Class Reunion 2015
By Lin Lofley
More than 300 UT Southwestern Medical School alumni and their families were on campus in late September for the annual reunion activities.
The event began with a Sept. 24 dinner honoring the Class of 1965, which celebrated its 50-year anniversary, followed with an evening reception on Sept. 25 to greet all classes as a group.
On Saturday, Sept. 26, following a morning of presentations by campus leaders and a luncheon, about 120 of the alumni party took the opportunity to tour William P. Clements Jr. University Hospital prior to many of the individual classes gathering in the evening for their own private reunions.
Dr. Mrugesh Patel, Class of 1995 and an oncologist practicing in the Hurst-Euless-Bedford area, professed amazement after his look inside Clements University Hospital.
“This is gorgeous,” Dr. Patel said. “I love the lines of the place; they’re so clean. And I can imagine the patients really appreciate the size of the rooms.”
Six current medical students guided the tour groups through areas of the hospital that would interest medical professionals. Most reunion participants know that things have changed in the years since their own time on the wards at Parkland Memorial Hospital – that’s changed too, of course – but some changes are more telling than others.
Informed that the tour groups would be shown a student call room at Clement University Hospital, one alumna replied: “We didn’t have call rooms.”
Elizabeth Wegleitner, a fourth-year medical student, led one group across four floors of the hospital to show the alumni the layout of the patient floors, patient rooms, call rooms for both physicians and faculty, and other points of interest. Ms. Wegleitner has also led tours at the new Parkland Memorial Hospital, UT Southwestern’s main training facility.
“I think the most of the alumni were taken aback by the sheer amount of natural light in both our hospitals,” said Ms. Wegleitner, who graduated from North Dakota State University before entering medical school. “It’s incredible to stand in the middle of a hallway and see light streaming in from all angles, not to mention walking into a patient room and seeing a complete wall of windows. It lends to not just an overall friendlier atmosphere but is also crucial to patient healing.”
Dr. Brenda Harkins, who specializes in obstetrics and gynecology in Newton, Kansas, and Dr. Harry Goss, an Austin nephrologist, both members of the Class of 1990, used the occasion of the tours to see the new facility and to catch up on old times.
“The hospital is so impressive, so well thought out,” Dr. Harkins said.
“It’s so warm and shiny,” Dr. Goss said in agreement. “The technology here is really great.”
As alumni moved around the campus, one of the most popular gathering places was Dr. Donald Seldin Plaza, with its life-size sculptural rendering of the UT System Professor of Internal Medicine and Chairman Emeritus of Internal Medicine.
Dr. Seldin, who attended the Friday night alumni events, taught many of the members of the returning classes. As the alumni stood in front of his statue they had stories to tell.
“When he pulled a dime from his pocket [in the age of pay phones], and handed it to you, you knew you had fallen short,” one alumnus said. “But he made us physicians.”
In addition to the social activities, reunion attendees participated in a variety of presentations, including a discussion of the new medical school curriculum that came into force with the beginning of fall 2015 classes.
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Dr. Seldin holds the William Buchanan Chair in Internal Medicine.
To see more photos from this event.
