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GIA 2008 Excellence Winner
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"Falling Down the Rabbit Hole"
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The Robert G. Fenley Writing Award - Solicited Articles
University of Vermont College of Medicine
Falling Down the Rabbit Hole
Posthumously awarded to Joe Patlak, Ph.D., University of Vermont College
of Medicine
Excerpt from article:
Dr. Patlak had been a dynamic researcher, educator, and community member
at the University of Vermont College of Medicine for more than two decades
when he developed the first signs of ALS. As the
disease progressed, he combined his considerable talents in both written expression
and Web site design to create a weblog of his experiences. There were many people
in our university community who did not know of Dr. Patlak’s Weblog, or
had trouble finding it; and very few of the alumni who had been influenced by
Dr. Patlak during their med school years knew what he was now going through.
When
a chance
reference by a colleague of Dr. Patlak's led us to the blog, we quickly
focused on spreading his message to the UVM community on campus and
beyond. We chose this essay, which explores Dr. Patlak’s first
experience of losing his balance and falling in public as a result of
his disease. He was very glad to work with us to adapt his essay and
to see his words appear in print, illustrated with a photograph by his
wife, Elke Pinn, M.D., a graduate of our school. Joe Patlak died a few
weeks after “Falling Down the Rabbit
Hole” was published in Vermont Medicine.
— Ed Neuert
Editor, Vermont Medicine, University of Vermont College of Medicine
Read the full narrative (Word document)
Contact: Edward Neuert, edward.neuert@uvm.edu
Back to GIA 2008 Awards for Excellence Winners
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