Dance Marathon at Florida State University raised $1,941,368.54 for Children’s Miracle Network, falling short of last year’s $2,210,165.21. DM at FSU announced the grand total at the Total Reveal Ceremony on March 8 after the weekend-long event. The money is donated to Florida State University's College of Medicine, to benefit pediatric programs and Shands Children’s Hospital. 

Alex Ho, an emergency medicine physician at TMH and FSU College of Medicine clerkship faculty member, said people are appropriately concerned about the coronavirus, but it's important to remember most patients will have mild symptoms, adding they'll be able to take care of themselves if they test positive. 

Florida State University researchers working in an international collaboration have identified new genetic variants that cause heart disease in infants, and their research has led to novel insights into the role of a protein that affects how the heart pumps blood. It is a discovery that could lead to new treatments for people suffering from heart disease.

Florida State University researchers working in an international collaboration have identified new genetic variants that cause heart disease in infants, and their research has led to novel insights into the role of a protein that affects how the heart pumps blood. It is a discovery that could lead to new treatments for people suffering from heart disease.

WCTV encouraged its viewers to send in their questions about the COVID-19 coronavirus. The FSU College of Medicine's Christie Alexander joined WCTV on Friday, March 6 to answer those questions.

For the 25^th consecutive year, hundreds of students are set to dance the night away in the name of charity as Dance Marathon at Florida State University marks its silver anniversary March, 6. Proceeds from the marathon and the related fundraisers are split evenly between the FSU College of Medicine Pediatric Outreach Program and UF Health Shands Children’s Hospital.

In a paper published in Nature Cell Biology, Associate Professor Timothy Megraw and colleagues explore how molecules and information use well-organized highways to travel in an out of a cell - and the effect misdirected traffic can have on organs.

Mayo Clinic Florida and Florida State University announced a collaborative education effort Feb. 25 to attract and retain talent in the biomedical field.

In a paper published in the journal Nature Cell Biology, Florida State University College of Medicine Associate Professor Timothy Megraw and colleagues provide an understanding of how microtubules - information highways in a cell - are assembled and organized. They also identify a mechanism that keeps them flowing smoothly.

Florida State University and the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville have entered a partnership designed to provide educational, research and entrepreneurial
advancements.

Sen. Travis Hutson (R-Palm Coast) wants to create state rules for clinics that offer stem-cell products and treatments. His proposal would require such clinics to be licensed by the Florida Agency for Healthcare Administration (AHCA). FSU College of Medicine Professor Cathy Levenson commented on the importance of regulation.

For the second year in a row, PremierMED Family & Sports Medicine in Ocoee was named to the Seminole 100 list, announced Feb. 25. The practice is co-owned by 2007 FSU College of Medicine M.D. alumni Adam Langley and Gary Visser. The annual list recognizes 100 of the fastest-growing businesses owned or led by FSU alumni. The Jim Moran Institute for Global Entrepreneurship, in Florida State University’s College of Business, compiles the list.

FSU President John Thrasher and Mayo Clinic representatives signed an agreement on Tuesday, Feb. 25 in Jacksonville to attract and retain top talent in the biomedical field. The collaborative education efforts will focus on medical innovation and promote a market-driven approach to create a highly trained workforce focused on taking medical technology from the research space to clinical practice.

FSU President John Thrasher and Mayo Clinic representatives signed an agreement on Tuesday, Feb. 25 in Jacksonville to attract and retain top talent in the biomedical field. The collaborative education efforts will focus on medical innovation and promote a market-driven approach to create a highly trained workforce focused on taking medical technology from the research space to clinical practice.

A group of researchers, led by College of Medicine Professor Zucai Suo, have revealed the mode of action of two HIV drugs and identified how resistance can develop, which they say could lead to improved drug design in the future. 

The Florida State University College of Medicine’s newest family medicine residency program in Winter Haven is already seeing patients. Doctors on the program’s faculty have been treating patients in Winter Haven since summer, with 750 patient visits the last quarter of 2019. “We’re well above our projection,” said Nathan Falk, who directs the program based at Winter Haven Hospital. Arrival of the first six residents — medical doctors getting post-graduate training — will start increasing the program’s impact.

With the Coronavirus spreading to the U.S., Tallahassee Memorial Healthcare says it is prepared 'just in case' it reaches our community. Ingrid Jones-Ince, director of the clinic and FSU College of Medicine Internal Medicine Residency Program at TMH commented on the precautions.

Dementia cafés are relatively new concept gaining popularity in areas such as Japan. In 2012, there were fewer than 50 in Japan. By 2017, there were 4,267 according to a study from the Department of Geriatrics and Cognitive Disorders at the Fujita Health University School of Medicine. The cafés are venus where people with dementia, their families, community members and others can meet, interact and discuss experiences. Research from FSU College of Medicine Associate Professor Angelina Sutin found that loneliness can increase the risk of dementia by 40%. The article discusses how dementia cafés can combat the loneliness of staying home.

Tallahassee Community College President Jim Murdaugh has agreed to designate three acres of land on the southwest edge of the TCC campus as the home site for a new Dale Mabry Air Field Museum. TCC's Appleyard Drive campus is situated on the former army airfield. As chair, Chuck Wells and Tallahassee's Dale Mabry Army Air Field Museum Inc.'s board oversaw efforts to establish the museum and plans to establish a complex on the property by 2024. Wells is also the program director for science and research development in the Department of Behavioral Sciences and Social Medicine.

Gary Ostrander, vice president for research at FSU since May 2012, announced in an internal email to faculty and staff that he will be stepping down at the end of the year and return to the faculty in the College of Medicine.

The Alzheimer’s Project and the Florida State University College of Medicine are conducting the 35th Annual Alzheimer’s Disease Education and Training Conference on Saturday, Feb. 8. The event will be held at the FSU College of Medicine from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.

A new discovery by Florida State University College of Medicine researchers is expected to help in the fight against the HIV virus and hepatitis B. The research has established for the first time the mechanism responsible for how two widely-used antiviral drugs inhibit viruses.

Senior Associate Dean Daniel Van Durme spoke to WCTV about the severity of this year's flu season. With the peak of the flu season fast approaching, Durme discussed the importance and effectiveness of the flu shot.

Lee Health System has partnered with the College of Medicine to expand behavioral health integration to some of its clinical sites to better help patients struggling with anxiety and depression.

Garret Morton, a first-year doctoral student in the Department of Biomedical Sciences, was involved in a hit-and-run accident that left him with serious injuries. His wife, Emily Morton, launched a GoFundMe page to help pay for his medical expenses.

Each semester for the past two years, a handful of art students have visited the College of Medicine's anatomy lab to create murals and artwork along its walls and learn from the anatomy-lab team and the cadavers that come to the medical school through the Willed Body Program. "It's a unique opportunity that not everyone has the chance to be part of - learning what's beneath the skin that we draw," said art student Isabella Gonzalez-Lopez. "In the classroom, all that you can draw or paint is what you can see. Here you learn about what actually makes that shape."

Each semester for the past two years, a handful of art students have visited the College of Medicine's anatomy lab to create murals and artwork along its walls and learn from the anatomy-lab team and the cadavers that come to the medical school through the Willed Body Program. "It's a unique opportunity that not everyone has the chance to be part of - learning what's beneath the skin that we draw," said art student Isabella Gonzalez-Lopez. "In the classroom, all that you can draw or paint is what you can see. Here you learn about what actually makes that shape."

Christie Alexander, associate professor in the Department of Family Medicine and Rural Health, was elected the 73rd president of the Florida Academy of Family Physicians. The installation was held Saturday, Dec. 7.

The College of Medicine and Sarasota Memorial Health Care System are partnering to offer the Sarasota area's first hospice and palliative medicine fellowship. It is one of 13 approved sites in Florida where board-certified physicians can acquire advanced training to address issues that accompany serious illness or end-of-life care.

After earning his M.D. in 2004 and navigating a rocky road for nearly 15 years, Tamer Tadros graduated with the inaugural class of students in the College of Medicine's School of Physician Assistant Practice on Dec. 14.

Florida State University had quite a year in 2019, bolstered by academic and research excellence and student success. Among the list of notable achievements in 2019 is the opening of FSU PrimaryHealth in May.

Fifteen years after earning his M.D., Tamer Tadros was one of 37 members of the School of Physician Assistant Practice's first graduating class.

A local law that would allow Leon County to start a needle exchange program to help prevent hepatitis and HIV infections among drug users was adopted at the Leon County Commission meeting. Leslie Beitsch, chair of the Department of Behavioral Sciences and Social Medicine, commented on the lack of evidence supporting the belief that syringe exchange programs lead to a cycle of addiction.

A local law that would allow Leon County to start a needle exchange program to help prevent hepatitis and HIV infections among drug users was adopted at the Leon County Commission meeting. In a WTXL article, second-year med student Daniel Schaefer explained the purpose of the programs.

FSU’s growing Interdisciplinary Medical Sciences program is helping students find their niche in health care. The program will graduate 25 more future health professionals on Friday.

A Gainesville Sun article discusses a state licensing board's struggle with how best to address mental-health and substance abuse among medical students and physicians in Florida. Joan Meek, dean of the College of Medicine's Orlando Regional Campus, commented on fears, stress and anxiety medical students may have when in need of mental health treatment. "We are really all about prevention with these medical students and with the residents. We want them to seek services. We want them to get help," she said.

Michael Blaber, a professor of Biomedical Sciences at the FSU College of Medicine, has been named to the National Academy of Inventors, which highlights academic inventors who have demonstrated a spirit of innovation in creating or facilitating work that has made a tangible impact on the quality of life, economic development and welfare of society.

FSU President John Thrasher presented his annual State of the University address to the Faculty Senate on Wednesday, Dec. 4. He noted that faculty research is making a difference around the globe and close to home. As an example, Thrasher cited the opening of the College of Medicine’s FSU Primary Health center near Sabal Palm Elementary School where faculty and students are providing needed care and services to an underserved community.

Nearly 2,700 students will graduate FSU this fall. Among them are the 37 members of the inaugural class in the College of Medicine's School of Physician Assistant Practice. They will graduate at 3:30 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 14, at Opperman Music Hall.

The FSU College of Medicine and Sarasota Memorial Health Care System are partnering to offer the area's first Hospice and Palliative Medicine Fellowship.

Numerous College of Medicine faculty were mentioned in Florida State University's November 2019 edition of the Faculty and Staff Briefs for their honors, awards, publications and more.

The FSU College of Medicine Family Medicine Residency Program at BayCare Health System (Winter Haven) received accreditation from the ACGME.

The FSU College of Medicine and Sarasota Memorial Health Care System are partnering to offer the area's first hospice and palliative medicine fellowship. It is one of the 13 approved sites in Florida where board-certified physicians can acquire advanced training to address the many medical and psychological issues that accompany serious illness or end-of-life care.

In an article that ran in the Jackson County Floridian, Tomeka Norton-Brown, project coordinator for ACTS 2 wrote, "Caregivers are some of the strongest people I know. They’re dedicated, reliable and selfless. In my line of work, we also know that selflessness – though admirable – can be harmful to your health." Her article was written in recognition of National Family Caregivers Month.

In a Naples Daily News article about the language barrier in Southwest Florida's growing Mayan community and its impact on a sexual assault case, Javier Rosado, director of clinical research at the FSU College of Medicine's Center for Child Stress & Health in Immokalee, comments on the often crowded migrant housing in the area that can put children at risk for sexual abuse. Through partnerships with the Healthcare Network of Southwest Florida and the Immokalee Pediatric and Women's Health clinics, Immokalee children are screened for sexual abuse and other adversity.

Florida State University’s annual Three Minute Thesis competition is an opportunity for doctoral students to practice explaining their work to a non-specialized audience, whether that’s a group of business executives, legislators who want to know more or a student’s curious grandparents at Thanksgiving dinner. 

Judges selected Alyssa Henderson, a doctoral student in the Department of Physics, and Sara Jones, a doctoral student in the College of Medicine's Department of Biomedical Sciences, as this year’s first-place winners. They each earned a $1,000 prize and advance to a regional competition. 

Jones explained her research on how the artificial sweetener aspartame could cause anxious behavior that fathers may pass down to their offspring. She studies how exposure to aspartame affects whether certain genes are turned on or off, and how those changes are passed to descendants, a concept known as transgenerational transmission.

“I hope this research gets us thinking about that concept,” she said. “It has global implications for today and for generations to come.”

Read more (PDF) | Video | Audio

Research from Mohamed Kabbaj, a professor of Biomedical Sciences and Neuroscience at the College of Medicine, showed that ketamine can decrease alcohol consumption in male rats that previously had consumed high amounts of alcohol when given unrestricted access several times a week.

A team of researchers in the lab of Mohamed Kabbaj at the FSU College of Medicine studied ketamine's effect on alcohol consumption in mice.

In an article for the Tallahassee Democrat, Tomeka Norton-Brown, project coordinator for ACTS 2 wrote, "Caregivers are some of the strongest people I know. They’re dedicated, reliable and selfless. In my line of work, we also know that selflessness – though admirable – can be harmful to your health." Her article was written in recognition of National Family Caregivers Month.

The Department of Geriatrics at the FSU College of Medicine and the USF School of Aging Studies launched a campaign focused on education surrounding pain awareness, pain management, and safe use, storage and disposal of pain medicines.