Supporters Like You
Read about supporters who are transforming the future of our community’s health and well-being.
Charles V. “Charlie” Wait Jr.
As a Glens Falls Hospital newborn requiring emergency open-heart surgery, Charlie was able to receive the highest-level of live-saving care at Albany Medical Center. Today he’s the president of CEO of the family bank.
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Charles V. “Charlie” Wait Jr. was a newborn in crisis, arriving in this world at Glens Falls Hospital in December 1981.
Delivered by C-section, it was apparent to the medical staff at the time that something was wrong. The hue of Charlie’s skin was bluish – a sign that the blood circulating through him was very low on oxygen.
The diagnosis: Transposition of the great arteries – a congenital heart defect where the two major vessels that carry blood away from the heart, the aorta and the pulmonary artery, are not positioned correctly. The condition causes blood to circulate incorrectly, bypassing the process by which the heart pumps blood to the lungs to oxygenate it before circulating it to the body.
“They immediately transferred him to Albany Medical Center for emergency open-heart surgery,” said Charlie’s father, Charles V. Wait, a renowned area civic leader and longtime president of the Saratoga Springs-based Adirondack Trust Company, a Capital Region institution founded in 1916.
Charles, now chair of the bank, praised the quick work of the Glens Falls Hospital medical team as they ordered the transfer to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. At first, Charlie’s mother, Candace, was forced to stay behind to begin healing from the C-section.
Surgery involved placing a baffle in young Charlie’s heart, allowing surgeons to redirect and let oxygen-rich blood to flow. “The human heart is the size of a fist,” Charles said, marveling about the intricacy and precision that must be needed for this type of surgery on a newborn. “There were times when a baby would not survive this condition. We were so fortunate to have the skilled staff of Albany Medical Center in our community. And with the growth of the Albany Med Health System, this expertise is expanding throughout the region.”
Columbia Memorial Health, Glens Falls Hospital, and Saratoga Hospital are a part of the System with Albany Medical Center, meaning higher levels of care are more accessible in more places.
Charlie can only imagine the experience through the stories told by his mother and father: the long NICU stay, their nights sleeping by his side or on a couch in the hall, and the kindness and caring at the time of NICU physician Dr. Allan Geis and surgeon Dr. Eric Foster.
“It makes me feel fortunate that there was a sophisticated hospital nearby to do these types of procedures,’ Charlie said.
Charlie has degrees from Cornell University and NYU Law School, and after practicing law for two years in New York City Charlie joined his father in the family business. He is now president and CEO of the bank after a brief law career and then working his way up through the ranks.
“Because of the care he received at Albany Medical Center, he would not have survived,” Charles said. “Now he’s president of the bank.”
Charlie and his wife, Natalie, have two children, Charles, “Chip,” 7, and Anna, 5, who are healthy. When he looks back on the care he received in 1981 and again in early 1983 when a permanent surgical repair was performed, he said, “Without it I would have been in trouble. They saved my life. That’s hard to beat.”
Vanessa Tran, CRNA, MS ’18 and Chris Baker
Vaness and Chris have reframed the loss of their first child, Isabelle, by building a legacy in her honor. They are thrilled to be in a position to support her school, her degree program, and a deserving student each year
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Vanessa Tran, CRNA, MS ’18 and her husband, Chris Baker, have established the Tran-Baker Memorial CRNA Endowed Scholarship at Albany Medical College in memory of their unborn daughter, Isabelle.
The scholarship will provide $10,000 to a deserving Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist student each academic year, with preference given to candidates from underrepresented groups in medicine.
Vanessa and Chris hope that the scholarship will pay a fitting tribute to Isabelle while supporting deserving CRNA students with their degree pursuit.
“I will always have a special place in my heart for Albany Med, and I’m happy that we have a forever connection to the school through education and this scholarship that helped us heal through something that was hard for us,” Vanessa said.
On the move
The couple met as students at McGill University in Montreal, with Vanessa pursuing a nursing career and Chris preparing for work in the business world. In 2011, they moved to Boston, where Chris launched a software development consultancy, ADK Group, and Vanessa worked as a nurse at Massachusetts General Hospital for five years.
Vanessa explored the possibility of becoming a CRNA, and after looking at various programs, she chose Albany Medical College. “It made a lot of sense to apply there, because of the rolling admission process,” she said. “Albany Med made it easy to make connections with faculty and other students. It felt very intimate, and I liked the feeling of community.”
Chris remained in Boston while Vanessa completed her anesthesia studies, earning a Master of Science in nurse anesthesiology in 2018. She continues to work at Mass General as a staff nurse anesthetist.
They were expecting their first child in early 2021 when, halfway through Vanessa’s pregnancy, they learned that their unborn child had a rare neurological issue and would not survive. “We were at this point in our lives where we were so excited to welcome our first child,” Chris said. “Then, we got this horrible news. It knocked us down.”
Over time, they sought to reframe their loss and build a legacy of good in their daughter’s honor. They reached out to the Albany Medical Center Foundation to discuss a memorial scholarship fund to support deserving CRNA students. “That’s where the idea for the endowed scholarship was born, as a way to memorialize her and build a legacy out of loss,” Chris said. “We’re action-oriented people, and we felt it was a very appropriate way to honor her, support education and Vanessa’s alma mater.”
CRNAs aren’t as well-known as other practitioners in the medical community, Vanessa and Chris pointed out, and the Tran-Baker Memorial CRNA Endowed Scholarship could help to bring attention to this program and career.
“We asked ourselves, ‘what would be a way to help people like Vanessa have a pathway to prosperity?’ A CRNA has a well-paid, dynamic career, work-life balance, and flexibility,” Chris said. “If one person can get this job, it can affect generations of a family, and this endowed scholarship makes the cost of tuition less of a deciding factor.”
He and Vanessa are thrilled to be in a position to support her school, her degree program, and a deserving student each year who may otherwise go unrecognized. “Albany Med figured out how to help us give back, with preference toward a CRNA student from an underrepresented group in medicine,” Vanessa said. “We’re excited to meet the first student.”
Between the couple’s contribution and those of family and friends, they’re hoping to reach $200,000 and achieve fully endowed status in 2022. “We originally planned to fully fund the endowment ourselves, but we were encouraged to reach out to our community of family and friends and tell our story,” Chris said. “We opened it up to our community and got wonderful support. We’re looking forward to hearing the stories of our scholarship recipients and have this enduring legacy live on.”
Speaking of enduring legacies, Vanessa and Chris have one such legacy in their own family, as Vanessa gave birth to a healthy, happy boy, Calvin, in May.
Happy days
She fondly recalls her days as an Albany Medical College student. “I really liked the program. The staff was very helpful, I had a really good experience, and I liked being a learner. The school meant a lot to me. It gave me a career that I can see myself doing for 30 more years. I became a well-rounded nurse anesthetist from my training. I have a better work-life balance with my family. I’m forever grateful.”
As a native Canadian, Vanessa particularly enjoys putting her CRNA degree to work. “We don’t have nurse anesthetists there,” she said. “As a CRNA, our approach is different because we are nurses and have a different way of communicating with patients. I get my room ready, interact with surgeons and nurses, meet with patients on the day of surgery, and discuss their plan of care with the patient and team before I deliver the anesthesia. Each patient is different. I always ask if there’s anything more I should know about them, and I appreciate the time with them because they trust me with their lives. I love being a nurse anesthetist, and I love working with patients.”
Vanessa and Chris encourage alumni to give back to the school in a way that resonates with them. “Find something meaningful within the context of Albany Med in an underserved area, something you’re passionate about,” Chris said. “Our endowed scholarship solves an unmet need, which was motivating for us. Don’t be shy to leverage your community. That makes the experience more fulfilling and allows more people to be a part of the impact. It brought Vanessa and me closer together with each other and our family and friends. To be able to talk about our loss and share the stories and experiences of the endowed scholarship recipients will be meaningful.”
For Vanessa, it’s especially rewarding to be able to support fellow CRNAs in their education and future career. “I feel very fortunate to be able to do that. There are no other specific CRNA scholarships offered by Albany Med,” she said. “This makes school less of a burden for them. It feels very positive to us in so many ways.”
“Our endowed scholarship solves an unmet need, which was motivating for us. Don’t be shy to leverage your community. That makes the experience more fulfilling and allows more people to be a part of the impact. It brought Vanessa and me closer together with each other and our family and friends. To be able to talk about our loss and share the stories and experiences of the endowed scholarship recipients will be meaningful.”
– Chris Baker
Bill and Susan Droege
Susan Droege and her husband, Bill, are so fond of her surgeon Brian Valerian, MD, that they often joke they’d like to clone him. And while that prospect is, of course, outside the realm of possibility, they have done something else to help ensure his gifts as a physician are multiplied in an extraordinary way.
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Trust is the foundation on which all great friendships are built and it’s one of the first things Susan Droege mentions when she talks about the bond she has with Brian Valerian, MD.
They met in 2005 when Susan was referred to Dr. Valerian, a colorectal surgeon, who treated her for complications related to Crohn’s disease. He, too, remembers their early meetings. “I noticed her husband Bill always came with her and I was struck by what kind, down-to-earth people they are,” he said. “They travel to the kinds of places I could only dream about going to, like immersive tours to the Arctic to live among polar bears. They showed me pictures and it was fun to live vicariously.”
In the intervening years, Susan’s health has become further complicated by a cancer diagnosis and, while Dr. Valerian’s specialty doesn’t always align with the specific treatment she needs, he has stayed close to the couple, providing care when he can and guidance when that’s not possible.
Dr. Valerian has connected Susan to other specialists. He stood by in the operating room when she underwent a particularly complicated OB/Gyn procedure — and, later, sat with Bill in surgical waiting and listened as he spoke about his love for his wife and his concern for their future.
“For much of my relationship with the Droeges, I’ve just listened,” Dr. Valerian said. “Susan might ask me, ‘Am I going down the right path?’ If I don’t know the answer, I’ll reach out to a colleague.” He also continues to manage her colorectal care.
“Dr. Valerian has become one of the very important people in my life who’s helped me through all this,” Susan said. “We often joke we’d like to clone him.”
Throughout this period, Susan and Bill have made outright gifts paired with a bequest to support research and education in Albany Med’s Department of Surgery (“curiosity is very important to us,” Susan said). More recently, Bill said, “We started looking at our giving plans a little differently. We decided it would be good to see what we were doing in action. In the end it made sense to combine outright gifts of cash and annual Qualified Charitable Distributions from our IRAs with an additional bequest to create our new gift commitment. The new plan made it possible for us to endow the Susan Droege Distinguished Chair in Surgery to honor Dr. Valerian.”
Dr. Valerian was stunned and deeply humbled. “This is the pinnacle for me,” he said. “It’s every academic surgeon’s dream to have an endowed chair. I still feel sort of overcome when I talk about it.” The Droeges’ generous gift will fuel significant educational and research efforts, greatly benefit the fellowship program as a whole and have a positive impact on medical residents and fellows being trained by Dr. Valerian and his colleagues.
The Droeges may joke about cloning their physician friend, but they are sincere in their appreciation of his genuine nature and his caring approach to patients. And they feel their gift will help foster these same qualities in the future physicians to come out of the program.
“We wanted to do something good for the community,” Susan said. “And we feel our support of Dr. Valerian will do just that. We feel it will have a long-term influence on the lives of many people, the way it has on ours.”
Your gift, too, can have a profound impact on the future of medicine and patient care and help Albany Med physicians and caregivers whose work saves lives.
“We wanted to do something good for the community. We feel this will have a long-term influence on the lives of many people, the way it has on ours.”
—Susan Droege
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