Press Release

For Immediate Release
Contact: Susan Preston
(973) 972-7265

U.S. Surgeon General To Deliver UMDNJ Commencement Address on May 25

Vice Admiral Dr. Richard H. Carmona, United States Surgeon General, will receive an honorary degree and deliver the keynote address at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey's 34^th commencement on Tuesday, May 25, at 10:30 a.m. at the Sovereign Bank Arena in Trenton.

The Class of 2004 is the largest graduating class in UMDNJ's history, with 1,226 students expected to receive professional degrees and certificates during the ceremony. It is the final commencement over which UMDNJ president Dr. Stuart D. Cook will preside. Dr. Cook is stepping down next month to return to the faculty at UMDNJ-New Jersey Medical School.

Dr. Carmona will receive an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree in recognition of his leadership in advancing the nation's public health and preparedness. He was appointed the 17th Surgeon General of the United States in 2002, bringing a unique combination of qualifications as a paramedic, registered nurse, physician, public health professional and law enforcement officer to this position. A combat-decorated Vietnam veteran and first member of his family to graduate from college, Dr. Carmona has launched initiatives focused on prevention, emphasizing programs for at-risk youth, health disparities, and the emergency readiness of the nation's Public Health Service Commissioned Corps.

Also expected to receive honorary degrees and present brief remarks are:

• Dr. Donald A. Henderson, who will receive a honorary Doctor of Sciences degree for his groundbreaking contributions to preventing and eradicating communicable diseases, advancing public health policy and strengthening biodefense. He began his career at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, focusing on smallpox eradication. In 1966, he joined the World Health Organization, where he led a global smallpox eradication program, the first and only successful campaign to completely eliminate a human infectious disease.


• Dr. Kenneth Olden, who will receive an honorary Doctor of Sciences degree in recognition of his leadership at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences since 1991. As director of NIEHS and the National Toxicology Program, Dr. Olden has overseen the Environmental Genome Project, which is looking at the relationship among genetics, environmental factors and diseases, and a companion study, which is seeking the environmental and genetic clues to breast cancer.

Three distinguished alumni citations also will be presented. The recipients are:

• Rear Admiral Dr. Maurice B. Hill, Jr., the highest-ranking dental officer for both the active duty and reserve ranks of the Navy, who is being honored for his leadership in meeting the oral health care needs of the men and women serving in the U.S. Navy.


• Dr. Miriam H. Labbok, who is being recognized for her global leadership in nutrition as senior advisor to the Young Child Feeding and Care Global Bureau for the United Nations Children's Fund.


• Dr. Arthur E. Weyman, an internationally recognized cardiologist on the faculty at Harvard School of Medicine, who pioneered the acceptance of echocardiography as the technique of choice for noninvasive diagnosis of heart disease.

Many UMDNJ graduates also have interesting stories to tell. Several will be available for interviews/photos on Wednesday between 9:15 and 10 a.m. in front of the stage at the arena or by telephone. To arrange an interview with any of the graduates listed, please contact Jerry Carey at (856)566-6171 or Kaylyn Dines at (973) 972-7276.

Following is a geographically arranged list of some of the noteworthy UMDNJ graduates.

CAMDEN COUNTY

When Chris Lawler, 33, of Westmont, chose medicine as his career, he believed that to become a physician was to also make a commitment to those who need medical care. As a first year student at the UMDNJ-School of Osteopathic Medicine, he saw that need in economically depressed communities in Camden. Working under the direction of the medical school's Department of Family Medicine, Dr. Lawler and a handful of other students volunteered their services to a free medical clinic being staffed by students and faculty from the UMDNJ-School of Nursing, so that the clinic could be open an extra day each week. Dr. Lawler, who is also being commissioned as a captain in U.S. Air Force Reserves, will remain at the medical school to complete a residency program in emergency medicine.

ESSEX COUNTY

Although medicine was her first love, it turned out to be the second career for Pascale Jean-Louis, 38, of South Orange. Following her junior year at Harvard, she took a year off from school to help care for her father during his final illness, an experience which resulted in her decision to walk away from her pre-med program and graduated with a degree in social anthropology. A teaching job in Queens put her in contact with Dr. Lorraine Monroe who, in 1991, hired her as a teacher at the newly established Frederick Douglass Academy in Harlem.

The academy, which was located in a building that formerly housed a school so wracked by violence and poor academic results that it was closed be the New York City Board of Education, has become a national model of achievement. Dr. Jean-Louis still found herself drawn to medicine and enrolled in UMDNJ-New Jersey Medical School. After completing an obstetrics and gynecology residency at Albert Einstein Medical Center in the Bronx, she hopes to teach at a medical school and also practice medicine in an urban community.

GLOUCESTER COUNTY

Melita Jordan, 51, of Blackwood, will never forget the stares she received as a pregnant 15-year-old. The desire to break the stereotype of "only a teenage mother" made her set her sights on being a successful career woman as well as a successful mother. In the late 1960s, she found a role model on a popular television show starring Diahann Carroll as Julia Baker, a single mother, a widow and a nurse. Ms. Jordan received her registered nurse certification from Philadelphia General Hospital and went on to Seton Hall University where she earned a bachelor of science degree in nursing summa cum laude and was valedictorian of her class. Concerned about the high rate of infant mortality in certain parts of the nation, Ms. Jordan then completed the nurse midwifery program at the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson. During commencement she will receive her master of science degree in nursing from the UMDNJ-School of Nursing and hopes to pursue a Ph.D. in health policy.

HUDSON COUNTY

With a family of 21 physicians and seven dentists, for Marissa Halum, 25, of Jersey City, health care seemed be a natural career path from an early age. While she will be the third member of her family to receive a doctor of dental medicine degree from the UMDNJ-New Jersey Dental School, she once rejected the notion of entering this profession because she did not want to follow the career path of her dentist-mother. In fact, her mother graduated in 1987 and her cousin in 1991 from UMDNJ-New Jersey Dental School, and her brother is a second-year medical student at the UMDNJ-New Jersey Medical School. Dr. Halum will remain at the dental school to complete a residency in pediatric dentistry and hopes to open her own private practice, just like her mother.

HUNTERDON COUNTY

Steven Spayd, 46, of Stockton, looked into a glass of water and found a new career path. A hydrogeologist with the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, Mr. Spayd's job is to find the source of pollutants identified in the state's public drinking water. As part of his job, he knew that no public well in New Jersey had ever tested above the allowable amount for arsenic and so he was surprised when a new study at the DEP found that some private wells in the had higher than normal arsenic levels, including a well on his own property. His investigation discovered that the arsenic came from a naturally occurring source, but the experience piqued his interest in health effects of substances like arsenic in water. This interest led him to enroll in the UMDNJ-School of Public Health where he will earn a masters degree at commencement, and continue his studies for a Ph.D. degree.

MERCER COUNTY

Ana Bracilovic, 28, of Princeton, knew she wanted a career that combined her love of dance and medicine. The daughter of a ballerina, she began dancing at age seven. As an undergraduate at the University of Pennsylvania, she directed a dance company and graduated with a bachelor of science degree in biomedical engineering and a bachelor of arts in neurobiology. As a medical student at UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, Dr. Bracilovic completed two externships at the Harkness Center in New York City, whose staff of physicians and physical therapists specialize in treating and conducting research on dance injuries. After completing a residency program in physical medicine and rehabilitation at the New York Presbyterian Hospital, she plans to develop a practice as a dance medicine specialist.

MIDDLESEX COUNTY

While still a medical student, Mergie Decir, 31, of Old Bridge, knew in the back of her mind that she wanted to practice international medicine. Even before graduating from Mount Sinai Medical School, she had traveled to Haiti to volunteer as part of a health care team bringing medical services to a rural area of that country. That was 1991 and she has returned to Haiti as a volunteer every year since, using vacation time from her physician duties at a nonprofit community health center in New Brunswick. As a student at the UMDNJ-School of Public Health where she will receive a masters degree in health education, Dr. Decir focused her studies on developing ways to educate individuals on methods to manage and control chronic diseases in communities that do not have a health care team to administer medical intervention on a consistent basis.

When Ricardo Perez, 29, of Perth Amboy, entered the UMDNJ-School of Osteopathic Medicine, he did not plan to stay for six years nor become the first student in the school's history to earn a dual degree in medicine and law. Dr. Perez first considered the idea of a law degree while in his second year of medical school when he was selected to serve on a federal advisory committee at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. His path to commencement has included stops in Florence, Italy, to study comparative law and in Costa Rica to hone his knowledge of environmental law. Dr. Perez will do an internship in internal medicine at St. Barnabas Medical Center and plans to take the New Jersey bar exam in 2005.

Lilia Reyes, 26, Piscataway, wanted to learn first-hand about the impact of infectious diseases in developing countries and so during her fourth year at UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, she traveled to Columbia for a month. For three weeks, she worked 13-hour days at a hospital in Bogota where she saw the ravaging effects that infectious diseases like yellow fever, dengue fever and HIV/AIDS can have on an economically depressed country. She then spent a week at Agua de Dios, a leper colony established in 1862 that is now home to 350 patients with the disease, most of whom are descendants of the colony's original inhabitants. She took lymphatic samples from patients to analyze for active infections and treated patients who were coping with the side effects of leprosy such as disfigurement, neuropathy and blindness. Following commencement, Dr. Reyes will pursue a pediatric residency at Albert Einstein Medical Center in the Bronx.

Asked to describe his experiences as a rescue worker at the World Trade Center, Mike Saccocci, 29, of Edison, talks about being unable to sleep at night for fear of a building about to collapse and about the tremendous dedication of the rescue workers searching the rubble for survivors. Dr. Saccocci, who at the time was a second year student at the UMDNJ-School of Osteopathic Medicine and a member of the Atlantic County EMS Task Force, had volunteered to provide emergency care and transportation to the workers clearing the WTC debris. The experience reinforced his goal to remain in critical care medicine, and Dr. Saccocci, who also has a masters degree from the UMDNJ-School of Public Health, will pursue a one-year osteopathic internship at the medical school followed by a residency in anesthesiology and critical care medicine at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia. He is being promoted to the rank of captain in the U.S. Air Force Reserves.

Hua Zhu, of Piscataway, will receive her third advanced degree when she graduates with a doctor of dental medicine degree from UMDNJ-New Jersey Dental School. Dr. Zhu also has a medical degree from Beijing University and a Ph.D. degree in molecular biology and biochemistry from Rutgers University. She knew she wanted to be a dentist while she was a medical student in China, but the Chinese government did not allow students to switch career paths. She will be a general practice dentist and eventually hopes to teach dental medicine and conduct research.

MORRIS COUNTY

Mention agricultural bioterrorism and most people will probably think of crop dusters flying over fields or towns unleashing clouds of deadly pathogens. But to Peter Gregory, 25, of Randolph, agricultural bioterrorism looks more like some non-native bug, beetle or moth that could enter the country unintentionally or through a terrorist plan and wreak generations of havoc on American agricultural business. That's why his fieldwork for his masters degree at the UMDNJ-School of Public Health took him out of the classroom and onto the docks at the Port of Elizabeth to examine our country's ability to predict and detect vulnerabilities to introductions of non-native species into the environment through seaports. Following graduation, he will be presenting his findings and recommendations to those charged with inspecting cargo that arrives through the port.

As a veterinarian, Dr. Corey Smith, 51, of Chester, cared for his animal patients for 24 years, but the events of September 11, 2001, made him rethink his life. He decided on a career change and will receive a certificate in cytotechnology from the UMDNJ-School of Health Related Professions. While he intends to obtain a job in his new field full-time, he will still work as a veterinarian at the Mendham Animal Hospital, his wife's private veterinarian practice, and continue yet another career. He also has become a part-time figure model, and poses for painting and sculpture classes at art schools in the metropolitan New York area.

SOMERSET COUNTY

Ramdas Prabhu, 24, of Basking Ridge, has the distinction of being the first person in the 25-year history of the UMDNJ-School of Osteopathic Medicine to follow in a parent's footsteps as a graduate of the medical school. Although he was unable to attend his father's commencement from the osteopathic medical school in 1994, both his father and his mother, also a physician, will be watching when he receives his diploma this year. Dr. Prabhu will pursue a one-year osteopathic internship at the medical school followed by a residency in diagnostic radiology.

UNION COUNTY

Onyema Edward Amakiri, 42, of Union, began his journey to medical school more than two decades and thousands of miles ago in his hometown of Mbaise, Nigeria. As a high school student, he wanted to become a physician and he earned acceptance into the Faculty of Medical Sciences. But his dream was delayed when he was selected instead to study veterinary medicine. In 1989, he made his way to the United States where he worked in several jobs to "get back on track" towards becoming a physician. His determination led to his earning a nursing degree in 1993 and then to enter the UMDNJ-School of Osteopathic Medicine seven years later. After graduating, Dr. Amakiri will begin an internal medicine residency at St. Michael's Medical Center in Newark.

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