I don’t have a retirement career, but I am on my second career. When I was riding the PATH train on the way home from New York City, I noticed signs for teaching fellows. I applied and become a science teacher. With my background in science, as well as human biology, it was a natural fit. I worked at a school in Harlem that was excessed when the school was being closed. Then I taught living environment and science in an all-boys middle school and high school in Brooklyn. After that closed, I landed at a school in Boro Park, Brooklyn, teaching science, robotics and even social studies. I also teach afterschool chess, robotics and STEM, and mentor a child at Children of Promise, which is a NYC non-profit organization that serves kids whose parents or other caregivers have been incarcerated. Working with the kids is fantastic, but the adults are trying.
Jeff Utz, MD, HU ’94

I never wanted to retire from practicing medicine and teaching residents, fellows and medical students. I was first in private practice but completed my medical career as a Drexel physician in the Division of Pulmonary & Critical Care Medicine. I loved my outpatients, some of whom I had been seeing for over 30 years. I was devastated when first Hahnemann and then my Drexel outpatient practice closed.

My second act is not unique or earthshaking. I never developed any hobbies, did not play golf and did not want to follow many of my retired friends to Florida. During my work life, I usually spent my free time reading medical journals or planning an educational activity. I needed to be around students and medicine. It was my life.

I was fortunate to be asked to teach or facilitate classes of first- and second-year Drexel medical students in Case-Based Learning 1 and 2, as well as teaching physical diagnosis skills in the sim lab. I also got involved in Drexel medical clubs/interest groups, both pulmonary and internal medicine. Along with volunteering in a free clinic and working with a group seeking to help veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan who have sustained respiratory injury from burn pits, I have forged a second act. It is different but fulfilling and allows me to teach and mentor students as well as help patients. My grandchildren fill in the rest of the time. That is an entirely different and wonderful story.
Robert Promisloff, DO; Internal Medicine Residency, HU ’76; Pulmonary Diseases Fellowship, HU ’78

For the last five or six years I have discovered real joy in singing cabaret in the only remaining piano bar in Boston, the Napoleon Room at Club Café, where I can be found having dinner with “a family” of fellow singers and cabaret aficionados, waiting my turn to be called to the mic. The repertoire is the great American songbook and Broadway songs. New to solo singing, I have two singing lessons per week, one general and the other classical.

Mixing my professional expertise in airborne infection control with my singing hobby, the Napoleon Room is equipped with the latest in ultraviolet germicidal air disinfection — the same as found in parts of the Pentagon. It was featured in an NPR story. The air disinfection system was installed in time for my 75th birthday cabaret show last February: “Here’s to Life,” viewable on YouTube. A friend and I are planning another cabaret featuring the Italian-American songbook: “Tutti Frutti Italiano – A Red Sauce Cabaret.” I have also been a regular participant in CabaretFest in Provincetown every spring. At a time in life when it is often hard to make new friends, cabaret singing has provided a common interest across a wide range of ages and backgrounds and the motivation to keep learning new songs and lyrics.
Edward Nardell, MD, HU ’72

Where to start? First of all, our kids and grandkids live within minutes of us and we see them every weekend minimum. Although there were times during our two sons’ teenage years when I would have deserved a medal for not strangling them, somehow they have turned out to be great adults whom we are very proud of. My wife, Rhoda, and I have been together since high school. I attribute much of the success in our family’s relationships to Hahnemann. It was drilled into us to listen to our patients, and listening is a key to many if not all personal relationships.

Beyond family time, I write. Mainly, I write letters to the editor of the local paper, the Dallas Morning News. The topics include medicine, sports, politics, public policy, etc. In addition, I have taken up bridge. Before COVID, I played at local clubs. I starting teaching the game to seniors at the local community college. After COVID I tried teaching online, but it is difficult. Now many of my fellow bridge players and I are slowly returning to face-to-face bridge.
Jerry Frankel MD, HU ‘69