Class of 1966 - 55th Reunion

Message from the Planning Committee

Plans have shifted for your 55^th reunion, but that does not diminish our excitement in celebrating this important milestone. The additional time leading up to the event gives you a special opportunity to look back, reconnect, and share the memories you've made together at your medical school alma mater. Please use this website as a resource to engage with former classmates, adding photographs and messages leading up to the event. We look forward to seeing you in person, May 13-15, 2022.

Class Notes

Click here to share memories, messages, news, updates and photos with your classmates!

Class note from Joel Nitzkin: I was attracted to public health while still in medical school when I experienced the power of a simple community intervention to eliminate a major health problem. This was in Israel, during my post-sophomore fellowship, during the 1963/64 school year.  After hospital internship, I spent two years as a communicable disease control officer for the Centers for Disease Control, then secured a master's degree in Public Health. In the early 1970's, I broadened my focus to the full range of preventive services provided by a local health department, secured a Doctorate in Public Administration, and Board Certification in Preventive Medicine. For the next 13 years, I served as Director of an urban health department (Rochester, NY). While local health director, I was an active member of boards of directors in health insurance, hospital, long term care and mental health entities. In 1989, I came to Louisiana as State Health Officer and Director of the Louisiana Office of Public Health. This was my second politically appointed job, and the second time I had been hired to "fix" a "broken" public health agency. Over the next 27 months, until the inauguration of the next governor, I energetically and successfully did the job I was hired to do, increasing both staff and budget of the state public health agency by more than 30%. At that point, having fallen in love with New Orleans, Phyllis and I decided to stay. I started a new career as a consultant in the private practice of public health.  Since then, I have taken on a number of short-term full and part-time assignments dealing with correctional health, leprosy, healthcare quality, telemedicine, and home care. I also served as expert witness in cases dealing with community-acquired and nosocomial infectious diseases, tobacco-related illness and death, and quality of care in nursing homes and jails. In 1997, I incorporated as JLN, MD Associates, LLC, and have served in that capacity ever since.

I have served on multiple national advisory committees and commissions. I was President of the National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO) 1985-89 and President of the American Association of Public Health Physicians (AAPHP) 1996-1998.

I have been actively involved in professional education and mentoring for my entire career. While in Miami in the early 1970's I directed a Preventive Medicine Residency program. From the early 1970's through 1992, I supervised an unbroken string of Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) assignees in Florida, New York and Louisiana. Everywhere I have been located; I have been active in the teaching and research agendas of local medical schools and schools of public health.  Since 2007, I have devoted much of my time and energy to tobacco policy issues at the national level.

My forte has been dealing with health-related problems on a group or population basis, utilizing a combination of medical, epidemiologic, and management/finance skills. I have generated 80+ papers in peer reviewed publications and several hundred presentations at state and national meetings on a wide range of topics, as described above.

On a personal basis, I am widowed, have two grown children, and enjoy jazz, scuba diving, travel, genealogy, and a lead role within a New Orleans Mardi Gras krewe.

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Class of 1966 Reunion Donation

As you celebrate your 60^th reunion, your class will make a gift to the Medical Alumni Annual Fund as a way to honor the legacy of the Class of 1966. This legacy has the power to transform the lives of WSU medical students both present and prospective by providing critical funds for programs and initiatives that directly impact academic success and professional growth. By making a reunion gift, you contribute to this legacy of support while investing in bright physicians-in-training who will be the next leaders in medicine.

You are encouraged to make this gift to the Medical Alumni Annual Fund before reunion weekend. Each classmate's gift makes a difference, and together, you can make sure the Class of 1966 has the largest collective gift in this long-awaited triple reunion year. Through your loyalty and support, not only can you surpassy our class giving goal, but can also make an immediate impact on current SOM students our future colleagues and alumni!

Use the WSU secure giving site to make your donation today.

In Memoriam

Missing Classmates

We don't have mailing addresses for the classmates listed below. If you keep in touch with them, please send us their mailing addresses at alumni@med.wayne.edu so we can ensure they receive important updates.

Frances F. Birk, M.D.

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