Class of 2000 Enjoys 25-Year ‘Family’ Reunion

The School of Medicine’s class of 2000 returned to campus for its 25-year reunion, catching up over dinner, taking a walk down memory lane and learning about recent advancements in medical education.

Marking a milestone year since graduation, around 50 School of Medicine alumni returned to UC Irvine for their 25-year reunion. “We’re the class — or family — of 2000,” says Laura Dardashti, MD, stressing the bond that ties these classmates together. “Because we are a relatively small class, we were able to easily form deep and strong connections with one another. We’re like a close-knit family.”

Now a retired psychiatrist, Dardashti helped the School of Medicine’s alumni relations team plan the two-day event, tracking down fellow classmates to ensure they were invited to both the dinner at Il Fornaio on Saturday, May 31, 2025, and the brunch and campus tour the following day.

“It was truly meaningful to sit in those very same seats where our careers began as first year medical students and reflect on the trajectory of our lives between then and now,” says Dardashti, referring to her and her classmates’ enthusiastic revisiting of Tamkin Hall.

Much has changed in medical education since the late 1990s. “It was fun to get a tour of the medical school to see how significantly it has been enhanced,” says Dardashti. “Today’s UCI medical students will be entering their residencies with the same strong clinical foundation and the added advantage of early exposure to advanced technologies.”

During the tour, alumni and their families could practice listening to lungs, checking for a heartbeat and drawing blood on patient care mannequins. “It was remarkable,” says Dardashti.

Fellow alumni Azin Meshkinpour, MD, MPH, and Anne Marie McNeill, MD, PhD, were also on the planning committee and thoroughly enjoyed the reunion.

“Reuniting with classmates after so many years was priceless,” says Meshkinpour, a local board-certified dermatologist. “I really appreciated connecting with everyone again and reminiscing about our shared experiences. These relationships carry both personal meaning as well as professional value.”

McNeill, president and founder of Newport Beach Dermatology and Plastic Surgery, agrees. “It was great to see all the familiar faces, sharing old stories and laughing like no time had passed,” she says. “We’ve all taken such different paths since med school, but there’s something special about being with people who truly understand what those years were like.” She loved catching up over dinner and walking around campus.

“It was both grounding and uplifting,” says McNeill. “Our reunion reminded me where we started, how far we’ve come, and that we’re all part of the growing UC Irvine community.”

Interested in joining a planning committee for your upcoming reunion? Email medicalschoolalumni@uci.edu to learn more. (You can also view more reunion photos online, or connect with the School of Medicine Alumni Chapter on Instagram.)