U.S. Virgin Islands and University of the Virgin Islands leaders cut the ribbon on the new Medical Simulation Center, a 21,000 square-foot facility that mirrors the USF Health Center for Advanced Medical Learning and Simulation (CAMLS). Haru Okuda, MD, FACEP, FSSH, CAMLS director, is fourth from the right.

In 2015, members of the USF Health Center for Advanced Medical Learning and Simulation (CAMLS) met with University of the Virgin Islands president Dr. David Hall and several other dignitaries of the U.S. Virgin Islands.  The visit ended with a handshake and collaboration between the two organizations as UVI began construction on their new Medical Simulation Center.

Seven years later, in June 2022, UVI and CAMLS executives cut the ribbon on the new simulation center, signifying the beginning of a new era of medical training in the Virgin Islands.

The St. Croix-based simulation center mirrors that of CAMLS in Tampa featuring more than 21,000 square feet of trauma and hybrid operating rooms, 18 surgical skill lab areas, four team training rooms, patient exam rooms, dining room and auditorium.  The new facility is anticipated to provide 500 new jobs and attract conferences, training programs and researchers.

Attendees of this historic milestone include:

• Yashiharu “Haru” Okuda, MD, FACEP, FSSH, CAMLS executive director
• Novelle Francis, Virgin Islands senator
• Albert Bryan, Virgin Islands governor
• David Hall, UVI president

Dr. Okuda, in his address to the crowd, stated the new facility is one of more than 150 around the country.  The U.S. Department of Veteran’s Affairs, Harvard University, Johns Hopkins University, Mayo Clinic are among many others that offer similar education facilities.  Luis Llerena, MD, FACS, CHSE-A, medical director of USF Health CAMLS, will lead the CAMLS team responsible for implementing the Fundamentals of Critical Care course in July, in which they will train the trainer and train the provider.

“The simulator is not about technology.  It is a technical tool for training and education.  It is an incredibly powerful tool and resource for all of the territory,” Dr. Okuda said.  “We are committed to helping them succeed as a part of our mission to create and provide experiential learning that improves clinical skills and patient care on our community and around the globe.”

The facility is only the first step toward a grander vision of building a Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME) accredited medical school in St. Thomas.

From. Dr. David Hall, UVI president:

“We believe that this center, because of the technology that it has, because of the sophisticated mannequins that you will see, will turn on imagination and innovation lights in the minds of middle school and high school students so that they can start pursuing careers that they did not even know existed.”

More photos from the event. All photos courtesy of CAMLS staff:

U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone toured the USF Health Center for Medical Learning and Innovation (CAMLS) April 23 and his comments indicated he was struck by the center’s capacity to help make the Tampa Bay region a leading hub for health innovation and job creation.

“I’ve never seen a facility like this,” said New Jersey congressman Pallone, the top-ranking Democrat on the Health Subcommittee of the Energy & Commerce Committee, which has vast sway over health care and policy.

“There are things happening at CAMLS that are tremendously impressive.”

L to R: Dr. Harry van Loveren, interim dean of the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine; USF President Judy Genshaft; U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor; USF Rep. Frank Pallone, USF Health CAMLS CEO Dr. Deborah Sutherland; and Dr. Donna Petersen, interim senior vice president of USF Health and dean of the USF College of Public Health

U.S Rep. Kathy Castor, who hosted Pallone’s visit to Tampa, joined the tour led by CAMLS CEO Dr. Deborah Sutherland.  He was also welcomed to CAMLS by USF President Judy Genshaft; Dr. Donna Petersen, interim senior vice president for USF Health and dean of the USF College of Public  Health; and Harry van Loveren, interim dean of the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine.

USF opened CAMLS in downtown Tampa in March 2012. The 90,000 square-foot facility integrating medical simulation and training, research and advanced medical device development is the world’s largest, freestanding center of its kind.

As one of Tampa Bay’s newest economic engine, CAMLS  has become a magnet for innovative partnerships, business development and international learning and research, serving learners from all 50 states and more than 60 countries in its first year.

“At CAMLS we have the most advanced equipment and technology for training doctors in the latest techniques.  We teach physicians, nurses and other healthcare professionals, as well as students, to work together across disciplines as a team to do what’s best for the patient,” President Genshaft said.  “It’s all here in Tampa Bay.”

L to R: Pallone chats with CAMLS CEO Dr. Sutherland and Castor in the center’s hybrid operating room.

“The Tampa Bay area has emerged as one of the health innovation capitals across the United States,” Castor said.  “It’s largely been the University of South Florida that has been a catalyst to make that happen, along with the other great medical research institutes here.

“There’s a lot of change happening in health care right now, and part of the new emphasis is quality of care,” Castor added.  “What we’re able to do here at CAMLS is train the modern health care workforce of tomorrow to be as technologically advanced and skilled as possible, but also to retrain (experienced) doctors, nurses and therapists in all of the new technology.”

Pallone toured five distinct areas under one roof at CAMLS:  the Surgical and Interventional Training Center with surgical skills laboratories, a hybrid operating room, and a trauma operating room;  the Virtual Patient Care Center; the Tampa Bay Research and Innovation Center, the Virtual Pharmacy; and The Education Center, USF’s urban campus with classrooms, an auditorium and conference rooms.

Dr. Stuart Hart (right), who directs CAMLS Tampa Bay Research and Innovation Center, a one-stop shop for medical device research and development, shows Rep. Pallone the simulated skin created at the facility.

Pallone said he was particularly impressed with the trauma OR, where a battlefield environment similar to one in Afghanistan can be simulated during trauma training, including “the sound of helicopters.”

He also lauded CAMLS hybrid catheterization OR, which allows health care teams to move seamlessly from an interventional procedure to an open surgical procedure, saving critical time.

Finally, Pallone said, he appreciated the competitive advantages offered by the Tampa Bay Research and Innovation Center, CAMLS one-stop shop for medical device development that helps manufacturers expedite moving a device through the entire, rigorous FDA testing cycle required.

“One of the concerns I hear all the time is that the FDA process doesn’t move fast enough,” Pallone said. “If you’re going to be innovative… you have to be able to move quickly when there’s a medical device to be approved.”

Pallone, USF President Judy Genshaft and Castor spoke to the media following the congressman’s tour of CAMLS.

The House Health Subcommittee on which Pallone and Castor serve has jurisdiction over the regulation of food and drugs, as well as overseeing funding for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (including Medicare and Medicaid), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institutes of Health.

“So many of those issues come together right here at CAMLS,” Castor said.

“We’ll tie all this innovative work at CAMLS and USF back to Washington to try to get some (federal) grants,” Pallone said.

Left unsaid, but understood: Research and training grants that will contribute to improving health care, further drive economic development and create more high-wage jobs.

Photos by Eric Younghans, USF Health Communications

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As the anesthesia took full effect, Freud dozed on the surgical table at the USF Health Center for Advanced Medical Learning and Simulation.

The juvenile green sea turtle was oblivious to the crowd of reporters and photographers recording every move of The Florida Aquarium and CAMLS team preparing the docile creature for a series of advanced imaging tests to help diagnose a suspected tear in the lung.

Veterinarian Kathy Heym, DVM, had reached out last month to CAMLS, The Florida Aquarium’s downtown neighbor, for assistance in finding the source of injury, or leak, causing the body cavity outside the turtle’s lungs to abnormally fill with air.  All that trapped air creates undue pressure on the turtle’s shell and organs, creating a potentially life-threatening condition as he matures.  It also means Freud floats a lot, so  he cannot swim long enough at depths or dive down  for meals of sea grasses; the aquarium staff serves him food on a pole.  In the wild, a super-buoyant turtle would likely soon be an easy target for predators.

“Working with the CAMLS team to go the extra mile for this animal has been phenomenal,” Dr. Heym said.  “They’ve provided us access to imaging technology and special instruments that we would not usually have access to.  It’s great to have this type of support in our own backyard.”

“CAMLS is the world’s largest simulation and training center with cutting-edge technology. We’re also a good neighbor,” said USF Health trauma surgeon Luis Llerena, MD, medical director of CAMLS Surgical Intervention and Training Center. “So, when The Florida Aquarium came to us, we said we’d love to help.”

Getting their first look at the sea turtle, Tampa Bay area media surround Freud, who was brought into the CAMLS Surgical and Interventional Training Center in a small crate.

At 22 pounds, Freud is estimated to be age 10 to 15; sea turtles can grow to over 300 pounds and live 80 to 100 years.  Though referred to as “he,” the young sea turtle’s sex is undetermined because he hasn’t reached the age of sexual maturity.

Freud was stranded on a beach in the Florida Panhandle in November 2012. The listless sea turtle was covered with algae and bloated when rescued and brought to Gulf World Marine Park in Panama City Beach for rehabilitation.  He was transferred to The Florida Aquarium, the Tampa Bay area’s largest aquarium, in January 2013.

Before arriving at CAMLS for advanced diagnostic testing, Freud underwent a couple of inconclusive computed tomography (CT) scans and a laparoscopic procedure, without success in pinpointing the potential hole or holes  leaking air from his lungs.

Susan Coy (left), veterinary technician for The Florida Aquarium, preps sea turtle Freud for the series of CT-scans, which were performed by Summer Decker, PhD, director of research imaging at USF Health Radiology.

Kathy Heym, DVM, veterinarian at The Florida Aquarium, speaks with USF Health trauma surgeon Luis Llerena, MD, medical director of the CAMLS Surgical and Interventional Training Center.

The Dec. 10 visit to the university’s simulation center involved two procedures.

First, Freud underwent a series of CT-scans enhanced for clarity and maximum detail by USF Health researchers with expertise in three-dimensional imaging and pre-operative planning.  Summer Decker, PhD, director of imaging research at the Morsani College of Medicine’s Department of Radiology, said the scans she captured would be shared electronically with Todd Hazelton, MD, USF Health chair of radiology, and colleagues at  the Georgia Sea Turtle Center and Marathon Veterinary Hospital in the Florida Keys so they could offer additional insight.

Secondly, while in sum the three CT-scans indicated that Freud’s lungs appeared healthy, the team decided to perform a bronchoscopy to try to localize the site of the leaking air.  Dr. Llerena  inserted the thin fiberoptic scope with miniature camera attached down the sedated turtle’s windpipe to view inside the airways.

“On a turtle what’s a normal CO-2 (carbon dioxide) reading?” Dr. Llerena turned to ask Dr. Heym, who helped guide him through the process carefully monitored by the The Florida Aquarium’s veterinary team.  “This is really different than a human.”

Assisted by the veterinary team, Dr. Llerena prepares to insert the specialized bronchoscope into the sedated turtle’s windpipe to get a view inside the animal’s airways.

As Dr. Llerena carefully manipulates the high-tech scope through Freud’s airway, a real-time view appears on the monitor above.

The bronchoscopy showed air bubbles where smooth tissue should be at the left-side base of Freud’s lung.  Dr. Llerena was able to pinpoint and record on videotape for further review the location of the bubbles (lesions). The next step, Dr. Heym said, will be to correlate the CAMLS CT-scan findings with the bronchoscopy results. Taking that information,  sea turtle veterinary experts could brainstorm with human pulmonologists and surgeons, to figure out if there is a least invasive approach for repairing the potentially life-threatening condition given the anatomical limitations of surgery on a turtle.

CAMLS worked with partners — including STORZ, the medical device company that supplied the specially-sized bronchoscope, and Stryker – to make sure that the high-tech diagnostic evaluation was adapted to meet the needs of the aquarium’s patient.  Even the CT-scan radiation dosage protocol was modified to account for the sea turtle’s pediatric size.

“This turtle would have a really difficult time with us finding a solution, if we didn’t have the opportunity here today.”  Dr. Heym said, referring to CAMLS donation of staff time, equipment and facility.

Sea turtles play a critical role in the ecological system and health of the earth’s oceans, so teaming up within the community to help save the animals benefits everyone, she added. That’s also why the best-case scenario would be to find a fix for what ails Freud and release him back into Florida waters, close to where he was rescued.

Florida is home to five species of sea turtle and most, including Freud’s green turtle species, are endangered.

“So every turtle counts,” Dr. Heym said. “That’s the ultimate goal with all these guys – to get them into rehab and get them back out there, so they can contribute to (increasing) the population moving forward.”

L to R: The USF Health team — Jonathan Ford, biomedical engineer for the Department of Radiology, Summer Decker, director of research imaging for Radiology; and Dr. Luis Llerena, medical director of CAMLS Surgical and Interventional Training Center; with The Florida Aquarium team — Susan Coy, veterinary tech; John Than, associate curator; and veterinarian Kathy Heym, DVM.

Photos by Eric Younghans, USF Health Communications, and video by Allyn DiVito, USF Health Information Systems