Medical & Dental Reunion 2026 Class Notes

Much has changed since we finished dental school over 50 years ago. In addition to seeing the change in appearance of the campus with its' many new buildings, I always enjoy returning because I feel apart of a great legacy that was once the GUSD and feeling how much the Alumni Office values that period in Hoya history when dental students were an integral part of the University.

Reconnecting with classmates at Reunion and just being on Campus again gives me a feeling not unlike returning home to family after having been away awhile. I feel like I am home. Like I am in a dream and have awakened to familiar faces and surroundings.

I encourage D'74 to come back home to Georgetown with me and visit for a weekend. Come see what has been going on since you graduated and started your journey in the noble profession of dentistry. I will be looking for you.

Steve Bakios D'74
Class Ambassador

It is great to reconnect with classmates and other dental grads! A wonderful time to reminisce of stories long ago. With the closure of the dental school, it is special to be a part of the living legacy of an amazing education.

Looking forward to seeing all D'89ers at this next reunion! It is truly wonderful to catch up with everyone!

Tom Borgia, Gerry Ferretti, Glenn Toner, and I are actively planning our 50th Georgetown Dental Reunion on November 6,7, and 8th in Washington. Almost 40 of our Class are planning to attend. We would like as many as possible to attend. Let us know if you have not been receiving email communications from the Class of 1976 50th Reunion Committee.

Nicholas Theodore, MD, is Professor and Chairman of the Department of Neurosurgery at the University of Arizona – Phoenix College of Medicine and serves as the Physician Executive of the Neurosciences Service Line for Banner Health. From 2016 to 2025, he was the Donlin M. Long Professor and Professor of Neurosurgery, Orthopaedic Surgery, and Biomedical Engineering at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He was the Director of the Neurological Spine Program, Co-Director of the Carnegie Center for Surgical Innovation, and Founder of the HEPIUS Lab. He graduated from Cornell University and received a Cornell Tradition Academic Fellowship. He attended medical school at Georgetown University, graduating with honors and being inducted into AOA. His areas of interest include brain and spinal cord injury, minimally invasive surgery, robotics, and personalized medicine. He is the author of over 450 scientific publications and the recipient of many research awards, including the Tasker, Mayfield, and NASS Awards. In 2024, he received the Leon Wiltse Award from NASS, recognizing his excellence in spine care clinical research.

He has received several grants from the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation and a significant award from the Department of Defense for a multi-center study examining the effects of cerebrospinal fluid drainage in acute spinal cord injury. In 2010, with Neil Crawford, PhD, he founded Excelsius Surgical, a surgical robotics company that was sold to Globus Medical in 2013. The technology developed for this venture led to the first real-time, image-guided surgical robot for spine surgery. It was the most successful launch of a surgical robot in medical device history. He is active in injury prevention and advocacy. He has been involved with ThinkFirst for many years, serving as the Medical Director and National President of the Board of Directors. In 2018, he was appointed Chairman of the National Football League’s Head Neck and Spine Committee, which advises the league on neuroscience, concussion, and other health and safety issues. In 2020, he received a $13.48M award from DARPA as principal investigator of a multi-center team that has developed cutting-edge implantable imaging and neuromodulation technologies for spinal cord injury, which are nearing human trials. In 2025, his lab published a paper on the first multi-analyte blood test for acute spinal cord injury.

He has been happily married to his wife, Effie, for 31 years and has raised two sons, both of whom rowed on the heavyweight varsity crew in college. Costa graduated from Cornell University in 2020 and graduated magna cum laude from Georgetown Law in 2025. John graduated from Columbia University in 2023 and is in medical school at Emory University.

I am ​retired now 5 years after 42 years of great GI practice in Richmond, Virginia. Regretfully, I have not kept up with too many of our classmates outside of my brother-in-law, Kevin O'Neil, Terry Sullivan, John Andolina, Kelly Sullivan, and less frequently Dennis Grogan. One highlight was hanging out with Joe Hagan and his lovely wife Joyce in Ireland in order to celebrate our recent or upcoming 75 birthdays with a mutual friend who rented out Lismore Castle.

On a more thoughtful note we are blessed with three of our four children living in Richmond and with multiple young grandchildren who still don't mind hanging out with their "Doc".

Finally, I had a heartwarming visit with Proctor Harvey M.D. who was hospitalized at my primary hospital years ago. I thought I might be his only former student in attendance.
I am sure he was much gratified to be surrounded by 5-7 former students and fellows right there in Richmond.