Temple University School of Medicine - Skull Yearbook (Philadelphia, PA)

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Gerry with his family (1988) gether, they never dated during college. Only after their college years, through a mutual friend would they meet again. It was love at first (or second) sight, and now they are about to celebrate thirty wonderful years of marriage together. Aside from their love for each other, they share a passion for Penn State. In fact, all of their children, lan and Michelle, Rachel, and Matthew are Penn State grads (or soon-to-be-grads). The whole family shares in the intensity of Penn State Football and it is even rumored that an ill-informed first-year (student?) once offered Dr. Sterling two hundred dollars for his pair of PSU-Notre Dame tickets. Always interested in science and math. Dr. Sterling graduated from Penn State in 1972 with a Biophysics degree, and then continued on to The Ohio State University to study Pharmacology. At Ohio State, the young and fully bearded. Sterling first started to develop his Temple ties. His PhD advisor left Ohio State to chair the Pharmacology Department at Temple, and Dr. Ster- ling followed, finishing his last two years of PhD work here at Temple (although his degree is from Ohio State, 1977). He was immediately drawn to Temple, not only because it was a great institute of higher learning, but also because Dr. Schneck had his name memorized from the first day (and Ted's Truck had the best coffee he had ever tasted). After completing his PhD, Dr. Sterling traveled out west for a few years for a postdoc fellowship at the NASA Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California. His research at NASA involved studying the dehydration that astronauts experience from fluid shifts in zero-gravity environments. Eventually, Dr. Sterling returned to Philadelphia in 1979, where he joined the faculty at Hahnemann and worked on the cholinergic nervous system in a collaborative effort with Temple pharmacologists. It was in 1990 that Dr. Sterling finally came to Temple University School of Medicine. He joined the Pharmacology Department as faculty and became engaged in teaching future doctors, dentists, and podiatrists. His interests lay in pharmacology education for professional students, as well Matthew, Rachel, Michelle and Ian (2005) 2008 SKULL 7

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r PhD Associate Professor, Department of Pharmacology This year, filled with excitement, fear, joy, and anxiety, will always be an important year for us, the Temple University School of Medicine class of 2008. We are graduating from medical school after four difficult but rewarding years, and we now look towards residency, perhaps moving far across the country, starting marriages, beginning families, and embarking on our careers. This transition has been an important step in our becoming doctors. If we could take only one ideal, one principle, from medical school and keep it with us for the rest of our careers, I would hope that it would be that of the doctor as a teacher. The word doctor originates from the Latin verb docere, meaning to teach, suggesting it is not sufficient to simply be a physician and a healer. In fact, this should compel us to realize our moral and ethical responsibility to teach our patients, our colleagues, and ourselves. For this reason, it seems so very appropriate that we, the class of 2008, dedicate our yearbook to a man who taught us. Though not a clinician himself, he is a scientist, a researcher, our mentor and dean, and our pharmacology teacher, it is with great respect that we dedicate this yearbook to Dr. Gerald Sterling. Dr. Gerald Sterling, a Philadelphia na- Gerty and Helene's Wedding (1978) tive, was born in 1951. He grew up in the Northeast section of Philadelphia, attended Northeast High School, and played the clarinet in the marching band. It was in high school that Dr. Sterling first met his future wife, Helene Blum. Even though they went to The Pennsylvania State University to- C TEMPLE UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE

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as in research for trends in medical education. In 1997, Dr. Sterling became the Associate Dean for Medical Education where he has worked to create a close and supportive environment for the entire student body. He has a unique and close relationship with Dr. Reeves as well as everyone in the Office of Student Affairs. Dr. Reeves says, In all my years of medical education, I never met anyone as compassionate, understanding, intelligent, and hard work- found him receptive and responsive to our concerns. From unhappy lectures to test questions to missing lecture notes he makes it a priority to give us feedback and keep us informed. When we hear pharmacodynamics and pharmacokinetics, it is hard not to think of Dr. Sterling. He was an outstanding lecturer, covering a range of topics from autonomic pharmacology to endocrine pharmacology. Dr. Sterling has engaged all of us “You have all been like my children over the last four years.” Left: Gerry and his mother at commencement (PhD, Ohio State, 1977) Center. The young and handsome Dr. Gerald Sterling Right: Gerry and his brother(1957) ing. I aspire to be like him. Dr. Sterling is not the type to sit behind closed doors and dictate educational policy. He works hard to actively involve students in directing their medical education, he has been instrumental in the implementation of the new medical school curriculum, and he works closely with course and clerkship directors. His recent publications have included research regarding the integrated curriculum, ethics, professionalism, and student mental health. This research shows Dr. Sterling's interest and commitment to becoming a better teacher by continually learning. As students, we always have with his weekly workshops in clinical pharmacology, which stem from his belief that we learn best in the context of a clinical problem. He also has led us through review sessions before each pharmacology test, and has always been willing to spend extra time helping students outside of the classroom. Dr. Sterling also consistently ensures that he maintains good relationships with his students through his work as Associate Dean of Medical Education. He is approachable, understanding, and truly cares about each student who walks into his office. It is not hard to believe that Dr. Sterling t TEMPLE UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE