Norma Goldberger first realized the mole on her neck looked different when make-up wouldn't cover it anymore.

Still, the change was slight. It hadn't changed colors. It was just a little bigger.

She thought about getting it checked, but she didn't want to pay for a doctor's visit. She'd wait for a skin screening, she thought. She showed it to some of her family members, but nobody seemed worried.

Time went on, and Goldberger put off getting it checked. Finally, more than six months after she had noticed the change, she went to a community forum, the Focus on Females Women's Healthcare Symposium. Among the speakers: Dr. Mary Lien, assistant professor of dermatology at USF College of Medicine.

Dr. Lien's word burned into Goldberger's mind.

"She kept saying it over and over again," Goldberger said. "The cost of an unnecessary biopsy is dollars. But the cost of missing a necessary biopsy could be your life."

Finally concerned, Goldberger called USF Health and asked for the first available dermatology appointment.  She went to see Dr. Phillip Shenefelt, a USF associate professor of dermatology, and got the mole biopsied.

USF dermatologist Dr. Phillip Shenefelt with patient Norma Goldberger.

Then a USF resident called Goldberger with the results: she needed surgery. The next day.

The mole that Goldberger had delayed getting checked turned out to be melanoma, the deadliest kind of skin cancer. Fortunately for her, it was still at stage 1, the earliest and most easily treated stage. Goldberger had that mole, and two others close to it, removed the next day.

"Really, I owe Dr. Lien's presentation to motivating me, to not waiting around anymore," Goldberger said.

Dr. Lien said she tries to walk the line between scaring people and motivating them.

"I don't like to be the voice of doom," she said. "But there's a problem with skin cancer. It doesn't hurt."

That makes it easy to put off getting suspicious moles checked, she said.

Goldberger's decision to finally get her mole checked may have saved her life, Dr. Shenefelt said.

"The deeper it goes, the higher the risk of metastasis," or spreading to other areas, he said. "That can be very serious, and sometimes fatal."

Dr. Neil Fenske, professor and chairman of the dermatology department, said he hopes Goldberger's experience will inspire others to act.

"I am so glad Mrs. Goldberger got her unusual mole checked in time to have her melanoma successfully treated," he said.  "I hope her story will remind people just how important it is to get regular skin cancer screenings."

Goldberger, 63, feels fortunate. She and her husband, Stephen, celebrate their 41^st wedding anniversary this month. After raising three children, owning a business and then editing a magazine together, they have retired and divide their time between Ohio and Apollo Beach.

Still, the experience has changed Goldberger's behavior.

"I'm using sunscreen religiously now," she said. "I always wear a hat. I bought an Australian top that looks dreadful over a bathing suit, but it's an SPF fabric."

L to R: Dr. Shenefelt, Dr. Mary Lien and Goldberger

Goldberger also has returned to USF practitioners since to have other moles checked.

"I don't feel a private office physician is as up on the latest research as a teaching hospital," she said. "I feel the quality of medical care in a teaching hospital is higher."

But when she returned to see Dr. Shenefelt after a biopsy this month, she got good news. This time, the biopsy results were normal.

FREE SKIN CANCER SCREENING

It's almost time for Melanoma Monday, a national event to raise awareness about skin cancer. At USF Health, hundreds of patients get free skin cancer screenings each year from the university's dermatologists and medical residents. This year's Melanoma Monday will be: May 4 from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the USF Health Medical Clinic, 12901 Bruce B. Downs Blvd.

DANGER SIGNS ON THE SKIN

Dermatologists have an "ABCDE" list of when you should get a mole or pigmented spot checked. The symptoms are:

Asymmetry - one half unlike the other half

Border - Irregular, scalloped or poorly defined border

Color - Varied from one area to another; shades of tan, brown, black, or sometimes white, red or blue

Diameter - Melanomas are usually bigger than 6 mm (the size of a pencil eraser), although they can be smaller

Evolving - A mole or spot that looks different from the rest or is changing in size, color or shape.

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

RELATED STORY:

USF medical students teach tanning dangers

Driven to spread the word about the importance of sun protection, USF College of Medicine students are telling local high school students how to protect themselves from the skin cancer.

Last fall, fourth-year medical student Salma Pothiawala helped start a local chapter of Check Your Skin, a national organization dedicated to raising awareness of skin cancer and the importance of sun protection. The USF chapter is under the guidance of Dr. Mary Lien, associate professor in the USF Department of Dermatology and Cutaneous Surgery. Through community outreach programs and teach-ins, USF medical students increase skin cancer awareness and educate teens on how to correctly perform self skin exams.

Fourth-year medical student Salma Pothiawala (left) and second-year medical student Mark Halsey share skin cancer information with a student at a recent health fair at Brooks-DeBartolo Collegiate High School.

“The students have been very interactive and interested in what we have to say and I hope we are making a positive impact on their lives,” Pothiawala said. “We hope to become much more active in the community in the future. It is essential to reach out to individuals in the community regarding the necessity for sun protection, especially in a state like Florida, where people are involved in so many outdoor activities. We must stop the development of skin cancers before they start by educating this young population. Melanoma is the most common cancer in females between the ages of 25 and 29.”

In addition to Pothiawala, USF medical students also involved in the Check Your Skin chapter are Mark Halsey and Katherine Madden.

“All of us medical students who have become involved in Check Your Skin are passionate about dermatology and preventative medicine,” Pothiawala said.

One of their most recent educational efforts was at a health fair at Brooks-DeBartolo Collegiate High in late April, during which they had a booth about skin cancer-related issues and shared skin cancer information with students.

- Story by Sarah Worth

When it comes to caring for patients, Dr. Stephen Klasko is an impatient man.

He wants to give patients the kind of care that everyone else will be providing 10 years from now.

Today.

As the CEO of USF Health and dean of the USF College of Medicine, Dr. Klasko is in charge of educating tomorrow’s doctors, nurses and public health professionals. But he has another mission as well: improving the care that USF doctors and health care providers give to patients.

When USF began to talk about renovating its health clinic, Dr. Klasko decided that wasn’t enough. He didn’t want to provide the same kind of care a little bit better. He wanted to give USF Health patients a whole new kind of care.

“We’re not going to do the same old thing,” Dr. Klasko said. “We’re going to build the center for the future.”

That idea eventually bloomed into two new centers for patients. The Carol & Frank Morsani Center for Advanced Healthcare opened last summer, and the South Tampa Center for Advanced Healthcare opened in 2007. They’re the embodiment of Dr. Klasko’s vision to provide care that is built around the patient’s needs.

First, Dr. Klasko wanted USF to treat patients according to their medical needs, rather than by the school’s faculty departments.

“Patients don’t view their lives as departments,” he said. “If you have a headache, you don’t know whether you have a neurologic headache, a family practice headache, a psychiatric headache or a neurosurgical headache. But in Tampa, you’d have to go to four different doctors to find that out.”

He talks about all this with the zeal of a missionary. Dr. Klasko is a high-energy guy: he talks fast, and with conviction, ready to convert everyone to his cause. When he talks, he’s rarely still. He rolls his chair, taps his foot.

A VISION FOR THE FUTURE

Now approaching his five-year anniversary leading the medical school, Dr. Klasko has built a reputation as an innovator. He came to USF in 2004 after serving as dean at the Drexel University College of Medicine. Dr. Klasko holds an MBA as well as an MD and advocates an entrepreneurial approach to medicine.

Dr. Klasko has been known to use unconventional means to make a point. He’s the co-author of a book, The Phantom Stethoscope, designed to help doctors understand the business side of medicine. It features a medical resident who has been abducted by aliens, then returned to earth.

“He’s a breath of fresh air,” said Dr. Bill Dalton, CEO of H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute, the nationally-ranked cancer center next door to the medical school. “He’s very, very patient-oriented, but he’s also physician-oriented. He looks at what makes it easier for the physician to do their job and deliver it to the patient.”

As an OB/GYN, it especially irks Dr. Klasko that many women have to go to their annual gynecological exam, get a prescription there for a mammogram, make a separate appointment for that exam, and then wait for days to hear the results.

“It takes nine days to get a mammogram done,” for many patients, he noted.

At the Morsani Center, patients don’t have to make separate appointments at different locations for testing. Instead, it’s one-stop shopping – and one appointment instead of three.

The Carol and Frank Morsani Center for Advanced Healthcare

The way the new centers are set up makes it easier for doctors to consult with each other about a patient’s care, said David L. Keefe, MD, chair of USF’s Ob/Gyn Department.

“I’ll see a patient and become aware she needs to see one of my colleagues, and I’ll pop around the corner” and ask that doctor to stop by, Dr. Keefe said. “You can see the patient feels a tremendous sense of relief, for not being tossed around. Hopefully, we can navigate them through in a smooth way.”

Similarly, Dr. Klasko has changed some of USF’s key specialties to organize them around the medical treatment, rather than a department.

USF’s division of cardiovascular services, for example, includes cardiologists and surgeons. Its sports medicine program includes orthopedists, family practitioners trained in sports medicine, and physical therapists.

During his first year at USF, Dr. Klasko also re-organized the health colleges to bring medicine, nursing and public health closer together. The new enterprise was dubbed USF Health. It encourages faculty members from different colleges to work on joint research projects and requires students to take classes in different colleges.

South Tampa Center for Advanced Healthcare

The next addition to USF Health will be a Doctor of Pharmacy program, approved in January by the state’s Board of Governors. USF hopes to enroll the first students in Fall 2011.

Like USF’s other new enterprises, the pharmacy program looks forward. Students will learn to use electronic prescriptions and medical records. It’s part of Dr. Klasko’s commitment to extending the use of electronic prescribing. He’s also working on a project to help teach Tampa Bay doctors how to use e-prescribing software.

Dr. Dalton likes Klasko’s approach to the e-prescribing effort.

“Doctors are notoriously very conservative, and frankly not risk-oriented when it comes to trying new things,” Dr. Dalton said. “But Steve is very good at communicating what (e-prescribing) tries to do.”

REACHING HIGHER

At times, Dr. Klasko’s passion for change has ruffled feathers. His pursuit of building a hospital for USF has drawn fire from some community hospital leaders in Tampa Bay, who say it would take business from theirs. Dr. Klasko, however, says such a hospital would improve health care for Tampa Bay residents and draw patients, researchers and biotech industries to the area.

“Our mission is to be the driver for making the community healthier,” he said. “We will raise the bar for health care in Tampa Bay.”

Dr. Klasko shares his vision with Drs. Michael and Anna Parsons at the South Tampa Center for Advanced Healthcare opening.

That drive for excellence has helped Dr. Klasko attract doctors from top medical schools around the country. Over the past few years, he’s brought in leading faculty members from the Cleveland Clinic, the University of California San Diego, and Brown University.

Dr. Keefe, for example, came to USF in 2005 from Brown, where he was an associate professor and the director of Reproductive Medicine and Infertility at Women and Infants Hospital in Providence and at Tufts-New England Medical Center in Boston.

It turns out that Dr. Keefe became aware of Klasko’s work years earlier, when he read The Phantom Stethoscope and became a fan.

“That kind of energy and passion and vision are all too rare in health care today,” Dr. Keefe said. “The dean’s approach is a blueprint of what’s laid out for us. It fits the challenges we face” to reform health care.

STALKING A KILLER

One of Dr. Klasko’s top priorities for USF Health is to reshape the treatment of one of the nation’s leading killers: diabetes.

He wants to build on the success of one of USF’s leading researchers, Jeffrey Krischer, PhD. Dr. Krischer, who holds the Endowed Chair in Diabetes Research, has won $389 million in federal grant funding for epidemiological research into the causes of Type 1 diabetes, as well as ways to prevent and cure the disease.

USF is working to expand its clinical research, expand its existing diabetes education center, and establish a center that will provide diabetes patients with the best possible care.

Diabetes patients often see 8 or 9 different doctors who don’t communicate with each other, and research has shown that only about 55 percent receive appropriate care, Klasko pointed out. Such gaps can mean extra expense, such as different doctors repeating the same test. But they can also mean that needed preventive care, such as a simple annual eye exam, gets missed, and the opportunity to spot a serious medical problem early is lost.

“We can improve quality and lower costs at the same time,” Dr. Klasko said.

Orthopaedics and Sports Medicine was the first USF Health clinic to move in and set up shop on the third floor of the Morsani Center.

Ultimately, Dr. Klasko wants USF to build a hospital that specializes in diabetes care – an unusual move that would make Tampa Bay “one of the centers of the world in diabetes care,” he said.

It’s an ambitious list: transforming USF’s diabetes care, winning community support for such a hospital, and finding money to build it. Dr. Klasko knows none of it will be easy. But as a long-time marathon runner, he’s fond of quoting from an Adidas sneaker campaign: “Impossible is not a fact. It’s an opinion... Impossible is nothing.”

Dr. Klasko is training for a marathon now. He refuses to give up the sport, despite the limits on his time and the pain of three knee surgeries.

“There’s 90 million excuses to not finish it, but there’s no reason you can’t,” he said. “The harder it gets, the more I recognize how important it is to do.”

He brings the same lessons to leading USF Health.

“When you think about what we owe our patients, what we owe our community,” Dr. Klasko said. “The more I realize that we have to push harder.”

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

Tampa, FL (April 23, 2009) -- The University of South Florida's graduate public health, nursing and physical therapy programs are among the best in the nation, according to the U.S. News & World Report 2010 America's Best Graduate Schools report released today.

The USF College of Public Health maintained its #20 ranking on the list of “top public health programs” for the second year in a row -- a reflection of the college's work in several areas of excellence, including social marketing, global health and infectious diseases, maternal and child health, and distance learning programs. This year, the college is celebrating its 25th anniversary. It was the first College of Public Health in Florida.

The College of Nursing graduate program kept its #72 ranking on the U.S. News list. It is one of two graduate nursing programs in Florida to earn a U.S. News ranking. The School of Physical Therapy kept its #69 ranking on the list.

USF had already implemented one of the best reporting systems for pharmaceutical and device manufacturer relationships by making it a mandatory online system.

Now USF has taken the step of establishing a new policy that governs the interactions between members of the USF Health community (faculty, residents, staff, students, etc) and pharmaceutical and medical device industries.

The new guidelines were formally adopted April 9. Among the issues clearly addressed are gifts and meals, samples, clinical site access by pharmaceutical and device representatives, outside speaking and consulting relationships, and interactions with pharmaceutical and industry representatives in educational settings.

“I deeply appreciate the critical role USF faculty play in evaluating new medications and educating our patients and students about them,” said Stephen K. Klasko, MD, MBA, CEO for USF Health and dean of the College of Medicine. “In a future of pharmacogenetics, we cannot separate ourselves from the critique, testing and evaluations of medications in an evidence-based practice. At the same time, faculty at all medical schools need to ensure that relationships with for-profit health entities are disclosed, approved and managed.”

It’s easy. It protects you from embarrassment. It’s required.

The new USF policy comes in the context of a national push by the public, policymakers and medical leaders for academic health centers to play a leadership role exerting tighter controls on ties between physicians and drug and device makers. Since 2007 the American Medical Student Association, through its PharmFree Scorecard, has graded medical schools across the country on the presence or absence of policies addressing conflict of interests that may arise from industry marketing.

Medical students were an integral part of creating the new USF guidelines, which were also developed by faculty and leaders, said John Curran, MD, associate vice president for Faculty and Academic Affairs at USF Health. “Students stimulate the faculty to think in new ways about educating tomorrow’s doctors about best practices.”

For more information on the new USF guidelines, click here.

- USF study one of 15 funded by Tourette Syndrome Association -

USF Health faculty at the Rothman Center of Neuropsychiatry at All Children’s Hospital have been awarded a $72,000 grant from the national Tourette Syndrome Association (TSA) to develop a cognitive-behavioral therapy program that promotes coping and resiliency among children and adolescents with tic disorders.

Principal investigator Eric Storch, PhD, associate professor of pediatrics and psychiatry, was one of 15 distinguished TSA awardees this year. He will work with co-investigator Tanya Murphy, MD, professor and Rothman Endowed Chair of Developmental Pediatrics.

Despite considerable research showing high rates of emotional, social, and behavioral difficulties in children and adolescents with tics, there are no standardized treatments addressing the quality of life issues that often impact this group.

“Many youth with tic disorders experience considerable distress about having tics and how others may perceive them,” Dr. Storch said.

“Such symptoms are often more impairing and distressing than the tics themselves and may negatively impact self-concept, social interactions and quality of life. For example, many youth will not participate in activities where they may have to explain their tics to others or be the source of unwanted attention,” he said. “With this funding from the TSA, we have the opportunity to develop and test a treatment protocol that builds resiliency skills, thereby minimizing the impact of their tics on quality of life and functioning.”

The TSA Research Award Program was established in 1984. Each year, the Association’s Scientific Advisory Board designates those scientific areas and applicant projects that offer the most promise for a better understanding of the causes and improved treatments for Tourette syndrome. TS is a neurological disorder characterized by repetitive, sudden, involuntary movements and vocalizations called tics.

The Rothman Neuropsychiatry Center offers comprehensive evaluation and multidisciplinary, individualized treatment for children, adolescents and adults with obsessive-compulsive disorder and other anxiety disorders, Tourette syndrome, autism spectrum disorders and learning disabilities.

Tampa, FL (April 21, 2009) -- The University of South Florida Urogynecology and Pelvic Reconstructive Surgery program has opened an office in Sarasota. The program offers a full range of medical and surgical therapies for women with urogynecological problems, including overactive bladder syndromes, uterine and bowel prolapse, chronic pelvic pain, cystitis, incontinence, recurrent urinary tract infections, and complications related to pelvic floor reconstructive surgery.

Program director Lennox Hoyte, MD, has begun seeing patients monthly at the offices of Physician Care Clinical Research, 1931 South Tuttle Ave, in Sarasota. Patients have access to the latest technology in urodynamics and bowel testing, cystoscopy and ultrasound and MRI imaging, which can help in diagnosing pelvic floor problems. Services include minimally-invasive and traditional surgeries for incontinence and prolapse, InterStim® therapy, an implantable device for difficult-to-treat urinary symptoms, and botox and pelvic floor physical therapy for severe pelvic floor pain syndromes.

Dr. Hoyte is associate professor and medical director of Urogynecology and Pelvic Reconstructive Surgery at USF Health. He is an attending obstetrician/gynecologist at Tampa General Hospital and specializes in all types of pelvic floor disorders, including childbirth-related injury and pelvic muscle dysfunction. He is skilled in the use of robotic-assisted, minimally invasive procedures to treat prolapse.

Dr. Hoyte received his MD degree from Stanford Medical School and completed a residency in obstetrics and gynecology at the Brigham and Women’s/Massachusetts General Hospital joint training program. He completed a fellowship in Female Pelvic Medicine and Reconstructive Surgery at Loyola University Medical Center. He is a board certified obstetrician and gynecologist, a fellow of the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology, and a member of the Society of Gynecologic Surgeons.

For more information, please call (941) 957-1365 or go to www.usfurogyn.com

- 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 $360 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

USF Health is an academic health center on the leading edge of treatment and research for Parkinson’s disease and other movement disorders.

In addition to evaluating new medications, investigators here are working on new surgeries and innovative cell-based therapies that may offer hope for patient who no longer benefit from medications. They are also looking for ways to determine those at high risk for Parkinson’s, so that the degenerative brain disorder can ultimately be prevented before it starts.

USF Health has two clinics designated privately-funded centers of excellence for Parkinson’s disease – one on its South campus (adjacent to Tampa General Hospital) and the other on the North campus (Morsani Center for Advanced Healthcare).

Established on the South campus in 1986, the USF Health Parkinson’s Disease and Movement Disorders Center directed by Robert Hauser, MD, has been a National Parkinson’s Foundation Center of Excellence since 2005.

Begun in 2008, the North campus clinic is supported by the Parkinson’s Research Foundation. The PRF Center of Excellence is headed by Juan Sanchez-Ramos, PhD, MD, medical director and the Helen Ellis Endowed Chair for Parkinson’s Disease Research at USF, and Dr. Theresa Zesiewicz, MD, director of clinical research. Together they co-direct a PRF Tampa Bay chapter for patients with Parkinson’s and their families.

These neurologists collaborate with USF Health neurosurgeons, including Donald Smith, MD, one of the first neurosurgeons in the country to implant a deep brain stimulator to help suppress tremors; Fernando Vale, MD, co-surgical director of the Parkinson’s Disease Surgery Program; and Thomas Freeman, MD, medical director of the USF Center for Aging and Brain Repair and a national leader in neural transplantation research for Parkinson’s disease.

In addition to their national prominence in Parkinson’s disease research, USF doctors are experts in a wide range of other movement disorders including Huntington’s disease, dystonia, tremor, restless legs syndrome, and ataxia.

- Story by Anne DeLotto Baier, USF Health Communications

Dr. Robert Hauser, recipient of a Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research grant, with actor and activist Michael J. Fox

LUTZ -- Actor and activist Michael J. Fox said Friday he's an incurable optimist.

Want proof? "I took up golf in my 40s, with Parkinson's disease,'' Fox said at a press conference in Tampa Bay, where he came to participate in the Outback Steakhouse Pro-Am tournament.

"Make no mistake, I'm a horrible golfer," Fox joked.

 Just before teeing off Friday, Fox held a press conference with professional golfer Tim Simpson and Dr. Robert A. Hauser, director of the USF Parkinson's Disease and Movement Disorders Center of Excellence.

Dr.  Hauser, a 2007 recipient of a Michael J. Fox Foundation grant, told the group there are reasons to hope in the fight against Parkinson's, which affects about one million Americans.

"Although Parkinson's disease is a progressive neurologic disorder, there have been really great advances over the past decade," Dr. Hauser said.

Hauser spoke about some of his own research looking for ways to diagnose Parkinson's earlier, before people begin to suffer problems with tremors, rigidity, and slowness of movement. Earlier diagnosis and treatment could help slow the progression of the disease, he said. He also pointed to the potential for genetic and stem cell research in understanding and treating the disease.

"Ultimately, though we really want a cure," Dr. Hauser said. "The future looks very, very bright, but smart investigators can't do it by themselves. Funding is just so critical to research."

Dr. Hauser thanked Fox and his foundation for its work funding Parkinson's research, and thanked Fox and Simpson for being "such an inspiration" to other patients.

L to R:

Fox made worldwide news when he announced in 1998 that he had been diagnosed with early-onset Parkinson's in 1991. Since then, Fox has continued acting, but also has become an outspoken advocate for Parkinson's awareness and research.

At the press conference Friday, Fox praised Simpson, who has struggled with essential tremor, a neurological condition related to Parkinson's. Simpson was able to return to professional golf after he had brain surgery four years ago to calm the involuntary movements. In 2006, he was named "Comeback Player of the Year" on the Champions Tour.

"It's not for the faint of heart," Fox said of deep brain stimulation, the procedure that Simpson underwent.

Simpson showed off the small bulge  in his chest - "my deck of cards" - he called it, where the electronic device is implanted. An internal wire goes from that device into his brain, sending out signals that stop the tremors.

" I feel very blessed, Simpson said. "I feel I've been given a second chance through DBS surgery."

Fox said his disease goes up and down, and he never knows whether he'll have a good day or a bad day. But, he said, he's learned to accept that. He's grateful to be in a position to show people that it's possible to have Parkinson's and have a full, active life.

L to R: Dr. Hauser, professional golfer Tim Simpson and Fox

"One thing you don't have a choice about right now - and we're working on it - is that you have Parkinson's," Fox said. "You don't have a choice about that. But around that non-choice, there are thousands of other choices that you still have. You're still intact. You're not ‘You minus that.' You're not defined by that. So that means you can go out and be a bad golfer if you want. It's okay to be shaky. You can be shaky and still be steady."

Related Story:
USF physicians lead in Parkinson's disease treatment and research

-- Story by Lisa Greene, USF Health Communications

-- Photos by Eric Younghans, USF Health Communications

Miss America 2008 Kirsten Haglund, left, spoke to the clients at USF Hope House.

For one young woman, the trigger was an alcoholic father.

For another, it was gymnastics.

For Miss America, it was ballet.

The women gathered Thursday at USF Hope House for Eating Disorders to share stories and get a dose of inspiration from Kirsten Haglund, who became Miss America 2008 after overcoming an eating disorder she suffered as a young teen-ager.

Haglund developed anorexia around age 12 after she went to a summer ballet camp and became more intensely involved in dance. All the best dancers seemed thinner than she was. Alone and insecure about her talent, Haglund started to diet.

“When I started to cut back, it felt very good, very powerful,” she said. But as her problem deepened, dieting became a downward spiral. The more weight she lost, the more unhappy with her body she became. She felt weak and unhappy. Ultimately, starving hurt her dance ability.

“I couldn’t get through a ballet class because I had no energy,” she said.

Haglund began to overcome her illness after her mother intervened, taking her “screaming and crying” to a doctor. It took a treatment team and more than a year for her to return to a healthy weight. She’s worked hard since then to keep a healthy attitude towards food and to understand that she feels better and happier when she eats. She’s learned to find fulfillment through faith, rather than through starving herself. She no longer takes ballet.

“It’s a problem, it’s an illness,” Haglund told the group. “It’s not your fault.”

But it is an onogoing fight.

“I’m just worried that I’m never going to get out of it,” Tampa student Karla Olsen, 21, told Haglund. “Like I’m never going to be fully recovered.”

Olsen said it’s helped her, as she works on that recovery, to be able to turn to Hope House as a resource. The house provides free outreach and support groups for people struggling with eating disorders and their families.

Haglund and the others talked about using food as a way to cope with problems, and how doing so can be as addictive as a drug.

One 15-year-old girl was struck by the contradiction: How did you handle anorexia while you were competing to be Miss America? Didn’t that make it more about your body?

“It wasn’t a trigger for me,” Haglund said. Although she could see how it might be for some young women, she entered the pageant almost on a whim, seeking to win scholarship money. She was active in musical theater and comfortable on stage, so she thought of the pageant more as a performance event, rather than a contest to find the perfect body image.

For the evening gown segment in Haglund’s first pageant, she wore her prom dress. She chose eating disorders awareness because it was something she knew about. But she figured she would talk about other girls’ struggles. She didn’t really think about talking about her own.

“Then I won,” Haglund laughed. “I put myself in a situation where I had to be accountable. I couldn’t slip back.”

But Haglund found the travels and stress of her year of serving as Miss America to be liberating rather than tense. She spent a year on the road traveling, never knowing what she might be asked to do, where she would end up, or who she might be. It showed her she could handle not being in control of her surroundings.

“I had to deal with it and life didn’t fall apart,” she said.

22-year-old Jennifer Goetz came to hear Haglund Thursday and was inspired.

“She’s extremely down to earth,” Goetz said. “She lays it on the line, that she’s not perfect and doesn’t live up to that image…she lets people understand that she goes through the same pressures that we do, and people with eating disorders come in all shapes and sizes.”

Haglund competed with scores of other women to become Miss America. She wore a crown and criss-crossed the country speaking her mind. But in a small room at Hope House Thursday, she was just one more member of a sorority bonded in a struggle against the same illness.

“You’re someone like us,” Olsen told her. “So you understand.”

More than 12 million people in the United States struggle with eating disorders. At some point during their lives, an estimated 180,000 people in Hillsborough and Pinellas Counties will suffer from an eating disorder. USF Hope House for Eating Disorders, directed by Pauline Powers, MD, professor of psychiatry at USF Health, is the only organization of its kind in Florida that provides free outreach and supportive intervention for individuals and families struggling with an eating disorder.

- Story by Lisa Greene, USF Health Communications

- Photos by Eric Younghans, USF Health Communications