Robert Wood Johnson Foundation New Connections regional conference hosted by USF

Investing in young scholars who are underrepresented minorities (URM) is not only important for society and academia – it makes good business sense.

That theme was echoed by several speakers participating Feb. 27 in a regional conference sponsored by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) New Connections national career development program and the University of South Florida.  The day-long conference, titled “Uncovering the Institutional Impact of Scholars from Historically Underrepresented Backgrounds,” was held at the USF Marshall Student Center.

Members of the conference planning committee include, from left: June Lake, MA, USF College of Public Health;  Devona Foster Pierre, EdD, assistant director of faculty/staff diversity at USF; Angie Harris, USF College of Public Health; and event co-chair Jacqueline Wiltshire, PhD, assistant professor in the USF College of Public Health who has been a New Connections scholar.

Participants came from five Southeastern states – Florida, Alabama, Kentucky, Louisiana and South Carolina – to define policies and best practices to help junior faculty and postdoctoral scholars from disadvantaged or underrepresented backgrounds advance their academic careers. Representing a range of disciplines and institutions, they discussed working towards breaking down the barriers that may prevent talented URM researchers from securing grant funding, a disparity documented in part by a study commissioned by the National Institutes of Health and reported in Science.

USF System President Judy Genshaft kicked off the conference by recognizing Jacqueline Wiltshire, PhD, an assistant professor in the USF College of Public Health and New Connections grantee who worked with RWJF to bring the conference to USF. Dr. Wiltshire’s recent research evaluating factors that may influence medical debt incurred by African American and white older adults was published in the American Journal of Public Health.

USF Health leaders shared their experiences and insights in a panel discussion framing how to move beyond numbers to best practices in supporting underrepresented minority scholars.

USF is proud of its diversity and will continue to seek even more diversity in student, faculty and staff recruitment, Genshaft said. “We look forward to continuing the conversation regarding underrepresentation on our campuses and in our workforce, and on making a positive and thoughtful impact on changing the face of the nation.

“I really believe universities are vital for advancing science and opening up people’s minds (to new perspectives), and diversity enriches education in every way possible,” she said. “This is especially true for health care and health research professions, who are caring for our ever-growing, more diverse population and discovering cures for our most complicated diseases.”

Role of university leadership in strengthening diversity

The plenary panel discussion “Diversity by the Numbers: The Role of University Leadership” featured four senior health leaders at USF. The panel fielded questions from Tyra Dark, a New Connections grantee and faculty member at Florida State University College of Medicine, and the audience. Below is an edited sampling of some of their comments and advice to junior and aspiring faculty in the audience:

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Kevin Sneed, PharmD, senior associate vice president of USF Health and dean of the USF College of Pharmacy

Casting a wider net to find and recruit talented URM students and young faculty is just the beginning:  “You can’t be a catch and release program… We have to make sure we’re bringing people along and providing them with continual mentorship. In my experience, if we’re not creating that level of sustainable relationship building, the influence of other areas very often will become a distraction to their pathway to (academic) success.”

Creating an environment to build trust: “I’m very fortunate that I’ve encountered an environment here at USF, starting with President Genshaft and vice president for health Dr. Lockwood, that is very collaborative and has allowed me to be me … You have to build an environment that is very welcoming to underrepresented minorities, that allows faculty to have very open and honest conversations (with leadership) about a whole host of things.”

Additional financial pressures often confronted by underrepresented minorities as they select career options, which can include higher-paying private sector jobs: “We have to work harder to mentor them at younger stages in their careers, all the way back to when they are students and in residency training, and help them overcome the financial debt that many of our students must overcome to advance.”

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Catherine Lynch, MD, associate vice president of faculty development and women’s health, and the first woman to be promoted to professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine

The need to be aware of “unconscious bias:” “There’s plenty of data that shows if you have several women on your short list, the likelihood of a woman becoming a finalist for a major position goes up… If you don’t have underrepresented minorities as faculty within your department, it’s hard for (physician) residents who are underrepresented to say ‘this is a place where I want to be.’”

Some advice for women on advancing a career: “You need to be strategic in the (academic) service that you do. Be on the committee that’s going to help you advance and meet the right people — that will be the most valuable use of your time…  If there are 10 requirements listed for a position, women tend to say ‘I don’t have number 7’ … But, if you already know everything on that list, you need to be looking for a position the next level up. Don’t assume if you work hard and keep your nose to the grindstone, you’ll be recognized for your efforts. Go to your supervisor and ask ‘what do I need to do to be the assistant director of so and so?’”

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Edmund Funai, MD, chief operating officer for USF Health and senior vice president for strategic development at USF

Importance of leaving a legacy of people: “As university leaders we really have to be mindful of looking for talent everywhere and developing that talent.  Talent isn’t necessarily right under your nose; you have to go a little further and look in nontraditional places.”

Advocating the business case for more URM representation in academia. “Part of the answer is… make the business case for diversity… And the business case for diversity, well known in the management literature, is that homogeneous groups do not produce as elegant or inclusive solutions as when everyone is represented around the table.”

Advice he gives all junior faculty regardless of their backgrounds: “When someone gives you something to do, do it a little better than they expect it to be done, but more importantly do it a lot quicker than they expect. Because when you’re talking about the hierarchy of departments and chairs, if someone delegates something and then they have to worry about it and ask you how is it coming, and they need updates, you’ve already failed… Your reward for that will be more work, but that’s the sort of behavior upon which careers are built.”

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Donna Petersen, ScD, associate vice president of USF Health, dean of the USF College of Public Health, and interim dean of the USF College of Nursing

The role of faculty in preparing a pipeline of young scholars: “We have to reach back and commit to identifying young people and helping them get on a path so that they are not only prepared to join the academy, but want to join the academy… In both the (USF) Colleges of Public Health and Nursing, the numbers (of URM) are increasing, particularly in the assistant professor ranks where you have to start. In the nursing college, we have the additional challenge of needing more men in our faculty… and I’m very proud that our college of nursing actually has more male faculty than the national average.”

The importance of listening and meaningful dialogue to building a foundation of diversity in academia: “We can talk about numbers, but what’ are the stories behind the statistics?…Nothing is more heartbreaking than hearing the stories of underrepresented minorities who make it through layers upon layers of an MD or PhD program and then find themselves in an institution where perhaps they are the only ones who look like them.”

Health disparities research: “While we need more underrepresented minorities joining the research ranks to help us solve the problems of health disparities in this country, it’s not your burden alone to solve…I would say to URMs interested in pursuing higher education as a career, study whatever you want. You don’t have to study the things that are specific to the community you come from.  If you want to, please do, but there are other ways you can engage in that conversation with the scholars focusing on health disparities.”

Jose Hernandez, EdD, associate vice president and chief diversity officer at USF, talked about what USF is doing to help scholars from historically underrepresented groups build the skills they need to succeed in academia.

Mentoring historically underrepresented faculty

Another panel, which focused on mentoring historically underrepresented minority faculty, included Jose Hernandez, EdD, associate vice president and chief diversity officer at USF.

Dr. Hernandez, who immigrated at age 9 with his parents from Cuba to Puerto Rico, said that, for two years, he was the only Latino in his doctorate program at Florida State University. He helps mentor USF students in the McNair Scholars Program, which aims to increase graduate degrees awarded to students from underrepresented segments of society.

Dr. Hernandez spoke about USF’s Research Boot Camp© coordinated by the USF Office of Diversity, Inclusion and Equal Opportunity (DIEO), which he says was modeled after the research boot camp created by Sisters of the Academy Institute. Entering its third year, the USF camp offers an intensive one-week program in May designed to help women junior faculty, post-doctoral scholars and doctoral candidates, including women of color underrepresented in the academy, network with senior faculty and build the skills needed for success in academia. The one-week camp has been expanded to create a community of scholars with opportunities throughout the year to participate in sessions on research design and quality, publications, grantsmanship, and to discuss issues related to retention, promotion and tenure, he said.

USF’s Hernandez and other panelists listen to Bertha Hildalgo, PhD, of the University of Alabama at Birmingham, speak about how, with the help of RWJF New Connections grant funding, she developed her research investigating health disparities in cardiometabolic diseases. Her studies have focused on epigenetics in Latino populations.

USF also hosts a series of “Courageous Conversations” to help promote a culture of diversity and inclusion, Dr. Hernandez said, and best hiring practices workshops for faculty serving on search committees address the topic of implicit bias and how to mitigate it.

“We’re making a difference, but how can we do more? And how can you inspire us to do more, particularly with underrepresented minorities?” said Dr. Hernandez, who serves on the National Association of Chief Diversity Officers Board of Directors.

The RWJF New Connections program recently celebrated its 10^th year supporting research grants and career development opportunities for a national network of more than 900 scholars from diverse, underrepresented and disadvantaged backgrounds.  For more information, please visit http://www.rwjf-newconnections.org/.

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Story by Anne DeLotto Baier and photos by Eric Younghans,  USF Health Communications

The MCOM Class of 2017 chose the theme “Luck o’ the Match” for this year’s March 17^th ceremony,  falling on St. Patrick’s Day

Senior medical students at the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine (MCOM) in Tampa, along with those in Allentown, PA, will celebrate National Match Day, beginning at Noon EST this Friday, March 17.  Those in the MCOM Class of 2017 will join thousands of their peers at medical schools across the country to learn where they will spend their residencies following graduation.

For the third consecutive year, the USF ceremony will be held on the riverfront at Ulele, near downtown Tampa.  This year’s Main Residency Match by the National Resident Matching Program is expected to be the largest in history.

Residency is the time when licensed medical graduates receive specialized postgraduate training in their chosen medical fields. In the months leading up to Match Day, students apply and interview for residency slots with institutions across the country.

At Friday’s ceremony, a crowd of family members, friends, MCOM faculty and staff, and others will eagerly and anxiously await as the USF students, one by one, approach the outdoor stage and open sealed envelopes to find out which school among their several selections accepted them and where they will train for the next three to seven years.  Some USF SELECT MD senior students will join the Tampa celebration, but most will participate in a Match Day event on the Lehigh Valley Hospital campus in Allentown, PA, where they conducted their clinical training the past two years

 What does the Match Day envelope hold in store for these future physicians?  Grab a shamrock and join us!

Those who cannot attend in person can watch the festivities on the USF Health LIVE Ustream channel: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/usf-health-live

Click here for Match Day 2017 results.

Clear skies, the Hillsborough River and the downtown Tampa skyline helped set the stage for this year’s USF Match Day, held March 17. The open grass yard behind the local restaurant Ulele was filled with senior medical students from the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine (MCOM) as they gathered for Match Day, the annual ritual of finding out where they will spend their residency training after graduating from medical school next month.

The celebratory vibe had a glimmer of green this year – spring green, USF green and St. Patrick’s Day green – with students and family members also wearing specially designed shirts that helped raise $2,500 toward MCOM scholarships. Working with USF’s creative design team, the medical students designed this year’s shirt to reflect St. Patrick’s Day, using the phrase Luck o’ the Match!

The USF MCOM Class of 2017 includes 162 students who matched with residency programs. On Match Day, senior medical students across the country learn where they will spend their residencies, the next step in their medical education, which can last from three to seven years depending upon the specialty pursued. The big reveal follows several months of applying for and interviewing at residency programs and ranking their picks within a formal match through the National Residency Match Program (NRMP).

It is on Match Day that all U.S. medical students find out which programs chose them. The news is available at the same time across the country – at high noon on the east coast and at 6:00 a.m. in Hawaii.  This year, the NRMP’s main match was the largest on record.

At Ulele, the festivities began a surprise visit by City of Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn, offering encouraging words to the senior medical students.

“All of us are very proud of what you have done and how you have gotten to this point,” Mayor Buckhorn said. “But more importantly, what I want you to know is that, whether you match at USF or whether you go on to some other great university or medical school in this country, I want you to do one thing for me: I want you to come back to Tampa when you’re done. I think you’ve seen we’re building an amazing city for you. This is that place in America where the best and the brightest want to be. We want you to come home here. We want you to become part of our community. You are part of us. Good luck to all of you. Go Bulls! and Go Tampa!”

Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn joined the Match Day festivities with Dr. Charles Lockwood and Dr. Kira Zwygart.

Taking the stage next was Charles J. Lockwood, MD, MHCM, senior vice president for USF Health and dean of the Morsani College of Medicine.

“I want to thank our mayor, probably the biggest supporter of this medical school and its relocation downtown on the waterfront with the Heart Institute,” Dr. Lockwood said.

“And I especially want to thank the support system of our graduates, the family members here, and a big hand for all of them.

“If you are feeling the same level of nervous energy that I did – I won’t mention how many years ago – I can only imagine what’s going through your minds,” he continued. “You’re going to be great doctors. Just keep in mind to put the patient first every day, and you’ll have a successful career and outstanding professional life.”

At noon, Mayor Buckhorn announced the first match and presented an envelope to Jewel Brown, who matched to an obstetrics and gynecology residency at USF.

First envelope for USF Match Day goes to Jewel Brown, who will be doing her residency in obstetrics and gynecology at USF Health Morsani College of Medicine.

Each medical school has its own tradition for releasing the match information: some simply hand out envelopes and students open them en masse. The USF Health Morsani College of Medicine has a long-standing tradition for handing out envelopes one at a time, in random order, and allowing each student to open and announce to their classmates where he or she is headed. The additional attention to each student and the additional time for sharing their news creates a festive atmosphere that, over the years, has offered generations of USF students an opportunity to savor the moment that defines their future.

This year’s group includes 50 students in the SELECT MD program at MCOM, who spent the past two years in clinical rotations in Allentown, PA. Ten of the 50 returned to Tampa to open their envelopes at Ulele.

USF Health SELECT students in Allentown, PA. Photo courtesy of LVHN.

The Class of 2017 also includes seven students matching through the U.S. military, the largest group in MCOM’s history. As happens in military matches, these students already learned where they’re conducting their residencies, but join their classmates at Match Day as part of the Class of 2017.

Although the lawn of Ulele was full of students and their friends and family, anyone who couldn’t make it to the venue could catch all the action via the live UStream, giving access across the world as each student learns where they will spend the next few years of their medical training as physician residents.

Names continued to be announced by Kira Zwygart, MD, associate dean for MCOM Office of Student Affairs. One by one, senior students came forward to accept an envelope, open it, and discover their futures.

As MCOM tradition goes, each student places a dollar into a box – this year a ‘pot-o-gold’ to stay with the St. Patrick’s Day theme – and, because the student names are called in random order, the final envelope holder gets the cash. This year that winning student was Jennifer Carrion who matched in ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­family medicine residency at Florida State University Lee Memorial in Fort Myers, FL.

Jennifer Carrion collects her prize — the Match Pot-o-Gold filled with cash — with help from family and friends.

Then the crowd of newly matched students gathered together for what might be their last photo as a class. Everyone cheered in unison, thrilled to have matched.

Stats: From the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine: 162 students matched; 37 students (23%) are staying at USF; 70 (43%) are staying in Florida; and 56 students (35%) chose primary care as their specialty (internal medicine, family medicine, and pediatrics). Click here for more details about the nationwide Match from the National Residency Match Program.

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For many students, Match Day is a defining moment

They find out where they will launch their careers. For some, Match Day continues paths of determination. Here are some of their stories.

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For Mayssan Muftah, becoming a doctor means being able to help rebuild her patients’ health — while also breaking traditions and stereotypes.

“I had a patient tell me once that I had totally changed his ideas of what Muslims are like,” said Muftah, 23, a Syrian-American who lives in Tampa. “I like breaking down people’s ideas of what a woman in a head scarf should be doing.”

Muftah, a third-generation physician, will specialize in gastroenterology, just like her father and grandfather, but in many other ways, she is forging her own path.

“In the Arab culture, not very many women become doctors. They might go to medical school — my grandmother did — but they rarely go into practice,” Muftah said.

Muftah is intent on having a career and a family. This spring, she will marry her finance, Ammar Nassri, an internal medicine resident who starts his fellowship this summer. Because of their impending nuptials, Nassri was unable to attend Match Day. Muftah chose to open her envelope privately a few moments before the match ceremony commenced, so that she could share the news with Nassri via a FaceTime call.

While her fiancé finishes his gastroenterology fellowship, Mayssan will be doing her internal medicine residency. Her future plans include finding a balance between her career and being a mother. She wants to show young Muslim women that they can pursue their dreams and not to give into stereotypes.

Mayssan Muftah shares the good news of her residency match in internal medicine at Emory University School of Medicine with her fiance via FaceTime.

“If you want something, you have to go for it,” she said. “You can’t let anyone stop you. You can be everything — and it’s worth it,” she said.

Unlike her father and grandfather who work in private practice, Muftah plans to practice in an academic setting. There, she will encounter patients from all walks of life, and in all likelihood, certain prejudices, too. Muftah is undeterred.

“I can break down misconceptions about the Muslim faith,” she said, “and change ideas about what someone like me should be like.”

Muftah matched in internal medicine at Emory University in Atlanta.

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Like most children, SeQuoya Killebrew and her two siblings made frequent visits to their pediatrician’s office as they were growing up, and with every runny nose and fever, she became more certain that one day, she too would become a doctor.

“I really admired my pediatrician,” said Killebrew, 26. “My parents trusted her wholeheartedly to care for their children, to help them and to look out for their best interests.”

The goal of becoming a pediatrician sustained Killebrew for years, throughout high school, undergraduate studies at Florida A&M University, where she earned a degree in biology, and her first two years of medical school.

SeQuoya Killebrew announces that she will be doing her residency in internal medicine at Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville.

In her third year, her first clinical rotation just happened to be in internal medicine, and soon, Killebrew was rethinking her professional aspirations.

“I realized I really like internal medicine. It’s a challenging field. You have to study all the time. You can’t be complacent,” Killebrew said.

Later that year, during her pediatrics rotation, Killebrew made her decision. She would become a hospital-based internist rather than a pediatrician.

“I realized that kids aren’t fun when they’re sick, and when they’re better and more fun, it’s time to send them home,” she said. “I like the dynamic of working with adult patients.”

Killebrew aims to work in a hospital setting because of the impact she’ll be able to make on patients when they’re at their sickest.

“When your patients are in the hospital, there is something seriously wrong. I’ll be able to be their advocate, to sit down with them, hear their stories, coordinate their tests, make sure everything gets done, and then send them home healthier and with the tools to live a better life,” she said.

Though she will be treating adults rather than children, Killebrew will still strive to emulate the compassionate care her pediatrician delivered each time she and her brother and sister had a stomachache or needed an immunization.

“People trust you wholeheartedly to take care of them. You’re a counselor and a confidant, as well as a doctor,” she said.

Killebrew hopes to be matched with the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville. And she did, in internal medicine.

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As the son of a beloved USF Health faculty member, one might think Sam Slone is merely following his father’s footsteps into medicine.

Not so, said Slone, who like his father, Frederick Slone, MD, will specialize in gastroenterology.

“I was always good in math and science. I wanted to use that to help people at the same time. By the time I was in middle school, I had decided that I would become a doctor, too,” said Slone, 26.

In fact, it wasn’t until his son was applying to college that he heard him say he wanted to become a physician, Dr. Slone said.

Dr. Fred Slone and son Sam Slone, who will be staying at USF for an internal medicine residency.  Sam plans to specialize in gastroenterology.

During his clinical rotations, Slone explored a variety of specialties, but gastroenterology “just felt right.”

“You have to do something you like. With gastroenterology, I’ll see inpatients and outpatients. I can specialize, but also provide a wide range of services. It’s the area in which I feel I can have the biggest impact for patients,” Slone said.

During medical school, Slone participated in research involving the use of fecal microbiota transplants to treat autism, taught Basic Life Support to members of the public and volunteered with Tampa Bay Street Medicine, an organization that serves Tampa’s homeless population.

All the while, Slone felt his confidence as a medical provider growing.

“At the beginning of medical school, you think, ‘There is no possible way I can learn everything I need to,’ but little by little, you do, and then you realize, ‘I can do this,’ ” he said.

After he graduated from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine in 1978, Dr. Slone matched to the University of South Florida for his residency. Like the vast majority of medical school residents, Tampa is where he stayed after his graduate education, building a life in tandem with his practice.

The younger Slone was born and raised in Tampa, graduating from Jesuit High School. He completed his undergraduate degree in biochemistry at the University of Florida — to have the away-from-home college experience — but after graduating in 2013, came right back to Tampa for medical school. This is where he hopes to stay; he ranked USF as his top residency location.

Regardless of where his career takes him, Slone is eager to begin his life’s work — and his dad is eager to watch his son make a name for himself.

“This is one of the proudest moments of my life, to see him achieve this goal,” Dr. Slone said. “Whatever he sets his mind on doing, he will do the work it takes to not only do it, but to excel.”

Slone fulfilled his hopes – he is staying in Tampa in an internal medicine residency at USF.

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He won’t be there to cheer them on as they open their envelopes.

He can’t wrap them in congratulatory hugs after they cross the stage.

But somehow, Sean and Shaara Argo hope, their dad will be watching this Match Day, and he’ll be proud.

“I’m sure he will be,” said Shaara, 26, of Don Argo, who died of cancer in 2008.

“He always held us to very high expectations.”

Added Sean, 30: “He always said that if you weren’t using your head, you might as well have two rear ends.”

Siblings Sean and Shaara Argo will specialize in emergency medicine and pediatrics, respectively. Sean is headed to Florida Atlantic University Schmidt College of Medicine in Boca Raton, while Shaara will stay at USF for her residency.

Though he won’t be there to celebrate with them, their accomplishments, Sean and Shaara agreed, have everything to do with their dad, as well as their mom, Kathy, who lives in Rockledge.

Don taught calculus at what is now Eastern Florida State College. Some of his courses were broadcasted on public access television, earning him the nickname, “Math Man.”

“People would just come up to us and say, ‘Hey, it’s the Math Man,’” Shaara said.

Ever the “Math Man,” Don had his children doing linear algebra by the time they were 5 and calculus by middle school.

“We couldn’t go out to dinner without the napkins and placemats being covered in math problems,” Sean said.

Meanwhile, their mother, a former software engineer turned stay-at-home-mom, was the nurturer, the one who instilled in them the importance of doing for others.

“She is just that type of person,” Shaara said. “She taught us empathy and compassion.”

With these two perfectly balanced influences in their lives, Shaara and Sean grew. Shaara gravitated toward medicine early in life. She recalls a photo taken when she and her brother were 3 and 6. They each held stethoscopes to the other’s chest.

“She was very serious about it,” said Sean.

Shaara earned a bachelor’s degree in biomedical sciences and a master’s degree in medical sciences from the University of South Florida before enrolling in medical school.

Sean, on the other hand, began his higher education as a physics major at USF, but changed his mind during the last years of his father’s life.

“He was in and out of the hospital,” Sean said. “He would schedule his surgeries for over his winter breaks from school, so we had Christmas in the hospital many times. Sometimes he had really good doctors, and sometimes he had doctors who lacked that human element.”

Those experiences led Sean to change his major. He also earned a bachelor’s in biomedical sciences and master’s degree in medical sciences. Afterward, he went to work for a Florida Department of Health laboratory. There, he tested blood samples for diseases, day in and day out, day after day.

“The same things happened at the same time every day. I realized it wasn’t for me,” Sean said.

“I had these skills, and the experiences we went through with my dad being sick. That’s when I decided medical school was the best fit for me.”

Shaara had headed straight into medical school, which is how she and Sean, four years apart in age, ended up in the same graduating class.

“We’ve answered the same three questions ever since: Are we twins? No. Do we live together? No. Do we study together? No,” Sean said.

Although, his last answer isn’t completely true.

“I taught you how to make flash cards in med school,” Shaara said to Sean one warm afternoon a few days prior to Match Day. “I remember. It was amino acids.”

As they progressed in their studies, Sean and Shaara each chose specialties that perfectly reflect their personalities.

Shaara, the organized, flashcard-making sibling, has chosen pediatrics.

“She is the one with the calendar. There are timetables for immunizations and developmental milestones. She’ll be the one to make sure that every kid is progressing on time,” Sean said.

Sean, who so detested the predictability of the laboratory, will specialize in emergency medicine.

“He is very spur-of-the-moment and spontaneous. He will definitely be able to jump from task to task in a way that makes sense to him,” Shaara said.

Shaara is hoping to match at USF, while Sean is crossing his fingers for the University of Florida or Florida Atlantic University.

Wherever their careers take them, Sean and Shaara will be carrying their parents with them.

“I want them to know that everything they did for us our entire lives, all the sacrifices they made, it made this easier,” Shaara said. “They had such a perfect balance. We hope to embody them both as physicians.”

Both got their preferred matches! Shaara matched in pediatrics at USF. And Sean matched in emergency medicine at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton.

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He knows how it feels to be a stranger in a foreign land.

He can still recall the heartbreak of his parents’ divorce.

He’s watched his home burn down, and he’s spent his summers counseling children battling for their lives. Now, Ariel Peñaranda is ready to put these and many other experiences to work for others.

“I have an understanding of what it’s like to go through these things. I know the struggle, and I know that if someone is there for you and there to listen to you, it can get better,” said Peñaranda, 27, who entered the USF Morsani College of Medicine through SELECT, a leadership track that prepares students to take active roles in changes to our health care system.

A native of Colombia who immigrated to Miami when he was 11, Peñaranda first considered becoming a medical doctor when he was in middle school, but that was mostly because both his parents are lawyers and he wanted to take a different path in life.

Ariel Peñaranda, who entered Morsani College of Medicine through the SELECT MD program, was glad to match in psychiatry at Montefiore Medical Center in Bronx, NY. He plans to pursue a child psychiatry fellowship after residency.

During his undergraduate years at the University of Miami, he veered away from medicine, earning a bachelor’s degree in motion pictures and psychology. As he progressed in his studies, however, he found that he was more inspired by the time he’d spent volunteering at an Orlando camp for children diagnosed with cancer, heart disease and other life-threatening conditions than the prospect of editing movies behind a computer screen all day.

“Medicine was a way to combine my love of people and science,” he said.

His undergraduate degree, unusual as it may seem for a future doctor, actually represents what he aims to achieve in his medical career.

“I like listening to people’s stories,” he said.

Peñaranda, the oldest of four siblings and a slew of cousins, has always loved children, and long planned to specialize in pediatrics, but changed his mind after his psychiatric rotations.

By specializing in psychiatry, Peñaranda will be able to spend his days doing what he likes best — listening — in order to devise a course of care that incorporates individual and group therapy, role modeling, and other patient-centered interventions. After his residency, he plans to pursue a child psychiatry fellowship.

“When I walk into the room, I’m not going to be asking for the chief complaint and then writing a prescription,” he said.

In all of his patient interactions, Peñaranda will dig deep, using his personal experiences to relate to those under his care. He gave the experience of being displaced from his Allentown apartment after a fire late last year.

“People have been so kind and have helped me through that,” he said. “I’ve been through that and now I can help others going through the same things.”

Peñaranda added he is especially interested in working with children whose behavioral and emotional issues are affecting their academic performance. He hoped to be matched with Montefiore Medical Center in Bronx, N.Y. And he was.

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Communications team supporting Match Day 2017: Anne DeLotto Baier, Grace Beck, Freddie Coleman, Vjollca Hysenlika, Mark Leaning, Tina Meketa, Ryan Noone, Elizabeth Peacock, Rachel Pleasant, Emily Rathbun, Sandra Roa, Ashley Rodriguez, Sarah Worth, Eric Younghans. Technical support by Andy Campbell.

The MCOM Class of 2017.

USF Health professor Dr. Richard Lockey helping develop rare blood disorder drug

Asphyxiation is a frightening experience, not just for the sufferer, but also for those who’ve witnessed someone’s inability to breathe.

University of South Florida professor Dr. Richard Lockey is working to prevent some people from ever facing that life-threatening attack.

He’s involved in a study recently published in the New England Journal of Medicine testing a first-of-its kind medication for those with hereditary angioedema and a C1 inhibitor deficiency. The rare blood disorder causes spontaneous swelling in various parts of the body, which could be deadly if it occurs in areas such as the tongue or larynx.

Richard Lockey, MD

Lanadelumab is a monoclonal antibody administered by injection every two weeks, helping patients avoid asphyxiation and costly trips to the emergency room, allowing them to live a full life. Previously, up to 20 percent died before the age of 20. Existing long-term preventive treatments can cause serious side effects for a significant percentage of patients.

Thirty-seven patients from across the country participated in the multisite, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial (Phase 1).  Dr. Lockey says in this early study lanadelumab was almost 100 percent effective, with minimal side effects. The drug works by inhibiting the enzyme kallikrein, blocking a cascade of molecular processes leading to angioedema.

“If this disease is in your family and you inherit the gene, we can give you this monoclonal antibody every two weeks to prevent attacks (of spontaneous swelling) from occurring,” said Dr. Lockey, director of the Division of Allergy and Immunology in the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine Department of Internal Medicine.  “It can enable people to live a normal life.”

Once the study is complete, researchers hope to win FDA approval, stocking pharmacy shelves in the next couple years.

About 10,000 people are diagnosed with hereditary angioedema.

– Story by Tina Meketa, USF Communications

“How can we take the outstanding teaching of our local USF faculty to a wider audience?” This was the question asked by University of South Florida infectious disease faculty members Richard Oehler, MD, and John Sinnott, MD, now chair of the USF Health Department of Internal Medicine, asked in 2007. Their answer was USF Health’s ID Podcast series.

Now celebrating its 10th anniversary, the ID Podcast series has developed an expansive online audience, offering more than 200 podcasts with content covering the history of medicine, HIV and AIDS care, public health, tropical medicine, hospital acquired infections, STDs, and infections in immunocompromised patients.

Richard Oehler, MD, of the USF Health Division of Infectious Disease, helped establish the ID Podcast series.

The series started as a way to archive and share faculty presentations of the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine Infectious Diseases (ID) Division with USF infectious disease students, residents and staff.

“We didn’t initially think this was something that would eventually attract such a large national and international following,” said Dr. Oehler, MCOM Class of 1992 graduate, ID Division faculty member since 2002, and newly promoted professor of medicine.

The first podcast was posted on the website, IDPodcasts.net, June 29, 2007, and featured a tour of the medical wing of the London Museum of Science, which Dr. Oehler had recently visited.  He originally produced the podcast to share with his colleagues within the ID Division, but the website was so well received that Dr. Oehler began uploading more podcasts.

Over the years, compelling, interesting content from ID faculty and fellows and from guest contributors is what has attracted the many thousands of online listeners, Dr. Oehler said. “The quality of our teaching is why people listen. We show off USF’s outstanding teaching every day.”

One key to the success of the series has been its adaptation to emerging technology throughout the years.  Since 2007, a plethora of technological advances have changed the way consumers get information, including the streaming media sites YouTube, Khan academy, and TED online, as well as smartphones and tablet devices.

“This is how we were able to capitalize on expanding to a wider audience. When we created the universal streaming iPhone/iPad app in 2010, it was the first ever streaming media app for USF and the entire state university system,” he said.

The ID Podcast series can be accessed by visiting IDpodcast.net

The ID Podcasts YouTube channel along with related Facebook and Twitter social media accounts have been critical in reaching a wider online audience.  The YouTube channel now has more than 600,000 lifetime views and a subscriber base of more than 3,000 from 200 countries, Dr. Oehler said, making it as popular as established national online sites for physicians and other health care professionals, such as the American Medical Association and Medscape.com.

“We regularly hear that IDPodcasts is one of the main reasons why people come to our USF fellowship and training program in infectious disease,” said Dr. Oehler. “It’s very gratifying to hear and see the positive comments on our forums given the still-modest resources we have to produce it. I know it matters. Not just to USF students, house staff and faculty, but to a medical and non-medical audiences across the internet.”

Going forward, Dr. Oehler wants to expand the site’s international offerings.  He recently created a new channel, “ID Podcasts International.”  Two podcasts on the channel were contributed from professors at Universidad CES in Colombia, and another is a skin infections lecture recorded in Mandarin by Dr. Sinnott.

“We realize there are many individuals from other countries who are not native English speakers, but who want to listen to our content,” he said.

As the series enters its second decade, Dr. Oehler and Dr. Sinnott are confident that USF’s IDPodcasts will continue to impact even more people across the globe.

USF, the official magazine of the USF Alumni Association, initiates a largely digital distribution format beginning with its spring 2017 edition.

“This is the age of 24-hour news, when the latest headlines are just a few clicks away, any time of day or night. The digital USF gives readers enhanced access and convenience, allowing them to reconnect with the University of South Florida System whenever and wherever they choose,” said Chief Communications Officer John Robinson.

Beginning March 24, USF readers will be able to read the spring 2017 edition, as well as past editions, at usf.edu/magazine.

Members of the USF Alumni Association, as well as certain donors, leaders of business and academia, and colleges and other departments throughout the USF System will continue to receive printed editions of the magazine.

In addition, printed copies of USF will be available in an expanded list of locations throughout the Tampa Bay community.

“This will allow USF to increase its external reach, and allow the University of South Florida System to share USF news with a broader audience,” Robinson said.

USF is a quarterly publication with a readership of nearly 60,000.

For generations, nurses tending to newborns have been able to tell the subtle difference between a baby’s cry of hunger and that of pain.

That ability to distinguish those differences is now being combined with continuous facial expression recognition software in hopes of offering a new way to help health care providers more precisely gauge whether a baby is experiencing pain or simply needing a diaper change.

Neonatal experts in the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine are partnering with facial expression recognition experts in the USF College of Engineering to build data that combines known information collected through facial expression recognition capabilities and the known information from nurses who have years of training and on-the-job experience using the neonatal infant pain scale (NIPS).

“Our intent is to develop a methodology and technology to allow us to better detect when the patients we are caring for experience pain,” said Terri Ashmeade, MD, professor of pediatrics in the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine and chief quality officer for USF Health.

“Babies hospitalized in the NICU experience many painful procedures and research has shown that these painful experiences are associated with altered development of the infants brains and can impact them long term. Babies cannot tell us when they are experiencing pain, or how intense their pain might be. So the most important thing about this research is that, by coupling computer vision technology with vocal responses, we can have a fuller understanding for what our patients are experiencing and know when we should intervene. And that precision in knowing when they are feeling pain would prevent us from exposing babies to medications they don’t need.”

Dr. Terri Ashmeade at Tampa General Hospital’s NICU.

The preliminary study looked at 53 infants in the NICU at Tampa General Hospital. Using small video cameras attached to infant incubators, the researchers collected footage of the young patients before, during and after scheduled procedures and interventions. The footage was examined later through facial expression analysis software and was also coupled with vital signs that were measured in sync with the footage, with audio that was also collected, and with near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS), which measures oxygen levels in the brain.

All of those datasets – facial expressions, body movements, sounds of crying and vital signs – were combined and then matched with the nurses’ own professional expertise of what particular cries and facial expressions mean, the NIPS score. The resulting overlay could provide a tool in a NICU that would constantly monitor a baby and then alert the health care team when there is evidence the baby is feeling any distress from pain. Currently, these NICU-skilled nurses build in typically hourly assessments of the infants to gauge a NIPS score – the new technology would offer round-the-clock monitoring.

Cameras continually monitor the newborns.

This new use of computer vision and pattern recognition adds a new dimension to existing software, said Rangachar Kasturi, PhD, the Douglas W. Hood Professor in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering, USF College of Engineering.

“USF’s expertise in computer vision and pattern recognition is well known, so naturally we have a strong interest in using it to help this population,” Dr. Kasturi said.

“The key difference here is that we’re not trying to recognize or identify a face, we are measuring the baby’s muscle movement and how their creases and lines move, to determine if they are experiencing pain. We are comparing the nurses’ scores with those we get from the technology to determine how accurate our scores are. We want to replicate what these talented nurses do so the babies can be constantly monitored.”

USF engineering professor Dr. Rangachar Kasturi and USF doctoral student Ghada Zamzmi. Photo by Ryan Noone.

In gauging facial expression, capturing known meanings in babies can be difficult, said Ghada Zamzmi, a doctoral student in the USF Department of Computer Science and Engineering.

“There are common expressions such as happy, sad, angry etc. that we know about adults, but those cannot be applied to newborns,” Zamzmi said. “In this study, we are capturing the facial muscle movements in video, or optical flow, and classifying them as relating to pain or no pain. In addition to facial expression, we are automatically analyzing other signals such as sounds, body movement, and heart rate to increase the reliability of detecting pain in case of missing data. We believe developing an automated multimodal system can provide a continuous and quantitative assessment of infants’ pain and lead to improved outcomes. ”

This type of technology and assessment could be used beyond the NICU, including for any patient who is not able to communicate directly with their health care team about whether or not they’re experiencing pain, such as elderly patients with dementia, Dr. Ashmeade said.

NICU babies are some of the most vulnerable and require multiple medical procedures – even surgeries – that are painful, Dr. Ashmeade said.

Babies may require multiple medical procedures while in the neonatal intensive care unit.

“These newborns, many of them born prematurely, cannot communicate their feelings, which is why and how the nursing staff has become the go-to experts for gauging the babies’ needs,” she said. “While we have had many successes in neonatal care and improving survival of our babies, what we really want to focus on is a great outcome. Anything we can do to foster appropriate development, especially of the brain, is what we want for these babies.”

In addition to Drs. Ashmeade and Kasturi, and Zamzmi, researchers on the study included: Chih-Yun Pai, Dr. Dmitry Goldgof, and Dr. Yu Sun. The team has applied for further funding with the National Institutes of Health and expects to hear if an expanded study is approved by next Fall. In June, the research will be presented in Norway at the Scandinavian Conference on Image Analysis, which is sponsored by the International Association for Pattern Recognition.

Story by Sarah Worth, photos by Eric Younghans, USF Health Communications

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ua_NOHEmQkQ

USF College of Pharmacy is transforming pharmacy practice to meet the demands of the ever-changing field of health care.

The USF Health college strongly emphasizes interprofessional education to prepare the pharmacists of the future and improve patient care.

That’s one of the biggest transformations happening at the USF College of Pharmacy.

“We believe team care is the best care,” said Kevin Sneed, PhamD, founding dean of the USF College of Pharmacy. “So, we’ve incorporated interprofessional education into our curriculum to prepare students to work closely together with doctors, nurses, physical therapists and other health professionals to improve health outcomes.”

Kevin Sneed, PharmD, dean of the USF College of Pharmacy, demonstrates emerging technology in pharmacy to fourth-year students Sidorella Gllava and Tyler Cureton.

The USF College of Pharmacy collaborates with the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine and other USF Health colleges to provide hands-on training to students in clinical settings and simulation environments. Richard Roetzheim, MD, professor and chair of the Department of Family Medicine at the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine, has helped USF College of Pharmacy move that idea forward since the college opened its doors in 2011.

“An effective relationship and communication between pharmacists and physicians starts at health colleges,” Dr. Roetzheim said. “As physicians, we can’t take care of patients alone. Pharmacists bring a different perspective. So, we have to train students in medicine and pharmacy to work together as one team to provide adequate care. And we’ve done that successfully here at USF for years.”

Pharmacy continues to grow and evolve — allowing pharmacists to become part of a team-based healthcare delivery. Now, more than ever, they play a big role in the patients’ recovery and contribute to better health outcomes.

“Pharmacy is not what it used to be,” Dr. Sneed said. “Once the diagnosis has been made, the pharmacists now follow the patients all the way through recovery — administering medications, providing medication education and counseling, communicating with their families, giving lifestyle and diet tips, and consistently checking in with the doctors to help manage patient illness and recovery.”

The USF College of Pharmacy has embraced that change. That’s why the college trains students alongside USF Health Morsani College of Medicine students and physicians in a high-tech environment at the USF Health Morsani Center for Advanced Healthcare. They look at patients together, discuss the diagnoses and lay out a plan of care.

“Practicing what we learn in the classroom alongside medical students and doctors helps us become better prepared,” said Dorissa Cortes, a fourth-year student at the USF College of Pharmacy. “It also reminds us about what each person brings to the table, and how we use that to help provide better care for our patients.”

Second-year students, Raisah Salhab, USF College of Pharmacy, and Hannah Shin, USF Health Morsani College of Medicine, read a patient’s medical history during a simulated medical consultation.

Barry Silverstone, a patient who suffers from a blood disorder, has visited Dr. Sneed and other USF Health doctors in the USF Health Morsani Center for Advanced Healthcare for years. Silverstone said a close collaboration between his doctors, nurses and pharmacists has kept his health in check.

“I feel a sense of wellbeing when my doctor and pharmacist communicate about my recovery process,” Silverstone said. “I speak to Dr. Sneed regularly about my medication, what to take and when to take it. Our communication has kept me healthy longer and my blood level consistent.”

The USF College of Pharmacy is leading the way in team-based training. The college’s ultimate goal is to continue to prepare the best pharmacists in the country to meet the needs of tomorrow’s health care and improve patients’ lives.

“The future of pharmacy is right here at USF Health,” Dr. Sneed said. “Our college is ready to face whatever challenges health care brings. We’re committed to our students’ success for the benefit of the patient. This is the best place to be.”

Story and video by Vjollca Hysenlika
Photos by Fredrick Coleman 

University of South Florida  study shows research investment critical to prevent destabilizing economic impact

TAMPA, FL (March 29, 2017) — More Americans are living longer and surviving chronic conditions like heart disease and cancer. Ironically, this triumph is also leading to a drastic rise in neurological disorders, which disproportionately attack the elderly.

Clifton Gooch, MD, professor and chair of the Department of Neurology at the University of South Florida Morsani College of Medicine in Tampa, is the lead author of study that details the enormous cost of neurological diseases to the nation.  The study is reported in the Annals of Neurology, the official journal of the American Neurological Association and the Child Neurology Society.

Clifton Gooch, MD

Working with USF College of Public Health colleagues Etienne Pracht, PhD, and Amy Borenstein, PhD, Dr. Gooch looked at the nine most prevalent and costly diagnosed neurological disorders and found the annual cost is staggering, totaling nearly $800 billion. By 2030, $600 billion will be spent treating stroke and dementia alone.  In addition, low back pain, traumatic brain injury, migraine headache, epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, spinal cord injury and Parkinson’s disease emerged as the most common disorders posing a serious financial burden.

“Given these extraordinary and rapidly growing costs, a concrete strategy is urgently needed to reduce the burden of neurological disease,” he said.

In the paper, Dr. Gooch calls on the federal government to provide more NIH funding to speed the development of treatments and cures for diseases such as dementia and stroke, including therapies to delay, minimize and prevent them. He also proposes the creation of a more effective national database to track treatment successes and failures.

“The very future of the neurological sciences and the patients we serve is now at stake, and the welfare of generations yet to come hangs upon the success of our efforts.”

Dr. Gooch writes that the years of productivity lost in the 100 million Americans living with neurological and musculoskeletal disorders is more than any other category of disease.

-USF Health-
USF Health’s mission is to envision and implement the future of health. It is the partnership of the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine, the College of Nursing, the College of Public Health, the College of Pharmacy, the School of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Sciences, the Biomedical Sciences Graduate and Postdoctoral Programs, and the USF Physicians Group. The University of South Florida, established in 1956 and located in Tampa, is a high-impact, global research university dedicated to student success. USF is ranked in the Top 30 nationally for research expenditures among public universities, according to the National Science Foundation. For more information, visit www.health.usf.edu

Media contact:
Tina Meketa, University Communications and Marketing
tmeketa@usf.edu or (813)955-2593

It was an exciting day at USF Health as hundreds gathered to celebrate the grand opening of a new USF Health Fitness Center on April 3 at the USF Health WELL. The new fitness center is a satellite facility of the USF Campus Recreation Center.

During the ribbon-cutting ceremony, USF Health leaders introduced the state-of-the art fitness center to USF Health faculty, staff and students.

“USF Health is all about health and wellness,” said Joe Ford, assistant vice president for USF Health Shared Student Services. “This new fitness center is a testament to our commitment to that mission and the health and well-being of our faculty, staff and students.”

Edmond Funai, MD, chief operating officer and vice president for administration for USF Health, and vice president for strategic development for the USF System, Joanne Strobbe, MsEd, senior associate vice president for administration, finance and technology, chief financial officer for USF Health, and vice dean for administration, finance and technology for USF Health Morsani College of Medicine, Donna Petersen, ScD, senior associate vice president of USF Health, dean of the USF College of Public Health and interim dean of the College of Nursing, and Joe Ford, assistant vice president for USF Health Shared Student Services, pictured with Rocky the Bull before ribbon-cutting. 

The 12,000 square-foot fitness facility is a full-service center providing high-tech cardiovascular and strength equipment, web-enabled treadmills, locker rooms with showers, and a fitness studio dedicated to Zumba, aerobics, yoga and meditation classes. The treadmills have full-functioning screens to check email, browse the web and even listen to lectures. The Well Fitness Center is open 6 a.m. to 7:30 p.m., Monday through Friday.

“I am excited to see such a high-quality fitness center on our side of campus,” said Mayah Knight, undergraduate student at the USF College of Nursing. “As USF Health students, we spend so much time studying, in the classroom or in clinical settings, so it’s nice to have a space dedicated to our wellness where we can go work out and decompress.”

USF leaders and students cut the ribbon to mark the opening of the USF Health Fitness Center.

The fitness center is available to all USF Health students, faculty and staff. Students can use the fitness center for free. USF Health employees, excluding other personal services (OPS) employees, will receive a $240 taxable benefit from USF Health to pay for the annual membership. To be eligible, employees must OPT-IN to the benefit and agree to the terms and additional tax deductions. For more information, click here.

“We’re thankful to USF Health for opening such a beautiful recreation center,” said Kathleen Flach, academic director for the physician assistant program at USF Health. “It’s convenient, it’s new, and it gives us the chance to get out of our offices, take a break and exercise.”

Dominique Richardson, fitness coordinator at the USF Campus Recreation demonstrates workout equipment to students and staff.

“This center is so convenient for me as it’s right across from my office,” said Chad Whistle, director of student affairs at the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine. “I can easily work out at the fitness center, get lunch or a smoothie across the hall at the Rising Roll, and go back to work — all in one hour.”

Rocky the Bull tests the new treadmill at the USF Health Fitness Center.

USF Health will work closely with the main campus recreation team to manage the day-to-day operations of the fitness center.

“We’re happy to work with USF Health and bring fitness opportunities to health students, faculty and staff,” said Eric Hunter, director of the USF Campus Recreation. “It was harder for USF Health community to go to the main campus recreation center and get their exercise, so this will fulfill that need.”

USF Health promotes health and wellness, and the new fitness center reflects that mission. Ford said that USF Health couldn’t have done this alone.

“It took a village to make this happen,” Ford said. “Everyone from USF and USF Health leadership, USF Campus Recreation and USF Student Government played a role. We’re also grateful to Williamson Dacar Associates for designing a beautiful space — bringing our vision to life.

Story by Vjollca Hysenlika
Photos by Frederick Coleman 

USF Health perinatologist Valerie Whiteman-White, MD, who built a distinguished academic career in maternal-fetal medicine and was known for her strong work ethic, indomitable spirit and devotion to family and faith, died April 2 after a long, courageous battle with cancer.  She was 55.

Dr. Whiteman had recently been promoted to professor in the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology – an accomplishment she worked tirelessly to achieve, even using the time she spent undergoing chemotherapy to write journal articles.  The latest of her papers, finding evidence that intrauterine tobacco exposure impacts fetal brain programming, was just published this January in the Journal of Perinatal Medicine.

Valerie Whiteman, MD

“Dr. Whiteman had a passion for and excelled at helping women with high-risk pregnancies bring healthy babies to the world.  We are deeply saddened by the loss of our colleague whose career was cut short, but whose exemplary life will not be forgotten,” said Charles J. Lockwood, MD, senior vice president for USF Health and dean of the Morsani College of Medicine.

Catherine Lynch, MD, professor of obstetrics and gynecology and associate vice president for Faculty Development and Women’s Health at USF Health, spent a lot of time with Dr. Whiteman while her colleague and friend was in hospice care.  Knowing that Dr. Whiteman’s 17-year-old daughter Talia will graduate from Tampa Preparatory School in May, Dr. Lynch arranged for teachers and classmates to bring a pre-commencement celebration for Talia to Dr. Whiteman’s bedside.

“Val truly loved what she did and thrived on difficult cases, especially complex obstetric cases,” Dr. Lynch said.  “But at the end of the day, what was most important to her was her daughter Talia.  Val was a true ‘volleyball mom,’ spending weekends at tournaments cheering Talia on.”

Dr. Whiteman received her MD degree from the State University of New York (SUNY) in Buffalo, NY.  She completed a residency in obstetrics and gynecology at SUNY Health Science Center of Brooklyn, NY, and a fellowship in maternal-fetal medicine at the University of Illinois College of Medicine in Chicago.

She joined USF’s medical school in 2008 from Temple University School of Medicine, where she was an assistant professor of obstetrics and attending perinatologist at Temple University Hospital.

At USF, Dr. Whiteman stepped up to become interim director of the Division of Maternal Fetal Medicine when the previous director left, and served as full division director from 2013 until a recurrence of cancer.  She was a member of the university’s Medical Student Selection Committee.

Jerome Yankowitz, MD, chair of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, said that Dr. Whiteman was a driving force behind restarting the USF Maternal Fetal Medicine fellowship program, which flourished under her direction and received board approval on its first attempt.

“Dr. Whiteman truly kept the Maternal Fetal Medicine Division going while we were recruiting,” Dr. Yankowitz said. “And, she managed to beautifully balance being an incredibly hard working faculty member with always being there for her daughter. She was a loving, attentive and supportive mother.”

Dr. Whiteman in an earlier photo with a baby she cared for prenatally

Specializing in high-risk pregnancies, Dr. Whiteman worked out of Tampa General Hospital, where she was a key member of multidisciplinary teams involved in some of the hospital’s most complicated deliveries.  In 2009, Dr. Whiteman was lead obstetrician for TGH’s first ex utero intrapartum treatment, known as EXIT, which she had performed twice previously before coming to Tampa. In 2012, she enlisted the help of urogynecologist Dr. Lennox Hoyte to perform TGH’s first-robot assisted abdominal cervical cerlage surgery, an unusual procedure that allowed a mother to deliver another daughter.

“Dr. Whiteman embraced tough clinical and surgical cases. A number of women have credited her with helping them have their first successful pregnancy outcome.  One patient even gave her daughter the name ‘Valerie’ out of gratitude,” said Judette Louis, MD, assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology.

“She was dedicated to academic medicine and education, and as a leader she was selfless and always fair. We miss her dearly.”

While she maintained a professional demeanor, colleagues also remember Dr. Whiteman as someone with a wry sense of humor, a stylish dresser (she operated for hours wearing high heels), and a dog lover.  She traveled whenever time permitted to countries such as Grenada, the United Kingdom, Brazil and Australia.

Anna Parsons, MD, professor emeritus in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, said Dr. Whiteman came from a family of “very strong, very smart” women.  “I’ve never seen anyone with such resilience,” Dr. Parsons said.  “Even her cancer doctor told her ‘I’ve seen you bounce back so many times.’”

That is why her death, even after a long battle with cancer, still seems sudden, Dr. Parsons said.

“Dr. Whiteman had such a strong will to live, and I think her faith helped her through a lot of adversity… She was fundamentally a private person, and some people did not even realize what she was going through.  She kept up her spirits and everyone else’s to the end.”

Dr. Whiteman, center, was the lead obstetrician for a multidisciplinary team that performed the first EXIT procedure at Tampa General Hospital. A specialist in high-risk pregnancies, she thrived on complex obstetric cases and had many grateful patients.

Dr. Whiteman is predeceased by her parents; and husband, William “Skip” White.  She is survived by daughter, Talia White; fiancé, Simplice Essou; brothers, Leopold “Lee” Whiteman, Jr., and Esmond Modeste; and many other close relatives, friends and co-workers.

A memorial service will be held 11 a.m. on Saturday, April 8, at Ray Williams Funeral Home, 301 N. Howard Ave., Tampa, FL 33606.  Contributions in Dr. Whiteman’s honor can be made to the March of Dimes.

USF professor leads study on valbenazine’s effects on tardive dyskinesia. 

Antipsychotic treatment can cause involuntary movements such as lip smacking, tongue protrusions and excessive eye blinking. These movements typically  occur after more than three months of treatment and are called tardive dyskinesia.

Robert A. Hauser, MD, MBA, professor of neurology at the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine, is the lead author of a study recently published in the American Journal of Psychiatry that concludes valbenazine administered once daily can significantly reduce tardive dyskinesia in patients with schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder and mood disorder.

Robert Hauser, MD

“One approach to managing tardive dyskinesia is to discontinue antipsychotic treatment or reduce the dosage, but these options are not always feasible, because withdrawal can exacerbate tardive dyskinesia symptoms or have a negative impact on psychiatric status. Moreover, tardive dyskinesia symptoms often persist even after discontinuation or dosage reduction,” wrote Dr. Hauser, who directs the Parkinson’s Disease and Movement Disorders Center at USF.

Valbenazine is a selective vesicular monoamine transporter 2 inhibitor. Two hundred twenty-five people with schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder or a mood disorder participated in the phase 3 randomized double-blind, placebo-controlled trial.

Forty-percent of those who received valbenazine 80mg/day improved by at least 50 percent. That’s compared to just 8 percent in the placebo group.

Researchers also determined that valbenazine was well tolerated. Drowsiness, restlessness and dry mouth were reported as adverse effects.

USF Health is trying to gain more national media coverage by hiring Tina Meketa as the Assistant Director of National and Health Media Relations.  She will pitch stories on USF’s new innovation and research.

Tina Meketa

Tina has more than 10 years experience in television news as a reporter, anchor and producer. She’s won multiple awards for her reporting, including some pertaining to the health field. Given her news background, she has a strong knowledge of what will get a reporter’s attention.

USF Health requests you reach out to Tina whenever a fascinating project will soon arise. Please inform her of research papers published in prestigious journals ahead of their release date.

You can contact Tina Meketa at tmeketa@usf.edu or (813) 955-2593.

Funding from National Institutes of Health (NIH) helps USF conduct groundbreaking research every year.

As a leading research university, the institution attracted more than $130 million from NIH in fiscal year 2016 to conduct research in various areas including neuroscience, Alzheimer’s, heart disease, diabetes, cancer and more.

“NIH funding helps USF find treatments and cures for many diseases,” said U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor, who represents the 14^th District of Florida. “But, a new budget proposal from the White House would decrease about 20 percent of NIH funding. This could affect many research institutions around the country, including USF.”

To discuss the matter, Castor emphasized the importance of NIH-funded research for USF, the region and population health during a press conference on April 10 at the USF Health Byrd Alzheimer’s Institute.

“It’s really important to our community that health innovation remains one of our strengths,” Castor said. “That’s why I’m really concerned that the funding cuts will prevent researchers from conducting important research that help make our communities healthier.”

U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor emphasized the importance of NIH-funded research during a press conference on April 10 at the USF Health Byrd Alzheimer’s Institute.

During her visit, Castor met with several researchers who specialize in Alzheimer’s disease, cardiovascular diseases and maternal-fetal medicine. They were Samuel Wickline, MD, founding director of the USF Health Heart Institute and professor in the Department of Cardiovascular Sciences; Laura Blair, PhD, research assistant professor in the Department of Molecular Medicine at USF Health; Anthony Odibo, MD, professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at USF Health Morsani College of Medicine; and Hana Totary-Jain, PhD, assistant professor in the Department of Molecular Pharmacology and Physiology at USF Health Morsani College of Medicine.

USF Health Morsani College of Medicine faculty members meeting with U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor to discuss their research were, from left, Anthony Odibo, MD, professor of obstetrics and gynecology; Laura Blair, PhD, research assistant professor of molecular medicine; Hana Totary-Jain, PhD, assistant professor of molecular pharmacology and physiology; and Samuel Wickline, MD, founding director of the USF Health Heart Institute and professor of cardiovascular sciences.

“In order to maintain scientific progress, we have to keep young people interested in doing science,” Dr. Wickline said. “If the NIH budget is cut, all the young people interested into science will go find something else to do.”

Samuel Wickline, MD, founding director of the USF Health Heart Institute and professor in the Department of Cardiovascular Sciences.

Castor stressed the importance of keeping young scientists interested in medical research. “If we don’t provide consistent funding, they will go to other countries, find other jobs or their careers will come to an end,” she said.

Dr. Wickline also said that USF is constantly growing — building a new medical school combined under one roof with the Heart Institute downtown, recruiting new faculty and attracting top-quality scientists from the U.S. and around the world.

“If the budget is cut or not improved, I foresee a very challenging environment that could put a damper on the programs we hope to have in place in the next few years,” he said.

Castor speaks with Aisha Remy (far right), a USF biomedical sciences student, during a tour of Dr. Blair’s laboratory at the USF Health Byrd Alzheimer’s Institute. 

The Congresswoman met students working in a USF Health Byrd Alzheimer’s Institute research laboratory.

Story and photos by Vjollca Hysenlika

Seeking to understand how the heart short circuits, Sami Noujaim looks for new drugs to fix atrial fibrillation

Within the last three years, USF biomedical scientist Sami Noujaim, PhD, lost his older brother to sudden cardiac death and his 80-year-old father was diagnosed with atrial fibrillation.

The experiences gave Dr. Noujaim a new appreciation for his research on understanding how normal and abnormal electrical impulses are generated in the heart. The Cardiac Electrophysiology Research Laboratory he directs focuses on finding more effective drugs to treat atrial fibrillation, the most common irregular heart rhythm and a condition for which prevalence rises markedly after age 65.

Sami Noujaim, PhD, directs the Cardiac Electrophysiology Research Laboratory in the USF Health Department of Molecular Pharmacology and Physiology.

“When life throws something like that at you, the work you do takes on a more personal tone, a sense of mission.  I realized that neither myself nor my loved ones are immune from the cardiovascular diseases I’m studying,” said Dr. Noujaim, an assistant professor in the Morsani College of Medicine’s Department of Molecular Pharmacology and Physiology. “We are all at risk.”

 Dr. Sami Noujaim describes the focus of his laboratory’s research.

Searching for noninvasive solutions to atrial fibrillation

Atrial fibrillation is a problem with the cardiac electrical circuitry that controls the rate and rhythm of the heartbeat. The condition affects about 9 percent of the U.S. population age 65 or older, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and can lead to potentially deadly complications such as stroke and heart failure. While signs of atrial fibrillation may include heart palpitations, fatigue, lightheadedness, dizziness and shortness of breath, some people experience no noticeable symptoms.

Treatment and management options include lifestyle changes, medications to help control heart rate and rhythm and reduce the risk of blood clots, controlled electrical shock (cardioversion to reset heart rhythm), invasive procedures (catheter ablation) and surgical implantation of pacemakers.  However, a major challenge is that atrial fibrillation frequently recurs after normal heart rhythm (sinus rhythm) is restored.

“The existing treatments can be good, but there is a lot of room for improvement, so we are focusing on contributing to noninvasive treatment options,” Dr. Noujaim said. “If we could help physicians get patients with atrial fibrillation to long-term normal sinus rhythm, and perhaps increase the ability to take them off blood thinners, it would be a significant improvement.”

Dr. Noujaim’s laboratory uses specialized equipment to measure the electrical activity of heart muscle cells and image what he describes as “atrial fibrillation in a dish.”

Closing in on a pathway linking aging and Afib

Dr. Noujaim currently works with colleagues at USF and other institutions, including Tufts University, the University of Michigan, and Northeastern University, to investigate how age-related changes in specific potassium ion channels known as GIRK may trigger a cascade of molecular events leading to atrial fibrillation. His research, supported by a five-year $2.14 million RO1 grant from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute employs techniques including structural biology, molecular simulations, and cellular and whole organ electrophysiology.

The researchers hypothesize that in aging, atrial fibrillation may arise when a biochemical pathway controlling the GIRK postassium channels begins behaving abnormally, in part because of structural and metabolic cardiovascular changes that occur with aging.  High blood pressure, diabetes, and coronary artery disease– among the most common risk factors for atrial fibrillation – become more common as people grow older.

At USF, Dr. Noujaim collaborates with Javier Cuevas, PhD, in Molecular Pharmacology and Physiology, Michael Teng, PhD, in Molecular Medicine and in Allergy and Immunology, and Juan Del Valle, PhD, in Chemistry to investigate ways to target and block the GIRK potassium channels using pharmacological approaches that rely on immunology and chemistry.

Mohammed Alhadidy (left), a biomedical graduate student, and Bojjibabu Chidipi, PhD, a postdoctoral scholar in Molecular Pharmacology and Physiology, record the electrical signals from several cells using a multichannel automated patch clamp.

 The significance of investigating the relationship between aging and atrial fibrillation.

Designing a “perfect plug” using an antimalarial drug model

“Right now, we are trying to design a perfect plug using the antimalarial drug chloroquine as a model,” Dr. Noujaim said, “We have evidence that if we block that specific type of potassium channels we will be able to stop atrial fibrillation or at least reduce its occurrence.”

Earlier work by Dr. Noujaim and others, including a study reported in the journal FASEB, demonstrated that the antimalarial drug chloroquine was effective in blocking the GIRK potassium channels and suggested a new path for discovering antiarrhythmic drugs.

Dr. Noujaim continues using cellular and animal models to pinpoint how and where the chloroquine molecule interacts with the potassium channel – with the aim of discovering a “plug” that works even better than the antimalarial drug. At the same time, he has reached out to USF Health Department of Cardiovascular Sciences to begin applying the laboratory findings to the clinic.

Working with cardiologists Bengt Herweg, MD, and Dany Sayad, MD, Dr. Noujaim recently gained approval for a pilot study to enroll 40 adults without heart damage whose atrial fibrillation has persisted more than one week and less one year. The team will test the effectiveness of chloroquine in restoring and maintaining normal heart rhythm in patients with atrial fibrillation.

The laboratory uses techniques including structural biology, molecular simulations, and cellular and whole organ electrophysiology to conduct its NIH-funded research.

Collaborating with clinicians on new treatment options

Dr. Sayad, initially surprised at Dr. Noujaim’s proposal to try chloroquine, said the strength of the preclinical data convinced him of the antimalarial drug’s potential as another antiarrhythmic option. “Treating atrial fibrillation can be especially challenging in older patients, who experience a higher recurrence of atrial fibrillation (following cardioversion) and more failure on drugs used to regulate heart rhythm,” he said.

Clinicians help biomedical scientists like Dr. Noujaim frame and focus their studies to make the research more relevant to challenges faced in treating patients, such as maintaining sinus rhythm once a normal heartbeat has been restored.

“It does not mean that the fundamental, basic science questions are not important,” Dr. Noujaim said. “To the contrary, those questions are at the heart of every single experiment we do; however, we must always think about the big picture and why we are asking those questions. And that always goes back to the clinic.”

In previous electrophysiology experiments, Dr. Noujaim and colleagues helped better define the contribution of the nervous system within the heart, otherwise known as the intrinsic cardiac ganglia, to normal and abnormal heart rhythm. Using both mouse models and patients with atrial fibrillation, the study shed light on how nerves emerging from these cardiac ganglia regulate activity of the sinus node, the heart’s natural pacemaker.  The study appeared in Cardiovascular Research in 2013.

Dr. Noujaim with members of his research team, from left, Bojjibabu Chidipi, Mohammed Alhadidy and laboratory manager Michelle Reiser.

 Dr. Noujaim comments on the importance of a clinical perspective to frame biomedical research.

Impressed by USF’s biomedical research opportunities

Dr. Noujaim came to USF in 2015 from the Molecular Cardiology Research Institute at Tufts University School of Medicine. He received his PhD in pharmacology, with distinction, from SUNY Upstate Medical University in Syracuse, NY, followed by a year of postdoctoral training there.  He then completed a three-year postdoctoral fellowship, supported by the American Heart Association, and the National Institutes of Health, at the Center for Arrhythmia Research, University of Michigan, in Ann Arbor, MI.

Dr. Noujaim said he was attracted to USF by the opportunity to be part of an emerging preeminent university committed to establishing a cardiovascular institute bridging top biomedical research and clinical care.

“The opportunities that the University of South Florida is providing for scientists are equal or greater than those at any other major academic medical center,” he said.  “It was also striking to me that, in a place the size of USF, the USF Health leadership is so actively engaged in research, with their own laboratories and grants. That’s not what you would see in a lot of places, and as a biomedical scientist it makes me feel that the leadership here really values research.”

Dr. Noujaim is passionate about the cardiovascular research his laboratory conducts, which he says has taken on a greater sense of mission since his own family’s experience with sudden cardiac death and atrial fibrillation. 

 His take on the benefit of brainstorming with scientists in other disciplines.

Some things you may not know about Dr. Noujaim:

• Born in Lebanon, he moved to the United States after graduating from high school.
• He routinely swims laps in an indoor pool.
• He enjoys experimenting with cooking, specializing in inventing new dishes by combining ingredients he finds in his refrigerator. “I’ve discovered by trial and error that no matter how bad what I cook really is, adding a tablespoon of soy sauce makes it alright,” he said.
• His first scientific experiment as a college student volunteering in Boston’s Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center laboratory was unforgettable. He fainted while his blood was being drawn so he could use it to help study blood platelet activation and aggregation. Click on video below to find out more.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGRALvR46qM

-Photos and video by Eric Younghans, and audioclips by Sandra C. Roa, USF Communications and Marketing

The University of South Florida (“USF”) is posting this substitute notice in a good faith attempt to notify those affected individuals for whom we have insufficient or out-of-date contact information that precludes written notification.    We take individuals’ privacy very seriously and we are addressing this matter expeditiously to ensure the trust of our patients and our community.

Individuals who may be affected:

• Individuals who voluntarily joined a list to receive email information and news from the USF Health Byrd Parkinson’s Disease and Movement Disorders Center (“Center”); and
• who also received the email dated November 15, 2016 with the subject line “Mark You[r] Calendars Now! April 1^st!”.

USF first learned of this incident on March 29, 2017, by notification from the Department of Health & Human Service (“HHS”), Office for Civil Rights (“OCR”) of a complaint about an email sent on November 15, 2016.  The email was sent by a USF employee to individuals who had voluntarily joined a list to receive email information and news from the Center.

Upon receipt of OCR’s letter, we immediately began our investigation and spoke with the employee who sent the email on November 15, 2016.   The employee did not blind copy recipients.  Therefore, each recipient’s name and/or email was visible to all recipients.

The only identifying information disclosed was their name and/or email address as one of the recipients.  The email notified recipients of “A Walk for Parkinson’s.”  Inclusion as a recipient of the email does not mean the recipient, the recipient’s family member, or someone the recipient knows has Parkinson’s disease or a related disorder.  There are many reasons individuals are interested in and want to know more about Parkinson’s and movement disorders, and it would be wrong to conclude that everyone on the list has Parkinson’s.  As it could potentially be inferred that at least some recipients or their family members have Parkinson’s, we are notifying all recipients of this potential breach of privacy under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (“HIPAA”).

As this disclosure was limited to only names and/or email addresses, along with information about “A Walk for Parkinson’s”, it does not pose a risk of identity theft or medical identity theft.  Participation on the email list is voluntary and each recipient always has a right to opt out of receiving future emails from the Center. To do so, recipients may simply reply to the email requesting to be removed.

USF Health takes individuals’ privacy seriously and we are taking steps to protect against further incidents. We provided education to our employee. We are exploring alternative methods to provide pertinent information to interested individuals while preventing all recipients being visible.  USF Health sanctions providers and staff who violate HIPAA, and this employee’s actions are under review for determination of appropriate sanctions.

Should you have any questions regarding this notification, please call our toll free number at 888-695-2939 by July 12, 2017.  Please reference the USF report number “PRPP 04-032917” when you call.   

Research shows breastfeeding is good for babies. But is breastfeeding also good for mothers and their long-term health?

Adetola F. Louis-Jacques, MD, a fellow in the Division of Maternal-Fetal Medicine,USF Health Morsani College of Medicine Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, is focusing her research study on the benefits of breastfeeding and maternal health.

Adetola F. Louis-Jacques, MD, a fellow in the Division of Maternal-Fetal Medicine,USF Health Morsani College of Medicine Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology.

To do this, she recently received the 2017 Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine (SMFM) and the American Association of Obstetricians and Gynecologists Foundation (AAOGF) award from the Foundation of SMFM. She is the only fellow in the country to receive the prestigious award.

Dr. Louis-Jacques received $360,000 to study the influence of lactation on DNA methylation and gut microbiome among breastfeeding women and its impact on their long-term health.

“Breastfeeding not only benefits the baby, but it could also benefit the mom – potentially lowering the risk of heart disease, diabetes, hyperextension and breast and ovarian cancers,” Dr. Louis-Jacques said. “However, there is not enough research to know for sure. So, the award allows me to explore breastfeeding’s long-term effects through epigenetic modifications and microbiome modulation.”

Dr. Louis-Jacques will study the difference in methylation patterns and microbial composition between breastfeeding women and formula feeding women. To compare, she plans to recruit 47 women who are breastfeeding at four to six months after giving birth and 47 women who are formula feeding.

Dr. Louis-Jacques will work closely with her primary mentors at USF Health, Charles J. Lockwood, MD, senior vice president for USF Health and dean of the Morsani College of Medicine, and Maureen Groer, PhD, nurse scientist and Gordon Keller professor at USF College of Nursing. Dr. Lockwood and Dr. Groer will guide her through each stage of this study.

Dr. Louis-Jacques and Maureen Groer, PhD, nurse scientist and Gordon Keller professor at USF College of Nursing.

“This research will be important to maternal health,” Dr. Groer said. “If we find that the act of lactation could have long-term benefits for women and protect their health when they are 50 and 60 years old, that’s just one more calling card that we could show to promote breastfeeding.”

Dr. Louis-Jacques’ award will take effect in July 2017 — running through 2020. The award, funded jointly by the Foundation for SMFM and AAOGF, is given to future academic physician leaders who conduct research in the area of pregnancy.

“Maternal health is my passion,” Dr. Louis-Jacques said. “So, I am excited to spend my next three years conducting such important research that could potentially improve women’s health.”

Story by Vjollca Hysenlika

USF Health is mourning the death of long-serving biochemistry and microbiology faculty member Winston Lee Adair Jr., PhD, who is remembered as both a brilliant scientist and an exceptionally skilled educator.

Dr. Adair died April 6 of complications from Alzheimer’s disease. He was 72.

Born in Oak Park, Ill., Dr. Adair was the son of a naval officer. He and his family moved frequently during his childhood for his father’s assignments; at various times he lived in French Morocco, Rhode Island, Maryland, Virginia, and Pennsylvania.

He graduated from Central High School for Boys in Pennsylvania and went on to study at Brown University, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in biochemistry, competed with the swim team, and was a member of Zeta Psi fraternity.

“Brown was the first school he attended for more than three years, and it always held a special place in his heart,” his daughter, Lauren Adair, wrote in her father’s obituary. “He was delighted to be able to travel to Brown last year to celebrate his 50^th class reunion.”

After graduating from Brown, Dr. Adair completed his doctorate in biochemistry at Georgetown University, when he also met his wife of 44 years, Patricia.

From Georgetown, Dr. Adair headed west, working as a postdoctoral research associate at Washington University in St. Louis, before moving yet again, this time to Florida, which would become his home. Dr. Adair taught for 35 years as a professor in the Department of Molecular Medicine, retiring in 2010.

Professor and Department Chair Emeritus Larry Solomonson, PhD, worked with Dr. Adair throughout his career.

Dr. Adair, Dr. Solomonson said, is widely recognized for his work with glycol proteins and dolichol molecules, both of which are important for understanding human cell structure, and widely revered for his effectiveness in the classroom.

“He really shone as an educator. He was an outstanding lecturer and highly regarded by medical and graduate students,” Dr. Solomonson said. “He had a way of making complex concepts and subjects simple, so that they could be easily understood by his students.”

For example, one of Dr. Adair’s favorite lessons for teaching about enzymes involved chocolate-covered cherries.

“He would use that example with his students,” Lauren Adair said. “To make a chocolate-covered cherry, he would explain, you take a chocolate shell, pop in a cherry coated with an enzyme, and then the enzyme triggers a reaction that creates the sugary juice. He loved using interesting, real-word things to help his students learn.”

Ever the scientist and educator, Dr. Adair developed a reputation in his neighborhood as the “bug man,” Lauren Adair said.

“I would answer the door and there would be a kid out there with a bug wanting to know if my father was home,” she said, explaining her father was a trusted source for information including a bug’s life cycle, habitat and diet.

The “bug man” was also an avid collector of moths and butterflies, and even discovered several new species. He contributed several specimens to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History, but most of his collection is on display at the Florida Museum’s McGuire Center for Lepidoptera and Biodiversity, in Gainesville, FL.

His deep knowledge of the natural world led to Dr. Adair being called on to survey the damage to the tropical hammocks and native habitats in the Florida Keys and Homestead area after Hurricane Andrew in 1992.

Later in his life, Dr. Adair became interested in genealogy.

“He had discovered over half a million names in our family,” Lauren Adair said.

For his wide-ranging interests, Dr. Solomonson said Dr. Adair was “the kind of man you’d want on your trivial pursuit team.”

He was also a man who touched the lives of his friends and students.

“Lee had a laconic approach to going about the day, but was always ready with a chuckle to lighten the moment,” said his colleague George Blanck, PhD, professor in the Department of Molecular Medicine in the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine.

Loree Heller, PhD, and Rosalyn Irby, PhD, two of Dr. Adair’s doctoral students who are now associate professors at Old Dominion University and Pennsylvania State University respectively, said in a shared statement:

“Dr. Adair was our PhD mentor. He was intelligent and kind, and we learned much from him about science and scientific integrity that still guides us today. Our respect and admiration for him has never wavered and we feel fortunate to have known him as a mentor and friend.”

In addition to his wife and daughter, Dr. Adair is survived by his son-in-law Adam Rosen, granddaughters Ella and Sarah, sister Ann Adair Sparks, and extended family.

A memorial service will be held at Unitarian Universalist Church of Tampa on May 6 at 2 p.m.

Persistence and determination paid off for the Class of 2017 at the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine.

After four years of hard work and rigor, the senior graduating medical students became doctors — accepting their academic hoods and diplomas in front of friends, family, USF leaders and guests during the commencement ceremony on April 20 in the Carol Morsani Hall at the Straz Center for Performing Arts.

The 2017 USF Health Morsani College of Medicine’s 43rd Commencement Ceremony was held at at the Straz Center for the Performing Arts.

“This is your day, your stage and a testament of your tireless determination over the past four years,” said Charles J. Lockwood, MD, senior vice president for USF Health and dean of the Morsani College of Medicine, during the ceremony. “I know how hard you all have worked to get here — studying into the wee hours, worrying about exams, learning how to navigate hospital labyrinths, master presentations and how to keep up with medical knowledge that doubles every 73 days.”

Charles J. Lockwood, MD, senior vice president for USF Health and dean of the Morsani College of Medicine, makes opening remarks at the commencement ceremony.

The Class of 2017, which included 164 graduates, received their doctor of medicine degrees – marking the beginning of their lifelong journey in pursuing the art and science of healing.

USF System President Judy Genshaft congratulates the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine Class of 2017.

“Today you join a community of health care professionals that spans every continent of the world; a community that contributes to the advancement of our society through a commitment to making life better,” said USF System President Judy Genshaft.

During the ceremony, Dr. Genshaft presented a USF Honorary Degree to Victor J. Dzau, MD, president of the National Academy of Medicine. Dr. Dzau, who was the guest speaker at the commencement ceremony, received the distinguished USF degree for his extraordinary leadership in academic medicine, translational research, health care innovation, national health policy and global health.

President Genshaft and Dr. Lockwood present the USF Honorary Degree to Victor J. Dzau, MD, president of the National Academy of Medicine. 

Dr. Dzau, chancellor emeritus and the James B. Duke Professor of Medicine at Duke University and former president and CEO of the Duke University Health System, is an internationally renowned physician scientist and pioneer of gene therapy for vascular disease. His groundbreaking work has focused on the molecular and genetic mechanisms of cardiovascular disease and the development of gene and stem-based therapies to regenerate tissue damage from heart attack and heart disease.

After receiving the Honorary Degree, Dr. Dzau delivered an inspirational commencement address –bringing graduates and attendees to their feet.

Special commencement guest speaker, Victor J. Dzau, MD, president of the National Academy of Medicine.

“You are among the most valuable contributions that USF will make to our society,” Dr. Dzau said. “You are the future leaders we need right now to help tackle big challenges. We need you to do the research and to make those great leaps forward. We need you to provide your patients with the best available evidence-based care. And now, more than ever, we need you to share that evidence – and yes, to defend it — beyond the walls of the clinic or the laboratory. We need you to make sure that research and medical advances are benefitting not just some of us, but all of us.”

John A. Brabson, Jr., the chairman of the Tampa General Hospital Board of Directors, was also honored with the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine Dean’s Award. Brabson received the award for his tireless work to strengthen the relationship of USF Health Morsani College of Medicine and TGH, USF Health’s primary teaching hospital. The long-time partnership helps advance the reputation of both institutions.

Dr. Lockwood honors John A. Brabson, Jr., the chairman of the Tampa General Hospital Board of Directors, with the Dean’s Award.

Then, the students recited the Oath of Hippocrates, led by Bryan Bognar, MD, vice dean of the Office of Educational Affairs for the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine. Following the Oath of Hippocrates, Dr. Genshaft conferred the Doctor of Medicine degree to the students, and as each name was recited by Kira Zwygart, MD, associate professor and associate dean for MCOM Student Affairs, students walked to center stage to receive their academic hoods and diplomas.

As part of a long college tradition, graduate Robert S. Ackerman, MD, was selected to provide the Farewell from the Class. Dr. Ackerman told his fellow graduates that becoming a doctor is a privilege and an honor of a lifetime.

Robert S. Ackerman, MD, delivered the Farewell from the Class.

“Today is awesome. Really, really awesome,” said Dr. Ackerman. “No other day in our lifetimes will rival the emotions of today. Becoming a doctor is a special privilege we can only dream of and for it to become a reality today is purely superb. For us, this is the culmination of four years of studying PowerPoints, reading EKGs, retracting incisions, answering question banks, delivering babies. While today the medical student tag drops off and the white coat lengthens a few inches, it’s not without appreciation of the time and effort that went into it.”

Dr. Ackerman also told his fellow graduates and attendees that medical school is unlike any other experience. He said, he and his classmates shared a special bond unlike any other as they went through their journey of becoming doctors.

“Remember what we shared together,” Dr. Ackerman said. “This is the closest group of classmates this school has seen, and our friendships will only grow stronger with time. Appreciate the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine, appreciate USF, and come back to visit the roots you laid in Tampa. We’re leaving today, but we’re never gone.”

Before the 2017 MCOM Commencement came to an end, Steven C. Specter, PhD, associate dean for Alumni Relations and director of MD Career Advising, presented the Charge to the Graduates. Dr. Specter told students to read, reflect, treat every person with respect, show compassion and always remember to stay connected to USF.

“Doctors, congratulations.  You have reached the goal, the MD degree you set out to achieve when you entered medical school,” said Dr. Specter. “After 38 years, I could not be more strongly connected to USF and this prestigious USF Health Morsani College of Medicine. I bought into the philosophy that USF means ‘you stay forever.’ My wish for you is that you come to love this institution, because it set you on a course that results in your success. Give back what you can, when you can, for as it has been stated, ‘When you help others you can’t help helping yourself.’”

Steven C. Specter, PhD, associate dean for Alumni Relations and director of the MD Career Advising, presented the Charge to the Graduates.

From left, graduates Cady Welch, MD; Alec Chaleff, MD; Michael Carr, MD; and Kathleen McFadden, MD; pictured with Dr. Lockwood (center). During the commencement breakfast, the four graduates were recognized for their exceptional academic achievements as USF medical students.

The special military promotions ceremony took place after the commencement ceremony. Seven new physicians — Navy Lieutenants Kevin Bobeck, Phillip Castrovinci, Emily Wilson, Shaunn Hussey, William Rallya, Reid Wilson, and Army Capt. Paloma Irizarry — took the Oath of Commission as military officers.

Graduates read the Oath of Hippocrates.

Graduates greeted by faculty, friends and family after commencement ceremony.

Graduates celebrate their big moment with friends and family.

Story by Vjollca Hysenlika, and photos by Eric Younghans and Frederick Coleman| USF Health Communications and Marketing

University of South Florida researchers use advanced technologies to pinpoint physical job demands 

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=oiTcSgYzSjI

TAMPA, Fla. (April 24, 2017) — The Firefighter Candidate Physical Ability Test (CPAT) mimics strenuous activities performed in emergency response situations and helps determine whether an applicant is fit enough to become a firefighter. However, there is no previous research analyzing the specific joint movement and muscular activation on an IAFF/IAFC certified CPAT course.

A team of researchers at the University of South Florida School of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Sciences, led by Charity L. Lane, is kicking off a project using state-of-the-art technology that will provide an in-depth look at muscular activation and skeletal motion in these movements, using telemetric electromyography (EMG) and motion analysis. At each visit, firefighters will wear EMG and motion sensors as they perform each CPAT obstacle and weightlifting exercise. This will enable researchers to compare activation and movement among different weightlifting exercises and firefighter activities.

Motion sensors are connected to St. Petersburg firefighter Kelly Kahle.

Since guidance on implementing successful exercise programs for firefighters is minimal, the results of this project are critical to designing exercise programs that match firefighter job requirements, ultimately preventing injury and preserving careers.

This project is the latest in an ongoing line of research aimed at improving the safety and health of firefighters. Led by USF Center for Neuromusculoskeletal Research Director John Mayer, DC, PhD, the team’s large-scale Federal Emergency Management Agency grant focusing on back injury prevention in firefighters began last year. Preliminary results are promising, and final results are expected this fall.

St. Petersburg firefighter Kelly Kahle swings a sledgehammer as part of the Candidate Physical Ability Test (CPAT).

Electromyography (EMG) measures electrical activity of joints and muscles during the Candidate Physical Ability Test (CPAT).

-USF Health-
USF Health’s mission is to envision and implement the future of health. It is the partnership of the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine, the College of Nursing, the College of Public Health, the College of Pharmacy, the School of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Sciences, the Biomedical Sciences Graduate and Postdoctoral Programs, and the USF Physicians Group. The University of South Florida, established in 1956 and located in Tampa, is a high-impact, global research university dedicated to student success. USF is ranked in the Top 30 nationally for research expenditures among public universities, according to the National Science Foundation. For more information, visit www.health.usf.edu

Media Contact:
Tina Meketa, tmeketa@usf.edu or (813) 955-2593

Photos and video by Ryan Noone, University Communications and Marketing