Summer 2004

The Learning Curve

Education is a lifelong process for physicians, and many IUSM alumni continued along that pathway when they returned to the Indianapolis campus for the 57 th annual Spring Medical Alumni Weekend, less than a week after the Class of 2004 became the School’s latest graduates.

Physicians, spouses and guests were treated to a full range of professional activities dubbed “Innovations in Medical Education.” They had the opportunity to get real hands-on learning with the latest technological teaching tools in surgery and other medical procedures. Participants also traveled to the IU Clinical Skills Education Center at Methodist Hospital where they met with, and observed, students participating in simulated clinical scenarios with actor-patients.

The two graduating classes of 1944 were well-represented during the weekend. Attendance from that class set a record for a sixty-year reunion, according to the IU Office of Alumni Affairs. Longevity was honored, too, with the attendance of Forest Kendall, MD, of Nappanee, Ind., who represented the Class of 1939.

While the May 14-15 Spring Medical Alumni Weekend offered the usual fare of activities and reunions, it also was a time to honor IU School of Medicine graduates who have excelled in their fields. Distinguished Medical Alumni Awards were presented to William S. Dalton, MD, PhD ’76, Temple Terrace, Fla.; and Donald B. Rudy, MD ‘55, Glencoe, Minn. The award is made to alumni who are highly regarded in their medical fields.

Dr. Dalton, an oncologist, is CEO and director of the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute at the University of South Florida in Tampa and former dean of the University of Arizona College of Medicine. Dr. Rudy was in private family practice and general surgery at the Glencoe Medical Clinic for many years. He has participated in many volunteer overseas medical missions.