Alumni News

MedCat Alumni Selected for Leadership Positions

Three MedCat alumni have been recently selected to leadership positions within Student Affairs. Richard Amini, MD, has been named the associate dean for student affairs, Daniel C. Butler, MD, will join COM-T as an assistant dean of student affairs and will serve as the new house dean for the Tortolita House, and Elaine H. Situ-LaCasse, MD, has...


Pediatric Autoimmune Research Bolstered by $10M Gift

The Steele Foundation gift will create the Daniel Cracchiolo Institute for Pediatric Autoimmune Disease Research at the Steele Children’s Research Center (SCRC) and provide financial support for graduate students, postdoctoral researchers and faculty members.  


Multigenerational Faculty Members Take Long View

Careers in medicine can be generational choices, with children following in their parents’ footsteps to become physicians or medical researchers. A 2020 Stanford University study found that people born in the 1980s were three times more likely to follow in a parent’s footsteps and become a doctor than those born in the 1950s. At the University of...


Carlos Gonzales, MD: A Healer in Spirit

When events at the University of Arizona Health Sciences begin, Carlos Gonzales, MD, a University of Arizona College of Medicine – Tucson associate professor of family and community medicine, can often be seen with an abalone shell filled with smoking sage and cedar to offer a ceremonial Native American blessing. That’s only one of many hats he...


John Racy, MD: Beloved Physician, Mentor, Father, Friend

On the occasion of his 90th birthday earlier this year, John Racy’s daughter Sumayya Granger bestowed him with an irreplaceable gift – a collection of warm, kind, and loving sentiments that mirrored Dr. Racy’s shining spirit as an exceptional human, professor, psychiatrist, colleague, and mentor.  The assemblage of touching and humorous memories...


Kidney Transplant Recipient Grateful for the Gift of Life

Bruce Byrd (left) meets future physicians at the Class of 2026 White Coat Ceremony. For Bruce Byrd, 1979 was packed with milestones — most of them good. “I graduated from college, got married — and found out that I had kidney disease,” he says. Just weeks after marrying his wife, Patty, and graduating from Western Colorado University, Byrd...


By Better Predicting Asthma Risk, Preventive Treatments Could Bypass Disease Development

A predictive test could help parents and doctors use interventions during the first two years of life to prevent asthma. Pictured: James Read (left) and Anthony Bosco, PhD Two University of Arizona College of Medicine – Tucson scientists are one step closer to developing a predictive test to assess a baby’s risk for asthma, which would allow...


MedCat Austen Thompson, Class of 2022, to Be Inducted Into the University of Arizona Sports Hall of Fame

On Thursday, September 8, Austen Lowell Thompson, MD, PhD, will be inducted into the University of Arizona Sports Hall of Fame, honoring his outstanding swimming career for the Wildcats. He will travel to Tucson from Rochester, Minn., where he is currently an orthopedic surgery resident at the renowned Mayo Clinic. Dr. Thompson’s athletic career...


White Coat Ceremony Celebrates the Next Generation of Physicians

Members of the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Tucson Class of 2026 took part in a White Coat Ceremony recognizing their entry into medicine with their first physician’s white coat, the garment of their future profession. “In tonight’s ceremony, you will don the doctor’s white coat and recite and sign a mission and vision statement...


Remembering Dr. Cetas, Neurosurgery Chair and Immense Soul

Justin Schultz Cetas, MD, PhD, chair of Department of Neurosurgery at the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Tucson, was born on October 3, 1970, in Ames, Iowa. He died on July 13, 2022, in Tucson, Arizona, from a fatal collision on his motorcycle, at the age of 51. He died instantly. Justin had an immense soul. He was husband to Alivia...


Dr. Cetas, Neurosurgery Chair, Passes Away

It is with heavy hearts and a deep sense of loss that we share with you the tragic news of the sudden passing of our dear colleague, Justin S. Cetas, MD, PhD, professor and chair, Department of Neurosurgery. He was involved in a traffic accident yesterday that resulted, unfortunately, in non-survivable injuries. On behalf of everyone at the...


Dr. Kevin Moynahan, MedCat Class of 1993, Receives AMSA National Golden Apple Award

Kevin Moynahan, MD, FACP, University of Arizona College of Medicine – Tucson professor of medicine and vice dean for education, received the 2022 National Golden Apple Award for Teaching Excellence from the American Medical Student Association (AMSA). The association places great emphasis on the importance of medical education as a means of...


Remembering Dr. Dantzler, Founding Faculty Member and Pioneering Researcher

It is with profound sadness that we share the news of the sudden and unexpected death of our colleague, William Dantzler, MD, PhD, a member of the Founding Faculty at the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Tucson, who passed away at Banner – University Medical Center Tucson on May 27 at the age of 86. He was widely regarded as the...


A Conversation with Dr. Patricia Lebensohn, Family Physician

MD-PhD candidate Andres F. Diaz, MS, published this Q&A with Patricia Lebensohn, MD, professor of family and community medicine and medical director of the Commitment to Underserved People (CUP) Program, in a recent issue of The New Physician. It is reprinted here with permission. Family medicine has unique aspects that separate it from other...


Newly Minted Physicians Prepare for Next Chapter of Their Careers at Convocation Ceremony

On May 12, nearly 120 University of Arizona College of Medicine – Tucson students will receive their medical degrees in Centennial Hall, where they will take the Hippocratic Oath and be draped with an academic hood to represent their initiation into the field of medicine. “These students have spent the bulk of their medical school education and...


P-MAP Clears Obstacles and Cheers Alumni, Expanding Physician Pipeline

The University of Arizona College of Medicine – Tucson will honor exceptional alumni who have completed the Pre-Medical Admissions Pathway (P-MAP), an intensive medical school preparation program that every year accepts 10 promising students who have faced considerable obstacles on their paths to medical school. Students who successfully complete...


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