Alumni News At-A-Glance
Spring 2023
College of Human Medicine graduate and Associate Professor of Radiology Joseph Junewick, MD, (‘88), FACR, has been appointed the college’s director of the Division of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging in West Michigan.
College of Human Medicine graduate Jessica Priestley, MD (’18), has recently completed a medical biomedical genetics fellowship at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, and has joined the Medical Genetics group at Corewell Health West/Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital in Grand Rapids, Mich.
Recently, College of Human Medicine graduate Kirk Banerian, MD (’84) was inducted as an American College of Radiology Fellow.
College of Human Medicine alumnus Gerald E. Lilly, MD (’91), has graduated from the Presidential Management Fellows Program and is now serving as a health specialist at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences.
Graduate Elizabeth J. Warner, MD ('98), FACP, CPE, has been named Chief Medical Officer at Cherry Health in Grand Rapids, Mich. In addition, Dr. Warner has authored a new book titled, "Conversations Worth Having in Healthcare, Boost Satisfaction and Quality Using Appreciative Inquiry" with co-authors Fasiha Haq, Jackie Stavros and Cheri Torres.
Alyssa Maria Vanderziel, PhD, a 2022 MSU College of Human Medicine graduate, was recently named Assistant Scientist in the Center for Health Policy and Health Services Research at Henry Ford Health System.
Winter 2022
Michigan State University College of Human Medicine graduate Sherryl D. Hinton-Scott, MD (’91) was recently selected as an honoree of the 2023 Michigan Chronicle of Women in Excellence award. Hinton-Scott will be presented with the award on April 5, 2023, at the Motor City Casino & Hotel in Detroit, Mich.
MSU College of Human Medicine graduate Kyle Bennett, MS (’19), has been promoted to the newly created role of data scientist within Neogen’s Commercial Excellence team. After graduating in 2019 with an MSc from the Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, Kyle primarily operated as Neogen Corporation’s biostatistician from May 2019 to December 2021. Bennett was quickly promoted and made data scientist manager in May 2023. Currently, Kyle operates as lead data scientist/biostatistician/manager for Neogen’s Global Commercial Excellence team and his primary day-to-day functions are to build and oversee data-driven solutions that allow key stakeholders and teams throughout the entire organization to draw insightful and meaningful inferences from the data they generate every day. Bennett currently practices data science, biostatistics, and data analytics including AI/ML modeling. Neogen Corporation is located in Lansing, Mich., and offers solutions and services for the food processing, animal protein and agriculture industries, to help protect the world's food supply.
Lois Arend, MD, a 1992 MSU College of Human Medicine graduate, has been elected president of the Renal Pathology Society.
Ascension Mena, MD, a 1982 College of Human Medicine graduate has authored the book, “Walking the Camino of Life.” Dr. Mena is CEO of SoftAir Medical in El Paso, Texas, and has walked the Camino de Santiato nearly a dozen times. Dr. Mena is an emergency medicine physician who also serves as medical director at Life Ambulance; he is founder and president of Holy Trinity Retreat Center in El Paso.
MSU College of Human Medicine graduate Elizabeth Ann Wagar, MD (’81), has recently retired after a distinguished career as professor in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at University of California Los Angeles (UCLA), where she also served as both residency program director and laboratory director of multiple UCLA laboratories. Dr. Wagar also served as Chair, Department of Laboratory Medicine at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas, for ten years. She is active in the College of American Pathologists with multiple committee appointments.
Alumnus Lawrence R. Hennessey, MD ('86) is current chair of the Michigan Allergy and Asthma Society (MAAS). The mission of the MAAS is to provide continuing postgraduate education to the allergists/immunologists of Michigan, and to promote best clinical practices in a collegial environment.
MSU College of Human Medicine graduate Leyu Chiu, MD ('19) has received an abdominal radiology fellowship at Stanford University.
Fall 2022
Class of 1973 graduate Lawrence M. Moher, MD ('73) has been inducted into the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society Gamma Chapter.
MSU College of Human Medicine graduate Martin Richard Romero, MD (’03), FACEP, has received the Michigan College of Emergency Physicians 2022 Physician of the Year award. Romero is an assistant professor in the Department of Emergency Medicine.
Summer 2022
Michigan State University College of Human Medicine graduate Andie Lee Gonzales, MD ('12) was recently awarded the 2022 Hispanic Health Leadership Award of the National Hispanic Medical Association (NHMA). The NHMA presents these awards annually to acknowledge an organization’s continued leadership to help improve the health of Hispanic communities. Congratulations, Dr. Gonzalez!
Alumna Lisa McElroy, MD (’09) has been appointed as the inaugural Onye Akwari Endowed Professor of Surgery at Duke University.
Michigan State University College of Human Medicine graduate Lezlie Painovich, MD ('07) received the 2022 Preventive Medicine Residency Excellence in Teaching award. Dr. Painovich was also selected as the 2019 recipient of the Excellence in Teaching award.
MSU College of Human Medicine graduate Leonard Campos, PhD (’63), presented his article “Taking action with courage vs. Hoping for change” at the International Transactional Analysis Association’s firt online annual conference.
Diana Ruth Helentjaris, MD, a 1978 graduate of the College of Human Medicine, has published a historical fiction novel she authored titled, The Indenture of Ivy O’Neill. Helentjaris, who also graduated cum laude (’72, MSU College of Arts and Letters), spent most of her career in clinical practice and public health administration. She received a Master’s in Public Health from the University of Michigan.
The novel, an immigrant story which takes place in 1690, was published by AIA Publishing. Helentjaris was also an alumni award finalist in the 2020 Icelandic Writers Retreat.
Spring 2021
Michigan State University College of Human Medicine graduate Richard Ferguson, MD (’04), has founded The Black Physicians of Utah, the first-ever Black physician group in the state of Utah. The organization was created to address health inequities in the State of Utah through increasing the representation of Black physicians in the State. The group promotes and encourages Black youth throughout the state to see themselves as future physicians and presents them with opportunities to become immersed and competitive for a career in medicine.