Allen Parent sees something beautiful in faded muscle cars. A 1965 Pontiac GTO is his current rehab project.

All that had to be put on hold when the retired machinist discovered a lump on the left side of his neck in late 2018.

Mr. Parent, of Brookville, Fla., was diagnosed with squamous cell mouth cancer, a head and neck cancer, and referred for treatment to Tapan Padhya, MD, USF Health department chair of Otolaryngology, and Matthew Mifsud, MD, a USF Health head and neck surgeon and otolaryngologist.

Allen Parent near his current rehab project, a 1965 GTO.   Photo by Allison Long | USF Health

About four percent of all cancer cases diagnosed in the United States each year involve the head and neck, according to the American Society of Clinical Oncology. This year, head and neck cancer will affect an estimated 66,630 people.

To treat Mr. Parent’s cancer, Dr. Mifsud had to remove parts of his left mouth and jaw. He reconstructed the jaw with muscle, bone and tissues taken from Mr. Parent’s right leg. The result left him with noticeable cosmetic deformities.

“There was a big lump (of tissue) hanging,” said Mr. Parent, adding, “you catch it in zippers.”

Allen Parent before his surgery with Julia Toman, MD. Photos courtesy of Dr. Toman

Mr. Parent after his surgery Dr. Toman. Photos courtesy of Dr. Toman

Dr. Mifsud said that while many cancers and their scars can be covered up with clothing, “You can’t hide cancers of the head and neck.”

To deal with the visible loose tissue, Dr. Mifsud recommended that Mr. Parent see Julia Toman, MD, a USF Health facial plastic surgeon, in 2020 after Mr. Parent had finished his cancer treatments. She was able to repair the loose tissue and make his face appear more symmetrical.

“To be able to do procedures that allow people to be seen on the outside the way they feel on the inside really affirms people’s quality of life,” Dr. Toman said.

“They both (Drs. Mifsud and Toman) did a great job and I am appreciative for everybody that was involved,” Mr. Parent said.

Allen Parent is grateful for his treatment by Drs. Mifsud and Toman. Photo by: Allison Long | USF Health

Now that his more than two-year-journey with cancer is completed, Mr. Parent is planning trips on his beloved Harley Davidson.

“If you have cancer, it’s not the end of the world,” said Mr. Parent, 69. “The best thing to do is just look at the positive side of things cause, there’s always a brighter day ahead.”

Watch the video above to learn more about Mr. Parent’s journey.

Dr. Matthew Mifsud

Dr. Julia Toman

In this video, USF Health epidemiologist Jason Salemi, PhD, explains how he creates and uses online dashboards to show the effects of COVID-19 in Florida.

Using data from the Florida Department of Health, Dr. Salemi creates online charts and tables to give the public updated, easy-to-understand information about the pandemic.

The dashboard, available at covid19florida.mystrikingly.com, is interactive and lets visitors break down data on COVID-19 case numbers and deaths into dozens of visualizations. For instance, visitors can view newly reported cases by county or age group as well as see changes over several days or weeks.

The dashboard has attracted nationwide attention. Dr. Salemi says he was inspired to create the dashboard as a way to provide reliable information and combat misinformation he said he saw regularly spread about the disease on the internet and elsewhere.

USF Health epidemiologist Dr. Jason Salemi pictured in his office near the computer he uses to gather and distribute data on COVID-19.

TGH and USF sign founding document that will create a new organization dedicated to world-class patient care, education and research

Tampa, FL (July 23, 2020) — Tampa General Hospital and the University of South Florida today announced the formation of a new clinical affiliation, a significant milestone that will further solidify one of the largest academic medical centers in Florida and build upon their longstanding relationship and commitment to improving health care in Tampa Bay.

The enhanced affiliation enables the two organizations to align administrative and clinical practice areas into a new organization, an effort mirrored across the country as most top-ranked medical schools and hospitals move towards integrated models that bolster both academics, research and clinical care. TGH’s Board of Directors and the USF Board of Trustees previously approved the new organization, which will be jointly governed by both organizations.

The new USF and TGH focus means Tampa Bay’s best health care providers are well-positioned to deliver the cutting-edge care and innovative treatments that are a hallmark of academic medicine.

The new affiliation will benefit patients across Tampa Bay by enabling the region’s only academic medical center to provide seamless, comprehensive care for patients, said John Couris, TGH President and CEO, and Steven C. Currall, President of USF.

“This is a great day for health in Tampa Bay,” Couris said. “TGH, USF and our private practice physicians have always had the most success when working together to improve health in Tampa Bay. Now that we are more strategically aligned, we can create a powerhouse that delivers world-class health care on the west coast of Florida.”

TGH and USF have worked closely together for nearly 50 years, since the opening of the medical school in the early 1970s. This new endeavor builds on this long-standing relationship and will enable the two organizations to advance more quickly and broadly on a variety of strategic goals.

“Strengthening and expanding upon the affiliation between the University of South Florida and Tampa General Hospital presents extraordinary benefits and new opportunities for education, health care and research in the Tampa Bay region and beyond,” Currall said. “Our joint vision is to become one of the nation’s most outstanding academic medical centers.”

The ultimate beneficiary of this agreement is the community, as physicians from both groups are coming together to provide tightly coordinated, seamless patient care.

“As the only academic medical center in the region, USF and TGH are uniquely positioned to offer premier, nationally ranked, academically productive sub-specialty programs to enhance our residency and medical student training efforts, as well as increase academic support funding for research and enhance our growing ability to recruit top talent,” said Dr. Charles J. Lockwood, senior vice president for USF and Dean of the Morsani College of Medicine. “We are stronger together and we’ll offer an environment full of collaborative clinical care and research opportunities for the future physicians of Florida.

The new affiliation also will benefit the private practice physicians on staff at Tampa General Hospital by offering purchased services and management services through the new company.

“Our private practice physicians are integral partners to Tampa General Hospital and USF, and providing them the opportunity to participate in this partnership in a way that benefits their practices was a cornerstone to our agreement,” Couris said.

Next steps include launching a national search for an executive to lead the new organization and implementing clinical integration.

USF recently held a big meeting about exploring the very small.

In November, the USF Health Taneja College of Pharmacy hosted the 12^th annual NanoFlorida International Conference on the USF campus.  The three-day conference, which included keynote addresses by USF President Steven Currall and Tampa Mayor Jane Castor, was centered around future developments in the field of nanotechnology.

Participants pose for a group photo during the NanoFlorida International Conference.

“Nanotechnology is to work in the smallest scale possible, called nanoscale,” explained USF Health professor Shyam Mohapatra, PhD, director of the Center for Education and Research in Nanobioengineering and conference chair of the International Academy of Nanotechnology.

For comparison, one nanometer is one-millionth the diameter of single strand of human hair, Dr. Mohapatra said.

USF President Steven Currall gave a keynote address during the NanoFlorida International Conference in the Marshall Center on USF campus.

Nanotechnology is being studied in a wide range of sciences, including chemistry, engineering and medicine. The technology is already being used in many industries and products people use every day. For example, nanotechnology has helped reduce the size of cell phones from the unwieldy devices of yesteryear to the advanced computers that now fit in your pocket.

But it’s not just consumer goods where nanotechnology is making a difference. USF Health Taneja College of Pharmacy is looking at how the technology can help better deliver medication to patients.

“The whole notion of pharmaceutical nanotechnology is to take a molecule and make it even smaller so we can deliver (medicines) into parts of the body that normally we can’t get into,” said Kevin Sneed, PharmD, FNAP, FNPHA. Dr. Sneed is senior associate vice president, USF Health and dean of the USF Health Taneja College of Pharmacy.

Kevin Sneed, PharmD, FNAP, FNPHA, talks to dignitaries during the NanoFlorida International Conference. Dr. Sneed is senior associate vice president, USF Health and dean of the USF Health Taneja College of Pharmacy.

For instance, researchers are studying how nanotechnology can assist the treatment of brain cancers and brain disorders.

“Lots of medications cannot get into the brain when taken orally or otherwise,” Dr. Sneed said, “By making them smaller, now we can transport them into the brain.”

The Taneja College of Pharmacy is embracing pharmaceutical nanotechnology by offering a master’s in science degree in pharmaceutical nanotechnology – the first such degree in the state of Florida.

“We had an opportunity to build a pharmaceutical or drug delivery program,” Dr. Sneed said. “Nanotechnology was very futuristic, and we wanted to be a very futuristic, very innovative, very transformative pharmacy program.”

About 50 students are currently enrolled in the pharmaceutical nanotechnology degree program.

Shyam Mohapatra, Distinguished USF Health Professor, Director of Center for Education and Research in Nanobioengineering in the Morsani College of Medicine and Associate Dean Graduate Program in the Tanjea College of Pharmacy and Conference Chair of the International Academy of Nanotechnology, opens the NanoFlorida International Conference.

During the NanoFlorida International Conference, participants attended a number of plenary sessions discussing advances in nanotechnology and its use, and students from USF and other major colleges presented 138 research posters for judging.

Sonali Kannaujia (left) and Liguan Li, a graduate student and a PhD candidate both studying electrical engineering, look at their poster presentation before the start of judging during the NanoFlorida International Conference. The USF students created a Wireless Interrogated MEMS Capacitive Intraocular Pressure Sensors to help with the treatment of Glaucoma.

The NanoFlorida International Conference is organized by the Florida Association for Nanotechnology, a society composed of basic and translational nano-bio technologists who use a variety of nanoscale sciences and technologies to better understand the way the nano-bio systems function.

Video, photos and article by Allison Long, USF Health Communications & Marketing

A library is traditionally thought of as a place kept under strict orders of silence and is filled with wall-to-wall books that have a nostalgic, musty smell. While group study rooms are available, they are not the central focus.

The Florida Blue Health Knowledge Exchange is the future of medical libraries: an epicenter of collaboration and technology. Located on the second-floor mezzanine of the new USF Health Morsani College of Medicine and Heart Institute (MCOM+HI) in Water Street Tampa, the Florida Blue Health Knowledge Exchange is an almost completely digital database of medical information. At this time, there are only 18 physical books reserved for MCOM’s use in the Knowledge Exchange.

“Resources are available wherever our students and faculty are and 24/7,” said Rose Bland, MA, MPA, AHIP, director of the Shimberg Health Sciences Library at USF Health. “Libraries are changing for what the needs of the people are. We do need quiet spaces, but the Knowledge Exchange is meant to be a place where people can meet and collaborate.”

Floorplan of the Florida Blue Health Knowledge Exchange; part of the second-floor mezzanine in the new USF Health Morsani College of Medicine + Heart Institute.

Some of the other exciting features of the Knowledge Exchange are a large-scale video visualization wall for multimedia presentations, an executive-style reading room, public-use computers, an IT help desk, and a space for technology demonstrations and recording lectures for online learning. A medical database that is wherever you need it to be is also an important asset for distance-learning students and staff spread across multiple campuses. Beyond the access to the digital database, “there will be digital-learning tutorials created by the librarians on topics, such as how to do a quick search in PubMed or how to use EndNote, that students can access when they are studying at one in the morning and they need a quick refresher,” said Larry L. Cramer, Jr, assistant director of library operations. Students and staff can also use the video conferencing capabilities outfitted in the Knowledge Exchange for a Microsoft Teams session or watch a live, face-to-face screen capture tutorial by a librarian.

The visualization wall is an interactive screen that can be used in its entirety to give presentations or be broken up into sections for multi-use collaborations, including annotations, web browsing and rotating 3D models.

“Keeping pace with the rapidly evolving world of health data and technology is critical in today’s health care environment. The Florida Blue Health Knowledge Exchange is aptly named, as it will serve that goal by facilitating information sharing and collaboration among students, health professionals and entrepreneurs,” said Florida Blue CEO Pat Geraghty in a 2017 interview with USF Health Development after giving a $1 million gift to support the Health Knowledge Exchange. “USF and the Tampa Bay community are well positioned to be a center of health knowledge and learning. We are very proud to be a part of this public facility, which aligns so closely with our own mission of helping people and communities achieve better health.”

The Florida Blue Knowledge Exchange offers digital access to a medical database and 5,000 sq. ft. of space for collaboration.

The 5,000-square foot space is not only a resource for Morsani College of Medicine and Taneja College of Pharmacy students, but also Heart Institute researchers, USF Health and Tampa General Hospital patients, residents and the downtown community. Dedicated research librarians for each area will be available in the Knowledge Exchange but they are also a central part of the building as a whole. Librarians will go into the lecture hall and around the collegia spaces to work and meet with the students. Rose Bland imagines being able to see a health care provider and a Heart Institute researcher meeting together in the Knowledge Exchange and pulling in a librarian for collaboration.

A spectacular view of Water Street Tampa can be seen from inside the Executive Reading Room.

The Florida Blue Knowledge Exchange expands the research and education support of the Shimberg Library, which will remain open at the USF Health Tampa campus. SonoSim check out will be the only resource that is removed from the Shimberg Library and brought to Water Street Tampa. The Tampa Bay community can look forward to a grand opening of MCOM+HI in early 2020.

Video, photos and article by Allison Long

This summer, Jennifer Krawczyk, MS, APRN, helped USF Health break new ground.

Krawczyk in June 2019 became the first graduate of USF Health’s Advanced Practice Provider Neurological Fellowship, a year-long program aimed at giving advanced practice nurses and physician assistants further expertise in neurosurgery.

Jennifer Krawczyk, MS, APRN, AGACNP-BC, was all smiles near her mother and brother during a celebration of Krawczyk being the first graduate of the advanced practice provider neurosurgical fellowship.

The program, co-administered through USF Health Morsani College of Medicine Department of Neurosurgery and Brain Repair and the USF College of Nursing, is the first of its kind in the United States, which weighed on Krawczyk’s decision to apply in 2018.

“The opportunity to pioneer as the first neurosurgical fellow for advance practice providers in the nation was something I couldn’t pass up,” said Krawczyk, who earned her bachelor and master in science degrees from USF in 2014 and 2017, respectively.

She said she chose neurosurgery chiefly because the subject matter was daunting for her.

“Neurosurgery was an area I found challenging,” she said. “What better way to conquer that challenge and reservation about a specialty than to just dive right in?”

As a fellow, Krawczyk was able to experience facets of neurosurgery that advanced practice providers often miss because they typically are working on the floor. She said these experiences helped fine-tune her clinical expertise and provide more in-depth training.

“I think without the fellowship the knowledge and skills I have now would have taken me years to develop,” Krawczyk said.

Jennifer Krawczyk (left), photographed with Harry van Loveren, MD, professor and chairman of USF Health department of Neurosurgery and Brain Repair, during a celebration for Krawczyk for being the first graduate of the advanced practice provider neurosurgical fellowship.

It is that type of opportunity that persuaded officials with the USF Health’s Department of Neurosurgery and Brain Repair and the USF College of Nursing to volunteer to be the first specialty to offer this type of fellowship.

“It (the fellowship) had so many potential benefits, we didn’t think twice about participating,” said Harry van Loveren, MD, a USF Health professor and the neurosurgery department’s chairman. “We are extremely proud that (Krawczyk) was the first student to graduate from this program.”

The complex and varied treatments for conditions and diseases associated with neurosurgery also influenced officials to experiment with helping further develop advanced practice providers.

“We started with neurosurgery because it takes a while to become familiar with the nuances,” said Marcia Johansson, DNPO, ARNP, who is a USF Health assistant professor in the College of Nursing as well as director of the Advanced Practice fellowship.  These nuances, Johansson said, “make it very necessary to have some specialty training.”

Jennifer Krawczyk, MS, APR, with a neurosurgery patient at Tampa General Hospital in August 2019.

Based on Krawczyk’s success, the fellowship will continue. Currently, there are three advanced practice fellows participating in the program, including fellows in neurosurgery, oncology (in partnership with the Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute) and otolaryngology.

“They (the advanced care providers) are now ingrained in the systems, they have developed friendships, and they have improved their education,” Dr. Johansson said. “Fellowships are going to become the norm for advanced care providers.”

Advanced practice fellows are hired by USF Health during the year-long program and earn 80 percent of their normal salary as well as benefits.

Krawczyk’s success, ensures the fellowship will continue and future advanced practice provider will be receiving certificates from Marcia Johansson (left), DNP, APRN.

New plates will be available for drivers this month

TAMPA, Fla. (Aug. 1, 2018) – For the first time in nearly 15 years, drivers around the state who support the University of South Florida will have a new look for their license plates.

Drivers will immediately notice USF’s new plates are green, as opposed to the primarily white design of the old plates, with a larger Bulls logo on the left side and the university’s name printed in gold at the bottom.

The launch of the updated design coincides with USF’s recent historic designation as a Preeminent State Research University, representing a new era for students, faculty, staff and alumni.

The new design aims to build on the approximately 15,000 drivers who currently have USF specialty plates. For each purchase, USF receives $25 to support scholarships, student programs and other alumni engagement activities.

“Adopting a new USF license plate is one more way to showcase our Bull pride, all while providing more resources to benefit students,” USF System President Judy Genshaft said. “The University of South Florida is fortunate to have the support of so many alumni, fans and friends across the state of Florida.”

This is the first time USF has offered a new license plate design since April 2004.

The new plates will be available in all tax offices across Florida in August, however exact dates will vary by location.

For more information, including a FAQ, visit Bullsplate.org.

Former license plate design

Groundbreaking USF College of  Public Health research pushing the fight against malaria forward

A microscopic look at Plasmodium falciparum, the deadliest malaria parasite in existence. The parasite is the small, dark-colored structure inside the cells.

For the first time ever, an international team of researchers led by scientists at the University of South Florida have identified the core repertoire of essential genes of the world’s deadliest parasite – an innovative breakthrough with lifesaving potential.

Researchers at USF Health’s College of Public Health have identified the essential genes of the human malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum. Each year, roughly 220 million cases of malaria occur around the world, with about 500,000 deaths attributed to the disease. P. falciparum is responsible for half of all malaria cases and causes roughly 90 percent of the fatalities, making it the most lethal malaria parasite in existence.

Distinguished USF Professor John Adams, PhD, College of Public Health

“What our team has done is develop a way to analyze every gene in this parasite’s genome,” said USF Distinguished University Professor John Adams, PhD, one the study’s senior authors and director of USF’s Center for Global Health and Infectious Disease Research. “Using our genetic analysis tools, we’re able to determine the relative importance of each gene in the genome for parasite survival. This understanding will help guide future drug development efforts targeting those essential genes.”

The research, published this week in Science, was conducted in collaboration with two USF research groups, led by Adams and Assistant Professor Rays Jiang, PhD, as well as Julian Rayner, PhD, a senior group leader at the Wellcome Sanger Institute, one of the world’s premiere genomic research facilities.

Using a specialized technique called high-throughput piggyBac-transposon insertional mutagenesis, the team was able to disrupt almost all of the roughly 6,000 genes in the parasite’s genome. Through advanced computational analyses, researchers identified about 3,300 of those genes to be essential to the parasite’s survival. About 1,000 of these essential genes have completely unknown functions.

“This is a huge breakthrough,” said USF postdoctoral researcher in the Adams lab and author on the study Jenna Oberstaller, PhD. “This parasite is traditionally very difficult to genetically manipulate in the lab for a number of technical reasons. So, we’ve effectively gone from knowing only a few handfuls of this parasite’s essential genes, to defining essentiality of the entire genome.”

This comprehensive study comes at a crucial time in the fight against malaria, where the spread of parasite resistance to current front-line antimalarial drugs is an emergent threat. This spreading drug resistance means that while the current treatment is still being used with success in most areas of the world, its effectiveness in the long-term is at risk – underscoring the need for novel drugs to be developed.

Researchers say this latest breakthrough provides valuable insight to scientists. Understanding which genes in the genome are essential gives researchers a list of promising possible drug targets to prioritize for further study.

Postdoctoral researcher Jenna Oberstaller, PhD, (left) and researcher Min Zhang, PhD, work to identify the essential genes of the malaria parasite. Zhang and postdoctoral researcher Chengqi Wang, PhD (not pictured), both of USF, served as co-lead authors on the groundbreaking publication.

“Malaria is a devastating disease and it’s something that has killed as many people as almost anything else,” said Adams. “Our program, Global Health and Infectious Disease Research, is here to study these intractable diseases that have plagued humankind for eons and to help eliminate them.”

To read the full academic journal article, click here.

Photographs by Torie Doll, University Communications & Marketing

USF researchers explore explosion of Zika after the 2016 Ecuadorean earthquake and what it tells us about emergency preparedness

Homes in Ecuador destroyed by the 2016 earthquake. The damage left tens-of-thousands displaced across the country.

On April 16, 2016, a 7.8 magnitude earthquake rocked the South American country of Ecuador. It was the most severe seismic event in nearly 40 years – killing roughly 700 people and displacing more than 70,000.

In the weeks and months that followed, tens-of-thousands of survivors sought access to shelter, food and clean water, with thousands of emergency personnel assisting in rescue and relief efforts across the country. But along with the visible devastation facing those throughout the affected region, another big, but not so obvious problem was quickly spreading.

A new study from researchers at the University of South Florida (USF) College of Public Health shows an alarming connection between this natural disaster and the number of Zika cases in Ecuador. The article, “Post-earthquake Zika virus surge: Disaster and public health threat amid climatic conduciveness,” published last month in Scientific Reports, outlines the explosion of Zika and provides insight into how these disasters can have hidden costs.

“There was clearly a significant increase in the number of Zika cases after the earthquake,” said Miguel Reina Ortiz, PhD, assistant professor in the Department of Global Health. “We also saw that the areas that were most severely affected by the earthquake had the biggest increase in the number of cases of Zika.”

From left, College of Public Health Assistant Professor Miguel Reina Ortiz, PhD, and Assistant Professor Ismael Hoare, PhD, analyze data collected from Ecuador’s Ministry of Public Health.

Reina, along with co-principal investigators Associate Professor Ricardo Izurieta, PhD, and Assistant Professor Ismael Hoare, PhD, collected and analyzed data from Ecuador’s Ministry of Public Health 18 weeks before and after the earthquake. The researchers also incorporated data from numerous sources encompassing earthquake impact, climatic variability and socio-economic factors. They found that the number of Zika cases were 34 times higher after the quake in the most severely impacted regions. In comparison, those areas that were mildly impacted saw their rates of disease nearly double.

“When we see any natural disasters hit, we become intensely focused on helping those affected by the physical impact, such as rescuing people in damaged buildings. That is the priority,” said Hoare. “But, other ancillary programs, like vector control, may not receive similar attention. This data shows the need for those programs is also very important.”

Researchers say while they did not specifically look at the physical conditions that led to the rise in Zika, they are able to make informed hypotheses as to why the explosion occurred. The team points identified structural damage and disruption in water services leading to an accumulation of standing water that favors the breeding of mosquitoes that spread the disease. They also say damage to homes, which might force people to spend more time outdoors, leaves people at a higher risk of exposure to the vectors.

Mosquitoes being studied in a laboratory.

“When there is a disruption in the ecology and infrastructure, these diseases that may not be seen as endemic can suddenly arise,” Izurieta said. “It’s important that we use this data to inform our decision making before and after disasters occur.”

While the study did directly examine the events in Ecuador, researchers believe it can also shed light on the potential risk other regions around the world face, including Florida. Hurricanes, for example, can create similar environmental conditions to what was seen after the earthquake. And, because of Florida’s tropical climate and weather conditions, experts say the emergence of viruses here is possible.

In fact, this year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported nearly 100 new cases of Zika in Florida. USF researchers say the state’s vector control system, which is one of the best the country, has been successful in keeping the spread of the disease to a minimum. They warn, however, that in the event of a severe natural disaster, an increase in cases is possible, especially if locally transmitted cases are reported right before the disaster.

“For that reason, the message is that a disaster like an earthquake or hurricane can disrupt, not only the environmental and infrastructure conditions, but also place populations at higher risk to acquire all sorts of diseases,” said Izurieta.

Through this research, the USF team has developed a statistical model they hope to apply to other areas experiencing a variety of disasters. The hope is to build a diverse understanding of the issue to be able to better inform policy makers of the importance of maintaining vector control initiatives when disasters strike.

This study was conducted in collaboration with researchers at the USF College of Public Health, the USF Morsani College of Medicine, the Ministry of Public Health of Ecuador, the Universidad San Francisco de Quito in Ecuador, the James A. Haley Veterans’ Hospital and the Baylor College of Medicine.

Photos by Ryan Noone, University Communications and Marketing.

Army Warrant Officer Jason Abraham will be one of 30 students enrolled in the charter class of the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine Physician Assistant Program.

While continuing to serve as an artilleryman in Florida’s National Guard, Warrant Officer Jason Abraham joins the first students entering the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine’s new Physician Assistant Program.  The two-year program begins May 8, with 30 students enrolled.

“I’m excited to get going in this program.  It’s taken me a long time to get to this point and I can’t wait to see what happens over the next two years,” said Abraham, a 2016 graduate of USF’s bachelor of science program in health sciences.  “I love helping people, I love to learn, and the medical field is the perfect place to open my mind to learning new things.”

Abraham, a Pat Tillman Foundation scholarship finalist, said he will rely on his time and stress management skills, mastered over a 17-year military career including two combat deployments, to get him successfully through the rigorous PA program.  They are life skills he intends to share with his classmates.

Warrant Officer Jason Abraham during the Tampa Bay Lightning Salute to Service for USF Night at Amalie Arena. He was honored for his military service in Iraq.  Courtesy photo.

“The small class size is an advantage. It’s a much tighter circle of people to share information with, and we are in much better shape to help each other when it comes to looking out for each other,” Abraham said.

Abraham’s interest in the medical field didn’t peak until three years ago when a nursing student friend told him how much she liked what she did.  After reading about the various disciplines under medicine, he decided the PA program was his path to a secondary career to build upon his military career.  The foremost reason he chose the field was because it requires versatility, “like the Army,” he said.

“One thing that interests me about the program is that physician assistants have a range of skills,” said Abraham.  “We have the ability to go into any specific discipline with the wide range of knowledge we’ll have.”

Once he learned USF Health was starting its PA program, he didn’t want to study anywhere else.  The staff at the Office of Veterans Success and the school’s reputation for veterans’ success solidified his decision to stay in Tampa.

“USF is home to me. I love how this program is closely tied to the medical school.  I’m excited to get started studying in this field that I’ve admired for several years, and getting to stay home to do it is the icing on the cake for me.  This is going to be a top-notch program, and I’m excited to be a part of it. “

As a member of the Florida Army National Guard, Abraham doesn’t plan to hang up his uniform any time soon.  In the coming years, he will transform from artilleryman into physician assistant in service to his country and the community.