We’d like to hear from you! Share your recent accomplishments to be added to "class notes" in the next BioNews issue.
In the meantime, check out what your fellow alums have been doing.
1950s
James P. Comer, BA ’56 Zoology, DSc’91 Honorary, gave a Frontiers of Science Lecture on innovations in children’s mental health at the 2019 APA Annual Meeting in San Francisco. The theme of the event was “Revitalize Psychiatry: Disrupt, Include, Engage, and Innovate.” At the meeting, Comer received an award recognizing him and the black psychiatrists who disrupted a 1969 meeting of the APA board to bring attention to the mental health concerns of African Americans. Their same push for social justice led to the creation of a black caucus within the APA and, eventually, the Black Psychiatrists of America. Comer, a professor of psychiatry at Yale University, lives in North Haven, CT.
1960s
1970s
David H. Goldsmith, BA ’78 Biological Sciences, a beverage host with Community Meals Inc., in Traverse City, MI, writes that his son, Nathan David, married Jessica Erin Sausto in July 2018. The couple was married in Longmont, CO, and reside in Northglenn, CO.
John J. Offerle, BA ’75 Biological Sciences, OD ’79, and his wife, Lauren (Shurr) Offerle, BA’75, MSW’97, of South Bend, IN, were recently named Humanitarians of the Year by the Indiana chapter of the Volunteer Optometric Services to Humanity. Through their many VOSH medical outreach trips, the couple has had a significant impact on the eye health of the people of Honduras. Offerle received Indiana Optometric Association’s Young Optometrist of the Year Award in 1988, Optometrist of the Year in 2010, and served as the association’s president from 1994 to 1995.
In 2017, Drue Pearce, BA ’73 Biological Sciences, of Anchorage, AK, is deputy administrator of the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration for the U.S. Department of Transportation. Pearce has advised stakeholders in resource development in Alaska, served in various seats of the federal government, and was the first woman to be twice named president of the Alaska Senate.
H. Michael Shepard—an innovator in the field of biotechnology and pioneer in cancer research—received the 2019 Lasker Award. Shepard earned his Ph.D. in molecular, cellular and developmental biology in 1977 from IU Biology, where he also completed postdoctoral training as a Damon Runyon-Walter Winchell Research Fellow. He returned to the Bloomington campus in 2018 as an IU visiting scholar to speak to biotechnology students.
The 2019 Lasker~DeBakey Clinical Medical Research Award, given for a major advance that improves the lives of many thousands of people, recognizes Shepard's role in the development of the drug Herceptin (trastuzumab). Herceptin is used to treat patients with HER2-positive breast cancer, an especially aggressive form of the disease. Herceptin attacks tumor cells and slows down their duplication. It has also been successful in treating some ovarian and gastric cancer patients.
1980s
Ludington, MI, resident, Jennifer L. Branning, BA ’81 Biology, OD ’85, has her own optometry practice, West Shore Eye Care. She has a special interest in medical eye care, pediatrics, specialty contact lenses, and dry eye treatment. Branning’s practice was named a 2019 Best Practices honoree by CooperVision Inc., one of the world’s leading manufacturers of soft contact lenses. Her husband, IU alumnus, Mark S Branning, BS Educ ’81, teaches American studies, psychology, and sociology at Shelby High School in Shelby, MI. The couple have two grown children.
In February 2020, Bob Chapek, BS '81 Microbiology, was named CEO of the Walt Disney Co., one of the world's largest and most influential media and entertainment companies. Chapek, a 27-year veteran of Disney, participated in the IU College of Arts and Sciences Luminaries Program during the program's inaugural year in 2013. The program connects current College students with prominent College alumni who guide the students along personal and professional pathways.
Richard J. Steffy, BS ’89 Microbiology, BS ’90 Medical Technology, earned a master’s degree in health administration from Philadelphia’s St. Joseph’s University in 2017. The following year, he retired from Nemours Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children in Wilmington, DE, after 26 years of service. Steffy is a medical laboratory scientist with the Christiana Care Health System in Middletown, DE. He has three children who are employed in the following areas: critical care nursing, art restoration/maintenance, and carpenter’s apprentice.
1990s
Shortly after graduating from the IU School of Optometry, Miranda Murray Cannon, OD ’10, and her husband, Mark J. Cannon, BA ’97 Biology and Psychology, OD ’10, moved to Seattle. Miranda began practicing at the McChord Air Force Base’s optometry center. Mark Cannon worked at a number of practices until he opened Cannon EyeCare in Seattle in 2015, with his wife. In 2017, Miranda took over as owner of McChord Optometry at the McChord Air Force Base. The Cannons live in Seattle and have two daughters.
Viva (Combs) Thorsen, BS ’94 Biology, BA ’95 Spanish, MPH ’97, earned her MPhil in 2006 from the University of Oslo (UiO) in International Community Health as well as her PhD (2013) in Maternal Health there. She did a postdoctoral fellowship at the UiO’s Institute of Health & Society. Thorsen is now an epidemiologist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, working in the Division of Global HIV & TB within the Maternal and Child Health Branch. As a member of the Pediatric and Adolescent HIV Team, she serves as the Unit Lead for the Orphans and Vulnerable Children Unit. She is married and has two children.
David M. Umpleby, BA ’95 Biology and Chemistry, JD ’98, joined the Indianapolis office of law firm Taft Stettinius & Hollister as a partner. With significant experience in structured financings, Umpleby represents clients in transactions involving public/private financing of both real estate developments and operating businesses. He focuses his practice on structured financings involving the use of tax incentives including new markets tax credits, low income housing tax credits, historic rehabilitation tax credits, opportunity zones, and state tax credits.
2000s
Megan (Kingsolver) Borror, BS ’08 Biology, PhD ’14 Microbiology, did a postdoctoral fellowship at the Barshop Institute for Longevity & Aging Studies at the University of Texas Health Science Center from 2014-2017. There she studied mitochondrial dysfunction and aging in the laboratory of Dr. Shane Rea. Borror is now an assistant professor of biology at Our Lady of the Lake University. She and her husband, Kenneth A. Borror, reside in San Antonio, TX.
In April, Kyle W. King, BS ’07 Biology, OD ’11, received the 2019 Indiana Optometric Association’s Young Optometrist of the Year Award at the IOA Awards Banquet in French Lick, IN. The award, which is bestowed on those who have been licensed for 10 years or less, is granted to an IOA member who has made a positive impact on the profession and served community health at large. King, a resident of Evansville, IN, is a partner and optometrist at Evansville Eyecare Associates.
Former Wells Scholar Brianne E. Kirkpatrick, BA ’03 Biology, Religious Studies, coauthored a recent book with Shannon D. Combs-Bennett, BS ’99 Biology, called The DNA Guide for Adoptees.” A certified and licensed genetic counselor, Kirkpatrick is the founder of Watershed DNA, which provides DNA consultations for ancestry and health. For more information about the company, visit watershedDNA.com. Kirkpatrick lives in Crozet, VA, with her husband and three children.
Stephanie (Farnsworth) Klemencic, BS ’01 Biology, OD ’05, is a member of the comprehensive and urgent optometric services at the Blue Ash, OH, location of the Cincinnati Eye Institute. She treats and manages eye diseases—such as cataracts, dry eyes, glaucoma, diabetes, and macular degeneration—and emergency eye care problems. For more than a decade, Klemencic served as an associate professor and coordinator of the Primary Eye Care and Ocular Disease Residency Program where she taught ocular disease care to optometry students and residents at the Illinois College of Optometry/Illinois Eye Institute in Chicago. She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Optometry and a Diplomate in the Academy’s Comprehensive Eye Care Section. In addition to her clinical duties, Klemencic volunteers her time as a consultant for the Accreditation Council on Optometric Education. She is actively engaged in clinical and scientific research, authoring many publications on ocular disease topics, and regularly lectures at national optometric meetings on a variety of ocular disease and pharmaceutical topics.
Elizabeth (Roush) Lichlyter, BS ’06 Biology, OD ’10, and her husband, Craig M. Lichlyter, BS ’08, OD’10, are both associates at Drs. Roush & Will Optometrists. The practice has three Indiana locations—Kendallville, Albion, and Ligonier. Elizabeth joined the practice in May 2010 and works in all three locations, as well as working as a medical optometrist at the Grossnickle Eye Center in northern Indiana. She lives in Kendallville.
After practicing optometry in Vincennes, IN, for seven years, Jericho (Halter) Quick, BS ’03 Biology, OD ’10, owns and operates her own practice, Quick Vision, providing comprehensive eye examinations, medical examinations, emergency eye care services, glasses, and contact lenses to patients of all ages. Quick lives in Vincennes.
After graduating from the IU School of Optometry, Andrea M. (Kern) Rope, BS ’05 Biology, OD ’09, served in the U.S. Air Force as an active duty officer and optometrist for nearly eight years. During her Air Force career, Rope served in several leadership positions, including aerospace and operational medicine flight commander, and serving as an externship preceptor where she educated optometry students. She was selected to serve as the Biomedical Science Corps executive on the medical group’s executive board and was chosen to be the optometry consultant for all of the flight training bases within the Air Education and Training Command. In 2016, Rope and her husband, Joshua, completed their active duty military service and moved with their two children to Bedford, IN. She is an optometrist at Dr. Jim I. Sowders practice of optometry in Bedford.
Sue Ann Zollinger, PhD ’07 Evolution, Ecology & Behavior, is a lecturer in Animal Behavior and physiology in the Department of Natural Sciences at Manchester Metropolitan University in the United Kingdom. Her dog X-Ray enjoys having a fenced yard to play in, but is a bit miffed that she can’t go to work with Zollinger the way she did when Zollinger worked in Germany.
2010s
Antiño Allen, PhD ’10 Evolution, Ecology & Behavior, was promoted to Associate Professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS). He is a member of the College of Pharmacy Division of Radiation Health. Allen returned to the Bloomington campus on April 17, 2019, to present the inaugural lecture, “Effects of space radiation on cognition: implications for future trips to Mars,” for the Minority Alumni Speaker Series.
The series was established to encourage and inspire underrepresented students to persist in STEM fields. It was launched by the IU Bloomington chapter of SACNAS (Society for the Advancement of Chicanos/Hispanics and Native Americans in Science) with funding from a Dean Richard McKaig Leadership Award and support received from these IU co-sponsors: Office of Diversity and Inclusion, Department of Biology, Center for the Integrative Study of Animal Behavior, Gill Center for Biomolecular Science, and Program in Neuroscience.
In August, Bonnie A. Weddle, BS ’14, a third-grade teacher at Loper Elementary School in Shelbyville, IN, and Taylor B. Bate, BS ’14 Biology, were married in Alumni Hall at the Indiana Memorial Union on the IU Bloomington campus. The father of the groom Jeffrey S. Bate, JD ’89; maid of honor, Whitney C. Fishburn, BS ’14; and the mother and father of the bride, Sarah (Hughes) Weddle, BS ’73, MSW ’90, and Paul D. Weddle, AAS ’93, were also present at the ceremony.
Amrita Bhattacharya, PhD ‘19 Evolution, Ecology & Behavior, is a postdoctoral scholar in Assistant Professor of Biology Dave Kennedy’s lab at Pennsylvania State University. There she studies pathogen evolution and its consequences on therapeutic interventions. Amrita married IU alumnus Jon Zarling (PhD ’19 Physics) on March 20, 2020. In announcing their marriage, the happy couple said, "In these uncertain times, we decided to make one thing certain.” They had planned to marry in Bloomington on April 25, but faced with the COVID-19 pandemic, they postponed those celebrations and had a small civil ceremony in Pennsylvania with the Mayor of Bellefonte officiating. Bhattacharya and Zarling hope to return to Bloomington at a later date to celebrate their union with family and friends.”
Ana “Sofia” Casasa Velez, PhD ’19 Evolution, Ecology & Behavior, is now a postdoctoral researcher in the lab of Assistant Professor Erik Ragsdale at Indiana University. Her research focuses on the developmental and genetic mechanisms, as well as evolutionary consequences, of phenotypic plasticity.
Courtney K. Ellison, PhD ’19 Microbiology, was recognized for her Ph.D. dissertation, “Function of pili and their activity in diverse bacterial species,” earning the 2019 University Distinguished Ph.D. Dissertation Award in the Biological Sciences category. Ellison also received the Nat L. Sternberg Thesis Prize for outstanding Ph.D. work in the field of bacterial molecular biology. She married Montana Howell last June and the couple moved to New Jersey. There, Ellison began a postdoctoral research position at Princeton University where she works with Josh Shaevitz, professor of physics, and Zemer Gitai, professor of molecular biology, studying the biophysics of bacterial behaviors.
Rondy J. Malik, MS ’16 Evolution, Ecology & Behavior, earned his PhD in Ecology from Pennsylvania State University. In May 2019 he became a National Science Foundation Postdoctoral Researcher in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the Kansas Biological Station. Malik is a member of the Bever/Schultz lab at the University of Kansas, familiar names to those of us in IU Biology since Professor Jim Bever and Associate Specialist Peggy Schultz served on our faculty for many years.
Aisha (Burton) Okala, PhD ’19 Microbiology, is a postdoctoral fellow at the National Institutes of Health, working with Dr. Gisela Storz in the Section on Environmental Gene Regulation. Burton married IU alum Emmanuel Okala (MS ’16 Optometry) in the spring of 2019.
Amilcar Perez, PhD ’19 Microbiology, is a postdoctoral fellow at the University of California, San Francisco, working on S. pombe cell biology in Professor Fred Chang's laboratory. Amilcar enjoys sightseeing with his dog, watching animated movies, playing board games, and exercising.
Danielle A. Richardson, BS ’10 Biology, OD ’15, is a glaucoma certified therapeutic optometrist at Optometrix’s Hollywood, CA, location. She is certified by the National Board of Examiners in Optometry to treat and manage ocular disease and specializes in therapeutic optometry, LASIK surgery co-management, contact lenses, dry eye, and digital eye strain. In her free time, Richardson runs a holistic wellness company, Fierce Clarity, where she hosts wellness retreats, yoga classes, and pop-up events for professional women to help manage stress and avoid burnout. Richardson has been featured in industry publications, including Eyecare Business and Invision magazine where she is a regular contributor on the subjects of work-life balance, holistic patient care, and stress reduction techniques. She lives in Los Angeles.
Daniel B. Schwab, PhD ’18 Evolution, Ecology & Behavior, is an AAAS Science and Policy Fellow with the Department of Defense in Washington, D.C.
Jenna L. Troiani, BS ’14 Biology, OD ’18, is an optometrist with Ossip Optometry. Currently living in Greenwood, IN, Troiani sees patients at the Greenwood and Camby, IN, locations. She is married to her high school sweetheart, Dominic P. Troiani, BSN ’15, a clinical field specialist with Edwards Lifesciences in Indianapolis.
The College of Arts