2026 Reunion Spotlight

How did DGSOM uniquely prepare you for a career in medicine?
When I look back at my life, I ended up in academia rather than private practice, and that is a direct result of my time at UCLA and the influence of my professors, who instilled in me a love of teaching and giving back.  I had professors at UCLA who truly showed an interest in seeing both me and our entire class succeed. 

It’s not how you begin your life, but what you choose to make of what is handed to you. The seed for becoming a doctor was planted by my dad, an unskilled laborer with no high school education, when I was 11 years old, living in Jamaica. He told me he wanted me to become a doctor. He taught my two brothers and me the value of higher education. A seed was planted then, but it remained dormant for years.

After high school, I migrated to New York and later worked as a medical technologist in Pediatric Hematology at NYU Bellevue Hospital during the day, while attending college at night.  A friend of mine applied to medical school and was accepted to NYU. This sparked my interest, so I looked into the requirements for medical school and applied. 

UCLA was the only medical school I applied to outside of New York because it had only a $10 application fee at the time. However, I withdrew my application after being accepted at several medical schools in New York. A week later, I received a call from UCLA informing me that Dr. Bernard Towers would be coming to New York City and wanted to schedule an interview with me.  We met for breakfast, and I had the best interview of my life. He encouraged me to do the UCLA Prologue to Medicine paid summer program, where I was introduced to 20 of my future classmates. It was a great introduction to UCLA and a great way to begin our medical education. 

Raymond Jack (R.J.) Last, Professor of Anatomy, lived in Malta but came to UCLA each year to teach Anatomy. He wrote the classic anatomy textbook with a clinical focus. He was a brilliant anatomist, teacher, and mentor. He taught me how to apply my medical knowledge with clinical relevance, not just memorization. He inspired the best in me, taught me how to give back to my community, and nurtured my love for teaching. 

Can you share a fond memory from medical school?
I have a few. Although we came from diverse backgrounds, with varying study habits from high intensity to more subdued learning, we were truly a cohesive group of students who were generous in sharing our medical knowledge.  Because of my medical experience working in Pediatric Hematology Laboratory, I taught many of my colleague’s phlebotomy, how to identify white blood cells and platelets on peripheral smear, and how to recognize their precursors in bone marrow aspirates. 

We made time for joy and friendship, from a class party at a mansion in Bel-Air to gathering in my small Westwood studio to watch a classmate appear on The Newlywed Game Show.

During the first year, after completing an examination, a group of us went out to celebrate. Around midnight, I became ill with severe abdominal pain, nausea, and vomiting.  I called my classmate Carol Hicks, who came to drive me to the emergency room, but initially could not find the entrance!  I ended up hospitalized at St John’s Hospital with appendicitis. Post-surgery, my small psychology group came to have a class session in my room, making this an unforgettable, joy-filled moment.

Your 50^th Reunion is coming up this year. What would you tell your younger self after so many years of practice?
There were a couple of challenging things that, looking back on my life, I knew I made the right choices. I’d tell myself to never lose sight of my vision and to be the best that I can be in whatever areas I decide. Don’t do things halfway and be committed to whatever you decide. Lastly, make a positive difference in the lives of others wherever you can.

What is your proudest professional accomplishment?
There are a few! Founder and organizer for the Olive View-UCLA Medical Center award-winning Annual Health Career Day for 800 to 1,000 children from local middle and high schools in the San Fernando Valley (SFV). It was created as an interdepartmental, multidisciplinary collaboration and partnership with about 20 outside agencies, exposing children to a wide range of health-related career choices, a venue for mentorship, and empowering them to be “Best of the Best.” This began after speaking at local schools in the SFV, and hearing their stories about lack of knowledge, healthcare, and medicine.  Leadership at Olive View saw my concerns and embraced this outreach program.

I was also the founder and organizer of Olive View-UCLA Medical Center's award-winning Annual Community Health Education and Patient Recognition Day, which combines health education for the community with recognition of patients who made remarkable recoveries in the ICU and returned to meet and greet their caregivers who supported them. 

As Chair of the Olive View Medical Center Strategic Planning Community Committee, I helped lead the name change transition from Olive View Medical Center to Olive View-UCLA Medical Center, which assisted with the recruitment of academic physicians and researchers, and integrated our work more closely with DGSOM. I also started the combined UCLA-Olive View Department of Emergency Medicine.

My International Medical Outreach for 20 years began as Medical Director for my church’s Medical Mission, leading a multidisciplinary volunteer teams of 40 to 100 doctors, nurses, pharmacists, dentist and supporting staff, providing healthcare to developing countries including Ghana, Nigeria, Uganda, The Gambia, Kenya, Cambodia, Nepal, Palestine, Haiti, Armenia, the western Sahara, Bulgaria, and Jamaica, often alongside colleagues from Japan an across Africa. We served over 300,000 patients.

Can you share why you think it is important to give back to DGSOM and the ways that you have done so to make a difference for the next generation of Bruin MDs?
I have always believed in giving back to the institution that shaped me. 

I have hosted students in my home and worked with the former Director, Academic & Enrichment and Outreach, Ms. Patricia Pratt, to build social events to connect students, alumni, and local physicians for mentorship and support. 

Earlier on in my volunteering with the School, I served on the admissions subcommittee, and I saw firsthand how difficult it was to recruit and retain star students when compared to other well-endowed schools, and I realized the impact that a scholarship made. I served on the Medical Alumni Board, co-chaired Alumni Weekend, participated in career conferences, and spoke at the White Coat Ceremony for incoming students.

When our class of 1976 graduated, tuition was infinitesimally small compared with the cost today. That is why I am calling on our class to consider making a gift that will allow our class scholarship fund to provide life-changing opportunities for future students.

I’ve been involved with the reunion committee of our class since 1981, and I would encourage other reunion classes to host their own class-specific events alongside the DGSOM-hosted events to really expand the experience for alumni returning to campus. If alumni are going to take the time to come back and celebrate their reunion, let’s do more to expand their knowledge and enjoyment, and hopefully they, too, will be inspired to give back.

When you graduated, the School of Medicine was quite young. How has the school changed, and what are you proudest of for your alma mater?
When we entered in 1972 under Dean Sherman Mellinkoff, the UCLA School of Medicine was only 21 years old. Since then, it has expanded positively in many ways, into a world-class institution, strengthened by transformational support such as a $200 million unrestricted gift, and by growth in innovative research, patient-centered care, education, and community partnerships.

I appreciate and am proud to see that UCLA is committed to all Bruins across our diverse community. It makes UCLA stronger.

Do you have a message you’d like to share with your classmates?
I would like to share with the students at DGSOM the words of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow: “Heights of great men reached and kept, were not attained by sudden flight, but they, while their companion slept, were toiling upward in the night.” 

Keep focused and study hard because a career in medicine can be very rewarding. Also, as you rise, pull someone else up with you, and do not forget your alma mater. 

To the Class of 1976, YES! We can reach our goal of life-changing scholarship funding.  We had the privilege of attending a great institution like UCLA. We have to ask ourselves how we can give back to those who are coming behind us. When you are blessed, be a blessing to others. Let us be change-makers for others.