45th Reunion Info
Spouse’s name: Christina (deceased May 16, 2005)
Address: 1189 Lowell Road, Schenectady, NY 12308
Occupation: physician and medical school professor
Email address: PaulSorum@cs.com
Phone Number: 518-374-7144
Children: Eve, age 30
Grandchildren: Zoe (born June 1, 2006)
My wife, Christie, suffered a sudden and unexpected cardiac arrest last May. We were both at home, but I was in another room and, alas, unaware. Even though as a physician I have seen countless people suffer both anticipated and unanticipated deaths and even though the news is full of individual and group tragedies, it took Christie’s death, I think, to make me fully appreciate the utter precariousness of life–and the resulting need to make the most of what life we have.
Subsequently, our daughter Eve finished her PhD in English, obtained a tenure-track job at the University of Massachusetts at Boston (where her husband, John Fulton, teaches creative writing), and gave birth on June 1 to Zoe Christina.
I keep extremely busy in multiple activities: as a primary care physician for children and adults; as a Professor of Internal Medicine and Pediatrics at Albany Medical College, teaching evidence-based medicine to medical students and precepting medical students and residents in our office; as a researcher on health-related judgment and decision making, collaborating with a group of psychologists in France; and as an advocate for fundamental health care reform, chairing the NY Capital District chapter of Physicians for a National Health Program (which advocates universal access to comprehensive, affordable health care through a single-payer financing mechanism). I find lots of pleasure in what I do–particularly in helping to make my patients better or at least to make them laugh–but I am still deeply sad, of course, when I take our dog for the long walks that Christie used to love so much.