Members of Cynthiaβs family joined Cynthiaβs colleagues in the atrium of the medical education building and then moved out to the Tavistock Green, where a citrus tree had been planted in her memory.
βWe want to thank you for sharing Cynthia with us,β Dr. Deborah German, dean of the College of Medicine and ΒιΆΉΣ³»΄«Γ½βs vice president for medical affairs, told the Kahn family.
Dr. Julia Pet-Armacost, associate dean for planning and knowledge management, whose department includes the library, called Cynthia a βbright lightβ who loved medical history but also embraced new technology as a way to provide medical information to the masses. βInformation was Cynthiaβs passion,β Dr. Pet-Armacost said, βand she wanted to share it with the world.β
Library Director Nadine Dexter told attendees that Cynthia had βworked a miracleβ in securing βHarry Potterβs World: Renaissance Science, Magic and Medicine,β a traveling exhibit from the National Library of Medicine that shows how medicine began in Harry Potterβs time and has developed into what we know today. The exhibit has a three-year waiting list but Cynthia was able to secure it for the ΒιΆΉΣ³»΄«Γ½ College of Medicine in her first three weeks on the job.
The Library staff presented the family with a sunflower wind chime in hopes that the sound will remind the Kahns of Cynthiaβs spirit. The sunflower was chosen because it represents the warmth of the sun on the state of Florida.
In placing a plaque with Cynthiaβs name on the fruit-bearing citrus tree, Dr. German said the college wanted to βremember her life with life.β