N
early 250 attendees—a record num-
ber of alumni, students, faculty and
housestaff—celebrated the UVa Medical
alumni association's 50th annual Meeting
February 19-20 at the Omni Homestead
Resort.
the event kicked off with a welcome
reception and research poster exhibit,
featuring the work of 14 outstanding UVa
medical, graduate biomedical and medi-
cal scientist training program students and
housestaff. attendees enjoyed dinner at
one of four of the Homestead's fine din-
ing options before gathering on the Casino
lawn for a bonfire, complete with s'mores
and hot chocolate.
saturday's activities started with a
MedConnect networking session for
alumni and students. Over 75 people
participated in this "speed networking"
session, during which alumni were
grouped by categories such as private
practice, married physicians, specialty, etc.
students signed up for three 15-minute
sessions with alumni and rotated between
tables to maximize the opportunities to
meet with alumni. a 15-minute block
annualmeeting
50th annual Meeting
•
fEBRuARy 19-20, 2016
built into the end of the session allowed
alumni and students time to network and
conclude their conversations.
Guests then participated in a
Continuing Medical Education session,
which included a panel discussion entitled,
"imatinib (Gleevec): a success story for
Cancer treatment," featuring remarks by
amy Bouton, PhD, John Densmore, MD,
PhD, and Mary McKinley, Ma, PhD. Dr.
Bouton discussed the development of
Gleevec in the lab and Dr. Densmore
addressed how he uses Gleevec in treating
his patients. Dr. McKinley is a patient of
Dr. Densmore's and discussed her personal
experience on Gleevec, including its side
effects, and with financing the drug she
relies on to keep her cancer in remission.
a second panel, "Past, Present and Future
of the UVa school of Medicine," featured
Dr. Robert Gibson giving a thorough
history on thomas Jefferson's prescient
vision for academic medicine. He then
turned it over to Drs. Megan Bray and
Randy Canterbury to address how today's
students are educated in the NextGen
curriculum and what lies ahead for the
2 Vitals Spring 2016
