Lisa Vignogna-Barlas, MD ‘96
Greetings Fellow Alumni,
It gives me great pleasure to congratulate this year’s graduates and welcome them to our Alumni Association. In May, the 122 members of the Class of 2019 joined our network of more than 4,200 Renaissance School of Medicine alumni. We are proud of them and wish them well as they embark on their residencies! As a means of “paying it forward,” many of this year’s graduates donated $20.19 each to help support the students who follow in their footsteps.
In April, we celebrated Dr. Aldustus Jordan’s retirement at the Watermill in Smithtown. As you know, Dr. Jordan has been with the Renaissance School of Medicine for 43 years, helping to transform the school and its students into the best healthcare providers in the country. In fact, in a recent survey it was discovered that more than 33 percent of RSoM graduates become chief residents, and 54 percent of our alumni are in academia.
On June 6, I was delighted to attend the celebration of the official renaming of the School. I had the pleasure of thanking many of the generous Renaissance families who contributed to the School’s future. In addition, I would like to thank all of you who participated in our inaugural University-wide Giving Day in April. Our medical school alumni were very generous in raising funds that far exceeded our expectations! Thanks to Dr. Kaushansky’s incentive match, we had 129 alumni, faculty and staff participate. Moreover, our stethoscope drive has again been a great success through the generous donations of our alumni. We are excited to be able to present new stethoscopes to our entering class of 2019 at our White Coat Ceremony in August.
The articles in this edition of Stony Brook Medicine offer many reasons to be proud of the outstanding research going on at Stony Brook, along with the well-deserved awards and accolades garnered by our faculty and students.
I would encourage you to be active and engaged members of the alumni community, reconnect with your classmates and keep up to date about alumni events. In addition, please help us to “pay it forward,” as no donation is too small. Even minor gifts add up to make a major difference! If you have any questions, please contact Mary Hoffmann at mary.hoffmann@stonybrook.edu.
Best Regards,
Lisa Vignogna-Barlas, MD ‘96
President, Renaissance School of Medicine Alumni Board
