The new DMU Alumni Association Board of Directors reflects health care’s ideal of interprofessional interactions and cross-disciplinary collaboration.

From reminding first-year students why they went into medicine to providing shadowing opportunities, professional advice and personal encouragement, alumni mentors show students “the light at the end of the tunnel.”

They conquered cancer, endured chemotherapy and bravely climbed back to health. In January, these courageous souls conquered a different kind of mountain.

Barbara Krugler, PA-C’01, was not a typical military type when she enlisted in the U.S. Army in 2008. Two years later, she was taking care of soldiers in “full battle rattle” at a remote base in Afghanistan.

Barbed wire and police check points don’t figure into many DMU graduates’ daily lives, but they’re part of the scene for Heather Fowler, D.O.’94: She has provided patient care and hospital leadership in impoverished Bangladesh for more than a decade.

Nathania Hammel, D.O.’06, was living the dream as a wife, mother and family physician in a wonderful practice. Then a devastating diagnosis changed all that, along with her perspectives on life.

Watson Gutowski, D.O.’58, continues to celebrate the enthusiasm he felt as a DMU student by supporting his medical alma mater financially, including with a scholarship fund that he and his wife, Catherine, recently established.