04/10/2009
Physicians Harris Silver and William Baerthlein will offer advice to individuals with a pre-medical college education who are considering careers in medicine on Thursday, April 16, at SUNY Cortland.
The doctors will speak and answer questions in an open forum from 3-5 p.m. in Corey Union, Room 209. Presented as part of the SUNY Cortland President's Executive-in-Residence Program, the event is free and open to SUNY Cortland students majoring in pre-medical disciplines as well as the public.
Silver and Baerthlein will discuss how to get into medical school, how students need to prepare for admissions, what the industry is like today and any other questions the students may have. Baerthlein will be available to answer specific questions about medical careers in the military. During the visit, the two SUNY Cortland graduates will also meet with SUNY Cortland President Erik J. Bitterbaum and speak with students in classes and over lunch.
Silver, an orthopedic surgeon living in Rochester, N.Y. is a 1981 SUNY Cortland Distinguished Alumnus who, since 2007, has practiced with Lakeside Orthopedics at Lakeside Memorial Hospital in Brockport, N.Y.
A native of Long Island, Silver graduated from Cortland with a degree in physical education in 1967. He completed medical school at the University of Iowa and undertook an internship at the University of Rochester's Genesee Hospital before finishing his residency at Case-Western Reserve's University Hospitals in Cleveland, Ohio. His post-residency work was accomplished at Case's Department of Orthopaedics.
Silver became a practicing orthopedist in 1977, serving two years on the teaching staff of the Orthopaedic Residency Program for the Naval Regional Medical Center in Oakland, Calif.
He practiced in Panorama City, Calif., from 1979-89 and in Valencia, Calif., from 1986-95. Silver was affiliated with the Guthrie Clinic at Corning (N.Y.) Hospital from 1996-2007 before joining the Lakeside Health System.
A diplomat of the American Board of Orthopaedic Surgery since 1978, Silver has been a fellow in the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons since 1982.
Baerthlein is vice president of the medical staff at E.J. Noble Hospital in Gouverneur, N.Y., and practices with the hospital-affiliated medical group Gouverneur Obstetrics and Gynecology.
Currently serving on the Cortland College Foundation Board of Directors., the Pawling, N.Y., native graduated summa cum laude from SUNY Cortland with a bachelor's degree in chemistry in 1976.
He earned his medical degree, with honors, from Baylor College of Medicine in 1981. Elected to the Alpha Omega Alpha medical honor society, Baerthlein was the Baylor chapter president his senior year. He was honored with the Ehlers Award in Surgery, given to the outstanding student of the year on the surgical service of St. Luke's Hospital In Houston, Texas.
Baerthlein completed his residency in obstetrics-gynecology at the University of Rochester and spent an additional year there completing a fellowship in reproductive endocrinology and infertility. While at University of Rochester, he received many honors, including the 1985 Rochester Academy of Medicine Obstetrics-Gynecology Section Award for research that "contributed to the progress of medicine." During his fellowship year, he was also appointed to the faculty as an assistant professor of obstetrics-gynecology.
Baerthlein is the author of several research papers, including one cited in a number of editions of Williams Obstetrics, the definitive text in the field. He is board certified and a fellow of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.
He has completed 25 years of active and reserve naval service, including with the U.S. Navy stationed at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., from 1986-89. As head of the Gynecology Division, he was also the department's quality assurance officer and was in a mobilization billet as executive officer of the Rapidly Deployable Medical Force in support of Fleet Marine Force, Atlantic.
From 1989-1993, he was stationed at Naval Hospital Bremerton (Wash.), where he was obstetrical coordinator for the newly re-established Family Medicine Residency Training Program.
Leaving active duty, Baerthlein was an assistant clinical professor of obstetrics-gynecology at Dartmouth Medical School from 1994-1999 and was part of the team instrumental in establishing Dartmouth's obstetrics-gynecology residency training program. The school honored him with a teaching award. In 2000, he was recalled to active duty in the Navy and served in Italy and Iceland
Currently a captain in the Medical Corps of the U.S. Naval Reserve, his billet is as department head obstetrics-gynecology, Headquarters Unit, Naval Reserve Fleet Hospital, Great Lakes. He is a life member of the Association of Military Surgeons of the United States.
For more information on the visit, contact Tina A. Aversano '96 of Institutional Advancement at (607) 753-2446 or tina.aversano@cortland.edu.