Karen M. Burdash, MBA, is retiring this month after 28 years of providing financial management expertise to the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine (MCOM), its departments and its practice plan, the USF Physicians Group.

Working across the three missions of USF Health – education, research and clinical care – Burdash spent a career advising deans, chairs and directors on best practices for managing budgets, offering strategic planning for both tough economic times and times of careful growth, and acting as the go-to person for a range of special projects for USF Health leadership.

In looking back over a career of staying immersed in budgets and spreadsheets, she is quick to use a classic accounting joke: “There’s nothing humorous about finance.”

Burdash, who is associate dean for finance for MCOM, joined USF in 1989 when she was hired as practice administrator for the Department of Anesthesiology. Since then, she has managed the finances, offered financial analysis, forensics, self-audits, and process improvements to nearly every area across the medical school and practice plan. More recently, she focused her time on faculty and program performance, process improvement, and faculty outreach, using metric-driven evaluation processes.

She also served as a resource to the MCOM executive leadership team, including Harry van Loveren MD, professor and chair of the Department of Neurosurgery and Brain Repair in MCOM, vice-dean of Clinical Affairs for USFPG, and CEO of the Byrd Alzheimer’s Center and Research Institute.

“Karen Burdash has always been one of my ‘heroes’ in the USF Administration,” Dr. van Loveren said. “Some people give you all the information you ask for but Karen always gave me all the information I truly needed when I wasn’t smart enough to ask for it. She was the one I could sit down with and ask ‘Karen, what’s really going on here?’ and she would calmly tell me the truth, the whole truth, and the history behind the truth. I will miss her wise counsel but I refuse to relinquish her friendship.”

That feeling of support and good counsel is shared by Jerome Yankowitz, MD, professor and chair of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology for MCOM.

“There are certainly few with Karen Burdash’s experience,” Dr. Yankowitz said. “She has been a staple at USF Health for 28 years and I have had the honor and pleasure to know her for the last 6 of those. She is the person I would often go to, to get the final and true word. She was the source of endless and accurate data. Her integrity is unquestionable. Given the peculiarities of available data at USF, she was a master at ferreting out the kernels of truth and thus it will be a challenge for others to be more able at what she did. Karen truly gave of herself to this institution and deserves a great, happy and long retirement.”

Paula Knaus, associate dean of Faculty Affairs for the College of Public Health, also appreciated working with Burdash.

“I worked closely with Karen for the 10 years that I served as the associate vice president for Faculty Affairs and can say without hesitation that Karen is one of the brightest individuals I have had the pleasure to work with at USF,” Knaus said. “Karen is a consummate professional with a strong work ethic and impeccable moral standards and will be sorely missed at USF Health. Congratulations to Karen for an outstanding career. It is now time for Nick (husband) and her wonderful family – and, of course, her prized sheepdogs!”

Reflecting on her time and service at USF Health, Burdash is quick to offer some primary lessons she has learned: identify knowledgeable people to be your mentors and listen closely to their words of advice, and if you’re not committed to your job go find another one.

“Be open minded, tenacious, committed and flexible,” she added.

She was quick to acknowledge three individuals who were instrumental in contributing to her success at USF Health.  Joann Strobbe, her “boss” for many years, friend, and anchor.

“No matter what the assignment across Health, Joann gave me strength, encouragement, and my home department,” Burdash said.

Also, Stewart Slayton and Ted Ascherfeld, her employees for many years.

“They were not just a key part of my team, they were MY go-to experts, my rocks, colleagues, and ultimately, friends,” she said. “As you can tell, a 28 year career relied on team work and developed strong friendships.”

In her retirement, she will spend more time on her other hobbies, like sailing, fishing (she’s teaching her granddaughters, ages 6 and 8), stained glass, gardening, traveling, and flying – she is a licensed pilot.

“Years ago, I used to do a lot of photography, so I hope to also pick that back up,” she said.

And, of course, she will spend more time training and showing her Old English Sheepdogs, Beau and Gracie. Burdash has trained many who have earned champion titles at dog shows winning a Best in Show and a Best in Specialty Show with her Grand Champion Eric.

Friends and colleagues from across USF Health gathered July 10 to wish Burdash off to a good retirement.

A dog can be much more than simply the family pet.  For many people, their dog is a necessity for daily living – from navigating to retrieving items to sensing that blood sugar levels are dropping.

Michele Laine, nurse practitioner director for the USF Health Diabetes Home, with Hershey, a Labrador/Husky mix specially trained to detect fluctuations in blood sugar levels in patients with diabetes. Photo by Eric Younghans.

Called service dogs and canine companions, these unique animals take roles as people’s eyes, hands, legs and more.

To help raise funds and awareness for these dogs, USF Health is hosting the Tampa DogFest 2015 Walk ‘n Roll Nov. 8 to benefit the Canine Companions for Independence program (more details below).

Photo courtesy of CCI.org

The USF Health event will include a walk, silent auction, bake sale, dog photography, a kids’ activity table and, of course, visiting service dogs.

There are several ways to help. Donations can be made directly to the Tampa effort by visiting the Canine Companions website. You can also narrow your donation on that page to a USF Health team that will be walking Nov. 8 at the USF Health event, or start your own team and begin collecting sponsorships and donations. You can also provide items and services that can be included in the gift baskets that will be auctioned off for funds.

Gracie provides some de-stressing pet therapy for USF Health students at the Shimberg Health Sciences Library. Photo courtesy of the Shimberg Library.

You can also donate at the event, which is where you can meet some of the many folks benefiting from these service dogs, as well as those who help raise and train canine companions.

There are challenges people with disabilities face every day and canine companion assistance dogs are highly trained to help children, adults and veterans live more independently, said Karen Burdash, associate executive director of the USF Physicians Group and associate dean of the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine.

“Vets have served us, so it’s the least we can do for them,” Burdash said. “Wounded vets who might not have the ability to lead a full life can turn to a canine companion for help.”

Photo courtesy of CCI.org

Canine Companions for Independence provides highly trained assistance dogs to children and adults with disabilities, including veterans with physical disabilities. There is no charge to the recipient for the dog but training and on-going follow-up services ends up costing at least $50,000 per dog. Training a dog to be a service dog takes months. Following the intensive training, dogs are matched with a recipient, who has also undergone evaluation. Then, when a match is made, both dog and recipient undergo six weeks of training together.

The USF Health DogFest Walk ‘n Roll is aiming to raise at least that $50,000 to help a local veteran get matched to a dog, Burdash said.

“One of our main goals for this DogFest walk is to be able to say that USF Health was able to help raise enough to sponsor a dog to help someone,” she said.

As a longtime proponent for rescuing and training therapy dogs, Burdash said she can tell pretty quickly whether a dog has the temperament to be a therapy or service dog.

Karen Burdash with pet therapy dog Eric. Photo courtesy of Karen Burdash.

“Some dogs just show an affinity for helping,” she said. “It’s truly rewarding to me. The look on people’s faces when there is a good match is wonderful. And when a dog is really enhancing the quality of life for someone, that’s magical. That’s making someone’s life better.”

Details:

Tampa DogFest 2015 Walk ‘n Roll

Sunday, Nov. 8, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

At USF Health, east side of CMS building on the corner of Bruce B. Downs and USF Holly

The free event is open to the community. Donate or register a team at cci.org/dogfesttampa

Photo courtesy of CCI.org

Staff dog Snitch (note his ID card) also offers pet therapy to USF Health students at the Shimberg Library. Photo by Eric Younghans.

With more than 450 entries from faculty, staff and students, the first USF Health photo contest celebrating the energy, spirit and fun of children was a big hit.

Celebrating what’s right with the world: a tribute to USF children and our future generations was sponsored by the Office of Children’s Health, the Medical Humanities Scholarly Concentration, and the Morsani College of Medicine at USF Health.  

The contest was the brainchild of Dr. Robert M. Nelson, Jr., associate vice president for children’s health, who said he wanted to raise awareness about children’s health and was inspired by former National Geographic photographer Dewitt Jones, who each week posts a positive image captured by his camera on his Celebrate What’s Right With the World! website.

Dr. Nelson and his staff pulled in Dr. Lois LaCivita Nixon and her students studying humanities to help with the judging.

“We had so many amazing selections, it was difficult to narrow it down to three winners,” Dr. Nelson said. “We definitely plan on doing this again next year.”

Below is a snapshot of the stories behind each of the three winning photos, shared by the photographers:

1^st place (prize: iPad 3) —  “Girl enjoying the sunshine” by Lauren Brown

Brown is a student enrolled in the USF College of Nursing’s second degree program; her first degree is a bachelor’s in communications from Howard University.  She decided she needed some new photos of her daughter Kamille, 4.   So one Saturday morning, Brown and classmate Rebekah Woods took Kamille – who put on a sundress and favorite orange flower headband — to a community park near her St. Petersburg home.  

Kamille was playing and rolling around in the grass when she struck the impromptu pose with her face tilted toward the sunshine.  The winning photo, one of three or four frames snapped, was taken with Woods’ 35 mm camera

“She’s a diva. She loves the camera,” Brown said of her daughter.  “I knew this was the shot … It looks so happy, like she doesn’t have a care in the world.”

Kamille is pleased to let everyone know that she was part of a photo contest “at my momma’s school.”  She’ll probably be even happier playing games with Mom’s prize – a new iPad.

2^nd  place (Xbox Kinect) – “Fun at the Beach” by Karen Burdash

Burdash is associate executive director for operational finance for the USF Physicians Group and assistant dean for clinical finance at the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine.

Photography is a hobby of hers – and she says she especially loves experimenting with black and white.  She even did portrait photography to help pay her way through graduate school while earning an M.B.A.

Burdash culled through 12 years’ worth of photographs in her collection to look for some that might stand out in the contest.  The winning entry — shot with a Cannon EOS 35 mm camera on the autofocus, action setting — was taken several years ago during a family outing to the beach in South Carolina.   Burdash and her adult daughter were taking pictures of her daughter’s children.   Burdash was focusing on the antics of grandson Grey, then age 5. 

Near one end of a log washed up on the beach, Grey had built a little sand fort for his toy airplane and vehicles. When he tired of that he started running around the beach and jumping back and forth over the driftwood.  “He was pretending to be a super hero or a ninja,” Burdash said. “The photo captures the childhood experience of joy and excitement of being on the beach without boundaries… It was a very special time with my grandson.”

Burdash plans to bring the Xbox Kinect she won when she visits her grandchildren, including Grey, now 11, at their Virginia home next week.

3rd place ($50 iTunes gift card) – “Ring Around the Rosie” by Camille McWhirter

McWhirter is interim director of the USF Health Office of Clinical Research.   She was on vacation in Ohio in May when her husband’s high school friends invited her family to a picnic dinner of grilled chicken and fresh fruits and vegetables, outside their sustainable living farmhouse on three acres of rural property.   The gathering included six children, including McWhirter’s daughter Anna Lauren, 6, and son Connor, 9.

“It was a pretty idyllic evening, with the kids playing on a trampoline, swing set and acres of soft Ohio grass. They all put on their bathing suits and jumped in the creek before dinner.  They didn’t have any dry clothes to change into, so they borrowed big T-shirts from one of the older boys,” McWhirter said.

Using her Nikon D7000 DSLR camera, McWhirter tried to capture as much of the memorable evening as possible for friends, especially in that “magic hour” of last daylight when the natural light was warmer and softer.  The winning shot (35mm, ISO 100, f/1.8, 1/125) was snapped after McWhirter had taught some of the younger children how to play Ring Around the Rosie.  (Daughter Anna Lauren is the one in the red T-shirt.)

“I love capturing the innocence of children in the moment and this was one frame in a series from that wonderful day,” McWhirter said. “They were all having so much fun, and everything was right with the world.”

McWhirter knows her way around a camera.  She started a side business that offers event photography, specializing in performance art like dance recitals and ballet studios, as well as portraits on canvas.   Check out her website at www.creativecatimages.com