The tiny hospital was only 60 miles from Port-au-Prince, but it took four hours for Dr. Mitch Hoffman to get there over the traffic-packed, earthquake-torn roads.            It took only a few minutes to get the first cry for help.            Something was terribly wrong in the delivery room.            Dr. Hoffman, director of the USF gynecology oncology division, and Dr. Kathleen Kilbride, a colleague of 29 years, ran to the delivering mother to discover that the situation was dire. As the baby began to move through […]

Ronald McDonald Care Mobile reaches underserved Tampa-area students Aetna and the Aetna Foundation have awarded $47,500 to the University of South Florida (USF) to support the Ronald McDonald Care Mobile, which is targeting obesity among underserved students in the Tampa area. The USF Pediatrics Mobile Health Program has provided care to more than 5,000 children and teens since 2006, visiting 59 schools in Hillsborough County and providing the equivalent of more than $1 million in free medical services. A nurse practitioner, pediatric residents and medical and nursing students staff the […]

USF neurosurgeon Dr. Siviero Agazzi, co-medical director of the Neuroscience ICU at Tampa General Hospital, hugs a grateful patient at the recent Cerebral Celebration. USF neurosurgeons, neurologists and affiliated neuroradiologists, along with nurses and other caregivers at the Tampa General Neuroscience Intensive Care Unit, were reunited May 13 with patients they helped save. The former patients, who gathered for the hospital’s first Cerebral Celebration breakfast, had been treated for a variety of neurological disorders, including brain tumors, traumatic brain injuries, strokes, aneurysms, seizures and other metabolic diseases. Some didn’t even […]

Aim is to advance collaborative research and education in Panama A two-day event focusing on global sustainability and health was hosted earlier this month by the USF College of Public Health and the USF Health International Foundation, in collaboration with Centro Internacional para el Desarrollo Sostenible (CIDES), a major international organization at the Ciudad del Saber (City of Knowledge) in Panama City, Panama. “Experts from Panama and USF gathered to tackle the thorny issues of protecting and preserving the environment, culture, and health of citizens, while facilitating responsible and sustainable […]

USF medical student Lauren Leffler spent the month before her graduation biking across the country to raise money for Shriners Hospitals for Children. Leffler, 25, plans to purse a career in pediatric orthopedics. Following the May 6 COM Commencement ceremony she’ll head for Greenville, SC, where she will begin her residency in orthopedic surgery this July at the Greenville Hospital Systems/University of South Carolina School of Medicine. Read more about Leffler’s 4,200-mile journey…

USF’s student-directed BRIDGE Clinic continues to earn applause for offering a free health clinic to uninsured patients in the university community area. Among the numerous awards it has received since opening in 2007 are two recent donations totaling $21,000. The BRIDGE Clinic was presented with the gifts April 29 at its 3rd Annual USF BRIDGE Healthcare Clinic Appreciation Banquet held at the Moffitt Cancer Center Vincent A. Stabile Research Building. The annual event serves to acknowledge BRIDGE Clinic volunteers, including physicians, medical students, interpreters, physical therapy BRIDGE members, and social […]

Frantz Jean Louis and family look ahead to their new life in Tampa, never losing sight of relatives left behind in their earthquake-ravaged homeland When Frantz Jean Louis and his 2-year-old daughter Aurelie arrived here Jan 20 from earthquake-ravaged Haiti, they had only the clothes on their backs and one small suitcase. No place to live. No idea of what was next. Three months later, Jean Louis, a Haiti native and 2009 graduate of the USF College of Public Health, has obtained a used car and a modest apartment, works […]

The 100th Anniversary of the Florida Department of Health’s Tampa Laboratory was a highlight of the College of Public Health’s weeklong celebration Dr. Phil Amuso, director of the Tampa Lab, Florida Department of Health Bureau of Laboratories, speaks at the lab’s 100th Anniversary celebration. The lab has a strong partnership with the USF College of Public Health. The USF College of Public Health celebrated National Public Health Week, April 5-11, with activities ranging from a Global Health Career Night and the college’s annual awards ceremony to student-led tours of the […]

She improved Florida’s emergency response capabilities by creating Strike Teams and To Go kits. She helped found the Florida Rabies and Control and Prevention Advisory Committee. She was the first leader in a state agency to purchase hybrid vehicles for her agency. And she is now serving as the lead public health professional in the Chinese Drywall issue. These are among the many reasons Florida’s Division of Environmental Health Director Lisa Ann Conti, DVM, MPH, has been named the Florida Outstanding Woman in Public Health for 2010 by the University […]

– USF President Judy Genshaft will deliver keynote at March 27 event – Six USF Health physicians will be featured as speakers at the fifth annual Focus on Females Women’s Health Symposium from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, March 27, at the Tampa Convention Center. USF Health is among the sponsors of the free symposium, which will feature USF President Judy Genshaft as the keynote speaker. The event is intended to foster and encourage the education of women about personal health by providing practical, relevant and ready-to-use health […]