2008 College of Medicine Alumni Award Winners
Robert G. Demos, M.D.
Dr. Demos received his M.D. from the University of Tennessee College of Medicine in 1944. He was the second board-certified Ob-Gyn in
Chattanooga, Tennessee, his hometown. Dr. Demos loved his chosen profession. He loved the surgery. He loved the endocrinology.
Most of all, he loved the mothers and the babies. He devoted his life to his patients. Being extremely energetic, he saw large numbers
of patients. Being caring, he took time to listen. Being sensitive, his empathy inspired him to wipe away the tears and to decrease
the pain and suffering causing them. His patients inspired him. He ruminated over their problems and read constantly seeking solutions
to their ills.
Dr. Demos’ compassion, caring and training were certainly at play in 1947 when he delivered the smallest baby every born in an Army Hospital to survive. It weighed 1 pound and 13 ounces. That baby not only lived, but grew up to become a physician. In fact, Dr. Demos delivered three babies that year weighing less than three pounds. With the help of his nurses and pediatric staff, all lived to become healthy babies. For this, he won the second highest non-combat award in the Army: The Commendation Ribbon for Meritorious Achievement. After more than 10,000 babies in 50 years of practice, he has never lost a mother.
During his career, Dr. Demos served as Chief of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Erlanger and Memorial Hospitals in Chattanooga and Oliver General Hospital in Augusta, Georgia. He was President of the Tennessee Obstetrical and Gynecologic Society. An active member of the Chattanooga-Hamilton County Medical Society, he served terms as President and Secretary.
Later, Dr. Demos’ interests turned to his middle-aged patients. He knew their post-menopausal symptoms had to be treatable. He spent many nights pouring over medical journals looking for answers. Much was known about the hormones produced by the ovary, but Dr. Demos couldn’t find a medication on the market that he considered reasonable. His solution was to formulate his own, convince a pharmaceutical company to test it and get it on the market. Estrotest and Estrotest-HS are now the most prescribed estrogen replacement medications in the United States. While this research didn’t make him a millionaire, Dr. Demos was genuinely pleased with the results. His patients regained their energy and their love of life. That’s what it was all about—not only saving lives, but mostly about insuring that they were joy-filled.
A. Richard Grossman, M.D.
Dr. Grossman is a nationally recognized plastic surgeon who is a graduate of Emory University and a 1957 graduate of The University of
Tennessee Medical School. His post-graduate training spanned eight years at Cook County Hospital in Chicago, Illinois, where he became
Board-certified in General Surgery as well as Plastic Surgery. He is in the private practice of Plastic and Reconstruction Surgery in
Sherman Oaks, California and has been in the San Fernando Valley since 1964.
Dr. Grossman founded The Grossman Burn Center at Sherman Oaks Hospital in 1972 out of a strong commitment to provide the community with the highest level of specialized burn care. Under his leadership and the support of the staff of Sherman Oaks Hospital, The Burn Center has grown from a two-bed unit to a 30-bed center that boasts a multidisciplinary burn team dedicated to providing comprehensive and compassionate care to over 300 adult and pediatric patients hospitalized each year.
The Grossman Burn Center’s vision for excellence has been continuously demonstrated over the past three decades with the development of an outpatient department and same day surgery center that provides the same specialized care to those with burn injuries not requiring hospitalization.
Patients are flown to The Grossman Burn Center from all over the world—Korea, China, India, Saudi Arabia, the African continent, and Europe, because of the centers’ excellence in acute as well as reconstructive care.
During his career, Dr. Grossman has author or co-authored more than 30 articles in medical journals and has contributed to six textbooks.
Dr. Grossman and his wife Elizabeth live on a farm in HiddenValley, California They have five grandchildren.
Robert A. Kerlan, M.D., FACP
Dr. Kerlan received his undergraduate degree from East Tennessee State University in 1965 and his M.D. from University of Tennessee
Medical School in 1969. Following his graduation from the University of Tennessee College of Medicine, Dr. Kerlan completed his
residency in Internal Medicine and fellowship in Gastroenterology in University of Tennessee graduate programs with Chief Resident
credentials. While serving in the U.S. Army Reserves, he entered private practice in Memphis with Memphis Medical Specialists, a
multi-disciplinary medical practice group. His years of clinical practice have garnered recognition for the clinical excellence of
that practice from both peer and patient. Patients most commonly reference Dr. Kerlan’s respect and compassion in their interactions
with “Dr. Bob.”
In recognition of his clinical expertise and leadership, his peers elected him to the Presidency of the Saint Francis Hospital Staff in Memphis and to the Presidency of the Saint Francis Hospital I.P.A. The health insurance industry tapped Dr. Kerlan to serve as a Medical Director allowing his judgments to support physicians and patients in appropriate programs of care.
Dr. Kerlan has a long history of serving as a mentor to students and residents in the University of Tennessee College of Medicine programs. He has also been an active participant in the activities of the UT College of Medicine Alumni Council and in recruitment for the Stollerman Chair of Excellence. In further support of the physician community, Dr. Kerlan has served as a Director of the Memphis Medical Society and has completed a term of office as Society President. He continues to contribute to the physician community through his activities with State Volunteer Mutual Insurance Company, his position with the Tennessee Medical Association, his chairmanship of the Board of Trustees, as well as the Chairmanship of the Board of Directors’ of Q Source—Tennessee’s quality improvement organization.
In the midst of all these activities, Dr. Kerlan and his wife Andrea have dedicated themselves to passing their value systems and their respect for education to their three sons, each of whom has proven an accomplished professional in their respective fields of medicine, dentistry, and business. As a family, they have been steadfast in their deeply founded religious commitment to Temple Israel.
While most physicians contribute to their profession and communities in great measure, Dr. Kerlan represents that unique professional who has so profoundly given of his energies in those many and varied venues as to merit special recognition.
Randal S. Weber, M.D., FACS
Professor and Chair of the Department of Head and Neck Surgery, the University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center
Dr. Weber is an internationally recognized surgeon and expert in the treatment of patients with head and neck cancer. He currently
serves as the Hubert L. and Olive Stringer Distinguished Professor of Cancer Research and Chairman of the Department of Head and Neck
Surgery at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas.
Dr. Weber was awarded an M.D. from the University of Tennessee Health Sciences Medical School in 1976. After completing a surgery internship in1977 at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, Dr. Weber served as a lieutenant commander in the United States Navy Medical Corps until 1981. He completed residencies in both surgery and otolaryngology at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas. He then received specialized training in head and neck surgical oncology, completing a two-year fellowship in 1986 at M. D. Anderson Cancer Center.
After he completed his training, Dr. Weber was appointed to the faculty of the Department of Head and Neck Surgery at M. D. Anderson. In 1996, Dr Weber was recruited to the University of Pennsylvania where he was appointed as the Gabriel Tucker Professor and Vice Chair of the Department of Otolaryngology—Head and Neck Surgery. He returned to M. D. Anderson to accept the post as department chairman in 2003. He holds a joint appointment as Professor in the Department of Radiation Oncology at M. D. Anderson and is an Adjunct Professor at Baylor College of Medicine.
Committed to oncologic research, cancer prevention, and the education of future leaders in head and neck oncology, Dr. Weber is active in clinical research investigating various head and neck cancers, including cutaneous malignancies. He remains closely involved in the development and oversight of several training fellowships and in the clinical and laboratory training of young physician–scientists. He has been the honored guest lecturer and visiting professor at multiple institutions in the United States and internationally, has led numerous courses and seminars, and has presented and moderated more than 130 lectures, invited lectures, and panel discussions. He has served as President of the Society of University Otolaryngologists—Head and Neck Surgeons, the American Radium Society, and the American Head and Neck Society. In 2007, Dr Weber was appointed as a Director of the American Board of Otolaryngology.
Dr. Weber is a prolific author in the field, having published more than 200 peer reviewed manuscripts and invited articles, 40 book chapters, and two books focused on the basic science and the surgical and clinical treatment for head and neck cancer. He is the immediate past Editor in Chief of Head & Neck: Journal for the Sciences and Specialties of the Head and Neck, a position he held for more than 13 years. He is currently an Associate Editor for Cancer and serves on the editorial boards of the Journal of Clinical Oncology, American Journal of Rhinology, Head & Neck, and Clinical Medicine: Ear, Nose and Throat. Dr Weber was recently appointed to the University of Tennessee College of Medicine Alumni Council.
