For senior medical students at the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine, it’s the day they’ve been waiting four years to celebrate.  One by one, the class of 2023 opened envelopes that told their futures during Match Day 2023.

The USF Health Morsani College of Medicine Class of 2023.

MCOM has proven time and time again there is no medical school in the country that celebrates Match Day like MCOM.  Friends, families, husbands, wives, and even a few pets gather at Ulele, a popular restaurant on the Hillsborough River.  This year’s theme was “Luck of the Match,” a perfect theme considering the day.

Charles Lockwood, MD, MHCM, USF Health executive vice president and Morsani College of Medicine dean, kicked off the event by telling the families and friends the importance of the day. “This is an incredibly important moment for them.  It sets the stage for the next stage of their career, and they’ve worked incredibly hard to get here.”

Charles Lockwood, MD, MHCM, USF Health executive vice president and Morsani College of Medicine dean.

At MCOM, it pays to be last place.  The long-standing tradition is that every student who gets called to the stage has to donate one dollar to a pot of money.   The last student to be called to read their match will go home with the pot of money.  This year’s lucky winner was Lauren Linkowski, who is headed to the University of Pennsylvania for residency.

Lauren Linkowski.

The national match process is handled through the National Residency Match Program (NRMP).  Students apply and interview for residencies with institutions across the country, then rank their preferences.  Match Day is when students learn which residency programs chose them and where they will train for the next three to seven years.

Match Day is held simultaneously at all medical schools across the country to reveal where senior medical students will spend their residency years, the first stop in their journey as doctors.

Nationally, 42,952 certified applicants applied for 40,375 residency positions. More information about national statistics can be found at https://www.nrmp.org/match-data-analytics/residency-data-reports/

MCOM Match Day by the numbers: http://bit.ly/3ZV91gD

• 180 students graduating.
• 44% will participate in residency programs in Florida.
• 36 will participate in residency program at MCOM.
• 34% entering a primary care residency.
• 7 will participate in residency programs Lehigh Valley Health Network.
• 3 will graduate to become military doctors.

The class of 2023 will complete their medical school journey at their graduation ceremony May 11 at the Straz Center for the Performing Arts.

More images from Match Day 2023:

Medical students from the nine USF Health Morsani College of Medicine collegia compete to take home top honors of the 2023 Collegia Olympics.

One day out of the year, the future doctors of the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine put away the text books and stethoscopes to compete for the pride of their collegia at the Collegia Olympics.   This is the day when the burdens of medical school are put aside to welcome camaraderie through a series of games culminating in a single champion.  One student described it as “old school field day in elementary school.”

• 3 way tug-o-war
• Human foosball
• Dodgeball
• Volleyball
• 4-on-4 basketball
• Team trivia
• Trivia relay
• Miniature boat building
• Inflatable obstacle course
• Mechanical bull riding

The Farmer collegia, signified with their light blue colors, took home top honors for the 2023 Collegia Olympics.

Farmers Collegia took the top honors as Collegia Olympic champions in 2023.

During the event, new officers for the Collegia Program were also selected.

• President: Nishanth Chalasani
• Director: Zachary Schwartz
• Events Director: Samuel Cockey
• Treasurer: Abigail Demers
• Bourne Collegia: Grace Hollis
• Debakey Collegia: Lindsey Blacher
• Farmer Collegia: Julia Wright
• Galen Collegia: Shaliz Alfatooni
• Hippocrates Collegia: Enrique Trevino
• Koch Collegia: Rithvic Jupudi
• Lower Collegia: Timothy Nehila
• Osler Collegia: Jaynie Cirscione
• Paracelsus Collegia: Benjamin Antill

The Collegia Program, comprised of students from across all four years of medical school,  was established in 2012 to enhance the Career Advising Program.  It has since grown into a non-residential learning community model that engages students in and out of the classroom. The program strives to provide a supportive, reflective, learner-centered environment for the personal and professional development of each individual student.

More photos from 2023 Collegia Olympics

This year’s top stories highlight USF Health as an academic medical center.  Stories of patient gratitude, innovative research and development, and affirmation that the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine is truly the fastest rising medical school in the country.

Take a look at the top USF Health stories of 2022.

1. USF Health and Weill Cornell Medicine earn funding to further develop artificial intelligence that uses voice to diagnose disease. 

2. A USF Health patient had very few answers to her condition until she met with Dr. Jolan Walter.

3. Congratulations to our USF Health physicians who made the 2022 list of the country’s top doctors. 

4. The USF Health Morsani College of Medicine is on the rise faster than any medical school in the country. 

5. A USF Health psychiatry expert explains how the COVID-19 pandemic led to an increased number of patients with Social Anxiety Disorder.

6.  No medical school in the country does Match Day like the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine. 

7. USF Health and Tampa General Hospital neurosurgeons are the first in Tampa Bay to offer game-changing ultrasound. 

8. USF Health was awarded $3.2 million to develop blood tests designed to detect Alzheimer’s Disease. 

9. Researchers begin to unlock how gut and oral microbiomes are linked to brain health in older adults. 

Hariom Yadav, PhD, (standing) and Shalini Jain, PhD, were recently recruited to research on the gut-brain connection (gut-brain axis) in relation to cognitive function.

10. Take a look at all of the USF Health physicians who made the Tampa Magazine list of Top Doctors in 2022. 

The USF Health Morsani College of Medicine Academy of Distinguished Educators class of 2022 (Left to right): Eduardo Gonzalez, MD, FAAFP; Andreas Seyfang, PhD; John Armstrong, MD, FACS; Marzenna Wiranowska, PhD, MS; Susan Pross, PhD.

The USF Health Morsani College of Medicine (MCOM) recently celebrated the newest members of the Academy of Distinguished Educators during a small induction ceremony Sept. 20.

Class of 2022 Inductees:

• John Armstrong, MD
• Eduardo Gonzalez, MD, FAAFP
• Susan Pross, PhD
• Andreas Seyfang, PhD
• Marzenna Wiranowska, PhD, MS

“To us falls the high privilege and great responsibility of training the generation of doctors.  If we fail to do our job to perfection, people die needlessly.  Too often this simple truth is forgotten, but each of you never forget.” said Charles J. Lockwood, MD, MHCM, USF Health executive vice president and MCOM dean. All of you are a testament to why MCOM continues to thrive and why our reputation across the nation continues to rise.”

The program was developed as a collaborative effort by MCOM’s Department of Medical Education, Faculty Council, and Office of Faculty Affairs to enhance the practice, quality and scholarship of teaching and learning at the medical school through educational service, consultation and research.   The program honors exemplary educators of all medical students, physicians, physician assistants, physical therapists, athletic trainers and scientists within the faculty by awarding the prestigious title of Distinguished Educator.

Nominees must hold an active appointment at MCOM for at least two years and hold the minimum title of associate professor.  Nominees must have made exceptional contributions to the education mission in one or more of the following ways:

• Research in education.
• Innovations and scholarly approaches in curriculum development, instructional design, or assessment of student learning.
• Mentoring and development of faculty as educators or educational researchers.
• Individual learner mentoring and development.
• Leadership in education.

About the Inductees:

John Armstrong, MD, FACS.

John Armstrong, MD, FACS  is a nationally recognized surgeon and USF Health professor who has held multiple positions within USF Health and the Florida government.  He served as chief medical officer of the Center for Advanced Medical Learning and Simulation (CAMLS), surgical director of the USF Health American Colleges of Surgeons Accredited Education Institute and professor in the MCOM Department of Surgery.  He also served as Surgeon General and Secretary of Health under former Governor Rick Scott from 2012 to 2016.

Eduardo Gonzalez, MD, FAAFP.

Eduardo Gonzalez MD, FAAFP, joined USF Health in 1994.  He  serves as a professor and director in the MCOM Department of Family Medicine, professor in the Taneja College of Pharmacy Department of Pharmacy Practice.  He is co-medical director of the USF Health BRIDGE Clinic, a free student-run clinic that serves uninsured adults from underserved communities.  In 2019, Dr. Gonzalez was named Physician of the Year by the American Academy of Family Physicians.  He is also a two-time USF alum having completed his undergraduate degree in 1987, and medical school in 1991.

Susan Pross, PhD.

Susan Pross, PhD has been part of the Morsani College of Medicine since 1975.  She is a professor in the MCOM Department of Molecular Medicine and director of the MCOM Office of Research Innovation and Scholar Endeavors Scholarly Concentrations Program, where she helps to develop and assess elective opportunities for student scholarship.   She is a trained immunologist and microbiologist  with research interests in allergy, immunology, and infectious disease.

Andreas Seyfang, PhD.

Andreas Seyfang, PhD is an expert in medical microbiology and parasitology.  He holds several professor positions throughout the USF Health colleges to include the Morsani College of Medicine, College of Public Health and School of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Sciences.  He’s earned multiple outstanding instructor and teaching awards that are voted on by students.  He is the director of the Seyfang laboratory that focuses on membrane permeases as target for drug delivery, and cytochrome b5 reductase as enzymatic drug target in opportunistic microbial pathogens including protozoan parasites and nosocomial and neuro-pathogenic fungi.

Marzenna Wiranowska, PhD, MS.

Marzenna Wiranowska, PhD, MS is an international expert in microbiology and immunology.  She joined the USF Health staff in 1982 where she started as a research associate in the Immunopharmacology Program at MCOM and currently serves as an associate professor in the Department of Pathology and Cell Biology.  She leads the Medical Humanities elective of the Scholarly Concentrations Program.  Dr. Wiranowska has earned many awards as an educator of medical students including the Most Outstanding Pre-Clinical Professor Award voted on by the MCOM class of 2019.

Story by Freddie Coleman.  Photos by Ryan Rossy

The USF Health Morsani College of Medicine Office of Research Innovation and Scholarly Endeavors (RISE) inducted the newest members of the Robert A. Good Honor Society (RGHS).  The April 25 ceremony honored all of the class of 2022 medical student inductees in addition to the newest faculty inductees.

RGHS membership is open to junior and senior medical students who demonstrate excellence in scholarly endeavors.  Applicants must be in good academic and professional standing reflecting the highest ideals of the profession of medicine.  No more than 20% of any graduating class are inducted into the RGHS.  The RGHS was established in MCOM in 2017 to recognize and honor medical students, faculty and alumni who have demonstrated exemplary commitment to improve health outcomes through research, innovation and scholarly endeavors.  The goal of RGHS is to:

• Establish a community for the exchange of ideas and opportunities for continued scholarly growth.
• Foster a spirit of lifelong scholarly approach to the practice of medicine.
• Support the USF system goal regarding excellence in research and national prominence.
• Commit to model, support, and advocate scholarly activities and MCOM.

In addition to the newest inductees, the Steven Specter Award for Outstanding Contribution in Scholarly Achievement and the Advancement of Medicine, and the Martin and Ruth Silbiger Research Award were also presented.

The Steven Specter Award recognizes an individual in the RGHS who has demonstrated exemplary research achievements in any field of medicine.  This year’s recipient is Nat Jones.

Bryan Bognar, MD, MPH, FACP, vice dean of the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine Department of Medical Education presented senior medical student Long Di with the Silbiger Award during the 2022 Robert A. Good Induction Ceremony April 25.

The Silbiger Award recognizes a graduating senior medical student who has contributed most to the efforts at MCOM.  This year’s recipient is Long Di.

Who was Robert A. Good?

Robert A Good, MD, PhD, DSc, FACP, was internationally known as the “father of modern immunology.” His understanding of the basic sciences facilitated his work on transplantation, where he performed the first successful human bone marrow graft between a five-month old boy with immune deficiency and his eight-year-old sister in 1968. He was an active leader in the MCOM Department of Pediatrics and physician-in-chief at All Children’s Hospital from 1985 to 2001.

2022 Robert A. Good Honor Society inductees. (Left to right) – Laurie Woodard, MD, Long Di, Jordan McDonald, Ahmed-Zayn Mohamed, Lauren Holt, Dennis Kirichenko, Christopher DuCoin, MD, MPH, FACS.

Class of 2022 Medical Student Inductees:

Estelle Cervantes (SELECT) – Inducted as a junior

John Cheng (SELECT) – Inducted as a junior

Tiffany Cheng (SELECT) – Inducted as a senior

Byron Cheon (SELECT) – Inducted as a junior

Alicia Darwin – Inducted as a junior

Long Di – Inducted as a junior

Lauren Holt – Inducted as a senior

Nat Jones – Inducted as a junior

Joshua Kalter (SELECT) – Inducted as a junior

Dennis Kirichenko – Inducted as a junior

Frank Lee (SELECT) – Inducted as a senior

Muling Lin (SELECT) – Inducted as a junior

Jordan McDonald – Inducted as a junior

Ahmed-Zayn Mohamed – Inducted as a junior

Thrisha Potluri (SELECT) – Inducted as a junior

Michelle Row – Inducted as a junior

Nicholas Russo (SELECT) – Inducted as a junior

2022 Faculty Inductees:

Christopher DuCoin, MD, MPH, FACS – USF Health Dept. of Gastrointestinal Surgery

Laurie Woodard,  MD – USF Health Dept. of Family Medicine

Bryan Kane, MD –  Lehigh Valley Health Network

Additional images from the ceremony:

A new resource within the Taneja College of Pharmacy – Industry Advisory Council(TCOP-IAC) will provide students networking and interprofessional opportunities with professionals in the pharmaceutical industry, experience that could help shape the careers of these future pharmacists.

This new grass-roots type effort, called the Pharmacy Industry Network, or PIN, allows students to spend time with industry experts to gain valuable insight into that lane of the pharmacy profession.

PIN, who will meet bi-monthly, held its first meeting on April 16 and had an excellent turnout. Attendees included first- through fourth-year pharmacy students, faculty, staff, alumni, and industry partners. Discussion items included research, collaboration, and education collaboration. The goal of the first meeting was to gain the attendees’ input to create future goals for PIN to strive for, to determine the needs of the attendees, what they can contribute to the network, and what they would like to see the network do in future meetings.

Overall, attendees loved the idea of having the opportunity to network with one another within the network, happy to have the interaction with the industry, and would like to see guest speakers during these meetings according to Shyam Mohapatra, PhD, TCOP-IAC chair, and TCOP associate dean and professor.  Attendees were sent a brief survey following the meeting as an opportunity to share additional feedback and to gauge how PIN will move forward.

The PIN aims to provide these opportunities to TCOP students early in their academic journey to help guide them toward specific career paths in the industry and to help them better plan internships and other learning opportunities, Dr. Mohapatra said.

“Having hands-on experience and strong networking skills are important in the pharmacy industry,” he said. “The PIN allows students the opportunity to gain that necessary experience earlier in their academic careers, making them stronger candidates for jobs when they are ready to enter the workforce.”

Some of the industry partners working with the TCOP-IAC and University of South Florida include BioNTech, Pfizer, Bristol Myers Squibb.

The TCOP-IAC was established in 2020 to fulfill the college’s mission of revolutionizing health.  The IAC is comprised of partners with pharmacy, nanotechnology, biotechnology and life science industries, and other non-profit and for-profit research institutions.  The mission of the council is to:

• Strengthen industry-academia partnerships within Florida.
• Establish joint career, research, and educational collaborations and pipelines.
• Foster and promote entrepreneurial activities.
• Provide a network of industry contacts for stakeholders, faculty, and students.
• Ensure education programs are effective and relevant for meeting the needs of industry affiliates and the community.

The next meeting of the PIN will be sometime in June.

USF Health students, staff and faculty during a White Coats 4 Black Lives demonstration in June.

Earlier this year, medical students, staff and faculty watched as protests and riots began to sweep across our country in addition to the COVID-19 pandemic.  In June, USF Health Morsani College of Medicine students came together and decided to form a chapter of the national White Coats 4 Black Lives and to open to all USF Health students.  In August, MCOM became an official chapter of the WC4BL.

“Racism isn’t something that’s new in our society.  It’s been around for a long time.  Our goal here is to continue to raise the topic in conversations and do whatever we can to stop it,” said fourth-year medical student and MCOM WC4BL chapter president Tampa Hutchens. “Our job is to start the work and get it to a place where medical students can pick up where we left off and continue to push the conversation.”

White Coats 4 Black Lives is a medical student-run organization derived from the National White Coat Die-in demonstrations that took place on Dec. 10, 2014.  The goal is to safeguard the lives and well-being of patients through the elimination of racism.  : To accomplish this goal, the organization and the USF Health chapter looks to:

• Foster dialogue on racism as a public health concern.
• End racial discrimination in medical care
• Prepare future physicians to be advocates for racial justice.

WC4BL believe structural change does not come from power institutions. It comes from the coordinated efforts people dedicated to achieving justice.  Chapters engage in the following activities:

• Education: Organization coordinate training for medical students and house staff to learn about the history of movement for racial justice, abolition, direct action and organizing, racism in medicine and racial capitalism.
• Organizing: Through the National Working group and local chapters, and in coalition with other organization for racial justice, organizations seek to fight white supremacy in medical schools, hospitals, and broader society. Tactics include but are not limited to letters, petitions, social media campaigns, media outreach and direct action.
• Public accountability: The organization seeks to hold medical schools and hospitals accountable to their local communities through the Racial Justice Report Card, which is published on an annual basis. The RJRC is also envisioned as a tool for organizing, highlighting specific policies or practices on which local chapters can focus their efforts.

MCOM WC4BL Executive Leaders:

• President: Tampa Hutchens, MCOM Class of 2022
• Vice President/SELECT Liaison: Tiffany Cheng, MCOM Class of 2021
• Treasurer: Emily Shipley, MCOM Class of 2021
• Secretary: Ellen Marin, Physician Assistant Program Class of 2021
• National Pillar Board: Prisca Alilio MCOM Class 2022
• Curriculum Director: Nina Alesna MCOM Class of 2023
• Community Outreach Director: Sam Harris MCOM Class of 2021

More than 100 million people in the United States suffer from chronic pain.  In June 2017, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine publication on “Pain Management and the Opioid Epidemic reported that drug overdose is now the leading cause of death from unintentional injury in the U.S., mostly involving either prescribed or illegal non-prescribed opioids.

To better prepare future doctors for this reality, the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine was recently awarded a $250,000 grant from the Florida Department of Children and Families to evaluate and adjust pain management and opioid stewardship curriculum across all four years of medical school.

“The country doesn’t have an opioid problem.  It has an addiction problem,” said Deborah DeWaay, MD, FACP, associate dean of MCOM’s Undergraduate Medical Education and Department of Medical Education.  “We have to destigmatize the notion that being an addict is a choice.  Addiction is a medical condition and should be treated as such.”

MCOM’s Department of Medical Education will immediately implement several changes in the fourth year of medical school, according to Dr. DeWaay.  The fourth year was the perfect place to start as students will see patients more regularly as they prepare for residency.

“It’s not until the fourth year of medical school that students’ minds are primed to absorb the material regarding pain management and opioid prescription,” Dr. DeWaay said. “The first three years of medical school are for preparing them to absorb the material and apply it in their fourth year.”

The next step is to evaluate the curriculum through the first three years and determine where changes need to be made.  Helping the DME through the process is pain management expert John Maye, PhD, CRNA, professor and pain management education coordinator for the USF Health College of Nursing.  Dr. Maye says medical schools have come under heavy scrutiny from health and government officials for the amount of time on in-depth pain management content.  Since about 2012, there has been a movement within medical schools to address the deficit by increasing training in medical school, and offering more education for physicians trying to renew their licenses.

“The leadership here at USF Health is very driven and motivated to change this and I’ve been extremely impressed with how they’ve made this happen,” said Dr. Maye.

A task force commissioned by the Council of Florida Medical School Deans developed the “Framework for Developing Core Competencies on Pain Management and Opioid Stewardship Education” to provide a set of core competencies to guide individual medical schools as they incorporate the material into their existing curriculum.  The framework addresses four key areas of learning to include the interprofessional and multidisciplinary approaches to treatment.

In 2016, opioid overdose attributed to more than 42,000 deaths nationwide, and 2,800 deaths in Florida. Statistics like this are the driving force behind why Florida medical schools continue to revisit how they educate their future health care providers.

The Morsani College of Medicine and Microsoft worked together for two years to figure out how to integrate innovative technology and approaches to learning into the new MCOM and Heart Institute in downtown Tampa.  The result was the first medical school of innovation in which medical students use Microsoft technology to augment their medical education.

When the Florida Board of Governors ordered all state universities to transition fully to remote learning beginning on March 23 because of the pandemic, the staff and faculty of MCOM were ready to pick up exactly where they left off.

Bryan Bognar, MD, MPH, vice dean of the MCOM Office of Educational Affairs and chief academic officer, said the transition to remote classes was not difficult because of the “unseen infrastructure” that already existed within MCOM’s building design.

For example, the new building includes easier ways for students to collaborate and connect with each other and with faculty, with technology allowing for more real-time interactivity for coursework, and with group learning allowing for increased flexibility in the location of the learner and educator. Plans also included seamless remote access to real-time courses and group learning that gives students and faculty greater flexibility for maintaining active participation in coursework, regardless of location – a fortuitous effort considering the current COVID-19 situation calling for full remote learning across the nation’s universities.

Dr. Bognar gives the example of the students’ use of Canvas and Panopto to record large group lectures, supplemented by Microsoft Teams for group meetings, for showing how students and faculty were able to “pivot pretty quickly” as he describes it.  Two months ago, it was inconceivable to think there was 100% attendance for any of the live lectures, Dr. Bognar said.  Many students reviewed lectures via recording in real-time or on the same day.

“As a prelude to our move to the new downtown building, MCOM went through single tenant consolidation, began early adopter deployment of Microsoft Teams and partnered with Microsoft to become the first ever Medical School of Innovation,” said Dr. Bognar.  “Little did we realize at the time that these efforts would allow us more seamlessly move to a live online environment necessitated by COVID-19.  It has allowed us to innovate in the face of the barriers imposed by social distancing including virtual standardized patient visits, remote delivery of exams, as well as real-time group and individual check-in meetings.”

Going totally remote was an easier transition for the first- and second-year students, and  a little more difficult for third- and fourth-year students since much of their clerkships are done in hospitals and other medical office settings.  However, with the use of Microsoft Teams, standardized patient interactions have become virtual, similar to how USF Health is currently conducting telehealth for patient care.

“The pandemic may have pulled the plug on our in-class discussions and small-group learning activities but fortunately our medical school was newly designed for the future and the challenges that follow. MCOM has made it a priority to keep us up-to-speed throughout the pandemic and provides us with the tools to keep making progress in our studies. It has been well over a month since we’ve began distance learning using our school’s online infrastructure, but my peers and I are still able to stay connected, keep motivated and share a couple of laughs while studying.”

– Tampa Hutchens, MCOM Class of 2022

Ryan Grabau, junior Biomedical Sciences major at the University of South Florida.

Every 40 seconds, someone in the United States suffers a heart attack – about 790,000 Americans a year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.  These statistics and the desire to understand why heart attacks happen became the basis for University of South Florida student Ryan Grabau’s research.

Grabau’s studies of how to help heal damaged hearts led to his selection to participate in the world-renowned Experiential Biology (EB) 2019 in Orlando, April 6 through 9.  EB is one of the largest and most prestigious interdisciplinary meetings of its kind for biomedical and life sciences researchers.  Many EB presenters and experts are well-known in their field and hold graduate and doctoral degrees.  Grabau, a junior biomedical sciences major at USF, is one of a select few undergraduate students chosen to present his research findings during this year’s conference.

“I’m extremely excited for this opportunity and can’t wait to hear and see all of the collaboration and brilliant scientific minds,” said the 20-year old Valrico, FL native.  I know this opportunity doesn’t come to a lot of undergraduate students, and I’m looking forward to taking in the experience and making connections to further my research goals.”

Grabau’s research focuses on a nanoparticle-delivered drug that has been shown in laboratory models to help slow down inflammation in the injured area of the heart and reduce the possibility of blood clotting in the affected area.  His mentor, Hua Pan, PhD, MBA, assistant professor of cardiovascular sciences and member of the USF Health Heart Institute, describes him as very independent and relentless in his pursuit of knowledge in the laboratory while balancing a rigorous class schedule and personal commitments.

“Ryan is not like any student I’ve mentored in the past. His work ethic and attention to detail are unmatched,” Dr. Pan said. “He shows dedication to everything he does inside and outside of the lab.  This is a testament to the university and its reputation for developing quality citizens in the community. Ryan is truly everything that is great about the university.”

When he’s not trying to figure out how to heal damaged hearts in the lab, Grabau is helping to heal hearts through community engagement.  He’s a regular volunteer in several organizations, including the Camp Kesem he cofounded at USF; the national nonprofit organization provides a free week of summer camp for children of cancer patients.

He also teaches preschool at his church and volunteers with USF’s Kosove Society, made up of a group of academically-talented student leaders dedicated to community service. As a society scholarship recipient, he regularly participates in community service activities at local Ronald McDonald Houses, river clean-ups, animal rescue fundraisers, and OASIS Network, which provides necessities to underprivileged students in Hillsborough County schools.

Grabau’s sense of selfless service and his passion for heart research is helping advance the goal he’s set to become cardiologist who can both treat injured hearts and improve heart health.

Photos by Fredrick J. Coleman, USF Health Communications and Marketing