MCW/Marquette Medical Alumni Association Awards

Dr. Marie L. Nakata, MD '89, GME '93 received the 2024 Distinguished Service Award. After receiving her medical degree from MCW, Marie went on to complete a residency in Dermatology. Marie met her husband, Steven K. Nakata, MD ‘88, GME ’92, during medical school, and her family roots to the institutions are deep including Louis F. Jermain, MD, the first dean of the School of Medicine. on her father’s side and Dr. John P. Kampine, esteemed, long time chair of Anesthesiology, on her mother’s side.

Marie joined the MCW/Marquette Medical Alumni Association Board of Directors and served for two terms from 2013 to 2019. She went on to serve as President of the Alumni Association from 2016 -2017. An active participant and past president of the MCW/Marquette Medical Alumni Association, Dr. Nakata served on the search committee for the association’s executive director in 2019. In 2020 she started a three-year term on the Medical College of Wisconsin Board of Trustees. She has also served on all her Class of 1989 Reunion Committee’s and volunteered at many Alumni Association events acting as a proactive and relevant resource to our Alumni, fostering a lifetime connection to MCW and to the alumni community in support of the institution’s mission.

The Alumni Association is pleased to honor Dr. Marie Nakata with this award.

View Dr. Nakata's 2024 Distinguished Service Award Recipient Video

Peter A. Bandettini, PhD '94 received the 2024 Graduate School Alumnus of the Year Award. Dr. Bandettini received his bachelor's degree in Physics at Marquette University. He received his PhD in Biophysics at the Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW) in 1994. His co-advisors were Drs. James Hyde and Scott Hinks. From 1994 to 1996, Dr. Bandettini carried out his postdoctoral training under Drs. Jack Belliveau and Bruce Rosen at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School. After briefly returning to MCW as an Assistant Professor, he moved to Bethesda, MD in 1999 to work at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) as a Principal Investigator and Chief of the Section on Functional Imaging Method as well as Director of the Functional MRI (fMRI) core facility. He recently established the Center for Multimodal Neuroimaging as well as the Machine Learning Team and Data Science and Sharing Team.

Dr. Bandettini has been engaged in serving and leading both the MRI and Brian Mapping communities. From 2011 to 2017, he was Editor-In-Chief of the journal, NeuroImage, and in 2006, he was president of the Organization for Human Brain Mapping (OHBM). In 2002, he won the OHBM Young Investigator Award, and in 2020 he won the International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine (ISMRM) Gold Medal – their highest honor.

Dr. Bandettini’s research has aimed to advance fMRI methodology and utility - directed towards using and developing fMRI towards deriving insight into human brain function as well as enhanced clinical utility. Dr. Bandettini has published over 224 papers and has an h-index of 100, having been cited over 50,000 times. He has co-edited a book, and has recently authored a book in the MIT Press Essential Knowledge series, titled "fMRI."

Dr. Bandettini enjoys raising his 3 teenage boys in Bethesda, MD with his wife Patricia. He also enjoys running as he is a nationally competitive masters middle distance runner.

The Alumni Association is pleased to honor Dr. Peter Bandettini with this award.

View Dr. Bandettini's 2024 Graduate School Alumnus of the Year Recipient Video

Angela K. Nelson received the 2024 Honorary Alumna Award. Angela joined the Medical College of Wisconsin in 2007 as a Director of Annual and Special Giving and was promoted to Senior Director of Development and Alumni Relations in 2014. She has served as Executive Director of the MCW/Marquette Medical Alumni Association from March 2020 until her retirement in June 2024.

Throughout her 17 years at MCW, Angela has been a leader, a mentor, and a trusted colleague in the Office of Institutional Advancement. During that time, she maintained a focus on building a culture of philanthropy among the alumni community that contributed to the vibrancy of the MCW learning environment, and supported two of MCW’s comprehensive campaigns.

She has distinguished herself as a tireless advocate for alumni across the entire country – physicians and residents, scientists, pharmacists, our campuses in Green Bay and Central Wisconsin and graduates from our varied and growing programs.

Alongside campus leadership, she has worked diligently to ensure that MCW remains a trusted resource and vital campus partner for our entire alumni base and that alumni are included as key stakeholders as the strategic objectives of the institution are developed and achieved.

In her four years as executive director of the Alumni Association, Angela reimagined and reinvigorated alumni reunion programming through the COVID-19 pandemic. Remaining flexible and creative, she continued to promote alumni engagement through both virtual and in-person formats.

Angela has been dedicated to facilitating connections between alumni and students by developing opportunities through programs like Mentor Connections for Wisdom and Wellness. She has led the expansion of MCW ENGAGE, the closed online platform exclusive to MCW alumni and students, to now nearing 2,000 registered users.

Angela also has a personal commitment to MCW’s mission. She and her husband, Greg, have made generous personal contributions to MCW; she joined the Walter Zeit Fellowship in 2014 and remains an active donor to MCW to this day.

Prior to joining MCW, Angela served as a fundraising manager for Children’s Hospital and Health System Foundation, and was the first executive director of the Wisconsin Chapter of the Lupus Foundation of America, the state’s only non-profit organization dedicated 100 percent to providing support to individuals and families living with lupus.

Angela exemplifies MCW’s values through her leadership, collaboration, and generosity.

We are so pleased to welcome Angela Nelson as our 2024 Honorary Alumna.

View Angela's Honorary Alumna Award Recipient Video

J. Luis Bautista, MD '84 received a 2024 Humanitarian Award. Grounded in his love for the community that nurtured his growth, Dr. Jose Luis Bautista, grew up in Ventura County, California, helping his parents pick fruit and making $4,000 a year ($30,000 in today’s dollars). In 1979, at age 24, Dr. Bautista was picking lemons when his mother came running out to the fields in his native California with the letter announcing his admission to the Medical College of Wisconsin. He pledged in medical school to help people in the farm fields with difficult access to healthcare, eventually pursuing residency training in internal medicine.

Since his early years as a physician, he provided medical treatment to migrant workers, often uninsured and undocumented, and accepted as payment whatever his patients could offer: onions, handmade key chains, eggs, even live chickens. Dr. Bautista also hosted “Navidad en el Barrio” Health Fair to inform the community about disease management and progression. He was a key pillar for California’s Central Valley Latino community, participating in radio and television appearances on eating and staying healthy. In addition, he has donated time to youth needing sports physical exams, participated in public service announcements, and provided seminars on subjects such as stroke prevention, alcoholism and diabetes.

He is now the medical director and president of Bautista Rural Medical Clinics in Sanger, CA, Sespe Medical Group Inc in Fillmore, CA, and Avance Home Health Inc. in Fresno, CA. The practice is truly a family affair, with four of Dr. Bautista’s five children and their spouses on staff. They treat nearly everyone – insured, uninsured, legal or undocumented. “The beauty of being a humanitarian,” he says, “is that you don’t have to be a genius, you don’t have to be rich. All you need is a giving heart and the ability to turn a negative into a positive.”

For the past 25 years, the Bautista Medical Group has hosted Navidad en el Barrio Health Fair and has gifted more than 5,000 toys annually to inner-city youth and children of farm workers.

The Alumni Association is pleased to honor Dr. Bautista with this award. 

View Dr. Bautista's Humanitarian Award Recipient Video

Joseph M. Tombers, MD ‘64 received a 2024 Humanitarian Award. Dr. Tombers had his first experience of providing medical care in developing nations following his internship when he volunteered to serve the people of Honduras for one year at Clinica "Las Mercedes " in El Progreso, Yoro, Honduras. The clinic was operated by the Jesuits (Missouri Province). Dr. Tombers and his wife and daughter lived next to the clinic where he was able to care for the indigenous people there treating diabetes and other tropical diseases. His only investigative tools were a microscope to determine the presence of parasitic disease, a glucometer and a method to determine hemoglobin levels. He saw about a thousand patients a month with a variety of diseases.

After serving the next two years in the U.S.  Air Force, Dr. Tombers trained as an internist and gastroenterologist at the University of Minnesota/VA system. Following specialty training in gastroenterology, he remained on the academic staff there for five years and concurrently formed a practice group in gastroenterology with two other colleagues.

In 1997 Dr. Tombers had contacted the International Health Service of Minnesota and his first return trip to Honduras followed that same year. He and fellow physicians concentrated on providing care to the Mosquito Indians on the eastern coast of Honduras which is a remote area that is underserved by the government. Tombers has served as co-medical director for this organization for the last 10-12 years.

Dr. Tombers now travels with a team who live and eat just as the natives do. Dr. Tombers has made 26 trips lasting two weeks at a time in the last 27 years, providing medical care and education in preventative medicine.

The team provides dental care, nutritional instruction, medical evaluations and referrals, supplies REI water filtration kits for 30-40 households, and supplies food supplied by the “Feed My Starving Children” organization. The team engages in carpentry projects, helps in repairing airstrips and funds building projects. At age 85, he shows no sign of letting up in his volunteer efforts.

The Alumni Association is pleased to honor Dr. Joseph Tombers with this award.

View Dr. Tombers’ 2024 Humanitarian Award Recipient Remarks Video

Anne M. Hanneken, MD ‘84 received the 2024 Medical School Alumna of the Year Award. Dr. Hanneken, serves as an Associate Professor of Molecular Medicine at the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, CA, while actively practicing as a vitreoretinal surgeon at Scripps Memorial Hospital. She holds the position of Vice-President at Retina Consultants San Diego. She is renowned for her translational approach, where she addresses clinical challenges in the lab and applies her therapeutic discoveries back to the clinical setting. Her expertise is particularly notable in the areas of macular degeneration and transplantation.

Dr. Hanneken's innovative contributions include leading a multidisciplinary team that succeeded in reviving human organ donor eyes post-circulatory death and re-establishing light-induced signaling in the macula. Her groundbreaking 2022 Nature paper, co-authored with Dr. Frans Vinberg, titled “Revival of light signaling in the postmortem mouse and human retina,” has received significant acclaim. This paper is ranked in the top 99% of all scientific papers and the top 96% of all Nature publications. The Wall Street Journal featured this research in an article titled “A spark of life after death in sight research.” Dr. Hanneken is credited with devising the organizational structure of the “revEYEval” project and creating an efficient surgical protocol for rapid eye recovery, a method now being adopted nationwide.

Her academic journey began with an undergraduate degree in chemistry from Marquette University, followed by medical school at the Medical College of Wisconsin. During her medical training, she conducted research on ocular angiogenesis at Harvard Medical School under Dr. Judah Folkman and pursued genetics research with Nobel Laureate Dr. Oliver Smithies. Dr. Hanneken completed her ophthalmology residency at the Johns Hopkins Wilmer Eye Institute and a vitreoretinal surgery fellowship at Duke University Eye Center under Dr. Robert Machemer. After her fellowship, she pursued a postdoctoral research fellowship in La Jolla with Nobel Laureate Dr. Roger Guillemin, specializing in protein purification and cell and molecular biology.

In 1992, Dr. Hanneken presented pivotal research on VEGF localization in diabetic retinas at ARVO, aiding the development of Avastin for macular degeneration treatment. She subsequently joined the Scripps Research Institute's Department of Cell Biology and Retina Consultants San Diego, partnering with Dr. Paul Tornambe.

Dr. Hanneken's distinguished career has earned her numerous accolades, including the 2023 Johns Hopkins Wilmer Eye Institute Distinguished Alumna of the Year award, the Marquette University Distinguished Alumna of the Year Award, and several regional top doctor awards. She is a fellow and diplomat of the American Board of Ophthalmology, an Associate Editor of Ophthalmology Science, and a member of multiple esteemed societies. She actively participates in NIH-funded research, reviews for the National Eye Institute, and conducts clinical trials. Dr. Hanneken maintains a busy clinical practice while leading a laboratory at Scripps Research Institute, focusing on innovative retinal disease treatments.

The Alumni Association is pleased to honor Dr. Anne Hanneken with this award.

View Dr. Hanneken's 2024 Medical School Alumna of the Year Award Remarks Video

2023 A. John Capelli, MD '78, GME '81, posthumously
2022 Gary L. Kolesari, MD '77, PhD '76
2021 E. Christopher Ellison, MD '76
2020 Neil R. Guenther, MD ’83, GME ’86 ’88
2018 Paul E. Hankwitz, MD '74, GME '78
2017 Gerald J. Dorff, MD '64, FEL '70
2016 John T. Bjork, MD '71, Fel '76
2015 Donald J. McDonald, MD '83, GME '87
2014 Steven C. Bergin, MD '74, GME '78
2014 Thomas G. Wittmann, MD '84, GME '87
2013 James L. Algiers, MD '53, GME '63
2012 Victoria A. Vollrath, MD '77, GME '80
2011 Ronald J. Darling, MD '62, GME '67
2010 Jane L. Neumann, MD '70, GME '73
2009 Cynthia A. Bauer, MD '74, GME '75
2008 Thomas J. Russell, MD '62
2007 Thomas M. Kidder, MD '68, GME '73
2006 Anthony P. Ziebert, MD '60, GME '63, FEL '64
2005 Robert S. Pavlic, MD '54
2004 Kathleen M. Hargarten, MD '82, GME '85
2003 Roger P. Johnson, MD '67, GME '73, MS '65
2002 Donald P. Schlueter, MD '59, GME '63
2002 Gilbert S. Wadina, MD '61
2001 Donald E. Chisholm, MD '56, GME '64
2001 David S. Haskell, MD '67, GME '72
2000 John R. Litzow, MD '59, GME '63, FEL '65
2000 Robert J. Toohill, MD '60
1999 John J. Frederick, MD '51, GME '58
1999 Michael H. Keelan, Jr., MD '60, GME '66, FEL '68
1998 William B. Frymark, MD '46, GME '54
1998 Michael T. Jaekels, MD '55
1997 William C. Curtis, MD '47
1997 William G. Weber, MD '60
1996 Robert O. Buss, MD '66, GME '68
1996 Robert H. Herzog
1995 Walter E. Gager, MD '63, GME '67
1995 Rita M. Marino, MD '58
1994 Donald J. Heyrman, MD '56
1994John P. Kampine, MD '61, PhD '65
1993 Kathryn C. Bemmann, MD '56
1993 James M. Cerletty, MD '58, FEL '64
1992 George J. Korkos, MD '59
1992 William J. Listwan, MD '68, GME '74
1992 Sanbo S. Sakaguchi, MD '43

2023 Philip S. Clifford, PhD '85
2022 Sachin C. Patel, MD '06, PhD '04
2021 Matthew R. Hodges, PhD '04
2020 Jeffery D. Molkentin, PhD ’94
2019 Page S. Morahan, PhD '69
2017 Cecilia J. Hillard, PhD '83
2016 Michael F. Nolan, PhD '75
2015 Joseph J. Carroll, PhD '02
2014 Sarah K. England, PhD '93
2013 Lawrence G. Pan, PhD '83
2012 Daniel J. McDermott, PhD '69

2023 Billie Kubly
2022 Cheryl A. Maurana, PhD
2021 Ravi P. Misra, PhD
2020 Allen W. Cowley, Jr., PhD
2019 Richard N. Katschke
2017 Alonzo P. Walker, MD
2016 John R. Raymond, Sr., MD
2015 William A. Schultz
2014 Edward J. Zore
2013 James W. Heald
2012 Linda T. Mellowes
2011 J. Frank Wilson, MD
2010 Virginia K. Bolger
2009 John M. Cary
2008 James E. Youker, MD
2007 Thomas R. Hefty
2006 Stephen H. Marcus
2005 Vera Wilson
2004 Janice L. Lennon
2003 Lorry Uihlein
2002 P. Michael Mahoney
2001 Lloyd B. (Ted) Smith
2000 Melodie Wilson Oldenburg
1999 William L. Randall
1998 Jon P. McGlocklin
1997 Michael J. Cudahy
1996 Jack F. Hanus
1996 Lesley A. Mack
1995 T. Michael Bolger, JD
1991 Gerald A. Kerrigan, MD
1990 Reverend John P. Raynor, SJ
1989 John R. Petersen, MD, GME '60
1989 Richard O. Schultz, MD
1988 Jacob Lemann, Jr., MD
1986 Drs. June M. and George F. Unger
1984 Leonard W. Cronkhite, Jr., MD
1982 Edward A. Bachhuber, MD
1980 Edward J. Lennon, MD, GME '58
1979 Stavri G. Joseph
1978 Joseph F. Kuzma, MD
1976 Bessie Casey
1969 Walter P. Blount, MD
1969 Louis Quarles

2023 Roland H. Winter, MD '83
2022 Stephen W. Hargarten, MD '75
2021 Mark L. Harlow, MD '86, GME '91
2020 Steven E. Larson, MD ’75, GME ’78, FEL ’80
2019 Marc H. Erickson, MD '89
2018 Sister Alegria, MD '78
2017 Donald A. Hackbarth, MD '77, GME '82
2016 Anne T. Martinelli, MD '01
2015 Frank T. Pilney, MD '59
2015 John P. Zimmermann, MD '70
2014 Laurel M. Bear, MD '84, GME '87
2013 Gloria M. Halverson, MD '73
2012 Clifford H. Starr, MD '56, GME '63, MS '63
2011 Sister Mary V. Annel, MD '71
2010 Thomas P. Chisholm, MD '59
2009 Wendelin W. Schaefer, MD '64
2008 Carol A. Ritter, MD '83
2007 Theodore G. MacKinney, MD '85
2007 Julianne R. Newcomer, MD '87, GME '97
2006 Stuart E. Adair, MD '64
2005 Brother Jerry J. Galloway, MD '65, GME '70
2005 George R. Schneider, MD '70

2023 Michael A. Stocker, MD '68, GME '69, MPH
2022 Anna M. Ledgerwood, MD
2021 Elizabeth M. Davies, MD '95, GME '98
2020 Marlene D. Melzer-Lange, MD ’75, GME ’78
2019 Beth Erickson Wittmann, MD '84, GME '88
2018 Robert P. Nirschl, MD '58
2017 William M. Valenti, MD '72
2016 Karen J. Marcdante, MD '80, GME '83
2016 Paul S. Pagel, MD '86, GME '90, FEL '93, PhD '94
2015 Joseph E. Kerschner, MD '90, FEL '98
2014 Jerry R. Youkey, MD '74
2013 Philip E. Stieg, MD '83
2012 David R. Holmes, Jr., MD '71
2011 Steven P. Shelov, MD '71
2010 Gen. C. Bruce Green, MD '78
2009 Richard J. Kitz, MD '54
2008 Mary M. Horowitz, MD '80, GME '89, MS '91
2007 Janis M. Orlowski, MD '82
2006 Ritsuko Komaki, MD, GME '77, FEL '78
2005 James T. Casper, MD '70, GME '72
2004 Joseph D. Zuckerman, MD '78
2003 Thomas M. Krummel, MD '77
2002 George J. Reul, MD '62, GME '69
2001 Joseph E. Geenen, MD '60, GME '65, FEL '67
2000 Maria Bustillo, MD '75
1999 Donald R. Laub, MD '60
1998 John P. Kampine, MD '61, PhD '65
1997 Thomas L. Garthwaite, MD, GME '79
1996 Michael J. Dunn, MD '62
1995 Raymond C. Zastrow, MD '55
1994 Walter J. Hogan, MD '58, FEL '64
1993 Jack A. Klieger, MD '41
1992 Eugene E. Bleck, MD '47
1991 Timothy T. Flaherty, MD '59
1990 Edward J. Lennon, MD, GME '58
1989 William V. Dolan, MD '74
1988 Michael J. Krentz, MD '73
1987 James B. Perry, MD '56
1986 John J. Czajka, MD '56, GME '61
1985 Marvin Wagner, MD '44, MS '51
1984 Sister Antonia M. Guerrieri, MM, MD '34
1983 Norman H. Engbring, MD '51
1982 Leo R. Weinshel, MD '37, GME '48, MS '53
1981 Francis X. Paletta, MD '39
1980 Bruce J. Brewer, MD '40
1979 Steve L. Chojnacki, MD '37
1978 Reverend James R. (Luke) Tupper, MD '58
1977 Anthony V. Pisciotta, MD '44
1976 Derward Lepley, Jr., MD '49
1975 Bruno J. Peters, MD '38
1974 Robert J. Schweitzer, MD '46
1973 John S. Hirschboeck, MD '37, MS '41
1972 John G. Walsh, MD '38
1970 Frederick J. Hofmeister, MD '35
1967 Joseph M. King, MD '21