A L U M N I P R O F I L E S Class of 1974 Celebrates Its 40th Anniversary T he Class of 1974 was a class of firsts for Rutgers Medical School. It was the school’s largest entering class to date, and it was the first class to earn a four-year medical degree from the school. Women represented 17 percent of the entering class, at a time when the national average was less than 10 percent. The student-faculty ratio remained low, allowing first- and secondyear students to work closely with remarkable teachers such as John Kostis, MD, and Teodoro Santiago, MD. On clinical rotations, despite the Arab oil embargo, students overcame gas lines and shortages to reach seven widely separated clinical sites, nicknaming themselves “the Road Scholars.” They worked directly with Paul Winokur, MD, chief of pediatrics at Muhlenberg Hospital, and Hunterdon Medical Center’s Frank Snope, MD, a national figure in his field, who founded the medical school’s B Y K A T E O ’ N E I L L 1974 FACU LTY: Department of Family Medicine. In lectures with Richard Cross, MD, they gained indelible insights from a pioneer in medical school sexuality education. Women in the class appreciated the presence of strong faculty role models, including Joanne Medlinsky, MD, and Parvin Saidi, MD. And this class, like its successors, remains grateful for the dedication of Paul Stein, director, Kessler Teaching Laboratories. Every member of the class earned an MMS (master of medical science) in 1972, and while half pursued earlier plans to complete their MD elsewhere, 16 transfer students promptly took their place. In May 1974, Rutgers Medical School awarded its first 31 MD degrees. John Kostis, MD Teodoro Santiago, MD Paul Winokur, MD Frank Snope, MD 54 Robert Wood Johnson I MEDICINE