Class Notes

• School of Allied Health Science

• School of Dentistry

• School of Graduate Studies (no news)

• School of Medicine

• School of Nursing

Allied Health Sciences

Kelly Cassidy Mackey (O.T., ’01), Lilburn, Ga., is an occupational therapist for Manorcare of Decatur and DeKalb Medical Center. She married Richard Mackey Oct. 20. He is an electrical engineer for GTP Consulting Engineering in Duluth, Ga.

Heather N. Reece (health information management, ’02), Gillsville, Ga., recently earned a master’s degree in public administration from North Georgia College and State University. She oversees operations for Northeast Georgia Health System’s Health Information Management Department.

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Dentistry

Dr. George Snelling (’75), Martinez, Ga., has been named a Georgia State Properties Commission board member. He was appointed by Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle. Dr. Snelling is an investor, real estate developer, owner of Snelling Properties, L.L.P. and vice president of the Georgia Self-Storage Association. He serves on the boards of the Georgia Medical Center Authority and the Builders Association of Augusta.

Dr. William B. Williams (’75), Suwanee, Ga., has received the 2007 Ron Lamb Award for outstanding mission work. This annual award honors a North American dentist who exemplifies Christian Dental Society ideals. His Kenya Medical Outreach program provides volunteer dental and medical care and missionary work to surrounding communities.

Dr. Robert Pate (’78), Athens, Ga., has been named a fellow of the Academy of General Dentistry. Criteria included 500 hours of continuing dental education, passing a comprehensive written exam and fulfilling three years of continuing academy membership. Dr. Pate is a member of the American Dental Association, the International Congress of Oral Implantologists, the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry and the American Dental Society of Anesthesiology.

Dr. Shirley H. Fisher (’91), Warner Robins, Ga., has received the Georgia Dental Association Honorable Fellow Award. She is a member of the American and Georgia dental associations.

Dr. Nelson Woo (’00) practices dentistry in Canton, Ga., and midtown Atlanta with
Dr. Hugh Harris. He completed cosmetic dentistry training at Louisiana State University and is a member of the Hinman Dental Society, the American Dental Association, the Georgia Dental Association and the Northwest District Dental Society.

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Medicine

Rear Admiral Joseph H. Miller (’55), Apollo Beach, Fla., has written three books in the last three years since retiring from medicine. A fourth is almost finished.

Dr. Joseph A. Blissit (’56), Stockbridge, Ga., retired recently as medical director of the Westbury Health and Rehabilitation Center of McDonough. His years of practice in Henry County enabled him to treat the third and fourth generations of families he first encountered when he began practicing more than 40 years ago. He retired from his practice in 2002 but stayed on as medical director of Westbury. As chair of Henry Medical Center’s hospital authority board and a member of Henry Medical’s operating board, he also served as acting chief executive officer of the hospital for several months in 2006-07.

Dr. William J. Welsh (’75), Augusta, has received the 2007 Hardman Cup Award from the Medical Association of Georgia. The award recognizes outstanding work in medicine and/or public health. Dr. Welsh is one of only seven Augustans to receive this honor. Dr. Welsh opened his Augusta Cosmetic Surgery Practice in 1981 and is a member of MCG’s clinical faculty, frequently training residents at his offices. Recently, he has been performing hand surgeries in Charleston, W.V., with the Charleston Area Medical Center. He enjoys rugby, flying and watercolor and oil painting. He has six children and 11 grandchildren.

Dr. James K. Elsey (’79) practices vascular and general surgery for the Gwinnett Hospital System in Lawrenceville and Duluth, Ga. He has been appointed to the Executive Committee of the American College of Surgeons and serves on the American College of Surgeons Board of Governors. He is secretary of the Georgia chapter and a member of the American College of Surgeons Board of Governors.

Dr. Robert Brown (’84), Moultrie, Ga., is a surgeon with Surgical Associates of South Georgia who was recently honored upon his retirement from the Colquitt County Hospital Authority. He served on the authority for nine years. He joined Colquitt Regional Hospital’s medical staff in 1990 and served as the hospital’s chief of staff from 1996-98.

Dr. John P. Cole (’85) practices hair transplant surgery in Atlanta, Cleveland, Charlotte, N.C., and Chevy Chase, Md. He was among the first 30 physicians to become a diplomate of the American Board of Hair Restoration Surgery and serves on its Board of Directors and Examination Committee. He has invented numerous hair transplant instruments and developed mathematical formulas to accurately measure human performance in hair restoration surgery.

Dr. Bette Cavallo Potter (’85) recently opened Town & Country Dermatology in Athens, Ga. Dr. Potter, who completed dermatology and dermatological surgery residencies at MCG, is certified by the American Board of Dermatology and is a fellow of the American Academy of Dermatology. She is a member of the American Society of Dermatological Surgery, the North American Society of Phlebology, the Medical Association of Georgia, the Medical Association of Atlanta, the American Medical Association, the Georgia Society of Dermatology and the Information Association for Physicians in Clinical Research.

Dr. Ellie Campbell (’92), Suwanee, Ga., discussed Vitamin D—Not Just for Osteoporosis Anymore as a guest lecturer at the “Bio-Identical Hormone Restoration Therapy in Male and Female Patients” continuing medical education course recently in Portland, Ore.

Dr. Richard W. Ellison (’92) is a colonel in the U.S. Army who directs health affairs for the Multi-National Security Transition Command-Iraq, the military branch that trains and organizes Iraq’s military and police forces. This is the third deployment overseas since Sept. 11, 2001 for Dr. Ellison, a native of Augusta. He has served as a combat surgeon in Iraq and a surgical team commander in Afghanistan. He and his wife have three sons and live in Fayetteville, Ga.

Dr. Tony Ghodadra (’99) has joined the staff of Jackson Radiology Associates, PA in Jackson, Tenn. He completed postdoctoral training at the Cleveland Clinic in Musculoskeletal Radiology and specializes in bone and joint disease. His wife, Dr. Sejal Ghodadra (School of Dentistry, ’01), practices general dentistry. They enjoy travel, physical fitness and the outdoors.

Dr. Christopher Ramsden (’03) has self-published Nutrition by the Numbers, a book with a food rating system based on nutritional biochemistry and preventive medicine. Dr. Laurence S. Sperling, director of preventive cardiology at Emory University, calls the book “a brilliantly unique guide to healthy eating and, importantly, the antithesis of a fad diet.” The book is available at www.theNQI.com.

Dr. Elizabeth Lester Johnson (’04), Athens, Ga., recently joined the practice of Drs. Thomas N. Kias and Mary Bess Jarrard as a general internist. She completed an internal medicine residency at Emory University.

Dr. Alex Kelly (’38), Bethesda, Md., died Sept. 29 at age 90. Dr. Kelly, a survivor of the Bataan Death March who pursued a psychiatry career because of that World War II experience, was the highest-ranking member of his medical school class. He was elected to Alpha Omega Alpha, the medical honor society, and completed residency training in internal medicine at MCG. He then served in the Army Medical Corps and was the battalion surgeon for the 57th Infantry Regiment Philippine Scouts. In April 1942, he was captured by the Japanese and spent three years as a prisoner of war. After the war, he completed residency training in psychotherapy at Johns Hopkins Hospital. He came to the Washington, D.C., area in 1953 and practiced psychiatry until 1976, when he became a staff psychiatrist at the Veterans Administration Hospital. He was named temporary chief of the psychiatry service in 1985 and retired in 1990. He was a past president of the Washington Psychiatric Society and an enthusiastic golfer. His wife, Marion K. Kelly, died in 2005. Survivors include three sons, a sister, a brother and six grandchildren.

Dr. Charles Wills (’47) died Oct. 4 at age 83. He had retired just days earlier from his almost 60-year practice in Washington, Ga., interrupted only by service in the U.S. Army during the Korean War. His patients remember him as matter-of-fact, honest, direct and willing to do anything for their well-being. He was a generalist who made house calls up to the day he died. Survivors include wife Tut, seven children and 19 grandchildren.

Dr. Lionel Yoe (’51) died Oct. 4 at age 88. He practiced ophthalmology in Columbus, Ga., until 2006. It was the example of his father, A.O.—a self-taught optometrist who held several eyeglass patents—that instilled in Dr. Yoe a love of helping people with their eyesight. Hanging his shingle in 1955, he was one of Columbus’ first ophthalmologists. Survivors include wife Elizabeth, four children and five grandchildren.

Dr. Lewis R. Collins Sr. (’61) died Jan. 31 age age 70. He practiced internal medicine at Papp Clinic in Newnan, Ga., for 39 years. Dr. Mikell Baynard Karsten Sr. (’63) died Nov. 13, 2006 at age 73. Dr. Karsten practiced surgery in Tifton, Ga., and helped found Tifton Surgical Clinic. During his 20-year practice, he was chief of staff and chief of surgery at Tift General Hospital (now Tift Regional Medical Center). He and his wife, Catherine Anne Cumby Karsten, moved to Tryon, N.C., after his retirement. In addition to his wife, survivors include two sons and
two grandsons.

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Nursing

Lauralee Hunter (B.S.N., ’68), Athens, Ga., has been certified by the American Nurses Credentialing Center in Nursing Professional Development. She is the clinical staff development coordinator of St. Mary’s Health Care System, Inc.

Patricia C. “P.J.” Johnson (’77), Summerville, S.C., is chief executive officer of Summerville Medical Center. She has a master’s degree in nursing administration from the Medical University of South Carolina.

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