Feinberg Classmates Reunite and Celebrate at Alumni Weekend 2025

Returning to Feinberg’s campus brought back fond memories of her medical school experience for Carol B. Stelling, ‘72 MD, which is also where she met and fell in love with her late husband, Michael W. Stelling, ‘71 MD, in the fall of 1967.

“Northwestern was a big part of my happiness,” Stelling said. “I went to Northwestern undergrad for two years and then right into medical school at the age of almost 21. I’m back for memories, I’m back for reconnecting, I’m back here to visit friends and practice traveling and getting my wings under my feet again.”

Stelling, who currently lives in Houston and is a member of Feinberg’s Half Century Club, which recognizes alumni who graduated from Feinberg more than 50 years ago, practiced diagnostic radiology at university hospitals across the U.S. for more than 50 years. After their retirement, Stelling and her late husband established the Carol B. Stelling, MD and Michael W. Stelling, MD Scholarship Fund to support medical student scholarships at Feinberg.

“I loved being at a university and teaching and having residents and fellows, and so I’m very particularly supportive of university medicine,” Stelling said.

More than 480 alumni and guests returned to Feinberg’s campus on May 1-3 to reconnect with former classmates, reminisce about their medical school experiences, and learn about the medical school’s latest developments and achievements at this year’s Alumni Weekend celebration.

During the weekend-long celebration, alumni attended social and educational events across the medical school’s campus, including walking tours of nearby Chicago attractions and tours of campus facilities, including the Northwestern Simulation Center, the Shirley Ryan AbilityLab and the Louis A. Simpson and Kimberly K. Querrey Biomedical Research Center.

The weekend also featured educational forums delivered by Feinberg faculty exploring the contribution of sleep health to chronic disease, neural mechanisms underlying motor deficits following unilateral brain injury, and new techniques and technologies to improve the diagnosis and treatment of prostate cancer.

Alumni and current medical students also connected to discuss career paths during a mentoring lunch organized by medical specialty. 

“I really enjoyed talking with first-year students and reminding them that research should start from an observation, that it starts in the exam room,” said Jeanne Novas Busano, ‘86 MD, who spoke with current medical students about founding and owning her own practice in obstetrics and gynecologic surgery for more than 30 years.

In the afternoon, alumni joined the Northwestern Alumni Association for a live recording of Northwestern Intersections, the Northwestern Alumni Association’s podcast. During the recording, Feinberg alumni shared the lessons they learned during their medical school experience and how these bits of wisdom guided them throughout their careers.

“Compared to when I was in training, psychiatry has become medicalized in a good sense,” said Gary Rusk, ‘65 ‘69 MD, who participated in the podcast recording and is also chair of Feinberg’s Half Century Club committee. “Taking a history from a patient doesn’t mean going down a checklist, it means talking to the patient and eliciting how you’ll cross off that checklist but doing it in a conversational way. I think we’re heading that way, and if it’s a good medical school like Feinberg, that’s how you should teach students to approach patients.”

Eric G. Neilson, MD, vice president for Medical Affairs and Lewis Landsberg Dean, shared remarks with alumni and guests and gave an overview of the current state of the medical school during “Conversations with the Dean.”

Neilson updated alumni on the medical school’s most recent achievements, including the establishment of new departments, institutes and centers, new academic leadership appointments across the medical school, and health equity programming and community engagement efforts.

“I’m delighted to share with alumni some highlights from the past school year and the fascinating things that have happened,” Neilson said. “Feinberg is almost a billion-dollar enterprise, with a research portfolio that’s over 700 million dollars.”

On Friday evening, attendees gathered for an all-alumni reception and dinner, which included a salute to the milestone reunion classes, ranging from the classes of 1960 to 2020.

During the dinner, this year’s Distinguished Alumni Award was presented to Richard Schlegel ‘75 MD, ‘74 PhD, chair and professor of Pathology and at Georgetown University Medical Center. Schlegel is widely regarded as the principal investigator behind the development of the technology for the first human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine, marketed as Gardasil, and currently serves as director of the Center for Cell Reprogramming at Georgetown University Medical Center.

“What a great honor receiving the Distinguished Alumni Award,” Schlegel said. “I have always attributed my success in medical science to the MD and PhD training that I had at Northwestern. It not only helped direct my future directions in research but also instilled the enthusiasm and satisfaction in applying basic science findings to clinical practice. Contributing to Northwestern’s medical and scientific reputation is extremely gratifying.”