bmd

bmd	Biomedical Sciences at the University of South Alabama
BMD Alumni News & Gossip, Fall 2004

NOTE: Everyone at the BMD Department is well and no one suffered any major damage from hurricane Ivan. Classes were canceled at 1 p.m. on Tuesday, September 14, Ivan came through the area early Thursday morning, September 16, and classes at South resumed on Monday, September 20.
Announcement: Dr. Julio F. Turrens, Professor of Biomedical Sciences, is now, in addition, Associate Dean of the College of Allied Health Professions. He continues to teach Biochemistry I and II, Biochemistry Lab, and Issues in Biomedical Sciences.
8 October from Karla McInnes (BMD '97, USA PhD grad student) (McinnisKAM@aol.com) Grad school is going great:) I think anyway. I am in the process of writing a grant in which I have to defend it for my oral qualifier. Hopefully I can get it done over the course of this month. I guess it depends on how many revisions my PI wants:)
8 October from Tophong Suebphongphan (BMD ’02) (tophong@hotmail.com) Everythings is going well up here and thanks for asking. I just moved back to Canada after I got permanent residence here, finally. I took lots of courses @ sfsu and I still think you guys taught me better lessons and to be honest I did made an A in Cell & Molec Bio :). Anyway now I am planning to go to either grad. school or some professional school in Canada cuz i think it is cheaper tuition when I am a permanent resident up here. Next Monday is Thanksgiving day here so I will say happy Thanksgiving for all of you. :)
8 October from Sarah Pursley Joiner (BMD ’01, USA Medicine 4^th year) (SarahPursley@aol.com) Hope all is going well for you. I graduate in May, time sure does fly. I am applying med-peds. The BMD grads in my class are going into peds, neuro, medicine, pathology, and surgery that I know of. Interview season is just starting and it is going to be a hectic few months. We are all gearing up to find our residency programs. Guess we will see what happens match day. Thanks for sending out the alum news so often, it is nice to hear about all that is happening with my old classmates and friends.
7 October from Shaun Small (BMD ’02, 2^nd year UAB Dentistry) (ShaunZo1@aol.com) Jimmy [Medwick, BMD ‘01], Nina [Noland, BMD ‘03], and I are all doing fine. Second year is very busy. I think I speak for everyone when I say that I will be so glad to never have to walk into the basic medical science building again. They really believe in material overload. For instance we did Immunology in 3 weeks! That would be fine and dandy if we were not taking 8 other classes. Gotta go study and try to find time to sleep. Talk to ya later.
7 October from Kelli Hill (BMD '00, UAB Dentistry '04) (quackingturtle@hotmail.com) I hope all is well in Mobile. I'm doing a pediatric dentistry residency, so I'll be in Birmingham for 2 more years. So far, it's pretty fun. Tell everyone hello for me!
7 October from Chris McNeal (BMD '97, UAB Optometry "01) (CMcNeal@icare.opt.uab.edu) Yes, I graduated from USA BMD in 1997. I then went to UABSO for my O.D. degree and then did a residency in Geriatrics and Low Vision Rehabilitation. I am entering my 3^rd year as a full-time faculty member here at the School. I guest lecture in a few courses (Diseases of the Posterior Segment, Glaucoma, and Low Vision), am instructor in Cornea and External Diseases, and course master of Physical Diagnosis. I also serve as an attending in our Primary Care Clinic and our Ocular Disease/Low Vision Clinic. I also practice at the UAB Center for Low Vision Rehabilitation. If you have any other students interested in Optometry, I would be happy to talk with them as well.
7 October from Sruti Shiva (BMD '99, UAB PhD '04) My new e-mail is sshiva@cc.nih.gov. So far I'm enjoying working at the NIH. I am currently working in a lab that studies the interactions of nitric oxide with red blood cells and its implications for sickle cell disease. Things are going well and I'm enjoying living in this area in general. The commute from Centreville to Bethesda is a little longer than I'm used to (30-45 minutes one way), but I'm getting used to it.
6 October from Kelly Daus (BMD '01, USA PA Studies '03) (kellydaus@msn.com) I am wrapping up my first year of practice as a family medicine PA in rural southeast Alabama. I enjoy my job very much, although it keeps me quite busy!! Hope all is well in the BMD dept!!
5 October from Felricia Moyer (BMD '04) (fsm301@jaguar1.usouthal.edu) There isn't much going on in my life besides graduate school, with which I am currently eating, breathing, and sleeping. =) That is my life, and will be for the next 5 years!
5 October from Ninon Pachikara (BMD '01) (ninonp@hotmail.com) Hello Dr. Itaya! How are you doing? How is everyone in the department doing? Hopefully everyone is great and safe from Ivan. As you know a lot of us from BMD are in our final year of school (it's about time!) I am not too sure what everyone's final career path is , but I have chosen to persue a career in pediatric neurology. It was your Neurology class that got me first interested so I have to say thank you for that.
5 October from Justin Campbell (BMD '03) (aubie1993@yahoo.com) Everything is going great. Second year is well underway and can't get over soon enough...I think I just need to start seeing more of patients and less of books!! BMD has helped tremendously for most of my classes...as a matter of fact, both BMD Immunology and Microbiology surpass what we have done in medical school. We just finished another test block, so life is really good right now. Thanks for asking.
4 October from Ashley (Traczewitz) Roach (BMD '98, UAB Dental School '03) ( roachmj1@hawaii.rr.com) Hope all is well. Michael is in Virgina doing a transplant rotation, and I am working at the Honolulu VA providing dentistry for veterans and really enjoying it...
4 October from Leslie Oakes (BMD '01) (leslieoakes@hotmail.com) (now a senior at U. of FL Dental School) Dr. Itaya, Thanks for keeping me updated with the BMD news. It's fun hearing how other people are doing, and the different career paths people have followed with their BMD degree. I'm still enjoying dental school, but I'm excited about graduating soon and being an ARMY dentist. I'll let you know where I'll be stationed at once I find out.
28 September from Ashley Wolchina Allison (BMD '99) Hi everyone, just wanted to give you my new address. My earthlink address will become ineffective in the next couple of days. The new address is awallison@sbcglobal.net . Hope everyone is doing well.
28 September from Kim (Cochran) Collins (BMD '01) accidentalangels@yahoo.com Hi Dr Itaya!! I hope you are doing great this school year. I returned back home to Dothan trying to determine which way to go next. Once I started investigating my options--the choice of becoming a nurse practioner became evident to me. I am currently in the first clinical sequence of the BSN program at Troy State University in Troy, then will go onto the CRNP track. I love it! I am planning on staying in this area. My family is here, along with the man I plan to marry =)
26 September from Lori Myers (BMD '02) Hey Dr. Itaya, Please use lam304@jaguar1.usouthal.edu. Glad the hurricane seemed to be minimal here in Mobile. P'cola was hit pretty hard, but my dad finally got power back today over there. I finished Internal Medicine last week but the mini board was awful, I thought. I started OB/GYN this week. It's not near as bad as I thought it would be. Kent Lord is with me on this rotation and Wierzbicki is on family. Everyone is doing well and loving rotations compared to studying all of the time. Jeff Hess is living back in Mobile and working at the Infirmary in anesthesia. We are still raising hell when we all go out. Imagine that... Take care, will stop in soon to say hey. Lori Myers
26 September from Binali Mehta (BMD '97, USACOM '01) Binali0815@aol.com HI, I'm glad to hear that you all were safe during the hurricane. Thanks for sending me the BMD alumni news. It's nice to still have a connection there. Things are going great with me. I'm in my last year of residency here at Emory in the Dept. of Psychiatry/Behavioral Sciences and loving it. It's a fascinating field to me. By the way, looking at those gross specimens of brain in your class in college still helps me today and in the field that I am in- I'm sure it will continue to be useful for the rest of my career. So Thanks :)! I got married at the end of last year to a guy named Manan Sharma who I met in Atlanta. He actually grew up in Huntsville though. So we have the Alabama and India connection :) He's a really caring and genuine person, and I feel really lucky to have met him. He actually just graduated with his PhD in Food Science and Technology (Food Microbiology) and is on the job hunt now. So- we'll see where we end up. How is everyone in the Dept.? Please tell Dr. Turrens congratulations for me. It was great to hear from you! Binali
20 September, from Romsel Ang (BMD '97, USACOM '01) (romsel@hotmail.com) Dear Dr. Itaya and BMD staff, I'm sorry for not e-mailing sooner---life has been very busy with 8 week old (who will be 9 weeks on Tuesday) newborn who sleeps only 2 hours at a time and has to be fed every 2 hours. I got induced on 7-19-04 and had Dylan Mark Peters on 7-20-04 at 2:08 pm, 7 lbs 15 oz, 20.25 inches long. Everything went well. My mom stayed for about 5-6 weeks and then all of my wonderful help left. So I had to go back to work last week and trying to stay up with Dylan (Brandon tries to help out) waking up early to get him ready for daycare and going to work can be very hectic, but we're getting into the swing of things. Hope all is well.
19 September, from the Mobile Register. Monica Ann Gardner (BMD '99) (acylation@hotmail.com) and Daniel Geary Sayers, Jr. (BMD '01) were to have been married at St. Mary's Catholic Church in Destin, Florida, on September 18. However, hurricane Ivan forced a postponement. Good luck from everyone at BMD anyway! Click on the thumbnail to see a larger image.
7 September, from Melissa Carter (BMD '04) (meldcarter@hotmail.com) Hey Dr. Itaya, it's me, Melissa, from this year's graduating class. I just wanted to say hey from Auburn, and let you know how it is going. I love it here, and couldn't have made a better choice of a career for myself. I also wanted to tell you that i probably could not have had any better background that the BMD program at South. I also wanted to let you know that if any student is interested in Pharmacy School, feel free to give them my email address to ask any questions. thanks again for teaching me all that you, and everyone else in the department, did.
7 September, from Steven Gallas (BMD '01) (PGallas360@aol.com) How are you? Its been a while. Hope things are well with you. Things are going great for me. I am in my 9th week of my second year of medical school at Nova Southeastern University. I did very well my first year. It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be, but that was mostly due to the program at South. Right now I am in the middle of Cardiology and Respiratory systems. This the first week without an actual exam, although I do have a simulated patient exam. This school is great. I have already had so much patient interaction. We get simulated patients who are actors trained to present with problems. I go once a week to shadow a physician and do history and physicals on his patients. I do at least one health fair every month. I have been very active throughout since I started. Right now I am in the middle of raising money for our annual medical mission to Guatemala in January. I am also involved in setting up another rural based medical mission to the Lake Okeechobee in February. This medicine stuff is fun. Well, I guess I have to run. If you need anything or if students want any info on D.O. schools or D.O.s in general, don't hesitate to ask. Talk to you later.
3 September, from John Streacker (BMD '04) (streakman1@comcast.net) Dr.Itaya, Everything is going to be OK. Thanks for your concern. By the way, I had my first Histo lab yesterday, and I would hate to say it, but the images on the computer were awesome. The program that you use is neat, it kind of works like a digital microscope if you will. You can right click on an image, then choose the ocular that you would like to use. The benefit that I see is that everyone has the opportunity to see the same structures on the same, well prepared, slides. I am not shooting down the quality slides that are made in your class, rather, I am explaining the observed benefits that the computer program has to offer. I would also like to mention, that I told my professors that my wonderful histo professor in undergrad was not very happy with the fact that we would not use a microscope in the class........He unofficially has the same concern. Time with the microscope is a skill that can only be used with experience. He did not say this directly, however, we discussed the pro's and cons of both setups. I also mentioned how we were given unknown tissue blocks, and had to present one and discuss a possible pathology. Our pathologist that also assists in teaching the class thought that was an excellent idea and is considering using it in the future. I don't mean to give all of your awesome ideas away, but, I am so well prepared, that I didn't think you would have a problem with it if it helps out in the overall healthcare of humanity. I sure wish you were here. I enjoy all of my classes and I know so much compared to my classmates. During neuro, we discussed the different long tracts of the spinal cord, and I had no problem whatsoever. You drilled me with that info time and again in every one of your classes. For me it was a brief review, for others however, it was torture. I try to help those that were not fortunate to have BMD as an undergrad. By the way I made an A in Gross, diagnostic imaging, embryology and doctoring. I also made the 88th percentile on the gross anatomy NBME. Thank you. We had our white coat ceremony Friday the 20th, and then had a week off. This was our first week back. Today I received my Dell, Pocket PC. It has so much software, one would wonder why a doctor needs a degree in science. (joke) It took three hours to load all of our resources. This computerized stuff is soooooo helpful. Thanks again for your concern, and I know that my family will be fine. Thanks again for everything you taught me and the way you strive to provide an excellent program for the current and future students. There is no one that handles that task better than you. Every day I have other students that wish they had the opportunity to go through the BMD program. I am sure your program will explode (in a good sense) in the near future.
25 August, from John Streacker (BMD '04) (streakman1@comcast.net) Hi all, We went to the M.D. this morning and were given these wonderful gifts to view. I thought I would share them with you. Enjoy!!!!! John Click on thumbnail to see larger image
24 August, from Jonah Ezieme (BMD '92) (jaezieme@cox.net) Dear family and friends: I present to you our bundle of joy!!! The Almighty Father has really blessed us with a healthy baby girl who came in on August 21st, 2004 at 7:28 PM. Please join us in giving Him glory and honor for all the things He has done, Amen. Jonah Ezieme, M.D. Click on thumbnail to see larger picture.
16 August, from Eric Robinson (BMD '03) (boybrilliance@hotmail.com) Classes have started today and my summer break is officially over. As I look back on last year, I can't recall one moment that brought me delight. So in a nutshell, first year is a period that I have strongly tried to forget. I don't know if you talked to Dr. Turrens, but I finished in the top third of my first year classes. I am satisfied with that. But I am going to try to do a little better this year. This summer was fun because I participated in clinical research concerning cultural competency in medicine. I was a little disappointed with the unprocessed data, but it is still one notch of experience under my belt. I also helped with the summer prematriculation program as an instructor for the microstructure and development portion. Of course, my knowledge is limited so the course was taught with close collaboration with the instructors of the course. Until next time, take care.
From Sarah Britt (BMD '00) (sbritt112@hotmail.com) I AM BEING PUBLISHED!!!! Pretty soon you will be able to search my name on PubMed or MedLine or in the National Medical Library and you will find it!!! YIPPEE!! My paper will be printed in Foot and Ankle International journal and it is entitled..."Issues of Importance for Patients Seeking Care from the Members of the AOFAS"...exciting not so much to most of you, I know...but I am proud of it!! This is my writing...and I got great comments...and only a few tiny suggested revisions!!
27 July, From Eugene Yeoh (BMD '99) (eybc@yahoo.com) Sorry for the late reply. Have been travelling quite a fair bit. Yes, Dr Turrens is correct! I am in Malaysia. And yes, I am fine. I am currently attached with Aventis Pharma (Malaysia) as a product executive managing diabetes products, particularly the insulin range. I am currently marketing a new insulin called Lantus (insulin glargine) and a few more to come. Hmmh, talking about Lantus, a couple of months back I received a call form an American engineer who is based in Malaysia about Lantus. Surprisingly he told me that he got my contact from the BMD site. He said he did a search on “Lantus” and “Malaysia” and the only site that popped up was the BMD site and that's how he got my name. Life is quite stressful in the marketing world but I love it as I am learning a lot of things. My schedule is usually very tight. Hardly have room to breathe sometimes. I'm usually rushing from meetings to meetings or else will be travelling the whole of Malaysia doing talks and presentations to medical students, medical doctors and medical faculties. And I get to attend congresses on diabetes updates from time to time as well. I consider myself to be extremely fortunate because I am using almost everything that I have learned in college, almost 90%. And all the BMD classes have helped me understand and grasp things a whole lot faster. I never thought that I would ever say this by the 1.5 years of torture in the BMD was worth it! :):)
UAB School of Optometry Class of 2004 Dan Wilder (BMD '00) was awarded the Clark F. Amos Presidential Scholarship (for a student entering residency program and optometric education), and the Beta Sigma Kappa Honor Society Gold Cord, denoting a student recognized for academic excellence. from FocalPoint, UABSO Summer 2004 http://www.uab.edu/images/optoimg/PDFs/focalpointsu04.pdf
Back to BMD homepage
Send alumni news to: sitaya@usouthal.edu, voice (251) 380-2710, fax (251) 380-2711
	UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH ALABAMA Department of Biomedical Sciences UCOM 6000, Mobile, AL 36688, sitaya@usouthal.edu (251) 380-2710 voice, (251) 380-2711 fax