research across the Eastern Mediterranean region, and has represented Turkey in both the Balkan Union of Oncology and the Mediterranean Multidisciplinary Oncology Forum. Dr. Turhal is also a former President of the Turkish Society of Medical Oncology and the Turkish Oncology Group, a national consortium advancing multi-institutional and multidisciplinary cancer research.

Lawrence Carter, MD’90 completed his residency at Northwell Health. He and his wife, Marina, who is a Spiritual Direction Counselor, have two daughters — one a Speech-Language Pathologist and the other an OR Nurse.

You Sung Sang, MD'90 is celebrating his 30th year practicing in Norwich, CT and is now part of GI Alliance. He shares "Jen and I travel quite a bit nowadays. Brendyn is working up in Lexington, Mass for MIT-Lincoln Labs and Jason just finished his sophmore year at NYU.

1989-1980

Zeva Weingarten Herman, MD’88 works in private practice at Lenox Hill Radiology/RadNet in the Columbus Circle office in Manhattan. She is married to Dr. Larry Herman, and they have three grown children, one of whom is a radiologist.

Margaret Manion, MD’87 shares news from “The Mount Holyoke Ladies of Apartment 8J,” a group of classmates who have remained close since their Sinai days.
Colleen (Galvin) Guiry lives in southern New Hampshire with her husband of 34 years and retired in 2024 after a rewarding career in Family Medicine: first in the U.S. Army and later in New Hampshire. Her son, an airline pilot, lives nearby, and her daughter is a third-year emergency medicine resident at NYU. Colleen now enjoys caring for her infant granddaughter, skiing, traveling, and reconnecting with friends.
Andrea Malon has practiced general surgery for 32 years at Middlesex Hospital, a community hospital in Middletown, Connecticut. Over the course of her career, she served as Medical Director of the Cancer Center, Director of the Comprehensive Breast Center, and Medical Director of the outpatient Surgical Alliance. As she prepares for retirement this fall, Andrea looks forward to, in her own words, “doing whatever I want to do!”
Maggie Manion has practiced pediatrics for 34 years, first in a small suburban Boston practice and more recently in a large urban practice affiliated with Boston Children’s Hospital. Her early career was interrupted by a cancer diagnosis and divorce, but she went on to live happily with her husband of 25 years in Weston, Massachusetts. When not seeing patients, she enjoys time at their weekend home in South County, Rhode Island, near family and friends—including classmate Serena Sposato.
Serena Sposato devoted her career to women’s healthcare at her OB/GYN practice in Providence, Rhode Island, until 2013, when arthritis led to her retirement. After an initial adjustment, she now finds joy in gardening, cycling, and spending time with her husband in southern Rhode Island, where they enjoy the beaches, weather, and the company of friends like Maggie and Amir.

Albert Miller, MD, Res'85 marked his 66th anniversary at Mount Sinai as intern, resident, research fellow, attending and (ultimately) Clinical Professor in Pulmonary Medicine. He is proud to have trained under many of the names now iconic at Sinai (Charles Friedberg, Arthur Master, Morris Bender, Alan Gutmacher. Gisela Perl), especially in his specialty (Colman "Kelly" Rabin: The Chest X-Ray, Louis Siltzbach: Dr. Sarcoidosis, Irving Selikoff: asbestos,  Alvin Teirstein: consummate clinician).  At age 89, he is still active at Mount Sinai and full-time in occupational lung disease and lung cancer screening at the Center for Health and the Environment at Queens College, City University of New York.

Mary Manton, MD'85 completed an excellent Facilty Medicine residency at Middlesex Hospital in Middletown, CT, and retired in 2019 after 31 years as a student health physician at the University of Connecticut. She found it a fun and very rewarding career working with the college students to take care of their general health needs. After getting involved in public health efforts on campus such as case contact investigations for infectious diseases, she became interested in public health and graduated with a Masters in Public Health (MPH) from UConn in 2004. In retirement, she is volunteering with her local health department, as she has for the last 15+ years. She has been married for almost 43 yrs, has two married sons, and has one grandson.

Nolan Kagetsu, MD'84 finished residency at St. Luke's Roosevelt (now Mount Sinai West) in 1988, left for fellowship, and has been at West since returning in 1991. 

Alex (Lex) Stagnaro-Green, MD'83, MHA'83 has spent the last 40+ years in clinical practice, thyroid research and medical education/administration. For the last 12 years, he has been the Regional Dean of the University of Illinois College of Medicine Rockford, a small medical campus with 55 students in each class. He has been married to hsi wife Doreen for 45 years and they have two grown children and four grandkids. 

Randy S. Tartacoff, MD’80 recently retired from clinical practice and now serves as Executive Director of Value-Based Care and the Clinically Integrated Network at Holy Name Medical Center. He also recently became a grandfather to a wonderful granddaughter.

Seth Ruderman, MD'80 retired in 2020 after 36 years in the Emergency Department. He is now a volunteer physician for the Air Force at McGuire AFB in New Jersey. 

1979-1970

Thomas G. Mahrer, MD’79 spent his career with the Southern California Permanente Medical Group at Kaiser Hospital in Los Angeles and fully retired at the end of 2023. During his 15 years as Chief of the Pulmonary and Critical Care Department, he helped develop a lung transplant program for SCPMG through partnerships with UCSD, USC, UCLA, and Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. He also established a Pulmonary Hypertension program and relocated the Cystic Fibrosis program from the Panorama City Medical Center to Los Angeles, where it became a Center of Excellence for CF care. In addition, he helped launch a Pulmonary and Critical Care Fellowship at Kaiser Los Angeles in collaboration with Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.

Michail L. Shafir, MD’79 earned a Master of Public Health and has participated in volunteer trips to South America, providing surgical care in underserved areas and teaching oncology.

Leonard Lind, MD'76 spent 15 years at the Brigham as a resident and attending, including one year in the Tufts system as fourth year resident in Critical Care Medicine and Pediatric Anesthesia, then moved from Boston to Cincinnati in 1992. He retired in 2018 from clinical practice and is now Emeritus Professor in the Department of Anesthesiology at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine.

Michael M. Lederman, MD’74 enjoyed a distinguished career in AIDS research and care, finding it deeply gratifying to witness a once uniformly fatal disease become treatable and preventable. He became Emeritus Professor in 2020 and, with the support of an endowment, founded Pathogens and Immunity in 2016 — a free, open-access research journal that charges no fees to authors or readers and compensates reviewers for timely evaluations. The journal also features video interviews with leading scientists, including several Nobel laureates. More information can be found at www.paijournal.com Dr. Lederman looks forward to reconnecting with classmates at a future reunion.

George Braff, MD’73 practiced medicine for more than 40 years, serving as Chief at several hospitals, including NY Downtown Hospital for 15 years, before retiring from clinical practice. Over the years, he lived in Paris and Venice, restored a 12th-century home in Antibes, renovated a loft in New York City that was featured in New York Magazine in 1995, and a brownstone on East 69th Street. After time in the Hamptons, he moved to New Hampshire, where he read for three small hospitals while semi-retired, and raised Tennessee Walkers. Later, he relocated to Big Sur, California, where he established an award-winning vineyard, “Clowns Folly,” before eventually settling in Connecticut near Yale. He recently purchased the former property of David Swensen and would love to hear from his classmates.

David Sachar, MD'70 completed a GI Fellowship under Dr. Henry Janowitz in 1970, then stayed on at Mount Sinai as the first full time member of the GI Faculty, serving as Division Chief from 1983 to 1999. After 57 years at Mount Sinai, he has just become Professor Emeritus, but still remains active in various academic pursuits related to inflammatory bowel diseases.

1969-1960

Keatjin Lee, MD’67 completed a surgical internship and a year of general surgery residency at St. Luke’s before enrolling in the Harvard–Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery Residency Program. Following residency, he was drafted into the U.S. Army, where he served as Associate Chief of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery at Madigan General Hospital in Fort Lewis, Tacoma, Washington. There, he founded an otolaryngology–head and neck residency program and was later honored as guest of honor at its 25th anniversary. Dr. Lee subsequently joined the clinical faculty in Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery at Yale University, retiring in 2012. He also served as President of the American Academy of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery/Foundation and co-founded the Pan World Chinese Academy of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery. Over the course of his career, he received three Presidential Citations from the Academy and taught courses for more than 30 years, including Pointers and Pitfalls in Middle Ear Surgery, Medical Economics, and Practice Management. He and his wife, Linda, have three sons: a litigator on Wall Street, a real estate developer in London, and a developer in the alternative energy sector, and five grandchildren.

Albert Miller, MD’65 preceded the establishment of the Medical School, completing his internship in 1960 and his medical residency and pulmonary fellowship in 1965. He has been active at Mount Sinai for 66 years and currently serves as Clinical Professor and Attending in Pulmonary Medicine. Dr. Miller is fully employed as Director of Lung Cancer Screening and Consultant in Occupational Lung Disease at the Barry Commoner Center for Health and the Environment at Queens College, City University of New York.