Speakers
Sunday, May 17, 2009
Commencement Address Guest Speaker
Keith
Batchelder, D.M.D., M.D., M.S.
 Keith
Batchelder is the founder and CEO of Genomic Healthcare
Strategies, a company focused on the changes in
healthcare resulting from advances in molecular
medicine. GHS provides strategy and implementation
services for companies looking to enter or grow in the
new markets emerging as result of predictive diagnostics
and preventive medicine. Dr. Batchelder has long been
interested in the intersection of the scientific,
business and societal promises and challenges raised by
personalized medicine. His area of expertise is in the
analysis of new markets, channels, partners, and the new
science supporting the rapidly evolving practice of
medicine and wellness.
During a career that has spanned medical research, clinical
practice, and management in startups and large organizations,
Dr. Batchelder focuses on the practical application of advanced
healthcare innovation and its economics. He has served as chief
technical officer of WorldCare International Clinical Trials,
where he used biomarkers as surrogate endpoints for successful
accelerated FDA approvals; as CIO of Harvard Salud Integral,
where he helped to raise funding and grow a start-up HMO in
Mexico City; as a principal of AMICAS, Inc., where he helped
take a web-based radiology system from concept to a
venture-funded and profitable software company; and at
Massachusetts General Hospital, where as a staff
member he conducted industry-sponsored research in innovative
drug discovery, invented novel techniques and published in peer-reviewed journals. He began his health care career practicing
dentistry, leaving to continue entrepreneurial pursuits at the
junction of science and business.
Dr. Batchelder was educated at Middlebury College, the
University of Connecticut School of Dental Medicine, and Hahnemann
University School of Medicine. He received postgraduate training in
Medical Informatics at the Boston VA Hospital and completed a
fellowship at the Food and Drug Administration. He also holds a
masters degree in biomaterials from New York University.
Dr. Batchelder writes and speaks frequently on the topic of
personalized medicine (e.g., Nature Biotechnology, Scientific
American conference on Targeted Medicine, Burrill & Co,
LabCompete, Molecular Medicine Tri-Conference) and has organized
several symposia on Personalized Medicine.
Dr. Batchelder, acting on his belief in the potential of
personalized medicine, is one of the first ten volunteers to
have their full duplex genomes sequenced and published in
Harvard Genetics Professor George Church’s Personal Genome
Project. Graduate School
David Blair
 It’s
rather fitting that David Blair has immersed himself in the
field of immunology research. The 35-year-old Shelton native has
first hand experience at an immune system gone awry. He grew up
with severe allergies and asthma and has suffered from wheezing
and shortness of breath most of his life. “Since I was 2 or 3
years old, it seemed like I was allergic to everything – pollen,
ragweed, dust,” says Blair. Even so, after receiving his
undergraduate degree form UConn, studying immunology wasn’t at
the top of his list when he decided to come to the Health Center
for graduate school.
“One of the reasons I came here was because the biomedical
science program is an open program,” explains Blair. “In the
first year, you can basically sample the different areas of
concentration and you don’t have to make a decision until the
second year.” Coming in, Blair’s top choices were cell biology
and neuroscience—immunology ranked at the bottom.
That changed during the course of the year when Blair did a
rotation in an immunology lab. “It just clicked—I knew right
away that I wanted to stick with immunology,” says Blair. “The
more I learned about the immune system, the more I was intrigued
at what an amazing, intricate biological process it is.”
Blair spent the next five years working in the lab of Leo
Lefrançois, Ph.D., professor of immunology, whose research
focuses on the body’s immune response against microbial
infections. Blair zeroed in on a specific subset of T cell and
tried to determine how they differentiated into long-lived
memory cells which respond quickly upon infection. “Our ultimate
goal is to better understand some of the basic principles
involved which could lead to development of a vaccine or better
therapies for fighting infection or alternatively inhibiting the
response in autoimmune disorders,” explains Blair.
Blair defended his dissertation in December and is currently
doing his post-doctoral work at New York University School of
Medicine in New York City. He’s working in a lab that is
focusing on some of the same research he did at the Health
Center. “It’s really been a good fit – it’s different enough
where I can still learn a lot but similar enough that I can
apply what I learned at UConn and bring it to their lab.”
After he’s done with his post-doctoral studies, Blair hopes
to go into academia so he can continue doing research but also
start teaching/mentoring students. “I always liked science as a
kid and researching the unknown,” says Blair. “I think we’re
still behind the curve in getting young people interested in
science and we need to do a better job of sparking their
interest in research.”
Blair emphasizes that it is basic science research that will
help lead to much needed cures for diseases like asthma. For
Blair, his immunological tolerance has increased after years of
allergy shots so he can now enjoy his two favorite pastimes,
tennis and mountain biking, nearly inhaler-free. But with an
increasing number of people being diagnosed with allergies and
asthma, Blair is well aware that his research could provide a
piece of the puzzle that leads to a vaccine or cure some day.
“It would be extremely rewarding to see my findings in the lab
used clinically to help people live better lives.”
Dental School Graduate
Brian Bell
 When
Brian Bell was a young child growing up in Rocky Hill, becoming
a dentist hardly appealed to him. A career as a firefighter,
astronaut or professional athlete always seemed more exciting
than following in his father’s footsteps and becoming a general
dentist. By high school, Bell’s attitude had changed. In fact,
whenever his father received an emergency phone call at home
from one of his patients, Bell beat his father to the door, with
car keys in hand, enthusiastically accompanying him to the
office and acting as his assistant.
“I’ll always remember the patients—often with mouths swollen
and in terrible pain—who were so gratified and relieved to have
their problem taken care of,” says Bell. “People often say they
hate going to the dentist but I would see people so appreciative
and happy. My dad would be their new best friend.”
After high school, Bell attended Boston College and during
summer breaks worked in his father’s dental office. This
exposure to day-to-day dentistry convinced him to apply to
dental school where he has excelled academically and has been a
leader among his peers.
Bell has been elected into the Omicron Kappa Upsilon National
Dental Honor Society. He has received the Dr. Gilbert LeVine
Mellion and Ruth Berman Mellion Award in recognition of
academic excellence. Bell has been a class representative for
three years, a clinic team leader and he served as a student
member of the dental school’s education council.
As a third-year student, Bell organized a mission trip to
Belize where students and faculty provided dental care to
underserved children. “The satisfaction of relieving children of
pain and providing oral hygiene instruction will stay with me
forever,” says Bell.
An equally rewarding experience was the Connecticut Mission
of Mercy in 2008 and 2009. The event involves hundreds of
Connecticut dental professionals and student volunteers who,
over one weekend, collectively provides care to over 1,000
patients. Through this initiative, Bell had the opportunity to
administer local anesthesia and perform extractions for large
numbers of patients who otherwise had limited access to care.
“The genuine appreciation of patients who had been desperate for
dental care was truly unforgettable,” says Bell.
It was these volunteer efforts, as well as his dental school
clinical rotations, that demonstrated to Bell the diversity and
allure of general dentistry. That’s why Bell has decided to do
his residency in general practice rather than specializing.
“If I specialized I feel like I would be missing something,”
explains Bell. “I like providing comprehensive care to patients
– a little bit of everything.” Bell also feels general dentistry
provides greater patient interaction. “I’ll be treating entire
families – parents and children – and I’ll be seeing them
consistently, not just for one procedure and they’re gone.”
Bell’s enthusiasm for becoming a dentist has not waned since
the days he accompanied his dad to the office for emergencies.
“Each day I gain a new appreciation for the opportunities and
experiences the field of dentistry will provide me. My passion
for this profession is what makes me confident that I will be
the best general dentist I can possibly be.”
Medical School Graduate
Chandrika Garner
 Chandrika
Garner is looking forward to her first “respectable” job.
Garner has been a full-time student almost her entire life.
Now, at age 28, she’s on the verge of leaving school—in this
case, the UConn School of Medicine—with an M.D. to her name and
a career as an anesthesiologist in her future.
Just don’t tell her she’s anywhere near done learning yet.
“Residency in large part is still an educational experience,”
Garner says. “And I really think to be a good physician you have
to always be in an educational mindset. So in some ways I hope I
never leave this place.
“But at least getting paid for it will be a nice change.”
The first year, or clinical base year, of her residency will
be in medicine at Yale-New Haven Hospital. She plans to return
to the UConn Health Center for three years of residency training
in anesthesiology.
“I like the applied physiology that you get to think about
when you’re doing anesthesia,” Garner says. “I like the nature
of the interaction that you have, one focused encounter at a
time.”
Her third-year rotations didn’t make that choice easy.
“There were a lot of other areas I considered,” Garner says.
“I liked everything in my third year.”
Garner grew up with similar aspirations to those of her
father, Dr. T.V. Rajan, a physician-scientist on the Health
Center faculty.
“I always went back and forth between wanting to do research
and being a doctor,” Garner says. “In college, I decided that I
wanted to do research, but after three years of graduate-level
research, I decided that clinical medicine might be a better fit
for me.”
She graduated from the University of Chicago with a Bachelor
of Arts in biological sciences. Before starting medical school
she earned a master’s in pharmaceutical sciences at UConn.
“Medical school is a pretty big time commitment, but here at
UConn the faculty are so supportive,” Garner says. “My family is
right here, and I’m married, which I also think makes life a lot
easier.”
It was the fall of 2006, during her second year of medical
school, when “Chani” Rajan, the daughter of an Indian father and
an American Jewish mother (Sandra Rajan), married Chris Garner,
a financial representative from Durham, N.C. He was a student in
UConn’s undergraduate business school when they met about four
years earlier.
Garner says her time at the UConn School of Medicine was a
“really positive experience.” She leaves with the belief that
the Class of 2009 will be instrumental in changing the way
American health care is delivered.
“I feel like there’s just so much that we’ve learned in the
past four years here at UConn that I’m confident that all of us
are going to give back, and all of us are going to be great
doctors,” Garner says. “Of course, I get a little nervous
thinking about the fact that in a couple months I’m going to be
the one writing the orders, but I really feel well prepared for
it.”
Alumni Association
Mike H. Summerer, M.D., F.A.C.P.E.
 Mike
H. Summerer, M.D., is a member of the fifth UConn School of
Medicine Class, graduating in 1977. His general medicine
training was at Akron General Medical Center, and his
Cardiovascular Fellowship was at Indiana University Medical
Center. An experienced interventional cardiologist, over the
last 16 years he has held various leadership positions in
hospital systems in the Midwest and New England. He has achieved
fellowship status with the American College of Physicians, the
American College of Cardiology, and the American College of
Physician Executives. Dr. Summerer is currently the Hospital
Director of John Dempsey Hospital at the University of
Connecticut Health Center.
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