The USF Health Taneja College of Pharmacy (TCOP) continues to be a pacesetter for innovative education, most recently with its plans to incorporate holographic technology into its educational framework. This ambitious leap aims to elevate the learning experience for both students and faculty, fostering a more immersive and engaging educational environment.”The new holographic technology is the first of its kind in the region“, said Kevin Sneed, PharmD, dean of the TCOP and senior associate vice president of USF Health. It is set to transform classrooms and laboratories alike and bring a new layer to an already premier pharmacy program.

Kevin Sneed, PharmD, dean of the TCOP and senior associate vice president of USF Health posing in front of the Proto hologram unit.

One of the key advantages of this technology is its departure from conventional two-dimensional remote platforms like Microsoft Teams or Zoom. With holographic transmission, students can experience a lifelike classroom setting, enhancing their understanding and connection with the material.

“With our new holographic technology, we can “transport” anybody from anywhere into the classroom, such as a professor or a renowned scientist that we want to engage in our studies with, creating more diversified collaboration and learning experiences”, Dr. Sneed said.  

Proto hologram unit being custom wrapped with the TCOP’s branding.

The college also plans to use intricate three-dimensional models, structures, and processes that might be otherwise challenging to understand through conventional methods. This realism aids in grasping intricate topics more effectively.

While the full implementation of this technology in TCOP’s future location in the downtown campus is scheduled for July next year, the college’s dedication to staying at the forefront of education prompts the immediate exploration of their new holographic technology. The college plans to train its faculty before the upcoming move and create intuitive lesson plans for its students.

“The future for us starts today,” Dr. Sneed said. “Using holographic technology is just the beginning of what you can expect in terms of the technological advancement that we are going to be putting into our downtown building.”

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Story, photos, and video by Ryan Rossy, USF Health Communications and Marketing
 

The new home of The USF Health Taneja College of Pharmacy (TCOP) continues to progress and the PharmD program prepares to move into the state-of-the-art USF Health Downtown Facility. The 30,000-square-foot home will expand USF Health’s interprofessional educational initiatives, technology, and creative learning development.

TCOP will be located on the 11th and 12th floors with a spectacular view of the Water Street Tampa urban development district that overlooks Tampa Bay. Pharmacy students and faculty will get to enjoy amenities throughout the building such as The Florida Blue Health Knowledge Exchange Wall, Greenbaum Student Center, on-site coffee bar, small group learning rooms, and the Experiential Learning Lab.

“I am giving the students the best view; we want to make sure students have a home away from home,” said Kevin B. Sneed, PharmD, dean of the Taneja College of Pharmacy and senior associate vice president for USF Health.

Meanwhile, the downtown facility will provide incredible opportunities for its students and enhance its innovative education and research programs. With the expansion of interprofessional education, the new building will support community outreach activities that are part of the college’s mission. As a result, USF Health Taneja College of Pharmacy will be able to build on its previously successful community outreach programs.

The downtown facility is also close to the USF Health CAMLS (Center for Advanced Medical Learning and Simulation), where pharmacy students will be able to participate in first-class simulation training. “The move to downtown will give USF Health pharmacy students more training opportunities than ever before,” Dr. Sneed said.

Gresham Smith is the firm designing the new space. Several of the classroom technologies and innovative educational initiatives that are already in place for the Morsani College of Medicine will be incorporated into the design of TCOP’s space.

In the future, the space will include: 

• Clinical learning center: An innovative environment for learning advanced compounding techniques and honing clinical skills. Also, continuing education programs will be offered to pharmacists and other health– care professionals in this space.
   
• 120-person classroom: A space designed to be flexible and lend itself to various modes of learning. The classrooms will also feature a hologram of guest speakers, teachers, and health– care professionals that will be able to teach the class, which will create an innovative and futuristic learning environment for students.
   

• Collaborative ‘maker’ space/Creativity Lounge: This area provides a unique space in which student groups, such as ITEHC (Innovation, Technology, and Entrepreneurship in Healthcare), can develop innovative ideas and prototypes for health-related devices.
   
• Pre-function space: An event space, to celebrate award functions, banquets, achievements, and noteworthy events. 

As part of their professional development, the space will provide students, faculty, and staff with opportunities to connect with leaders and innovators. Students will be prepared for the workplace because the college is incorporating career-oriented didactic and experiential components into the foundational pharmacy curriculum.

The new space plans also include innovative technologies such as, virtual and augmented reality, a multitaction video wall, CAD drawing software, 3D printing, and holographic technology for virtual collaboration to help elevate and advance pharmacy education further.

“I wanted a space where people would begin to unlock their imagination and creativity, so we are going to have CAD drawing software, 3D printers, and virtual and augmented reality. When you walk in, you will have everything you need to invent something.” Dr. Sneed said. “To be able to start fresh in a development like Water Street Tampa is exciting, and I am looking forward to making our move.”

Here are some renderings of the future space designed by Gresham Smith:

Story and video by Ryan Rossy, USF Health Communications and Marketing

As the USF Health Taneja College of Pharmacy celebrates its 10^th anniversary, its latest group of pharmacy students were welcomed into training on Friday, Sept. 16.

The annual White Coat Ceremony—during which faculty present the students with the coats and pins they will wear for the next four years— was held at USF’s Marshall Student Center for the 69 members of the class of 2026.

Kevin Sneed, PharmD, the dean of the Taneja College of Pharmacy and USF Health Senior Associate Vice President, welcomed the students and their families.

“The Taneja College of Pharmacy is not only forging a path to innovative discoveries and products, but with the full intention of transforming lives for the better,” Dr. Sneed said.

Kevin Sneed, PharmD, USF Health senior associate Vice President and Dean of the Taneja College of Pharmacy, gives the opening remarks.

Dr. Sneed later announced that the college was renaming its Entrepreneurial Academy, a two-year-old program that provides pharmacy students with advanced education and training in innovation and business development. It will now be called the ITEHC (Innovation, Technology, and Entrepreneurship in Health Care) Academy.

“Let us not be limited in our courage to be bold, innovative and transformative,” he said.

As part of the ceremony, Dr. Sneed was honored with the college’s first chain of office. The chain will traditionally be worn by the college’s leader during ceremonial events and will be engraved with the names of Dr. Sneed and future deans.

Angela Hill, PharmD, smiled after the Taneja College of Pharmacy class of 2026 students finish their “Oath of Professionalism” during the White Coat Ceremony.

David Medvedeff, PharmD, gave the keynote address during the Taneja College of Pharmacy class of 2026 White Coat Ceremony 

The ceremony also featured a keynote address by David Medvedeff, PharmD, CEO and co-founder of Aspen RxHealth. Dr. Medvedeff emphasized the rewards of difficult careers.

“If the work we’re doing was easy, everyone would do it,” Dr. Medvedeff said. “Being a pharmacist, from my perspective, is hard, but it doesn’t mean it’s not fun or rewarding. It’s just really hard because it matters.”

A procession of Taneja College of Pharmacy students heads to their seats during the class of 2026 White Coat Ceremony.

The Taneja College of Pharmacy’s class of 2026 is almost three-quarters women and ethnically diverse, with 60 percent identifying as Hispanic, African American or Asian. The class is also strong academically—44.5 percent of the students have completed a bachelor’s or master’s degree.

More than 90 percent of the students hail from Florida, but there are also students from Illinois, New York, South Carolina and Puerto Rico.

Dean of the Taneja College of Pharmacy and USF Health Senior Associate Vice Presiden. Kevin Sneed, PharmD,  greets Executive Vice President of USF Health and Dean of USF Health Morsani College of Medicine, Charles Lockwood, MD, during the annual White Coat Ceremony for USF Health’s Taneja College of Pharmacy, held at the Marshall Student Center. The ceremony, during which pharmacy students receive their distinctive white coats, marks the beginning of their four years of training.

Photos, videos and story by: Allison Long/USF Health

A decade ago, the USF Health Taneja College of Pharmacy (TCOP) admitted its charter class of PharmD students. With its innovative curriculum, research and educational advances, dynamic leadership, and commitment to excellence and growth, the college climbed the U.S. News & World Report rankings to become #68 Best Pharmacy School in 2020. “It doesn’t feel like ten years,” Kevin B. Sneed, PharmD, senior associate vice president of USF Health and founding dean of the USF Health Taneja College of Pharmacy, said. “When you see all of the hard work that has gone into building something from scratch and the enormous amount that we’ve accomplished in a 10 year period, it just means so much and is so rewarding.”

Take a look back at some of the college’s notable achievements and what it has in store for the next 10 years.

The USF Health Taneja College of Pharmacy (TCOP) was established in 2007. From the start, founding Dean Kevin B. Sneed, PharmD, set out to build an innovative program that would be a pacesetter in both pharmacy curriculum and clinical experience. With a focus on the future of healthcare and the interprofessional prowess of USF Health, TCOP was established by the Florida Board of Governors in 2009 and became Florida’s first public, comprehensive college of pharmacy in a metropolitan area.

TCOP’s first pharmacy student, Mark LaBossiere, PharmD, now a mental health clinical pharmacist at Mountain Home VA, was one of 38 students who applied during the early action application phase. As the interviews were scored and candidates were ranked, five more students were chosen as the first to be accepted: Semyon Aminov, Phuong Le, Aakash Patel, Bradley Tillander, and Minal Shah. “We are charting new territory in pharmacy education,” Dr. Sneed said. “Our student pharmacists will be trained to participate as effective and integral members of an inter-professional healthcare team. Students are being handpicked for qualities that go beyond test scores and grades.”

Inducted in 2011, the charter class included 53 PharmD students (68% female, 32% male, and 53% Caucasian, 46% minority and 1 undisclosed ethnicity). “Our student body has a diverse variety of talents and backgrounds that will allow us to grow in ways never imagined,” said LaBossiere during the white coat ceremony’s closing remarks. “As the Class of 2015, we’ll travel uncharted territory, set the bar for those who follow and continue to make history – go Bulls!”

Dr. Sneed presented four people with the Dean’s Awards, the College’s highest honor, for being instrumental in helping create TCOP – Judy Genshaft, PhD, USF System President (2000-2019); Stephen Klasko, MD, MBA, CEO of USF Health and dean of the Morsani College of Medicine (2004-2013); Patricia Haynie, former associate vice president from strategic planning and policy; and Ralph Wilcox, PhD, USF Provost.

Today, the Taneja College of Pharmacy welcomes 100 new students each year for its PharmD program.

Graduate Programs was founded in 2013 with the mission to create graduate level education programs in pharmacy while producing global pharmacy leaders, one scholar at a time. Eight years later, Graduate Programs has grown to offer the Master of Science in Pharmaceutical Nanotechnology degree, 5 different graduate certificate programs, PharmD/M.S. concurrent degree program, and a wide range of elective course options. The vision is to develop cutting-edge research training while preparing students with the foundational knowledge and expertise in the area of pharmaceutical nanotechnology.

TCOP earned its first full accreditation in 2015 from the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE), marking a huge milestone for the young school and validating the innovative education experience offered to USF Health pharmacy students. In addition, the ACPE recognized the college’s interprofessional endeavors and sent a commendation to the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy as an example of noteworthy practice. As part of the accreditation process, the college was measured across 30 standards for providing a strong program, including planning and evaluation, administration and governance, curriculum, student support, faculty and staff, and facilities and resources. “This is the best news and our entire team of faculty, staff and students is thrilled,” said Dr. Sneed. “Such resounding approval confirms what we’ve all known about the program we are building and is the culmination of a lot of hard work.”

In 2015, Pharmacy Plus opened for business on the first floor of the USF Health Morsani Center for Advanced Healthcare. USF Health’s “Pharmacy of the Future” is blazing a trail, making the traditional behind-the-counter role of the pharmacist obsolete in the new era of the digital health revolution. At Pharmacy Plus, the pharmacists do more than provide pills, they are a valued health partner for improving a patient’s life. It’s a personalized experience, bringing patients, their pharmacist and their healthcare team, together to collaborate and communicate. Physicians seeing patients inside the Morsani Center can electronically send prescriptions to Pharmacy Plus so that, in most cases, the medication can be ready for pickup before the patient leaves the building. In addition, medication can be delivered anywhere on the USF Tampa campus. USF Health Pharmacy Plus earned Community Pharmacy accreditation through the Center for Pharmacy Practice Accreditation (CPPA®)  in 2018.

TCOP was officially accepted as a chapter of the international Rho Chi Honor Society in 2016, and 43 of the college’s students and faculty were inducted as the charter members. The Epsilon Kappa Chapter is the 119^th chapter for the national honor society. Since its inception in 1922, the Rho Chi Society has inducted more than 100,000 members into its fellowship. The society’s name is from the Greek letters Rho and Chi that, when juxtaposed a certain way, they form the prescription sign (Rx). Bradley Boucher, PharmD, FCCP, FCCM, Rho Chi Society National President (2016-2018), officiated the event and shared the Society’s mission and vision and what is expected of its chapters and members, saying, “the Rho Chi Honor Society encourages and recognizes excellence in intellectual achievement and fosters scholarship among its members, encourages high standards of conduct and character and advocates critical inquiry in all aspects of pharmacy, seeks to achieve universal recognition of its members as lifelong intellectual leaders in pharmacy.”

In 2019, the University of South Florida received a $10 million gift from Taneja Family Foundation to name the USF Health Taneja College of Pharmacy. The donation, made through the USF Foundation, is the largest philanthropic gift to a pharmacy school in the state of Florida. As result of the gift, TCOP will move to Water Street Tampa, inside the new USF Health Morsani College of Medicine and Heart Institute facility in downtown Tampa. “From the very beginning, we set out to build a college built for the future of healthcare, and not simply exist in the past,” said Dr. Sneed. “With the generosity of Mr. Taneja, we will now have the opportunity to build a new home that allows us to truly build the pharmacist clinician of the future.”

“Jugal and Manju Taneja share a passion for education, for giving back to their community, and for transforming the health care system for future generations,” said USF President Steve Currall, PhD. “This gift will do so much for the trajectory of USF’s success — advancing innovation at our College of Pharmacy and elevating the academic stature of the entire university.”

TCOP is already full speed ahead into its next ten years, building the foundation for continued success. The college is expanding its pharmacogenomics efforts by launching a new partnership with Tampa General Hospital and its pharmacy team that will allow clinicians to tailor medications based on a patient’s genetic makeup. Plans include developing clinical decision support tools in the electronic health record (EHR) to support clinicians in interpreting results and guide treatment options in the presence of pharmacogenetic data. The Botanical Medical Research and Education Consortium (BMREC) is a new research effort that will explore potential therapeutic benefits in medicinal botanicals. This initiative aims to contribute to the body of science already known about medicinal plants and to impact patient care with treatments and potential cures. TCOP is also developing a unique certificate program in pharmaceutical compounding and will soon have a brand-new, non-sterile compounding lab inside USF Health Downtown. In collaboration with the USF Muma College of Business, the TCOP Entrepreneurial Academy, is a new program that aims to help its pharmacy students succeed in the health care industry and pharmacy sector. The intra- and inter-collegiate interdisciplinary program aims to provide pharmacy students with innovative, intrapreneurial and entrepreneurial knowledge, tools, and skills necessary for advanced practice training and health care careers. A new resource within the college, the 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 (PIN), allows students to spend time with industry experts to gain valuable insight into that lane of the pharmacy profession.

“We never walked in looking in the rearview mirror. We’ve always been looking forward and we continue to do that today,” Dr. Sneed said. “Our vision for the next ten years is to continue to promulgate the transformation of health care.”

In the pursuit and attainment of excellence, the USF Health Taneja College of Pharmacy (TCOP) is guided by the mission to revolutionize health as it becomes the pacesetter for pharmacy education in an ever-changing healthcare field. Personalized medicine is a key part of the future of healthcare, and that’s where pharmaceutical compounding plays a role.

USF TCOP has a non-sterile compounding lab that provides the setting for the education and training to current and future pharmacists and pharmacy technicians through an in-depth, hands-on continuing education (CE) program. “We are the only college in Florida and one of the few across the Nation that provides a CE program in compounding,” Vijaykumar Sutariya, MPharm, PhD, RPh, associate professor in the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences at USF TCOP, said. “The open lab has all the equipment required, from the laminar flow hood for sterile preparations, mortars and pestles, balances, mixers, ultraviolet (UV) spectroscopy, dissolution testers, disintegration testers and density testers.”

Trainees also benefit from regular collaboration with the USF Clinical Investigational Research Pharmacy (CIRP) and their sterile clean room located on the sixth floor of the Morsani Center for Advanced Healthcare. The primary function of CIRP is to conduct double blinded studies and appropriate procurement, storage, documentation, control, sterile preparation, distribution and disposal of investigational products for clinical trial patients.

Currently, the non-sterile lab is located on the University of South Florida’s Tampa Campus, but it will soon be moving downtown to Water Street Tampa and into the new USF Health Morsani College of Medicine, Taneja College of Pharmacy and Heart Institute. The new space will provide room for a modern, state-of-the-art pharmaceutical compounding lab with mobile workstations.

The U.S. Pharmacopeia Convention (USP) formally defines compounding as, “the preparation, mixing, assembling, altering, packaging, and labeling of a drug, drug-delivery device, or device in accordance with a licensed practitioner’s prescription, medication order, or initiative based on the practitioner/patient/pharmacist/compounder relationship in the course of professional practice.”

Traditionally, patients are prescribed manufactured or mass-produced drug products approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in order to treat their illnesses. According to the American Pharmacists Association (APhA), pharmaceutical compounding comes in when patients have special needs that prevents them from being able to take medications already on the commercial market. A few examples of customized medications include changing the strength or dosage; adding flavor to make the drug more appealing to a child or pet; reformulating the drug to exclude an unwanted, nonessential ingredient, such as lactose, gluten, or a dye to which a patient is allergic; changing the form of the drug, such as from oral to suppository for a patient who has difficulty swallowing; and providing access to a drug that was discontinued from the commercial market. The practice of compounding is regulated by state boards of pharmacy and does not include making copies of commercially available drug products, as this is not allowed by law. There are currently 7,500 pharmacies in the United States that specialize in compounding services. USF Health Pharmacy Plus on the first floor of the Morsani Center offers compounding services for medications that can be customized in a non-sterile environment such as topical pain creams for a USF athlete or an Orthopedic and Sports Medicine patient.

In addition to a brand-new lab, USF TCOP is developing a unique certificate program in pharmaceutical compounding. “The certificate program will be great for undergraduate students who are interested in going into pharmacy, so they can see what compounding is before they make the decision to come to the pharmacy program,” Dr. Sutariya said. USF TCOP PharmD students can also pursue the certificate for more exposure into the practice of compounding beyond the three courses already built into the PharmD program. “If a student would like to open their own compounding pharmacy or work for one, the USF Health Taneja College of Pharmacy is the best place to start their career.”

USF Health students, staff and faculty during a White Coats 4 Black Lives demonstration outside of the USF Health Morsani Center, in June 2020.

In December 2020, Susan Moore, MD, an Indiana physician, died of COVID-19 after alleging she experienced racial discrimination while undergoing treatment at a hospital operated by Indiana University Health System. “Moore’s story of her pain being dismissed reinforces what studies have repeatedly shown: Even taking wealth, education and insurance status into account, Black patients receive worse medical care and face worse outcomes,” a Washington Post article on Dr. Moore’s death said.

Just one month before Dr. Moore’s death, the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) shared an article that touched on a 2016 study published in the Proceedings of the National Academies of Science which included a survey that revealed that 40% of first- and second-year medical students endorsed the belief that “Black people’s skin is thicker than white people’s.” The study also showed that the trainees who believed this myth were less likely to treat Black people’s pain appropriately.

This article brought to light the continued need for institutions to address racial bias in healthcare starting with health education. USF Health is doing its part by building curriculums that teach the next generation of health care providers about social determinants of health and how to provide value-based and patient-centered care, and recruiting and retaining the diverse educators to teach it.

“Your goal as the practitioner is to truly understand who the patient is and all of the different aspects of the patient which may have some impact on their medical care,” Deborah DeWaay, MD, FACP, associate dean of undergraduate medical education for USF Health Morsani College of Medicine (MCOM), said. “It helps the provider battle unconscious bias because when they individuate patients in their mind, they’re less likely to give biased care.”

In 2016, MCOM started focusing on incorporating course objectives that examine prejudice, assumptions and privilege, such as Safe Zone training and poverty simulation activities. In 2019, Shirley Smith, MA, director of student diversity and enrichment for MCOM, became the College’s integration director for cultural competency. Using the AAMC’s objectives for cultural competency, Smith spent hundreds of hours reviewing the entire MCOM curriculum, and will continue to do so on an annual basis, highlighting places where the objectives were not being met to the highest level. These findings were then presented to the curriculum committee who make the final decision about changes to curriculum and if approved, provide recommendations for moving forward. In addition, Smith provided feedback to faculty about where there may be bias within the didactics. “It’s been really refreshing to have faculty embrace this and leadership like Dr. Lockwood, support this,” Smith said. Students also have the ability to provide real-time feedback to Smith and her team via an anonymous survey. “What we’re really trying to do is not have any judgement attached to the feedback,” Dr. DeWaay said. “We’re trying to create a method for our faculty who are teaching, to deal with their unconscious bias in a safe environment.”

USF College of Public Health Dean Donna Petersen, participating in the 2019 poverty simulation along with other USF Health deans, faculty, staff and students. Pre-Covid Photo.

MCOM is also in the process of partnering with Wake Forest University in North Carolina to create curriculum that can be used at both universities in order to maximize resources and reach more people. This material will become a curricular thread integrated across all four years of medical school which USF MCOM calls Humanism in Action. Smith quoted Bryan Bognar, MD, MPH, vice dean of MCOM educational affairs, when she explained that the important part of this effort is to make sure that they’re “baking things in” and that the curriculum is “not an à la cart menu.” The curriculum teaches students the communication skills necessary to elicit the values of their patients and then integrate those values into the patient’s medical plan. “It’s physically impossible in four years to teach students every single nuance about all the ways a human being or population can be different,” Dr. DeWaay said. “It’s far more important to teach the attitude that they need, the skills to illicit the information from the patient and the skills to keep up on the literature, so that they have the tools that they need moving forward, to take care of any patient that’s in front of them.” According to Smith, the objective is to teach students not to assume anything about their patient, not to project their own values onto the patient and not to deviate from what is fact or what is in the evidence. Janet Roman, DNP, APRN, ACNP-BC, director of the Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) program in the USF Health College of Nursing (CON), added that it’s not just about what question is asked, but about how it is asked. The way a question is worded can be loaded with an assumption and be offensive to the patient. “If you ask me, “Do I have access to healthy food?” now you’re assuming that I don’t,” Dr. Roman said. “If you ask me, “Where do I get my groceries?” then that gives you the answer.”

A taskforce is also being formed to include faculty and students who will help build and implement this new Humanism in Action curriculum and be a resource to faculty for recommendations or feedback on revamping lectures, small groups and activities. One component of change cultivated by the COVID-19 pandemic is the acceptance of virtual guest speakers and virtual learning by students and educators. This will allow for a more diverse representation of speakers to be a part of the courses as well as private, small group activities that can foster more vulnerable discussions. “These beliefs have to be socially unwoven through intentional, meaningful conversations and interactions with depth and the goal is to give students that opportunity,” Smith said. “I’m just planting seeds. I may never see the tree, but I must believe that the possibility is there.”

In January 2020, MCOM earned recognition from the Alpha Omega Alpha (AOA) Honor Medical Society for their dedication to diversity and understanding in various patient populations. The medical school was one of two medical schools in Florida to receive an Award for Excellence in Inclusion, Diversity and Equity in Medical Education and Patient Care. The award recognizes medical schools, and their associated AOA chapters, that demonstrate exemplary leadership, innovation, and engagement in fostering an inclusive culture that transforms the ideas of inclusion, diversity and equity into successful programs that support student, staff and faculty diversity in service to the community.

After the murder of George Floyd in May 2020, students pleaded for a call to action for faster implementation of changes to the curriculum. “The morbidity and mortality that social determinants of health, systemic racism, and health care disparities have cost people living in this country, far surpasses the toll COVID will take, and yet we’re not tackling it with the same resources,” Dr. DeWaay said. “With COVID hitting, it shows us on a local, regional and national level, what we’re capable of doing when we’re really worried about something.” Fueled by the same passion as the students who have championed these efforts from the very beginning, Smith and Dr. DeWaay returned to the curriculum committee and presented a 15-point, call to action. The committee mandated the plan in June 2020.

Dr. Deborah DeWaay (center), associate dean of undergraduate medical education for USF Health Morsani College of Medicine, with medical students. Pre-Covid Photo.

According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), there is increasing evidence that Black, Indigenous and Latinx communities are suffering disproportionately from COVID-19. This is the kind of information that can spark a myth about minorities if the root of the cause is misunderstood. Black Americans are infected with COVID-19 at nearly three times the rate of white Americans and are twice as likely to die from the virus, according to a report from the National Urban League based on data from Johns Hopkins University. This is not because of any biological differences between the two groups, but instead, social determinants of health and systemic racism. This is evident in the report which shows that Blacks are more likely to have preexisting conditions that predispose them to COVID-19 infection, less likely to have health insurance, and more likely to work in jobs that do not accommodate remote work. “Your zip code may be the biggest determinate of your health outcome more than anything else,” Kevin Sneed, PharmD, dean of the USF Health Taneja College of Pharmacy (TCOP), said.

Understanding these social determinants of health is instrumental in dispelling myths and providing patient-centered care and is another key component of USF Health education. Social determinants of health are conditions in the places where people live, learn, work and play that affects a wide range of health and quality-of life-risks and outcomes. Factors can include a person’s education, financial literacy, discrimination, and access to healthy food and safe places to exercise. Students in the USF Health College of Nursing learn about disease processes such as heart failure, hypertension and diabetes, and at the same time, “we want to point out to students which populations are disproportionately affected and then give them that background on why, so that we can help close that health disparity gap,” Dr. Roman said.

According to Dr. Sneed, one of the most meaningful courses offered at the Taneja College of Pharmacy, one that has been a requirement for first-years ever since the inaugural class of 2011, is the introduction to public health course. The course was developed by the USF Health College of Public Health (COPH), continues to have input from their faculty, and mainly focuses on social determinants of health. “You spotlight that in a course and then when you give the demographics of what that means for these various communities, it really does help broaden the expanse of how people view communities of color and why we do things like Bridge Clinic and Tampa Bay Street Medicine,” Dr. Sneed said. “We’re going to have to push to a different level of comfort, maybe even discomfort for many people in order for it to really take hold.”

A pharmacist has a unique place in the community. “Not everybody has a physician or has health insurance, but anybody can go to CVS and say, “my child has a fever,” Tricia Penniecook, MD, MPH, vice dean for education and faculty affairs for COPH, said. The patient benefits if the pharmacist has a public health world view and can help make decisions that are best for the patient’s situation.

USF College of Pharmacy Dean Kevin Sneed, PharmD, and Tricia Penniecook, MD, MPH, vice dean for education, participating in a Voices in Leadership panel discussion during USF Health Multicultural Week in 2019. Pre-Covid photo.

While colleges of medicine, nursing and pharmacy focus on helping patients where they are downstream, sick that day, public health looks upstream and tries to address what has happened to bring them to that point. Instead of individual-based care, public health professionals look at the care of groups of people in the population and find and fill gaps in their access to health care or the conditions for people to be healthy. That’s why interprofessional education is a critical part of USF Health because both kinds of roles are important. “As part of the discipline of public health, you’re supposed to take care of those who are at a disadvantage,” Dr. Penniecook, said. “The structures and systems in this country have put certain populations immediately at a disadvantage just because of that’s who they are when they are born.”

An integral part of every accredited college of public health in the United States is making sure that students learn about health inequities that are based on disparities. At USF Health’s COPH, students not only have courses specifically on health inequities, but the topic is addressed in every public health course from the undergraduate to the graduate level. Having this thread at every level means that students learn what the basis of those health inequities are, what they look like and how to address them no matter where their career takes them. According to Dr. Penniecook, this means that if the student is going to be working in the community, they’ve learned about community education and teaching people about self-advocacy in the healthcare system; if the student is going to be working within the system, they’ve learned about how to measure and address health inequities; or if the student is going to have a leadership role, they’ve learned about being proactive in looking for ways to solve the health inequities such as policy development.

Prior to COVID-19, COPH started working on an academic master plan. Dr. Penniecook, described an academic master plan as a road map within the strategic initiatives of the institution, that tells you what you need to do academically to get to your goals. In response to the murder of George Floyd, Dr. Penniecook asked Donna Petersen, ScD, MHS, CPH, dean of the USF Health COPH, if they could integrate structural racism into the academic master plan. Just like MCOM’s Dr. Bognar was previously quoted as saying that these changes have to be “baked in” the curriculum, Dr. Penniecook wanted these efforts to combat structural racism to be more strategic and woven into everything they do and who they are, so that it’s more likely to stick. A variety of work groups will be formed to include faculty, staff and students to look at admissions, curriculum, teaching methods, educational spaces and recruitment, and then make recommendations to the college structure. While this master plan is a work in progress and was paused when COVID-19 first hit, Dr. Petersen has already impacted and set the tone for the two freshman courses she teaches as a part of the Master of Public Health program. She has always had a required summer reading list, but this past summer, the entire list was equipped with books on structural racism. In addition, different aspects of structural racism have been the topic of several of the College’s townhall meetings, some lead by students, as well as episodes of the Activist Lab’s Activist Lab on the Road podcast.

An interprofessional student team across the Colleges of Medicine, Nursing and Public Health, and the School of Physical Therapy, at the 2018 USF Health Research Day. Pre-Covid Photo.

The curriculum used to educate our future health care professionals is only one piece of the puzzle. The faculty who teach it are the other. “Student exposure to those from impoverished backgrounds may occur for the first time when they are in medical school,” Haywood Brown, MD, professor of obstetrics and gynecology, associate dean of diversity for USF MCOM, and vice president for institutional equity for the University of South Florida System, said. “They don’t get that in the classroom because there is so few, diverse faculty teaching the curriculum.” According to a board diversity statement from the American Council on Education (ACE), diversity in university student bodies, faculties and staff, enriches the educational experience, promotes personal growth and a health society, strengthens communities and the workplace, and enhances America’s economic competitiveness. “If you do not have a diverse workforce, the patients don’t benefit as much because you’re learning from each other,” Dr. Brown said.

In November 2020, the USF Health College of Nursing appointed Usha Menon, PhD, RN, FAAN, as the new dean after serving as interim dean of the College since February of that year. According to Dr. Roman, under this new leadership, one of the College’s initiatives is to increase the diversity, equity and inclusion not only in the curriculum, but also in the student, faculty and staff populations. As a part of this initiative, Dr. Menon realigned her senior administrators which included creating a director of diversity role, now filled by Ivonne Hernandez, PhD, RN, IBCLC, assistant professor at the USF CON. “What we are developing now, before we even start recruiting, is a way to retain,” Dr. Roman said. “We are nurse scientists, and we treat our patients and our students by the evidence. We are doing the same thing with diversity, equity and inclusion, and what our data shows is that when we have persons of color, they don’t stay.” CON’s strategic goals include increasing the diversity of research faculty by 35% and of clinical faculty by 10%, by 2023. One retention method coming soon is a mentoring program.

According to Dr. Roman, CON is not making these changes just to check off a box for diversity on a list of requirements. “The College of Nursing is doing a 360,” Dr. Roman said. “We’re changing everything. We are doing the right thing for all people and it’ll be a complete culture change.” A healthy and safe culture and work environment will also help retain high quality, diverse faculty. “We have to reiterate that incivility is not tolerated, and micro and macro aggressions are not tolerated,” Dr. Roman said. “We also have to bring to the forefront what already exists in the University processes for what to do if you feel violated and not to suffer in silence.”

Even outside of the university classrooms, USF Health students are coming together to fight racial disparities in the healthcare system. In August 2020, MCOM became an official chapter of the national White Coats 4 Black Lives. Open to all USF Health students, the goal of the organization is to safeguard the lives and well-being of patients through the elimination of racism. To accomplish this goal, WC4BL and the USF Health chapter look to foster dialogue on racism as a public health concern, end racial discrimination in medical care, and prepare future physicians to be advocates for racial justice. “It’s everyone’s responsibility, but it’s only a priority to some,” Smith said. “For those who make it their priority, we want to give them tools to learn how to engage in these spaces that make it safe for them and make it safe for the other person to have these kinds of courageous conversations. Equipping the next generation of thought leaders so they can change the thoughts out there.”