Class notes: 1980s
Wesley Mcneese, MD ’86 (1947-2023), SIU Board of Trustees posthumously renamed the system’s ADEI lifetime achievement award to honor Dr. Robinson-McNeese, who passed away in 2023 and previously served as the system’s director of diversity initiatives. The Dr. Wesley G. Robinson-McNeese ADEI Lifetime Achievement Award recognizes staff and faculty members for their efforts in creating, sustaining and expanding antiracism, diversity, equity and inclusion efforts. The recognition is for staff and faculty members whose careers include generally 20 years or more of documented service and advocacy in ADEI initiatives that result in greater justice and belonging for all in the SIU community. Read more here.
Kriegh Moulton, MD ’83, “When we moved to Calistoga in 2019, the property we bought included a small half-acre Cab Sauv vineyard. In February 2022, we decided to convert the vines to Sauv Blanc and it was very interesting to watch how this was done. The 3-inch Cab Sauv trunks were cut at about 3 feet and new Sauv Blanc canes, from existing Napa stock were grafted onto the upper end of the trunks using a special tool. Plastic tape was all that was used to secure the canes onto the trunk. The key was to arrange the cane in a manner that would establish a horizontal base cordon for future vertical cane growth by securing it to a wire on either side of the trunk.”
Kathy Bohn, MD ’83 and Tom Nielsen, MD ’81, are pictured with daughter Beth Nielsen, MD (SIU SOM past Resident/Fellow). Dr. Beth Nielsen is a pulmonary/critical care physician and locum tenens physician. Though her current home base is Brookfield, Wisconsin, she’s currently working at Decatur Memorial Hospital, which was where her father had one of his first jobs. “We both started at Decatur Memorial—my dad in 1985 and me in 2023—which is pretty cool.”
Though Beth and her medical credentials can stand on their own, around Bloomington-Normal she’s more likely to be known as Beth, the daughter of physicians and founders of The Vein Specialists Dr. Kathy Bohn and Dr. Tom Nielsen. Learn about the SIU SOM family of doctors here.
Milton Armstrong, MD '82, is sharing polaroid's found from 40 years ago. Thank you for sharing!
Lynn Grabher Bradtke, MD ’83, “I work very part-time at home reviewing applications for Carle IL School of Medicine. I travel, golf, play pickleball, and am awaiting first grandchild.”
Thomas Diller, MD ’83, Continues to serve as the Advent Health Population Health Services Organization Chief Medical Officer overseeing the medical management of over 500,000 value-based lives, and was recently promoted to Interim President of Advent Health Physician Network.
Mary Dobbins, MD '84, The American Psychiatric Association (APA) Board of Trustees has elected Dr. Mary Dobbins a Distinguished Fellow of the APA, effective January 1, 2024. Dr. Dobbins joins an elite group of psychiatrists with this honorary distinction who continue to make significant contributions to the field of psychiatry.
Dr. Dobbins has been invited to attend the Convocation of Distinguished Fellows in May 2024, during the APA Annual Meeting in New York, where the group will be officially recognized.
James Alexander, MD ’88, “Life has a great! Grandchildren are the best! How do I get off this rollercoaster to enjoy them?"
Quote: “If you don’t know, the thing to do is not to get scared, but to learn.” -Ayn Rand
Craig Backs, MD ’81, Sparta has just announced the addition of Dr. Craig Backs, an esteemed Internal Medicine Specialist with a focus on Heart Attack and Stroke prevention to its Technical Advisory Board ("TAB").
As the newest member of Sparta's TAB, my hope is to have our development team work closely with Sparta's Achu Health™ and Doctor-in-a-Box ™ teams to integrate our Cure Coach platform to theirs. Our goal is to motivate seemingly healthy people to avoid diseases of hyperinsulinemia; in-turn reducing heart disease and many cancers. By combining these platforms, I feel we have a real opportunity to raise awareness about the ravaging effects insulin resistance can have on the human body," Dr. Backs stated. Read more here
Kathryn Bohn, MD ’83, “Practicing physician of The Vein Specialists, LLC, in Bloomington, IL. I practiced Emergency Medicine for 24 years. About 13 years ago, I re-trained and opened a varicose vein clinic where I close varicose veins with laser & sclerotherapy. During my years in the Emergency Department, I held many committee positions including Chair of the Emergency Department. I have served on the Red Cross Board, was named a Woman of Distinction and Athena finalist. I have served on the Illinois State University Foundation Board, Alumni Board & Board of Trustees. I am currently Interim Chair of the Illinois State University Board of Trustees. I have served on the SIU-SOM Alumni Board including acting as President and on the Southern Illinois University Foundation Board.”
James “JD” Daniels, MD ’83, “Private rural family practice for 7 years, went back to school, then joined SIU full time almost 30 years ago. I worked in the FCM and Ortho Departments in various roles over the years. I was Chair of the Admissions Committee for over a decade, Assistant Dean of Students at the Carbondale Campus and Director of the Sports Medicine Fellowship when I retired from full time practice last year. Retired, for 60 days, then “Rehired” part time at SIU, also work as Medical Director for Adams & Pike Counties Health Departments in Western Illinois.” (photo of JD, Jack Quigley, MD ’83 and friend Brendan Dineen, PhD.)
Loren Hughes, MD ’83, “Completed Family Practice Residency in Milwaukee. Spent first four years of career in private practice in Madison, NC. Moved back to Illinois in 1990. Directed St. Francis Hospital ER in Litchfield, Illinois for 10 years. Statewide ACLS Course Director for 20 years and EMS Medical Director for multiple community ambulance services in mid-Illinois. Performed cosmetic laser and venous sclerotherapy at The Vein Center and Cosmed in St. Louis. Directed the St. Joseph Hospital ER in Breese, IL for 11 years. Returned to private practice with HSHS Medical Group in Collinsville, IL. Became Southern Illinois Medical Director, then served as the President of HSHS Medical Group from 2013 to 2021. Recruited over 200 physicians, PAs and APNs into central and southern Illinois communities. Led EPIC EHR implementation for the medical group and championed optimization for health care providers. National speaking engagements on the current state and future of healthcare in the US. Served and continue to serve on health care, private service, and public health boards. Elected as a Village Trustee for Glen Carbon, IL.”
Kriegh Moulton, MD ’83, “Currently retired, MIG welding and vineyard management. After graduating from Culver Academies in 1970, I enrolled at SIU and majored in Physiology. I worked for the SIU Health Service as an EMT and later as an orderly at Styrest Nursing Home in Carbondale. Subsequently, I worked at Doctor's Memorial Hospital (Carbondale Memorial) as a float orderly (but I don't want anyone to think I was orderly). I spent most of my time in the
ICU, fascinated with the arrhythmia monitors, and met my wife, Linda, an ICU nurse. After completing a Master's Degree in Cardiovascular Physiology under the true master, Hurley Myers, I started med school. From Carbondale, we moved to Winston-Salem, NC for residency, then the University of Oklahoma for a research year, 2 years of cardiology, and 2 years of EP training. During my period of fellowship training in Clinical Cardiac Electrophysiology, I had the good fortune to be directly involved in the development of the procedure known as radio-frequency catheter ablation. Working closely with the late Will Webster (Webster Laboratories, now Biosense-Webster), who designed and built the catheters, and through the unique leadership of Warren Jackman, MD, we were able to establish this procedure as first-line therapy for virtually all cardiac tachyarrhythmias and provided the first durable, curative catheter procedure in the field of cardiology. After moving back to Springfield, I practiced EP with Prairie Cardiovascular Consultants until my first retirement in August 2019. During that period, I served as Director of Clinical Cardiac Electrophysiology. We moved to Calistoga, California to be
with our sons, Aaron and his family in LA, and Jason with his family in Napa. I worked at the Sutter Santa Rosa Regional Hospital until May 2021 at which point I finally entered nirvana.”
Eric Purdy, MD ’83, “I have served on the Board of Directors and president at Caylor-Nickel Clinic in Bluffton, Indiana. I have also served for 18 years as an editor for the Basic and Clinical Science Course, a 14-book textbook series published by the American Academy of Ophthalmology. I also served 12 years as oculoplastic editor, then editor-in-chief for Focal Points, a monthly publication of the American Academy of Ophthalmology. I serve as medical Director for our family-based not-for-profit organization, One World Global Health, and coordinate international medical and eye surgery mission projects in Central and South America, the Caribbean, Africa, and Asia. Currently, I practice comprehensive ophthalmology in Fort Wayne in Bluffton Indiana and provide five subspecialties of ophthalmology and serve as Assistant Clinical Professor of Ophthalmology for Indiana University School of Medicine. I do 4 to 6 international medical mission and surgical trips each year and have done 78 mission projects in total. We take ophthalmology residents from University of Cincinnati, Indiana University, and University of Florida on our eye surgery mission projects.”
Jeanne Smith. MD ’83, “Retired from medical practice. Dr. Mom - home with complex medical needs adopted daughter. President of Bukoba Friends Foundation - raising money for health and education projects in Bukoba Diocese of NW Tanzania.”
Lori Wemlinger, MD ’83, “Physician at The Villages Health, The Villages, FL 10/2013- 10/2021; Physician OSF Medical Group, Bloomington, IL 9/2009- 9/2013; Physician at Carle Clinic, Bloomington, IL 1992- 2009; Physician at The Health Center, Bloomington, IL 1986- 1992. Retired 10/7/2021 from The Villages Health; now volunteering at Lazarus (free clinic) Wildwood, FL.”
Bonnie Wirfs, MD ’83, “Retired in 2019 – just before COVID…whew! Now a professional New Orleans tour guide.”
Francis “Chuck” Jansen, MD ’86, “Dr. Chuck Jansen is recognized by “Who’s Who” as one of the most experienced eye surgeons in the United States, having performed more than 35,000 procedures. Dr. Jansen came to Springfield in 1990 after having trained at the prestigious National Eye Center in Washington, D.C., where he has returned many times to lecture on his surgical innovations.
Dr. Jansen has a passion for international missions. He has worked with the Ministry of Health in Tanzania, East Africa, to develop eye specialty clinics. He has helped to establish and develop an eye surgery hospital in Maswa, Tanzania, whose eye surgery training program is actively teaching African and missionary doctors how to perform cataract surgery.” Read more here.
Susan Harmon, MD ’88, “As of February 2023, I have retired from Lincoln Memorial Hospital Emergency Department. I have formed my own company, Milestone Medical Consulting, Ltd., to perform medical file reviews for insurance companies and law practices.”
Pamela Richards, MD ’88, “I sold my practice to UCHealth in Colorado Springs 5 years ago. Last month I decided to take life a little easier and dropped down to 0.8 FTE. I have been traveling a lot -- China, Switzerland, Greece, France and a lot in the western US. Life is good!”
These class notes are updated with the latest content from 2023 through April 2024.