SKMC Alumni Bulletin
Feature Medicine on a Cellular Level
Medical geneticists, though few and far between, are passionate about their work.
Feature Jefferson Research Lab Making Progress in Battle Against Cancer
For Adam Snook, PhD ’08, it’s all about solving puzzles.
As a basic scientist, Snook seeks to find answers in the laboratory that lead to the development of new therapies for cancer patients.
He admits it’s not always easy.
Feature Leading Cardiovascular Care Into Our Third Century
Jefferson has a storied history of pioneering advancements in cardiovascular medicine. Today, Jefferson is recognized as having one of the best cardiology and heart surgery programs in the country. And in just the last year, two exciting new developments have further advanced the future of cardiovascular care not only regionally, but also nationally and across the globe.
Student Profile A Daughter's Love
Citing a 2020 report by AARP and the National Alliance for Caregiving, the Alzheimer’s Foundation of America states that millennials account for nearly a quarter of all family caregivers in the U.S. This statistic hits close to home for Sidney Kimmel Medical College third-year student Hannah Clarke, whose mother, Claudine Clarke, MD, was diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia at age 56.
Time Machine Rear Adm. Cecil H. Coggins, MD ’30, MC, USN
The daring young Cecil Coggins worked as a merchant mariner when he jumped ship in Salonika, Greece, was imprisoned as a spy during the Greco-Turkish War, oversaw a banana plantation in Honduras, and matriculated at the University of Missouri. Medicine was in his genes, and he went on to medical school at Jefferson, graduating in 1930. All this adventure and experience, and he wasn’t even 30. Read the adventurer extraordinaire and counterespionage agent's remarkable story.
Profiles
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Loud & Clear
Student Profile: Natalie Perlov
A Jefferson medical student amplifies the voices of the deaf. -
Lucky 13 ... and Counting
Faculty Profile: Nathaniel R. Evans III, MD
Dr. Evans has transformed thoracic surgery at Jefferson, leaving a lasting legacy of expertise, compassion, and empowerment. -
First, Do No Harm
Alumni Profile: Geoffrey Dunn, MD ’79
A fourth-generation Jefferson alumnus’ pioneering, palliative legacy.
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Rewiring Rabies
In 1990, rabies surged in the red fox population in East Germany, following the fall of the Berlin Wall. Researchers restarted the large-scale rabies oral vaccine program to slow the spread. At the time, Matthias Schnell, PhD, was a young graduate student in the middle of completing his thesis at the Federal Research Centre for Virus Diseases of Animals in Tübingen. The government quickly made research funds for rabies available, and Dr. Schnell and his team were able to sequence and generate the entire rabies genome—a big accomplishment in the early days of genetic sequencing.
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Ensuring the Future of Preserving the Past
Cardiologist Robert Stein, MD ’68, is as passionate about history as he is about medicine, particularly his alma mater’s history. He can talk for hours on end, imparting little-known but fascinating facts about the 200-year-old institution. Because he believes so strongly that history is the heart and soul of Jefferson, Stein has endowed the Robert M. Stein, MD ’68, FACC, FAHA Archivist position at Thomas Jefferson University.
Stay Connected Class Notes
Where have you been? What have you been up to? Tell us what’s new—jobs, weddings, moves across the country. Submit a Class Note for an upcoming issue of the Bulletin to share your story with fellow alumni.
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Robert Lahita, MD ’73
Robert Lahita, MD ’73, launched a video podcast, titled “Health Frontiers with Dr. Bob” in November 2024. Already popular, the podcast answers health questions and discusses timely medical topics and research. Topics covered thus far have included obesity, peripheral neuropathy, foot and ankle injuries, dementia, and the value of vaccines. Lahita remains committed to answering questions on his podcast, simplifying complex medical issues and enabling listeners to take charge of their own healthcare. “With social media, we are on such an overload of information, much of it wrong,” he says. “It is important to talk to patients straightforwardly about their medical problems."
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Thomas Henry Scott Jr., MD '75
Thomas Henry Scott Jr., MD '75, came to TJUH as one of 12 medical interns in 1971. He grew up in the segregated Richmond, Virginia, school system and graduated from HBCU schools, Morehouse College and Meharry Medical College. Jefferson was his first experience in a predominately non-African American educational institution. Dr. G. William “Bill” Atkinson and Dr. Robert I. Wise, then chairman of the Department of Medicine, both became role models and mentors. He went on to serve two years as a pulmonologist in the Army Medical Corps and then practiced pulmonary medicine in Virginia for 27 years until his retirement as vice president for medical affairs at a health system in 2010.
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Alynn Bosshard Alexander, MD '99
Alynn Bosshard Alexander, MD '99, is living in Richmond, Virginia, with her husband of 25 years and their youngest daughter, 15. She left office practice in 2022 to join OB Hospitalist Group, and she is now the site director and OB hospitalist at an HCA facility in Richmond. Her oldest daughter graduated from UVA in 2023 and works in consulting in New York City. Her son is an international law major at Indiana University, Bloomington. She is grateful for the education and clinical experience provided at Jefferson.
Dean's Column A Year of Progress and Growth
Earlier this year at a gathering in Florida, I spoke to Jefferson alumni, trustees, donors, and friends about some of the challenges facing medical education, and medical schools specifically. They are myriad: the cost of a medical education, national physician workforce shortages, funding for research, and more. Yet, if there is one thing I’ve learned in my first year as dean, Jefferson is a place that finds solutions and always rises to the occasion.
A Message From the SKMC Alumni Board President Riddle Me This!
Here’s a riddle: What gets smaller the more you add to it? I’ll give you the real answer in a minute. But first, let me offer this one: Jefferson. Even as our alma mater grows in size and stature, we strive to maintain the feeling of a small, close-knit community that shares membership in an historic and elite organization.