March of the Penguins at the NASPGHAN (Double) 50th Anniversary Celebration

It was the first in person annual meeting of North American Society for Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition in 3 years and quite a number of us were meeting face-to-face for the first time rather than as talking Zoom heads.  NASPGHAN is the national professional organization that represents all 2,700 pediatric gastroenterologists, hepatologists and nutritionists in the US and Canada recently affiliated with our Mexican colleagues.  Typically some 1,700+ meet annually for a Single Topic Symposium on Wednesday, the annual Post-Graduate Course Thursday and then the annual meeting on Friday and Saturday.  Also attending in tandem are the Association of Pediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition Nurses and Council of Pediatric Nutrition Professionals who work with us in multidisciplinary gastroenterology clinics (e.g. inflammatory bowel disease, celiac disease, eosinophilic esophagitis and cyclic vomiting syndrome). The interminable sitting in a dark room watching innumerable slides erupts with a Saturday nite shindig with buffet dinner, a DJ and becchanal dancing.  

This year was special for two reasons.  A double 50th.  It was the 50^th Anniversary of the founding of NASPGHAN in 1972.  It would also be our 50th wedding anniversary.  This year, the former presidents (13 of the 29) were to parade during the plenary session.  One suggested we wear a tuxedo but I rejoindered that I would not be dressed as a penguin so close to Halloween.  In the pictures you will note that all of the former presidents are white – I was the first minority and the first Asian American to be elected.  Times they are a changin’, four of the most recent eight presidents have been female and our just elected is president-elect is an Asian-Canadian Vicky Ng.

Jenifer Lightdale current and Ben Gold immediate past presidents on the red carpet 

The still-able-to-stand past presidents 

At the annual meeting, it is my honor to congratulate the annual winner (10^th year) of the Teri Li Award in education awarded to a young faculty who has made an extraordinary national contribution to gastroenterology education.  It warms my heart to hear her name announced every year - and wish she was here to see her impact as it is also our 50th anniversary!  I also congratulate the winner of the ‘Cyclic Vomiting Syndrome Award in honor of B Li’ given to the best poster abstract on nausea, vomiting and cyclic vomiting syndrome.  Given that I’ve been around so many years, I also get to congratulate many other award winners.  This year, especially because of the 50^th anniversary, many of my ex-trainees, mentees, former colleagues, committee appointees including chairs under me thanked me for mentoring and opening doors for them.  Oh, what a feeling.

This gives a sense of how much meaningful interaction is interwoven in early morning committee meetings, the breaks, the lunches, the dinners, the late evenings … apart from the meeting itself.  And as I am a pediatrician, it is a delight to watch these trainees grow and develop, build families and even become your boss!  . 

 

Here are some bios of a few of the characters that I wanted to highlight.  Their snapshots are below.  

 

This year’s Teri Li Award went to Brian McFerron, a young faculty member from Riley Chhildren’s and the Univ. of Indiana in Indianapolis.  Based upon rigorous criteria, he was selected by our national committee of educators for his novel work in training GI fellows.  Besides the engraved glass and monetary award, I send a bouquet of tropical flowers from Hawaii (Teri’s favorite) and a letter describing Teri’s passion for teaching young children.  It is hoped that this award early in one’s career will provide an incentive to keep active in the educator pathway.  He wrote back 'Thank you so much for the stunning flowers!  They are beautiful and look better every day.  My wife and I so enjoyed reading about Teri and your family.  I am deeply moved and honored to receive the award in her honor.  I hope I continue to make her proud!'

Brian McFerron 2022 Teri Li Award recipient

This year’s CVSA Award in honor of B Li was awarded to a pediatric resident Ben Jack from the Uniform Health Services Hospital in Bethesda.  His study highlighted children with cyclic vomiting syndrome who require hospitalization.  He would like to subspecialize in pediatric gastroenterology.

Brian Jacks 2022 CVSA/B Li Poster Award 

Carlo DiLorenzo, chief of pediatric gastroenterology at Nationwide Children’s & Ohio State Univ and a native Italian, received the 2022 Shwachman Award.  This is our top academic career achievement award in NASPGHAN.  Due to his famously humorously presentations, he is bar none the most popular speaker in our society and the face of our organization.  Carlo is a fellow Ohio State Buckeye fanatic with whom I celebrate and commiserate and has become a good friend as I continue to return to Columbus for one game a year.  In fact, I attended last weekend’s Indiana game held in the 30^o weather replete with snow, sleet and wind.

Carlo DiLorenzo 2022 Shwachman Awardee

Glenn Furuta, gastroenterologist from Colorado Children’s and U. Colorado in Denver received the 2021 Shwachman Award but was only able to hold a belated in person celebration this year.  He is the world’s leading researcher on eosinophilic esophagitis, a food-related immune reaction that inflames and scars the esophagus in both children and adults.  I helped him launch the very first Single Topic Symposium on this topic and routinely have lunch or dinner with him in Denver.  He is an ardent Univ. of Texas football fan.  Asian trio - Paul on the right is a crazy dancer.

Glenn Furuta 2021 Shwachman Awardee

Norberto Rodriguez is a transplant hepatologist at Dallas Children’s & UT-Southwestern in Dallas who originally hails from Puerto Rico.  He was awarded the Master Educator Award, a career achievement award in education - I just happened to be the inaugural winner 4 years ago.  Norberto is an especially creative teacher who developed a friendly GI Jeopardy Quiz competition between faculty and fellows now held annually at our national meeting.  After I appointed him as Chair of the International Committee, he developed a Spanish language program for our Latin American attendees that has become a permanent fixture at our annual meeting.  He was just elected Secretary-Treasurer of our organization.

Norberto Rodriguez 2022 Master Educator Awardee

Vicky Ng is a transplant hepatologist from Toronto Sick Kids and U. Toronto in Toronto and was just elected President-elect of NASPGHAN.  She is the 5^th woman and first Asian-Canadian woman to head our organization.  I’ve known her since she was a junior faculty and we have discussed a number of challenges that Asian professionals have and of course shared dim sum together in Vancouver. 

Vicky Ng, President-elect NASPGHAN

Diana Lerner is an interventional (removes, stretches, injects) endoscopist who was a fellow mentee and fellow faculty at Children’s Wisconsin & Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee.  She was born in the Ukraine was just awarded a year-long fellowship to do extra training in interventional procedures (e.g. ERCP).  Diana has also made instructional cartoon videos to teach children about endoscopy they are about to undergo.  In Milwaukee, we have have dinner together with her two children and husband Isaak (in IT) and we will get together as the family temporarily relocates to Denver for the coming year.    

Diana Lerner 2022 Advanced Fellowship Awardee

Cara Mack, a transplant hepatologist and basic researcher on biliary atresia, is the new chief of pediatric gastroenterology at Children’s Wisconsin & Medical College of Wisconsin.  She is a native Wisconsinite and is returning to her home state where eight siblings live.  In fact, she was my first fellow at Lurie Children’s Hospital in 2001 but was already in her last year when I began as training director.  She is a trainee who has become my boss yet in so doing ‘promoted’ me to Emeritus Professor.  She is organizing a mini-symposium in my honor this December. 

Cara Mack, former fellow, now division chief & 'boss'

 

Katja Kovacic is the former fellow, mentee, research collaborator, NIH-funded neurogastroenterologist (gut-brain) and superstar in our field.  I highlighted her in the previous blog.  She is Finnish but from an island that is Swedish-speaking.  She was a Division 1 scholarship tennis player, represented USA at the senior World Tennis Championships and recently beat two of us playing against her solo!  Her children speak Swedish, Croatian and English.  I’ve become a fan of her 14 y/o daughter who is one of the top point guards in Wisconsin and have attended a number of her travel games over the last two years.  

 

Katja Kovacic + Cara & I had lunch but lost the pic

One picture shows  former co-fellows Khalil El-Chammas, a neurogastroenterologist (gastroparesis) at Cincinnati Children’s and U. Cincinnati, and Vi Go, a nutritionist at Children’s Hospital of Philadellphia and U. Pennsylvania.  They have three and two children respectively and now work at two of the top three pediatric gastroenterology divisions in the US.  We all caught up!

Former co-fellows Khalil El-Chammas and Vi Go

 

I have known Christine Waasdorp-Hurtado since she was an itsy-bitsy fellow at the U. Colorado at Colorado Springs after leaving military medicine.  She is now a mid-level faculty focusing on undergraduate medical education.  When she was the Fellows Committee Chair, she came to me with the grandiose idea of editing a Board Review Book for Fellows.  I helped raise the money and it became an 800-page reality.  It lead to us bonding over editing the second edition together and to having an mandatory lunch at the annual meeting.  She now has college-aged kids!

Christine Waasdorp-Hurtado long-time collaborator

 

There was one very sad note.  Jim Heubi, a hepatologist at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital and Dean of Clinical Research at U. Cincinnati and Past-President of NASPGHAN, passed away unexpectedly at in August 2021.  We were both long-term NASPGHAN Committee Chairs rising to President and would always commiserate and jog together at the executive retreats.  He was low-key, soft-spoken, thoughtful listener and tirelessly helpful – almost like an Asian brother.  Teri and I went out to dinner with he and Margo.  When Ben interviewed for medical school at Cincinnati, Jim spontaneously offered to take him to dinner.  Margo, and daughters Chrissie and Liz, attended the Past-Presidents 'procession' in his stead - tears flowed.  An incredible human being who will be missed.

Jim Heubi, in memoriam

In highlighting these former trainees and colleagues from around the country, you can see the close professional relationships that emerge in our society that make attending the annual meeting a warm annual reunion and collegial renewal.  It is heartening to watch career growth of each of these individuals as well as growth and dynamism (advocacy) in our society, and especially the growing diversity with more and more women and minority leaders and award winners.  And of course I’m especially tickled when other Asian Americans and Asian Canadians do so well …

 

Until next year …

Young friends and passing of a friend

As I mentioned in the previous blog, I’ve developed some young friends – who are they?  I thought I would provide a few snapshots.

 

Katja is Finnish(Swedish-speaking)-American, a protégé, a mother of three (4-14), an ex-Division I tennis player, and now an NIH-funded clinical scientist who is not only carrying on my Cyclic Vomiting Syndrome Program yet independently pursuing novel vagal neuromodulation therapy.  She is Superwoman – she walked across the Atlantic ­– uphill both ways!  Her children speak Swedish, Croatian and English, and her eldest a girl is a top point guard whom I’ve watched hit 3-pointer after 3-pointer.   She is such a highly motivated, organized researcher, efficient writer and critical thinker from which we accrue bidirectional benefits, and clearly has shown she can outdo her mentor.  Special.

 

Fanny is Cantonese-Canadian acrylic and mixed media artist, and fellow Tai Chi student.  Her early years were spent on a Pacific Island, then Hong Kong for elementary school, then Canada for high school and college, and then the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing for a Master’s.  She’s trying to make it as an independent artist while teaching private art students.  She did a hand-painted replica of an exquisite ‘blue moon’ Boddhisatva that I saw on a trip to the Silk Road in 2016 and I have since collected/commissioned several other pieces.  Last year, she drew me into the Vancouver International Film Festival where she saw 40+ films and I first saw the later-named NY Times top 10 film ‘Drive my car’ from Japan.

 

Donna is Vietnamese-American woman who is the current President of APAMSA (Asian American medical student organization I began in 1995) and is like a daughter who sends me unexpected greetings, asks me to do things for APAMSA, and requests umpteen letters of recommendation.  She shared her family story – also in a TEDx talk – that inspired her intentions to focus on public mental health in Asian Americans combining an MPH and psychiatry residency.  Yesterday she asked for help on a presentation on APAMSA for the Health Equity Subcommittee of the White House AANHPI Commission.  Today she wrote “My helpful mantra is ‘What Would Dr. B Li Do?’”  Awwww.

 

Quintin is Shanghainese-South African who grew up as the only Asian (no sibs) in his South African town – not unlike my upbringing in Iowa City.  After his undergraduate degree there, he moved to Norway for nine years to set up a company to develop a new interactive, non-violent video game.  Feeling a bit out of place socially, he screened the world for a landing spot and without foreknowledge, moved to downtown Vancouver.  He is a thinker with global perspective and game designer who is also a cinephile and we’ve shared a number of repasts and watched a number of movies together.  And his girlfriend is from Ukraine and finally on her way.  Just where in the world is Carmen San Quintin?

 

A moment of silence for Jeff Perry

 

Jeff Perry (spouse of Becky) passed away this past Saturday.  He is aptly self-described as an ‘independent, working-class scholar’ who was educated at Princeton several years ahead of me followed by a PhD in history from Columbia.  Yet for 50+ years he was active working-class postal worker eventually serving as the union shop steward.  Meanwhile, he was continuously involved in social justice issues ranging from affirmative action, worker’s, women’s, tenants’, Black, Latino and Asian rights, anti-war and anti-imperialist work. 

 

Yet on top of his job, family and proactivity and, outside of academia, he became an independent respected scholar focusing on ‘the role of white supremacy as retardant to progressive social change and on the centrality of the struggle against them to progressive social change efforts.’  As part of this passion, he completed a two-volume biography (second nominated for the Pulitzer prize) on Hubert Harrison (1917), the Father of Harlem Radicalism and founder of the militant ‘New Negro Movement’.  And he felt Mr. Harrison’s analysis laid the groundwork for that of Jeff’s mentor Theodore Allen’s two-volume “The Invention of the White Race” 1994, 1997.   

 

What a remarkable, impactful life for this proactive autodidact who dedicated his inexhaustible efforts to social justice in life and in academics – an old-school life that ran on all 8 cylinders!

https://www.jeffreybperry.net

Vancouver life: a self-assessment

I’m taking a moment to reflect over the past 11 years as tomorrow is the Teri’s anniversary.  A montage of memories of her insurmountable 19 month illness with innumerable complications confronted with grace and equanimity;  followed by care for my declining father for 3½ years 22/7 while working and learning new life skills with no time for grief;  another 3 years to organize his memorials, academic and collection legacy, and, with the help of family, friends and counseling to come to peace with the hand dealt and finally emerging into refreshed air.  It has been a full journey to the depths and back.

 A glimpse of my Vancouver life as an indicator of progress.  My life remains peripatetic with more than 50% time on the flight path but here is the single spot where I stay firmly entrenched during summers, focusing on one thing, Chen Tai Chi, in a self-imposed boot camp.  This year, I’ve crouched up to 17 hours per week and my knees have been accommodating and my balance, proprioception and strength have noticeably improved.  Post-COVID, the Sifu Paul and disciple Mary are back to basics (even warmups) retooling hand placement, knee positioning and hip movement with a fine microscope.  Any inch off is called out and redone until revamped.  Although my Boulder biking has consequently declined to a single weekly long ride, I’m swimming twice weekly.  My intermittent fasting, portfolio diet + chia, hemp, flax seeds and CoQ10 have reshaped and rejuvenated me.

 

Art has become a major endeavor that began by listening to my father’s stories about artists and his career as this was the main way that I could get him to relate to me.  Chinese contemporary ink painting began to become my passion while organizing his papers and collection.  Now, I have expanded his collection in a thematic way, made a gallery using his chosen name and commissioned calligraphy, and plan to have private showings for friends to curators.  I have focused my attention on Margaret a near nonagenarian artist who in the 1960-90s was an avant-garde ink painter who was close to my parents and now my close friend.  After interviewing her weekly during COVID, I gave my first art history lecture on her career.  Although my relationship with my father was limited or one-sided, I strangely find myself following in his extra-large footsteps … and appreciating his remarkable prescient, open-minded eye for abstract ink and my own subsequent visual high.  

 

Close friends and family are widespread representing lived places from Iowa City/Lawrence, NYC, San Francisco, Madison, Columbus, Chicago, Milwaukee, Vancouver and now Boulder and a geographical challenge to maintain.  They are a diverse lot from friends, former neighbors, fellow residents and faculty mentors, gourmet club, colleagues (Geezer’s Club or Grumpy old Gastroenterologists), artists, and biking and Tai Chi buddies.  Of course, the 46-year relationship with three generations of Chuns who treated us like family (‘Teri was like a second daughter’) continues as does the 45-year history with Steve (best bud) and Mary and their three generations – our most secure life-long anchors.  What is interesting is that my continued physical moves, academic involvement, APAMSA board activity, and art interests are forging new relationships with old and young’uns the latter are helping me to better understand and appreciate gen Z’s from which hope springs for better, beyond our current quagmire.

 

So, my self-assessment in Vancouver tells me that my life is refreshing and meaningful, still on a slightly upward, exploratory, adventurous incline despite the world as it is and aging as it will be.

 

Best  

 

 

From cannery town Ladner, just north of the Tsawwassen Ferry

To downtown Van from 40th floor

Overlooking the convention center, cruise docks

And the view at sunset

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A new adventure

My single stopover in Kansas was to visit friends one of whom is a full-time caretaker of a spouse sliding deeply into dementia - a humbling reminder of the fragility of the aging mind and its ... consequences.  I had a long and detailed talk with my parents in Pioneer Cemetery on the hilltop overlooking KU's West Campus and acknowledged my recovery, reconciliation and growth that I've experienced from Teri's illness and my father's demise.  And then, the Rockies.  The movers failed to show up twice for loading and and only one showed up to unload yet managed to get a sofa bed upstairs by himself.  In 2 1/2 days unpackers unboxed, put away, organized and labeled each cabinet, and carted 80 empty boxes away - incroyable!

I immediately purchased a hybrid bike and into thin air I huffed up and down Coal Creek Trail with the omnipresent Rockies visible to my west.  I passed 6 neighborhoods incinerated by the wildfires with a few remaining fireplaces and charred vehicles as reminders.  Fanned by 100 mph winds, the wildfires left 1,000 families homeless and occurred the day after I closed.  If these had happened in reverse order, I never could have moved here as there are now more than 20 offers per property.  It has been a major switch for me from road biking the country hills of Madison to trying to stay upright on trails of rock, gravel, dirt and pavement. I suffered my first spill in a flooded underpass laden with mud. I've seen hundreds of prairie dogs, one coyote and one rattler on my rides.  And, the redoubtable goats head thorn known to slay inner tubes - I just patched my fourth puncture today after going >12 years without a flat on my road bike. 

In the midst of the move, a twice (COVID-related) rescheduled sojourn to Peru and Machu Picchu with my best friend Steve.  The incredible Incan ingenuity is evident in the impeccable interlocking stonework (up to 123 tons/stone) and aqueducts that have survived centuries of earthquakes - we experienced a 7.2 in Cusco (11,000 ft).  But their welcoming and ingenuous nature led to the defeat of their empire spanning 6 South American countries by 168 gold-crazed disingenuous Spaniards.  My favorite interaction was in a home-hosted scrumptious meal with roasted guinea pig (like our holiday turkey) in which the grandfather wore a Buckeye hat where I explained that it was a very famous university ... for American football.  I was then asked to teach the grandson how to use chopsticks and he eagerly caught on! 100,000 Chinese laborers came to build railroads in the 1840s leaving more than 2,000,000 descendants with their own schools etc.  In fact, the second most popular national dish (#1 is ceviche) is lomo saltado which is stir-fried beef with tomatoes and onions in oyster sauce that can be found in every corner cafe.  As a result of such culinary fusion, Peru has become the #1 food destination in South American 9 of the last 11 years.  We could learn something from that confusion.

And then, back to high altitude home in Boulder County, where I took a break from biking to hike up to Calypso Cascade in Rocky Mountain National Park where the runoff was raging and even overflowing some of our trail.  

I have been welcomed by old friends and family and now that the basement renovation is almost complete and the artwork is up, this new adventure is ...! 

Short Chinese New Year's note 2022 (Tiger - Teri's birth year)

I visited Rachel, John, Jack (11) and Naomi (9), and Meimei multiple times this year and took care of the youngest three for a December week while the elders scuba’ed their anniversary away in Turks and Caicos.  You get to know all their little … idiosyncracies.  I saw Ben, Theresa, Flora 3½ and feisty Juna (1½) at Christmas while staying with niece Jennifer and husband Matt in east of Boulder.  Spending extended time in Madison with Steve and Mary’s extended family with new #3 grandcutie Maddie and Mémée’s brood with 5/6 grandchildren in college or beyond has been a normalizing influence during all the barometric and political weirdness.

 

The big news is that I’m moving to the Lafayette, CO this April.  I experienced amazingly good juju to win a 3-way bidding war before the wildfires destroyed 1000 homes and skyrocketed demand and prices – it would be impossible to buy now as each property has > 20 offers.  It was meant to be.  The basement will become part Tai Chi studio and part art gallery in honor of my father.

 

I stay active with several academic projects (upgraded to Emeritus Professor), my incessant reading (62 tomes), my avid collecting of contemporary Chinese ink art and first art history talk (familial?) plus virtual and live Tai Chi in Vancouver (aching quads), extensive road biking (aching quads 2), and traveling (Yosemite…).

 

I invite family and friends who want clean, but thin air, abundant sunshine (more than San Diego) and mountain treks to visit.

 

B

bliemd8@gmail.com

A postcard from Vancouver

I finally returned to Vancouver/Richmond suburb 8 days after Canada opened its border (August 9) to US double vacinees holding a confirmed and uploaded negative PCR test within 3 days of departure, a PCR nasal/oral test obtained in the Vancouver airport lobby upon exiting but no required quarantining (last year 14 days).  My first time in 20 months!  

 

Richmond continues to boom with 11 visible cranes pulling up condos around them and large pits where others will eventually erect.  Visible excess in the more than half of parked luxury cars some never encountered before such as Model Y Teslas, Porche and Lamborghini SUVs.  Richmond is a safe spot, with mandatory and compliant indoor (mall, grocery store, library) masking and requisite QBR confirmation of double vaccination at all indoor venues (restaurant, movie theater, health clubs).  As before, in this area busy with malls, shops, food courts and restaurants, I cross paths with few if any Caucasians and Cantonese > Mandarin > English or all three swirled together rules the communication waves.

 

Two noticeable changes:  a beehive of turquoise-vested, -hatted, -scootered silent electric drivers ferry take out everywhere leading to the consequent rise of obesity in young Chinese males who eat in and couch in.

 

Tai chi class resumed in a new studio as the old one was demolished to make way for yet another condo high-rise.  Vaccination, masks and 9 feet between practitioners allow me to attend 7 sessions/week 1.5-2+ hours each.  The Sifu (teacher-father) has refocused on basic e.g. everyday warm-up exercises for both disciples and longtime students:  horse stance (crouching pain), spiral force (cheen xi ging), shifting weight side-to-side, and ‘walking’ (hang low) sinking low into hips back upright supported by interminably burning quadriceps.  He is reteaching these at a more nuanced, advanced level while demonstrating the martial application.  He or lead disciples Mary or Jack stand adjacent to you and pick apart your inner workings with radiographic clarity.  Although this remedial emphasis may sound boring, I’ve experienced multiple epiphanies this session having traversed a tipping point where I’m now able to perceive previously imperceptible subtleties in Sifu’s movement and even mimic them.  This session has proven to be my most fruitful and both my balance and proprioception have noticeably improved.  But there is no space for egos as he uses me as either an ‘errant example’ or as a punching bag to demonstrate how to generate power!

 

Although my elder friends have been reluctant to eat out in restaurants, we’ve managed to gather in home relying on takeout.  So this fall has not been as isolating as I worried beforehand.  Several have experienced significant health issues including COVID.  Many are artist–friends from whom I acquired five wonderful paintings.  I attended superb movies with one younger Tai Chi-artist friend at the Vancouver International Film Festival both in person and by streaming, she 45, me 13 … recommend Official Competition (Brazilian with Penelope Cruz and Antonio Banderas) and Drive My Car (Japanese) based upon a Haruki Murakami short story.

 

Still making neurons fire.  Have read 51 books this year, recent recommended non-fiction reads:  The Code Breaker (Walter Isaacson) an account of Jennifer Doudna 2020 Nobelist and the race to discover CRISPR, The Premonition (Michael Lewis) a profile of several forward thinking, game-changing physician-scientists during COVID, The Search for John Lennon an insightful foray into the mind of this complex musician, His Truth if Marching On (John Meachum) a biography of the John Lewis, and The Empire of Pain (Patrick Keefe) an expose of the Sackler Family/Purdue Pharma’s incendiary role in the opioid crisis.  Two fiction reads:  My Old Home (Orville Schell) a heart wrenching story of the cultural revolution through Tian An Men and China (Edward Rutherford) a sweeping panorama from the Opium War to the Boxer Rebellion.  And several projects continue with the updating the CVS pediatric guidelines, a NASPGHAN position statement on telehealth, and a prevalence study of microaggressions towards Asian American medical students.

 

Take care of your health and mind,

Cora Li-Leger 'Equisetum' 2016 - reminds me of a feminine bamboo grove

Fanny Tang 'Square Round 30' 2016 - reminds me of an Chinese imperial ball

Fanny Tang 'Connection' 2021 - reminds me of my former intestinal endeavors

Li Jingwen 'Universe' - "from night, daybreak emerges to assure good things"

Teri at 10

 Rachel and Ben’s commemoration

Rachel and Ben have invited all of you to a commemorative celebration on Teri’s 10^th anniversary of her moving on below – if you have not already received an invitation.  It is hard to imagine 10 years have passed … and what has transpired.  This celebration is a do-it-yourselves food exercise, all in good taste.  Rachel has shared Teri’s original recipe for jiaozi (jow zzz) dumplings for you to make by hand as in the ancient days of yore!  These can be boiled or fried as ‘pot stickers’, either way, yummy.

 

 

There is a back story.  Growing up in Iowa City and New York City, there were no frozen dumplings or even premade wrappers.  You had to make the dough, roll it into a long thread, cut them into uniform pieces, and roll each into a thin round wrapper, powdered flour everywhere.  When we landed in Columbus, one of my favorite memories was making them as a family with Rachel and Ben pitching in.  Teri’s instructed me to squeeze all the water out of the frozen spinach and stir the filling in one direction only till thoroughly mixed.  After placing a dollop of filling in the wrapper, we lined the edge with water, folded it in half, pleated one side in both directions, pressed hard, and, voila a jiaozi that stood up in the frying pan!  

 

We made these by the 200s and froze them into our own comfort fast food.  These dumplings are eaten specially during Chinese New Year as their crescent shape symbolizes gold ingots and the wish for wealth in the coming year.  These jiaozi date back to … at least Han dynasty 200 BC as one excavated tomb shown during Exhibition of Archaeological Finds of the PRC in 1974-75 contained a petrified crescent jiaozi.  So yes, our ancestors ate them just the same! 

 

Teri used this recipe for her in-person kitchen tutorial as a fundraiser in various silent auctions over the years.  And Rachel has taken these dumplings a step further with modifications, in-person demonstrations and even catering.  Teri would be proud.

 

Teri Li Award

 

It is heartwarming for me to hear Teri’s name mentioned every year in our professional society.  One can direct their donation to her fund.  Next, applications are fielded for the award and the winner is announced at annual Awards Ceremony.  I add Teri’s touch by sending each winner a bouquet of Teri’s favorite tropical flowers from Hawaii.  And I enclose the following letter to let them know a little about Teri.

 

Letter to the Teri Li Award Recipient

 

Once again, let me offer my heartiest congratulations on your national award for early career educators who have made outstanding educational contributions to pediatric gastroenterology.

 

I wanted to give you a little bit of background on Teri Li so you have a sense of who she was.

 

We met in college, later married and raised two children and three dogs.  Rachel (and John) with 10-year old Jack and 8-year old Naomi in NJ is an active mother who has completed four Ironwoman Triathlons and many other events.  Ben (and Theresa) with 3-year old Flora and 13 month old Juna in Denver is a EM faculty.  Teri was a ‘natural’ Montessori teacher and applied the principles in our home – our children were her number one priority.  She firmly believed in the importance of early education (preschool) and after receiving her 3^rd Montessori certification to include infants, I joked that she would soon be doing prenatal Montessori education.  She responded, “the earlier the better!”  

 

That emphasis on the ‘earlier the better’ inspired the Teri Li Award for early career educators.  Rather than a life-time achievement award, she would have wanted to provide early recognition in order to further your long career in medical education.  And as you well know, educational contributions, despite the lip service, are often undervalued.  As one who shunned the limelight Teri would be utterly flabbergasted to have a national award named after her.  

 

Teri was active in the Unitarian Church, volunteered constantly in Meals on Wheels, food pantries, and the Columbus International Program, and, started an Asian Womyns’ Group.  She advocated for diversity wherever she was.  She was mindful and present before those terms became popular.  She was my full partner, a great mother, my icon of diversity and enabled me to fulfill my potential.  

 

Several months after trips to climb Yellow Mountain in Anhui, China, to Italy and to celebrate Rachel and John’s wedding, she developed aggressive acute myeloid leukemia.  She underwent two rounds of chemotherapy and two stem cell transplants but experienced numerous complications that required nearly a year in-hospital days during her 19-month illness.  Throughout, she expressed attitude (‘Teri kicking butt ’ was her motto), grace and finally equanimity.  She achieved her top two bucket priorities, to hold her first grandchild and to see Ben admitted to medical school.  When she decided to stop all therapy, in a flash we organized a completely unique ‘awake’ wake with her family and friends from east and west coasts who gathered around to honor her in person!

 

Teri’s last teaching moment occurred during her final week of life at our annual welcome party for incoming Asian American medical students.  Although unable to stand, she sat in a recliner.  When she overheard one student criticizing another school, she asked me to bring him over.  She said to him, “It’s not about where your school is ranked [by US News/Report], it’s about what you do with your career, how you demonstrate your passion and compassion! [and you have a ways to go]”

 

Teri was a special individual and would have loved to meet you (and your family) and learn all about your accomplishments.  Keep up the good work!

 

Teri’s 10^th on September 2^nd

 

We all miss her.  Even though she didn’t have a chance to meet her three grand girls, I definitely see her spunk, strength and independence in each of them.  And even for me, her soft-powered lessons continue to mold me.  

 

On Teri’s 10^th, we hope you enjoy a shared memory and send a thought her way.  And, at your leisure, enjoy Teri’s jiaozi dumplings!  And send a picture to Rachel.