Nearly 1,500 people of all ages gathered at the University of South Florida this Saturday, Nov. 14, to stride forward together in the American Diabetes Association’s StepOut to Fight Diabetes Walk. The ADA’s signature fundraising walk, coinciding with National Diabetes Day, was held at more than 150 sites across the country.

Hosting the walk was a chance for USF to showcase its bold initiative to fight diabetes on every front – from education and research to family-centered care. The University is planning a new center for people with diabetes – an inviting place that will be a hub for the diabetes community and where patients can practice the healthy eating habits and exercise so vital to diabetes.

The USF community was an integral part of the event. Teams from across the university walked to raise funds that will support critical research, provide community-based education programs and protect the rights of people with diabetes – a chronic disease expected to confront one in three U.S. children if current trends continue.

“It was a great opportunity for us to show the Tampa Bay community our commitment and forward momentum in the fight against diabetes,” said Nicole Johnson, Miss America 1999 and director of communications and education for the USF Diabetes Center. “We were honored to partner with the ADA and play a role in fundraising for better treatment and an ultimate cure for diabetes.”

Johnson worked with the ADA to coordinate the walk, emceed the event, and led post-walk tours of the center’s new educational space. USF Health student volunteers helped conduct health screenings. Staff and faculty volunteered at booths for heart health education, stroke awareness and podiatry screening.

Adults and children had the opportunity to be screened for the TrialNet studies, which seeks to identify those with early signs of Type 1 diabetes to investigate new therapies that may halt or slow disease progression. The NIH-sponsored worldwide network of clinical studies is coordinated at USF by Jeffrey Krischer, PhD, professor and chief of epidemiology in the Department of Pediatrics.

See photo gallery of the day’s activates below:

Dr. Stephen Klasko, USF medical school dean and CEO of USF Health, gives a pep talk before the walk.

Nicole Johnson, director of communications and education for the USF Diabetes Center, greets walkers.

A zumba troupe warms up the crowd.

Walkers assemble at the starting line.

The route started and finished at USF Simmons Park near the Psychology/Communication Building.

Cara Capitena, a first-year USF medical student, checks Diana Persaud's blood pressure.

Nicole Johnson, with daugher Ava, helped lead post-walk tours showing off the USF Diabetes Center's new education space.

Johnson welcomes a group of young walkers to one of the Diabetes Center's child-friendly areas.

- Story by Anne DeLotto Baier, Photos by Eric Younghans; USF Health Communicatons

Dr. Alan Zelicoff (front center) with, from left to right, Wil Milhous, PhD, associate dean for research in the College of Public Health; John Sinnott, MD, director of Infectious Disease and International Medicine; and Phil Marty, PhD, associate vice president for USF Health Research.

A little-known smallpox outbreak in the Soviet Union years ago and its implications for biological weapons defense today was the topic when physician-scientist Dr. Alan Zelicoff visited USF Health last week. His Nov. 3 lecture in the College of Public Health Auditorium was sponsored by the USF Health Office of Research.

Dr. Zelicoff, a smallpox expert, is the former senior scientist at the Center for National Security and Arms Control at Sandia National Laboratories. He and experts from the Monterey Institute of International Studies linked a 1971 outbreak in the Kazakh Republic to a Soviet field test of weaponized smallpox. The Soviet Union did not report the outbreak to world health officials as required by law.

In an interview in the New York Times, Dr. Zelicoff called the outbreak a “watershed” because it demonstrated that the smallpox virus was more easily spread than previously thought and that there may be a vaccine-resistant strain.

“His lecture was a reality check on our continued need for diligence in areas of infectious diseases, disaster preparedness and biowarfare,” said Phillip Marty, PhD, associate vice president for the USF Health Office of Research.

Dr. Zelicoff’s current interests include risk and hazard analysis in hospital systems and office-based practice and technologies for improving the responsiveness of public health offices and countering biological weapons and terrorism. His latest book is Microbe: Are We Ready for the Next Plague?, a comprehensive account of the public health threat posed by microbial pathogens, including naturally emerging disease threats, such as severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) or West Nile virus.

A community of patients, friends and supporters has raised $50,000 to support the USF Breast Health program, the result of a relentless effort by local Capt. Lori Deaton to organize a “Hooked on Hope” fishing tournament to raise the money. In keeping with the nautical theme, the fisherwomen and men presented the money Sunday Nov 8, 5pm, at Gaspars Grotto in Ybor City.

"Dr. Charles Cox is one of the country's great pioneers in surgical treatment for breast cancer, as well as staging tumors to minimize the surgery itself," said Stephen Klasko, MD, MBA, Vice President for USF Health and Dean of the College of Medicine at the University of South Florida.

"A veritable community of patients, friends and supporters gathered together to raise $50,000 in support of his program at USF's new Morsani Center for Advanced Healthcare on campus in Tampa."

USF Health surgeon Dr. Charles Cox

Cox Charles Cox, MD, FACS, professor of surgery at USF and CEO of the USF Health Breast program has more than 30 years experience helping patients navigate the diagnostic and treatment options for surviving breast cancer. His work on breast conservation and nipple-sparing techniques is known the world over. In the 1990s, he pioneered a critical advance in staging tumors through lymph nodes through intra-operative sentinel node biopsies.

The Hooked on Hope volunteers are committed to ending breast cancer. Their website is here: http://www.hookedonhope.org/

The PharmD Program plans to admit its first class in August 2011

Tampa, FL (Nov. 9, 2009) – Kevin B. Sneed, PharmD, has been appointed the founding dean of the USF School of Pharmacy. Dr. Sneed, associate professor of family medicine and assistant dean and clinical director of the College of Medicine’s Division of Clinical Pharmacy, was selected for the high-profile position following a nationwide search.

Dr. Sneed championed and was the major architect of the proposal for USF’s four-year Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD) program, which was approved by the Florida Board of Governors this January. Housed within the USF College of Medicine, the School of Pharmacy plans to admit the first class of students in August 2011.

Kevin Sneed, PharmD

“USF is going change the face of pharmacy practice with our graduates and faculty,” Dr. Sneed said. “Tomorrow’s pharmacists will be expected to take a lead role in managing and delivering technologically-advanced pharmaceutical care based on a patient’s genetic makeup and individualized responses to medications. We are building a program strategically designed to prepare pharmacy clinicians for this challenging new model of patient-centered practice.”

“With his impassioned commitment to academic pharmacy education, his vision of entrepreneurial academic excellence, and strong scholarly, research and clinical skills, Dr. Sneed is well prepared to lead the pharmacy school of the future,” said Stephen Klasko, MD, MBA, CEO of USF Health and dean of the College of Medicine. “The innovative clinical pharmacy program he continues to advance will embody the interprofessional education model we’ve begun in public health, medicine, nursing and physical therapy.”

The interdisciplinary program will draw upon faculty and other resources from USF’s colleges of Medicine, Nursing and Public Health and create opportunities for collaborative teaching and research university-wide. The curriculum will emphasize medication management for the elderly, research-based drug discovery and development, and personalized care for chronic illnesses. Dr. Sneed has already established key partnerships with USF-affiliated teaching hospitals and outpatient sites where USF pharmacy students will receive their clinical training. The pharmacy school intends to establish academic and clinical partnerships across the greater Tampa Bay area.

Dr. Sneed received his PharmD degree from Xavier University of Louisiana College of Pharmacy in 1998 and completed a primary care pharmacy residency at Bay Pines VA Medical Center in St. Petersburg.

He joined the USF Department of Family Medicine in 1999 as a visiting professor from Florida A&M College of Pharmacy, where he was an associate professor and ambulatory care clinical coordinator. At Florida A&M, he was a key member of curriculum committees and participated in several accreditation reviews – experience that has helped in building USF’s PharmD program to comply with new accreditation standards.

In addition to teaching pharmacy, medical and other health-professions students and conducting funded clinical research, Dr. Sneed created the USF College of Medicine’s first primary care clinical pharmacy program. More recently, he developed consultant pharmacy services for the Morsani Center for Advanced Healthcare, a USF Hemophilia Center Pharmacy, and a USF Clinical Research Pharmacy.

Dr. Sneed’s primary clinical and research interest is cardio-metabolic disorders. He has published numerous peer-reviewed papers and a book chapter. He established USF Health as a member of the National Pharmacy-Based Research Network, which will serve as the foundation for future USF pharmacy faculty to conduct national-level studies with other pharmacy programs across the country.

Dr. Sneed has a long history of community service to underserved communities. He created and directed the Inter-collaborative Student and Community Health Assessment Project and Evaluation (IN-SCHAPE), a nationally-recognized cardiovascular health disparities project that addresses cardiovascular risk factors in Hillsborough County communities. He has received statewide recognition from the Florida Prostate Cancer Network for his efforts to educate African-American men about cardiovascular risks.

- USF Health -
USF Health is dedicated to creating a model of health care based on understanding the full spectrum of health. It includes the University of South Florida’s colleges of medicine, nursing, and public health; the schools of biomedical sciences as well as physical therapy & rehabilitation sciences; and the USF Physicians Group. With more than $380.3 million in research grants and contracts last year, USF is one of the nation’s top 63 public research universities and one of 39 community-engaged, four-year public universities designated by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. For more information, visit www.health.usf.edu

- Release by Anne DeLotto Baier, USF Health Communications

Two organizations from USF Health were recognized as Local Champions & Heroes at the University Area Community Civic Association’s 20th Annual Awards Ceremony on Oct. 13.

Representatives from the USF Health student-run BRIDGE Healthcare Clinic and the USF Health Service Corps received UACCA Community Appreciation Awards.

L to R: Karen Alonso, BRIDGE Co-Director; Florida Lt. Governor Jeff Kottkamp; Elizabeth Morgan, BRIDGE Physical Therapy Co-Director; Vanessa Bonet, BRIDGE Social Work Administrator; and Melanie Elliott, BRIDGE Co-Director

A national prototype, the BRIDGE Clinic brings free primary care and social services to uninsured people living in the University Community Area adjacent to the USF Tampa campus. Founded by USF medical students in 2007, the clinic brings together USF students from medicine, physical therapy and social work to provide supervised care to underserved patients.

Florida Lt. Governor Jeff Kottkamp with Ellen Kent, MPH, AHEC faculty coordinator for USF Health Service Corps (holding plaque), and Cynthia Selleck, DSN, ARNP, AHEC program director (back right).

Sponsored by the USF Area Health Education Center, the Health Service Corps provides student volunteers opportunities to gain valuable interdisciplinary training while serving communities in need. USF Health students routinely provide health screenings and education to residents of the University Area Community. The Corps was recognized for its successful “Tools for Schools” donation program, an annual drive that collects new school supplies and distributes them to families at the University Area Back to School Health Fair, where children receive free immunizations and physicals.

RELATED STORY:
Community partner recognizes Dr. Holt's leadership, service

Dr. Holt accepts his award from MaryEllen Elia, superintendent of the Hillsborough County School District.

Douglas Holt, MD, FACP, recently received the USF Area Community Civic Association’s Edwin Radice Distinguished Service Award for his leadership in public health and community partnering. Dr. Holt is director of the Hillsborough County Health Department (HCHD) and professor and associate director of the USF Division of Infectious Disease & International Medicine. The Edwin Radice Award recognizes individuals or groups who have consistently “given of themselves for the enrichment of others and betterment of their communities.”

In addition, the county’s “Back to School Coalition,” received a Community Appreciation Award for its initiative to ensure all Hillsborough County children entering a Florida school for the first time receive physicals and immunizations. Margaret Ewen, HCHD immunization program manager, accepted the award on behalf of the department.

Both awards were presented Oct. 13 at the civic association’s 20th Annual Awards Ceremony, attended by more than 1,000 people, including legislators, city and county commissioners, school board representatives and other community leaders.

Dr. Holt was recognized for his leadership and support of the Back to School Coalition and USF Health’s BRIDGE Healthcare Clinic.

Each year before the start of the school year, more than 3,500 children receive free physicals and immunizations at eight strategically located Back to School Coalition sites across Hillsborough County. The service has reduced the number of clients filling the Health Department clinics and reduced the wait time for appointments at pediatrician’s offices after school has begun.

Dr. Holt has been a pioneer in raising awareness among USF medical students about the importance of giving back to communities in need. He helped to establish the student-run BRIDGE Clinic, which brings free primary care and social services to uninsured people living adjacent to USF in the heart of the University Area Community. BRIDGE (Building Relationships and Initiatives Dedicated to Gaining Equality), operates out of the health department’s University Area Health Clinic. Each week USF students in medicine, physical therapy and social work provide faculty-supervised care to underserved patients.

Under Dr. Holt’s leadership, the Hillsborough County Health Department has initiated new alliances with community organizations and universities to advance the public health system and better leverage its available funding. Dr. Holt directs the fourth largest of Florida’s 67 county health departments. He completed his residency in internal medicine at the USF College of Medicine and been a faculty member since 1989.

- Story by Anne DeLotto Baier, USF Health Communications

RELATED Story:
BRIDGE Clinic, USF Health Service Corps awarded for community service

Tampa, FL (Oc.t 28, 2009) -- You don’t have to look any further than backyard to see that there’s a regional water crisis. A three-year drought has dried up rivers and other water sources, pumping threatens wells and wetlands, and officials have imposed the toughest watering restrictions in the Tampa Bay area’s history.

A special forum at USF on Wednesday, Nov. 4, will focus on how water usage and responses to shortages here in Tampa Bay can have global environmental and health implications. The Tampa Bay chapter of Physicians for Social Responsibility and the USF College of Public Health are sponsoring “The Global Water Crisis: Solutions from Tampa Bay,” at the USF College of Public Health auditorium, 13201 Bruce B. Downs Blvd, in Tampa. Refreshments will be served at 6:30 p.m. and the event starts at 7 p.m.

The keynote speaker, Dr. Noel J. Brown, president and CEO of Friends of the United Nations, is an internationally recognized expert on global water issues and champion of environmental sustainability. Dr. Brown and others have noted the unprecedented demand on water resources can have profound implications for the world’s water supply, protection of human health and the viability of aquatic ecosystems.

A panel discuss will feature Mary Mulhern of the Tampa City Council and Karl Nurse of St. Petersburg City Council, as well as Frank Mueller-Karger, PhD, of the USF College of Marine Science, Dr. David Randle, managing director of Waves of Change, and Phil Compton, regional representative of Sierra Club Florida.

For more information go to www.psr.org/tampa.

The USF College of Public Health, in collaboration with the Hillsborough County Health Department, provided 1,340 free seasonal flu shots Oct. 23 at its annual drive at the college, as well as about a 100  more at the USF Unstoppable Campaign event on Oct. 20. 

COPH students provided the health education materials, while trained USF nursing and medical students supervised by USF Health and health department nurses and physicians, administered the vaccines.

Dr. Donna Petersen gets her shot from nursing students Natalie Bercini and Courtney Abreu.

Photos by Eric Younghans, USF Health Office of Communications

Supporters of USF Health kicked off the USF: Unstoppable campaign Tuesday evening, Oct. 20, by toasting with pomegranate “Health-tinis,” playing with a simulator baby used to teach nursing and medical students, and getting free flu shots.

It was all part of a gala to launch the public phase of the most comprehensive capital campaign in USF’s history. The goal: to raise $600 million. More than 500 donors, alumni, faculty, staff and friends were on hand to hear the announcement by Judy Genshaft, president of the USF System, USF Foundation CEO Joel Momberg and Campaign Chair Les Muma.

The USF Health exhibit presented a vision of Health 2020.

So far, the campaign has raised $317 million in donor gifts and pledges.

“Tonight is a night to celebrate two things: perseverance and promise,” said Genshaft. “Our students are solving big problems. Our faculty is changing the world. USF is building the university of the future. We believe our mission to serve the educational, economic and health needs of our community, Florida and the world are too important to be deterred or delayed.”

President Judy Genshaft displays a test tube full of USF Health's favorite beverage: a Health-tini.

Two of the campaign’s most significant early gifts have gone to benefit projects at USF Health. Frank and Carol Morsani donated $10 million, used to help build the Frank and Carol Morsani Center for Advanced Healthcare, as well as for sports facilities.

Muma and his wife, Pam, donated $6 million to fund neonatal research, as well as to build an neonatal intensive care unit at Tampa General Hospital. They gave another $3 million to athletics.

At Tuesday’s event, the USF Marshall Student Center was transformed by nearly two dozen exhibits showing off USF programs. At the USF Health exhibit, guests were treated to the “Health-tinis,” full of pomegranate antioxidants and delivered in mock test tubes. Video monitors featured Dr. Stephen Klasko, CEO of USF Health and dean of the College of Medicine, sharing USF Health’s vision for the future of health care, Health 2020, along with a montage of images from medicine, nursing and public health.

NBC News correspondent Kerry Sanders gets his balance checked by physical therapy students Heather Matako, left, and Elizabeth Morgan.

Physical therapy students helped guests measure their balance using a Biosway Balance machine. Guests who stood on the machine’s platform – including a spell with their eyes closed, teetering on a block of foam – got to see how they compare to others their age on several measures of balance. Physical therapists can use the data to develop therapies to improve balance and prevent falls.

He may be the CEO, but Dr. Stephen Klasko still delivers babies...real or, in this case, simulated.

The star of the show may have been the exhibit’s youngest member: the simulator baby. Faculty members from the College of Nursing dressed the baby in a “Future Bull” T-shirt and named him Rocky to mark the occasion. A steady stream of visitors came to play with Rocky, hearing him cry, feeling his heart beat, and even watching him turn blue because of breathing difficulties. Each time, of course, he was swiftly rescued by clinical instructor Jenny Molloy and teaching lab assistant Freida Lahti, who demonstrated some of the skills that nursing and medical students learn by caring for Rocky.

Dee Jeffers, program director in the College of Public Health’s Chiles Center for Healthy Mothers and Babies, stopped by and was captivated. She donned a stethoscope and listened to Rocky breathe.

“I didn’t know we did this,” she said. “There’s so much happening at USF, you just can’t keep up with it. The knowledge explosion for students – it’s amazing.”

Freida Lahti helps Baby Rocky's simulated breathing return to normal.

- Story by Lisa Greene, USF Health Communications
- Photos by Eric Younghans, USF Health Communications

The USF Division of Geriatric Medicine will host Celebrating Life … Flamenco Style!, Nov. 6 at the Tampa Yacht and Country Club.

The event helps the Division raise much-needed funds for its fellowship program.

“The U.S. population is aging rapidly and, at the moment, there is only one geriatric specialist for every 2,500 Americans over age 75,” said Vincent Perron, MD, chief of the Division of Geriatric Medicine at USF. “By 2030, there could be just one geriatrician for every 20,000 older patients.”

The special guest speaker for the third annual gala will be Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio. The evening also includes a silent auction, Spanish guitar music, impersonators, and classic Flamenco dancing.

Tickets cost $125 per person or $1,250 for a reserved table for 10. Doors open at 6 p.m. The Tampa Yacht and Country Club is at 5320 Interbay Blvd., Tampa.

Please RSVP by Nov. 1 by calling 974-2460 or emailing LRodrig1@health.usf.edu.

Click here to read about the critical shortage of geriatricians.