Class Notes

News for this section may be submitted online through the class notes submission form. Please include your current name, name at registration, degree and class year. You also may send us news or update your address and other biographical information electronically through Vanderbilt’s online alumni community, VUconnect, at vuconnect.com. Your submission will be posted in Vanderbilt Magazine, print and online, unless otherwise specified. We reserve the right to edit for length, style and clarity.

These class notes were sent for inclusion in Vanderbilt Magazine between June 1, 2024, and September 30, 2024. They will be included in the print Winter/Spring 2025 issue.

Class Notes by Year

Class Notes: 1960s

  • ’61

    Wilmoth Marshall Foreman, BA, of Columbia, Tenn., self-published a historical novel, Young James K. Polk, in March. The story, based on extensive research, follows our 11th president from boyhood through his teen years as his family traveled more than 450 miles in covered wagons from North Carolina to Middle Tennessee, cleared land, built a cabin and settled in. It is available in bookstores and online and is appropriate for upper elementary readers, teens and adults.

  • ’63

    Taylor Segraves, BA, MD’71, of Beachwood, Ohio, retired from Case Western Reserve University as professor of psychiatry, emeritus, and now serves as medical director of an addiction program in Homer, La., through telehealth.

  • ’67

    Richard Pence, BA, of Iron Station, N.C., was conferred the Distinguished Service Scroll, the N.C. Dental Society’s most prestigious award, at their annual meeting at Myrtle Beach, S.C., May 15. The award is given to people who are nearing the end of or have completed careers during which they demonstrated outstanding service, leadership and dedication to the improvement of health for the people of North Carolina. Dr. Pence’s career has spanned five decades, and his commitment to ongoing professional development and community service earned him the Lifelong Learning and Service Recognition from the Academy of General Dentistry, making him the first dentist in the Carolinas to receive this honor. His dedication to advancing dentistry extends beyond his practice. He has served as president of the Southeastern Academy of Prosthodontics, on the board of directors of the Pankey Institute for Advanced Dental Education, and as president of the UNC Dental Alumni Board of Directors, in addition to two terms on the Lincoln County Board of Education.

Class Notes: 1970s

  • ’73

    Jack Elder, EdS, of Spring Hill, Tenn., was inducted into the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame in August and received the Pat Summitt Lifetime Achievement Award for his long tenure as executive director of the Tennessee Special Olympics (1973-88). In 1988, he became a regional director for Special Olympics International. Under Elder, the Tennessee Special Olympics program became recognized as one of the strongest and best managed.

  • ’75

    Jeffrey Segal, BA, of Marietta, Ga., had a clip from his February 1975 interview with Steve Martin on Vanderbilt radio station WRVU included in the recent documentary Steve! on AppleTV+. The interview, which included call-ins from Vanderbilt students, was done after Martin had performed two shows earlier that evening at the Different Drummer in Carmichael West. In his autobiography Born Standing Up (Scribner, 2008), Martin wrote about the audience reaction from those two shows being a turning point in his stand-up career.

  • ’78

    Allen D. Boyer, BA, of Staten Island, N.Y., former arts editor for The Vanderbilt Hustler and Versus editor-in-chief, reviews books for the Phi Beta Kappa Key Reporter. His sixth book, The Rise and Fall of Treason in English History (co-authored with Mark Nicholls) was published in February by Routledge and was favorably reviewed in the London Review of Books.

  • ’79

    Randy Rasch, MSN, of Pittsboro, N.C., was inducted in July 2024 as an inaugural Luminary Fellow of the Academy of Diverse Leaders in Nursing, recognized for significant contributions to advancing justice, equity, diversity and inclusion in nursing and health care.

Class Notes: 1980s

  • ’80

    Dan Adkins, MBA, of Duluth, Ga., currently coaches executives, entrepreneurs and nonprofit leaders, including numerous C-level executives and corporate leaders, sales teams and ministers (on communicating from the pulpit) in speaking skills. He also coaches MBA students at Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business in interviewing and networking skills and was a guest lecturer at the Ernie Pyle School of Journalism at Indiana University. His book, Gifts From My Father, was recently re-released and is available on Amazon. His next book, currently untitled, about his years at Saturday Night Live and on feature films should be available soon. He also will be releasing a book on owning the spotlight when speaking from the stage or on Zoom. He writes, “I’m in close contact with several of my Owen School classmates and am thrilled when I hear from any of them. Owen taught me a great deal, but the friendships I made were by far its greatest feature.”

  • ’86

    Sherri Fleck Wines, BSN, Phil Wines, BS ’85, John Crehore, BA’85, and Laura Pembridge Currie, BSN, celebrated Sherri’s 60th birthday in April by chartering a catamaran in the British Virgin Islands.

  • ’88

    Susan Gaetz, BS, of Austin, Texas, is executive director of Casting for Recovery, a nonprofit that supports women with breast cancer using the therapeutic sport of fly fishing. She works with three Vanderbilt alumni who are current or former trustees. Dr. Charlie Penley, who did his residency and fellowship in medical oncology at Vanderbilt, currently chairs the CfR Board of Trustees. Scott Cassity, MBA’94, of Knoxville, Tenn., is a current trustee, and Daniel Canale, MD’71, of Nashville is a former trustee.

Class Notes: 1990s

  • ’90

    Ken Epps, BA, of Philadelphia, is rear admiral, commander of Naval Supply Systems Command and 50th Chief of Supply Corps. He promoted Commander Jennifer Traul, BA’01, to serve as his executive assistant at the Pennsylvania state capitol on Sept. 6.

  • ’91

    Sam Feist, BA, of Arlington, Va., is the CEO of news network C-Span.

  • ’93

    Amy Carr, MDiv, of Macomb, Ill., is the co-author of Ordinary Faith in Polarized Times: Justification and the Pursuit of Justice (Baylor University Press, 2023), which was chosen as a finalist in the Theology/Religious Studies category for the 2024 PROSE Awards given by the Association of American Publishers Awards for Professional and Scholarly Excellence.

  • ’96

    Karen Hirschkorn, MSN, is a psychiatric nurse practitioner in private practice in New York City, specializing in psychiatric evaluations, pharmacology and therapy for children, adolescents and adults.

    Thomas Sharpe, BA, MBA’97, and Jennifer Steltjes Sharpe, BA, of Nashville, have twin sons, Thomas and Robert, who are members of the Class of 2026 at Vanderbilt. They are involved in Vanderbilt parent groups (co-chairing the Parent Campaign Cabinet). Thomas is an active member of the Vanderbilt Innovation Investment Committee, which is investing Vanderbilt funds into innovators springing from the Vanderbilt ecosystem. Thomas has launched the Dental Innovation Alliance VC Fund I, which invests in early-stage dental and health innovation.

  • ’97

    Jamie Sheffler, MBA, moved to Naples, Fla., in November 2023 and writes that he is looking forward to starting a new business venture.

  • ’98

    Pam Nelson, MSN, DNP’20, is owner and psychiatric nurse practitioner at Nelson Psychiatric Associates in Nashville, an outpatient mental health practice, where she treats adult patients for depression/mood disorders, bipolar disorder, anxiety spectrum, post-traumatic stress disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, dual diagnosis and more.

  • ’99

    Alexis Garcia, BA, of Miami has a new production company called CAT5, which focuses on action films. His first movie with the new company is called Levon’s Trade, scheduled for release in January. The movie is written by Sylvester Stallone and stars Jason Statham, Eve Mauro and David Harbour.

Class Notes: 2000s

  • ’01

    Jordana Moore Saggese, BA, of Potomac, Md., published Heavyweight: Black Boxers and the Fight for Representation in August through Duke University Press.

  • ’04

    Jessica Harris Telligman, JD, was promoted at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, N.C., to director of investigations and senior deputy Title IX coordinator in the university’s Office of Institutional Equity.

  • ’05

    Kristin Evans, MSN, of Springdale, Ark., chaired the Audrey Harris Neonatal Conference in September 2024 in Fayetteville, Ark.

    Rebecca Jones, MSN, is chief quality officer at Northwest Health in Johnson, Ark.

  • ’06

    Austin Bauman, BMus, was featured in the Nashville Scene’s Summer Guide for his East Nashville businesses, Tabla Rasa Toys and Tabla Rasa Café. He told the Scene, “We wanted this to be a family corner—a place where people could go and have a good time with their whole family. I think a lot of Nashville businesses leave out kids, and a lot of Nashville tourism leaves out kids. And I think that’s a really important thing to nurture as a community and as a city. So that’s what Tabla Rasa is about.”

  • ’07

    Michael Clinton, MBA, of Palm Springs, Calif., is co-owner of the Redline Venice Hotel, the only Black-owned apartment hotel on the Venice Beach strip. In taking ownership, the management team has integrated the history of the area. Each of the units features a specific theme that covers everything from the relationship between Venice Beach founder Abbot Kinney and Black entrepreneur Arthur Reese to Black skate culture in the area. The new venture was covered in the Hollywood Reporter and LA Parent. Clinton is also co-owner of The Guest House in Natchez, Miss., an antebellum mansion that is a bed-and-breakfast with restaurant that will allow for the interpretation of the house history from the perspective of the men and women who built, managed and maintained it. The acquisition of the house was covered in the Natchez Democrat.

    Taylor L. Davis, BA, of Atlanta recently was promoted to senior equity partner at the global law firm of Clyde & Co., where she practices commercial litigation, primarily defending property and casualty insurers across the U.S.

    Anna Lipowska, BMus, was promoted to associate professor of clinical medicine at the University of Illinois at Chicago. She concurrently serves as the director of esophageal disorders in the Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology.

  • ’09

    Michael Turner, MA, PhD, MSN’23, is a psychiatric nurse practitioner at Covenant Health, embedded in the emergency department at Parkwest Medical Center in Knoxville, Tenn., where he oversees and triages the medical and psychiatric needs of an acute population with dementia with behavioral disturbances, autism, intellectual and developmental disabilities with behavioral issues, overdose, suicidal ideation, mania and psychosis.

Class Notes: 2010s

  • ’10

    Elliot Steinbaum, BA, of London is associate vice president of international communications for the National Basketball Association, promoting everything the NBA is doing to grow basketball around the world from business and basketball development perspectives. In May, Steinbaum and Festus Ezeli, BA’12, of Roseville, Calif., and 2015 NBA champion with the Golden State Warriors, were in Kigali, Rwanda, for the 2024 Basketball Africa League playoffs and finals. The BAL is the NBA’s first collaboration to operate a league outside of North America. Ezeli, who is from Nigeria and passionate about growing basketball on the continent, is an ambassador for the BAL and participates in basketball clinics.

  • ’11

    Justin A. Hawkins, MBA, of Chattanooga, Tenn., recently was named chief marketing officer at Outback Presents, an independent, full-service promoter of live entertainment in North America, based in Nashville. Previously, he was head of growth marketing at OWYN (Only What You Need), where he worked alongside fellow Owen alumnus and OWYN CEO Mark Olivieri, MBA’10.

    Lauren Kilgore, JD, joined the Los Angeles-based law firm Buchalter as a shareholder. Kilgore will continue her practice as an entertainment and media attorney in transactional and dispute resolution matters. She was also named one of Billboard’s Top Music Lawyers for 2024.

    Jodi Johnson Spiegelberg, MSN, of Howell, Mich., was named the 2024 University of Michigan School of Nursing Preceptor of the Year. She is adjunct clinical faculty and a women’s health nurse practitioner at UM in Brighton, where she treats obstetrics and gynecology patients across the lifespan.

  • ’12

    Kamal Malik, MBA, works at Intuitive Surgical Robotics in New Delhi, India. He met alums and newly admitted students at an Owen dinner in New Delhi this summer.

    Chichi Ugbaja Nnaji, DNP, is owner and provider at Liberty Medical Clinic in Bells, Tenn.

    Andy Rigby, MBA, of Ogden, Utah, and his wife, Amanda, in 2020 purchased a small custom upholstery maker in Sandy, Utah. After three years of building the organization, they have expanded their offering nationwide. Wild Willow Bespoke Furniture was launched in 2024 as a solution for customers and their designers who are unwilling to sacrifice quality or customization. More information is at wildwillowbespoke.com.

  • ’13

    Nate Guerette, MSN, of Tampa, Fla., was inducted as a fellow of the American College of Nurse-Midwives in May 2024.

    Mackenzie Melvin Neal, BS, MSF, and John Neal were married in Arizona March 9, 2024. She is a financial analyst in Chicago, and he is a chemical engineer.

  • ’14

    Newton K. Adkins, BS, of Brooklyn, N.Y., graduated in May with an MBA from New York University’s Stern School of Business. He continues as a senior director within Huron Consulting Group’s Education and Research practice.

    Katie Krill, MSN, received the Excellence in Service Award from the University of Utah College of Nursing in Salt Lake City in April for demonstrating commitment to the profession and service to the community. In July she was appointed clinical director—primary care within the faculty practice and community collaboration network. She is an assistant clinical professor in the university’s doctor of nursing practice primary care track.

    Alexis Myers, BA, MSN’17, of Covington, Ky., is a doctoral student at Marquette University College of Nursing. She and her husband announce the birth of a son, Nemesio Matthew Trexler, in August.

  • ’15

    Hannah Nolte, BA, MSN’17, PhD’23, joined the University of Alabama in Huntsville College of Nursing in mid 2024 as a clinical assistant professor. She is a psychiatric nurse practitioner at Empowered Heart Integrative Mental Health Care in Nashville.

  • ’17

    Anna Whitus Blanchard, BS, of Greensboro, N.C., was profiled in September on the Greensboro, North Carolina, municipal website for her work on affordable housing as a multifamily development analyst in the city’s Housing and Neighborhood Development Department.

    Scott Clemons, MSN, was named medical director of the Virginia Mason Franciscan Health Clinic in Lakewood, Wash., in April 2024.

    Andrew Corbett, MBA, of Spring Hill, Tenn., completed an 80km (around 50 miles) ruck in Normandy, France, on the 80th anniversary of D-Day to raise money for the Taylor Force Memorial Scholarship.

    Deirdre Fraller, DNP, is founder, chief executive officer and psychiatric nurse practitioner at Owl and Eagle Health and Wellness in Golden, Colo., where she provides holistic psychiatric care to patients ages 6 and up, including diagnostic evaluations, neurocognitive testing, genetic testing, medication management, transcranial magnetic stimulation, ketamine assisted therapy, nutritional psychiatry and gender affirming psychiatry.

    Rebekah Staples, EMBA, founded the first-ever Mental Health Matters summer camp for girls ages 11–13 in Laurel, Miss., to address the rising challenges among youth—especially post-COVID. During the last week in May 2024, 20 campers learned about building happy, healthy brains through themed activities each day. Learn more at happyhealthybrains.com or on Facebook at “Mental Health Matters summer camp.”

    Kelli Wray, DNP, was named chief nursing officer at Ascension Seton Medical Center in Austin, Texas, in 2024.

  • ’18

    Lily Guevel Garside, BS, MSN’19, is an inpatient nurse practitioner at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville.

    Clark Hubbard, BMus, of Nashville, premiered a recording May 24, 2024, of his percussion quartet composition Stardust produced by Continuous Motion Productions (Kenny Swartout, BMus’22, and Josh Weinfeld, BMus’22). Stardust was commissioned by the Vanderbilt Percussion Group in fall 2022. The Vanderbilt Percussion Group premiered the work in spring 2023 and took it on the road for their Korean tour that fall. The recording features Blair faculty Ji Hye Jung and Lee Vinson and students Sarang Shravan and Bill Zhang (both Class of 2026). Hubbard is assistant director of athletic bands at Vanderbilt.

  • ’19

    Paul Chekuri, BA, MPH’24, earned his master of public health from Vanderbilt with a concentration in health policy in May. His capstone examined the “Impact of the Firefly Program: How the Partnership between VUMC, TennCare, and CMS Improved Quality of Care for Pregnant and Postpartum Women with Opioid Use Disorder and their Infants in Middle Tennessee.” Chekuri also completed his practicum with TennCare and stayed in Nashville to work with the organization on business security initiatives.

    Gy Won Choi, MSN, is a lieutenant with the Commissioned Corps of the U.S. Public Health Service in Fort Belvoir, Va., where he is a military treatment facility officer on the Public Health Emergency Response Strike Team, deploying in support of natural disasters and public health emergencies to provide essential clinical care to those in need, as well as to ensure sustainable health care delivery.

    Jessie Gallimore, MSN, is an acute care nurse practitioner specializing in trauma and surgical critical care at Parkland Health in Dallas.

    Emily Hines, MSN, is a family nurse practitioner at Ephraim McDowell Health in Danville, Ky.

    Carrie Ratliff, MSN, is a nurse practitioner at the Dallas Veterans Affairs Medical Center.

    Lane Smith, MSN, is a women’s health nurse practitioner at Medical Associates of Northwest Arkansas in Fayetteville.

    Sarah Luo Szeto, MSN, married in 2020 and is a family nurse practitioner at Veritas Healthcare in Chino Hills, Calif.

    Lexi Vierling, BS, MSN’20, joined Mount Sinai Neurology in New York City as a nurse practitioner, specializing in pediatric neurology.

Class Notes: 2020s

  • ’20

    Avaleen Davis, MSN, accepted a position in pulmonary hypertension at New York University Langone–Bellevue in early 2024. She is a nurse practitioner at Jain Cardiovascular in New York.

    Emily Kraus, MSN, is co-author of “Back to Belly: A Prone Positioning Protocol among Non-intubated Patients,” published in the July/August 2024 issue of the MedSurg Nursing Journal. She is a family nurse practitioner at Froedtert McKinley Health Center in Milwaukee, Wis.

    Kristina Miller Riser, MSN, is an advanced practice nurse at the McNabb Center in Oak Ridge, Tenn.

    Stephanie Zhang, BS, MSN’21, is a critical care nurse practitioner at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Fla.

  • ’21

    Megan Cohen, MSN, is a women’s health nurse practitioner in private practice in Atlanta.

    Arthur Coons, MSN, is a psychiatric nurse practitioner at the Nashville Veterans Affairs Medical Center.

    Klariz Lazo, MSN, DNP’23, is a family nurse practitioner in the Office of Franklin Lowe, M.D., in Los Alamitos, Calif.

    Hannah Martin, MSN, is a women’s health nurse practitioner at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences’ Women’s Center in Little Rock, specializing in general obstetrics/gynecology, high-risk OB and gender care.

    Anna McCracken, MSN, is a certified nurse-midwife at Virginia Mason Franciscan Health in Tacoma, Wash.

  • ’22

    Kendyl Durham, MSN, is an outpatient psychiatric-mental health nurse practitioner in Baltimore.

    Laura Edquist, MSN, is a nurse practitioner specializing in pediatric surgery at the Ann and Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago.

    Jessica Hernandez, MSN, is a nurse practitioner at the Indian Health Council and Vista Community Clinic in Oceanside, Calif., specializing in family medicine.

    Stephanie Kress, MSN, is a psychiatric-mental health nurse practitioner at Freeman Health Partners in Franklin, Tenn., specializing in interventional psychiatric treatments, depression, anxiety and bipolar.

    Mike Pogge, MSN, is an acute care nurse practitioner at Banner MD Anderson in Phoenix, specializing in complex/high-risk benign and malignant hematology and serving as an internal medicine/hospitalist.

    Maddie Potter, MSN, is a psychiatric-mental health nurse practitioner at an outpatient community health clinic in Portland, Ore.

    Chloe Rothstein, MSN, is a pediatric nurse practitioner at Cone Health Piedmont Pediatrics in Greensboro, N.C.

    Josh Woods, BA, MPH’24, earned his master of public health from Vanderbilt with a concentration in health policy in May. For his thesis, he studied “Information needs of rural and Black Tennesseans eligible for inherited cancer genetic testing.” He completed his practicum with the Tennessee Department of Health in Jackson, Tenn., and stayed with TDH to work on their human resources and talent management team.

  • ’23

    Noralynn Mayer, MSN, is a hospice case manager with Saint Barnabas Health System in Gibsonia, Penn.

    Emily Slocum, DNP, of New York City was inducted as a fellow of the American College of Nurse-Midwives in May 2024. She is a full-time lecturer at the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing in Philadelphia and a per diem nurse-midwife at North Central Bronx Hospital in New York.