Hall of Fame Award, Banquet Highlight Medical Alumni Weekend 2017
During the annual celebration of the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine’s alumni, internationally renowned cardiologist and longtime UM faculty member Eduardo J. de Marchena, M.D. ’80, was formally inducted as the 2017 recipient of the Medical Alumni Association’s Hall of Fame Award.
From left, Alberto A. Mitrani, M.D., Eduardo J. de Marchena, M.D., and Laurence B. Gardner, M.D.
The honor, one of the highlights of Medical Alumni Weekend 2017, was presented March 4 before a packed room of de Marchena’s family, friends, and colleagues at The Ritz-Carlton Coconut Grove.
“Eduardo de Marchena, M.D. – clinician, educator, innovator, husband, father, and grandfather – you have made an outstanding contribution to the medical profession and society as a whole through your work and service in improving the lives of patients,” said Alberto A. Mitrani, M.D. ’84, associate professor of clinical medicine, who chairs the Alumni Awards Selection Committee. “It is a privilege to induct you into the Hall of Fame.”
The Alumni Hall of Fame Award is presented to alumni at least 10 years post-graduation who have achieved national or international recognition for an outstanding contribution to academic, research, or societal aspects of medicine.
Mitrani lauded de Marchena’s many accomplishments at UM. He’s currently associate dean of international medicine and professor of medicine and surgery, but he also served as chairman of the University of Miami Medical Group (UMMG), the physician practice at the University of Miami, and was the interim chair of the Department of Medicine and interim chief of the Division of Cardiology.
After joining the medical faculty in 1986, de Marchena was instrumental, along with the late Hooshang Bolooki, M.D., in creating the Heart Transplant Service. De Marchena has also created the interventional training program in cardiology and is recognized for world-leading achievements in the trans-catheter treatment of valvular heart disease, as well as the creation of a model training program in trans-catheter valvular therapy.
As dean of international medicine, he leads the International Medicine Institute’s UHealth International, the International Research Division, and the International Education and Training Division, which educates medical students and physicians from Latin America and the Caribbean through its William J. Harrington Latin American training programs.
In addition to spending his entire professional life at UM, de Marchena was also educated at UM and did his training at University of Miami/Jackson Memorial Hospital, where he completed a residency and fellowship in cardiology.
While accepting the Hall of Fame award, de Marchena thanked his wife, Melanie, his children, Eddy, Tiffany, and Ashley, his professors, co-workers, students, and patients.
“This award is so important to me,” he said. “It really is a tremendous honor to be part of the Hall of Fame at this wonderful medical school.”
The Hall of Fame Award ceremony was held just before the Reunions Banquet. Both are cornerstone events of Medical Alumni Weekend, a yearly celebration that brings alumni back to campus to celebrate the Miller School through activities, events, and continuing education courses. This year also marked milestone anniversaries for past classes, including the classes of 1957, 1962, 1967, 1972, 1977, 1982, 1987, 1992, 1997, 2002, and 2007.
During the banquet, Laurence B. Gardner, M.D., MACP, interim Dean of the Miller School, delivered the annual “State of the School” address.
Among the highlights: the recent opening of The Lennar Foundation Medical Center in Coral Gables; the continued planning of the Miller School of Medicine Center for Medical Education on the medical campus; Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center’s dedication of the Pap Corps campus in Deerfield Beach, thanks to a historic $50 million pledge from The Pap Corps Champions for Cancer Research; and the announcement of more than $13 million in research grants from the Florida Department of Health in the fight against the Zika virus.
“Of all our accomplishments, perhaps none is more important than our students and alumni,” said Gardner. “We actively recruit faculty who are the best in their fields and ready to train the next generation of physicians and scientists. Last year, more than 8,700 students applied for just 196 spots in the class of 2020. Our tradition of excellence in medical education continues.”
Medical Alumni Weekend also included a celebration at the 17th annual John G. Clarkson Freshman Pinning Ceremony, where more than 300 students, faculty, family members, and alumni saluted the nearly 200 freshmen in the Miller School’s class of 2020.
The keynote speaker was Susan Alpert, M.D. ’84, Ph.D., who encouraged the future physicians to embrace the continuing expansion of technology to help prevent and treat disease.
“Welcome to medicine — the most beautiful thing to study, and the most wonderful thing to be involved in,” said Alpert, founder of SFA Consulting, LLC, a firm focused on the strategies needed to place medical devices and other medical products into the global marketplace. “You will keep learning from each other, from your teachers and, most importantly, from your patients.”