In Memoriam

Dr. Joseph Baron enrolled as an undergraduate at the University of Chicago in 1954. The entirety of his subsequent career was at the University of Chicago except two years as a Research Associate at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Dr. Baron held several administrative positions at the University of Chicago including Chief Medical Resident, Interim Section Chief of Hematology/Oncology, Course Director for Clinical Pathophysiology, Course Director for Physical Diagnosis/History Taking, and Medical Director of the Clinical Coagulation Lab. Dr. Baron was the director of the first clinical trial of human erythropoietin in patients. He received the medical student basic science and Senior Medical Resident teaching awards. Other honors included the first Outstanding Clinical Service Award given by the Department of Medicine in 2006 and he was listed multiple times in Chicago Magazine and Best Doctors of America. Dr. Baron also served as Chairman of the Hospital Transfusion Committee and Interim Director of the Adult Sickle Cell Program.

Joseph Baron, MD, a longtime and highly respected and distinguished faculty member

Dr. Joseph Baron, phenomenal clinician and inspirational teacher

(1988-2021)

Brooke Gabster graduated summa cum laude from Princeton University in 2011 with an A.B. from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. Before medical school, Brooke worked for Deloitte Consulting LLP, where she helped the Military Health System design innovative programs to reduce tobacco use and obesity, and guided Navy Medicine’s implementation and evaluation of a patient-centered medical home model of care at over one hundred clinics. In addition to her domestic health experience, Brooke has worked on global health projects in Germany, Thailand, and South Africa.

At the Pritzker School of Medicine, Brooke is the co-director of the Maria Shelter Clinic, a free clinic in a homeless shelter in Englewood. She also helps evaluate and improve the medical school curriculum as a member of the Pre-Clinical Curriculum Review Committee. Additionally, under the mentorship of Dr. David Meltzer, Brooke is conducting research about how a new model of care designed to increase physician-patient continuity might improve discussions about end-of-life care: her project titled “The Impact of the Comprehensive Care Physician Program on Advance Care Planning” earned Honorable Mention for Excellence in the Pritzker Summer Research Program.

Dr. Gabster is an Internal Medicine Resident at Stanford University in Stanford, CA.

1954-2018

Dr. Anthony Montag was a Professor of Pathology and the Associate Dean of Admissions for the Pritzker School of Medicine. Dr. Montag attended the Medical College of Wisconsin, where he also completed an Internal Medicine internship and Clinical Pathology residency. He completed an Anatomic Pathology residency and Gynecologic Pathology fellowship at Boston’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and was recruited to the Pathology and Obstetrics and Gynecologic faculties at the University of Chicago as an Assistant Professor.

Dr. Montag’s academic interests included clinical and translational work on ovarian and uterine carcinoma and bone and soft tissue tumors.

Dr. Montag taught medical and graduate students at the University of Chicago for over 30 years, and trained nearly two hundred Pathology residents and fellows. He received the medical school’s favorite faculty award six times, an AOA teaching award, and election to the Academy of Distinguished Medical Educators. In medical school admissions he focused on increasing the diversity of the matriculating class and recruiting empathetic students with a history of service to others.

(1945-2013)

Dr. Joel Schwab was a Professor of Pediatrics. Dr. Schwab graduated from the University of Michigan in 1967 and received his MD degree from New York Medical College in 1971. He completed his pediatric residency at Northwestern University’s Children’s Memorial Hospital and was an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at Northwestern until 1986 when he came to the University of Chicago. Dr. Schwab maintained a private pediatric practice, the Child Life Center, until 1996. For nine years, Dr. Schwab served as co-director of the Pediatric Clerkship. His outstanding teaching and contributions to humanism in medicine earned him numerous awards and accolades. He was selected as an honoree in the Pritzker School of Medicine’s class composite photograph for nine consecutive years. In 1998 he received the Faculty Teaching Award from the Faculty Dean of Medical Education and was voted Teacher of the Year by Pediatric Residents. In 2002, the Pritzker School of Medicine students nominated him for the American Association of Medical Colleges Humanism in Medicine Award. He also received the Pritzker School of Medicine Outstanding Clinical Teaching Award and the Leonard Tow Humanism in Medicine Award in 2006.

Dr. Schwab’s dedication to medical education spanned the medical career spectrum to include both medical students and undergraduate students. In addition to serving on the Pritzker School of Medicine’s Admissions Committee and Committee on Promotions, for ten years, he was the Faculty Director of the Health Professions Advising Office at the University of Chicago Collegiate Division. And in honor of Dr. Schwab’s contributions to medical education, the Clinical Excellence Track program “On Being a Doctor” has been renamed “The Joel Schwab, M.D. Program On Being a Doctor.”

Joel Schwab, Doctor and Mentor