TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — FSU graduated 56 physician assistants to help address Florida's healthcare crisis, with 7.5 million people living in areas lacking primary care providers.

According to the Florida Council, a third of people lived in an area with a shortage of primary care physicians in 2023.

"One-fourth of Floridians do not have a primary care provider, and FSU has a strong dedication to releasing more primary care providers in our workforce," said Mary Beth Brown, 2025 class president of the FSU PA program.

This also comes after Florida’s Live Healthy Act was signed into law in 2024,aiming to expand access to care by strengthening the healthcare workforce statewide.

Ben Smith, Director & Assoc. Dean of the program talked to me about the need for the program.

“We think about access to care. We often think about providing primary care, that initial care to the patients, to the population, to children, to adults, to older adults as well. Tremendously important things to consider, PAs can go into the front lines as primary care advisors and can make a tremendous difference, but PAs can work in specialty medicine, as well as specialty practice to help increase access to care also," said Smith.

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Emerging research from Stanford University suggests that the two-dose shingles vaccine, recommended for protection against the painful viral infection in adults 50 and over, may also reduce the risk of developing dementia, or slowing its progress.

Further research will be required to determine the science behind the vaccine's effectiveness on improved cognition, but FSU College of Medicine researcher Angelina Sutin, Ph.D. won't hesitate to recommend exploring it as a preventive care option.

“When people find out that I study dementia, they often ask what I recommend to keep the brain healthy with age. I always respond with three things: exercise, be social, and do things you enjoy that make you feel purposeful," Sutin wrote in an email. "Now, I will add talk to your doctor about getting the shingles vaccine. There is no guarantee that doing these things means you will not get dementia, but all are relatively easy and accessible and help maintain healthy cognition for longer.” 

Dance Marathon at Florida State University's major fall fundraiser, the 11th Annual Florida Statement, raised $333,279 in just 26.2 hours. Those funds, along with the earnings from the featured spring event, benefit UF Health Shands Children's Hospital and the FSU College of Medicine's Pediatric Outreach Program.

Since its inception, DM at FSU has presented checks to the College of Medicine totaling more than $10 million for its Pediatric Outreach Program.
 

The city is taking the next step to effectively sell Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare to Florida State University even after community members pleaded with commissioners to slow down the process and get more information.

In a predictable 3-2 vote, Mayor John Dailey and City Commissioners Dianne Williams-Cox and Curtis Richardson voted to approve a third and final publichearing on the promising but rocky partnership between TMH and FSU. In the meantime, the city manager was authorized to hammer out an agreeable price forthe transfer of the hospital land and its assets to FSU.

Following the first public forum regarding the proposed sale of Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare to Florida State University, the Tallahassee City Commission voted 3-2 in favor of having the city manager "move forward in negotiating the payment structure" for the transaction.

 

A memorandum of understanding between Florida State University and Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare is now in place, further advancing the likelihood of the University taking ownership of the hospital. It is the latest step in the partnership, which aims to establish a first-class medical center in Tallahassee.

In a joint letter to the city commissioners, FSU President Richard McCullough and TMH CEO Mark O'Bryant confirmed that they are committed to "advancing care in the capital city and county together" and will work together to obtain the approvals necessary to transfer the land to FSU.

Now the city must decide whether it will relinquish its ownership stake in the hospital property and assets to the University.
  

The results from a longitudinal study of middle-aged Brazilian adults who consumed artificial sweeteners , show people who consumed the highest amounts experience the fastest declines in cognitive functions as they move into their senior years.

The research, published Sept. 3 in the journal Neurology, concludes that those who consumed the most aspartame, saccharin and five other types of sweeteners experienced cognitive declines at a 62% faster rate than those who consumed the lowest amounts. The study group included nearly 13,000 individuals who were followed for an average of eight years.

Pradeep Bhide, Ph.D., the Jim and Betty Ann Rodgers Eminent Scholar Chair of Developmental Neuroscience at the FSU College of Medicine, acknowledged that the Brazilian findings “echo” the results his lab found in a widely-publicized study on aspartame in 2022.

That research found that the daily consumption of aspartame in mice can lead to behavioral and cognitive impairment, likely due to the sweetener’s effects on the brain’s neurotransmitter systems.

“The convergence of large-scale human data with controlled laboratory findings strengthens the concern that chronic exposure to artificial sweeteners may have significant neurobehavioral consequences,” Bhide told United Press International (UPI.com) writer Don Jacobson, who reached out for comment on the Brazilian study.

“These results underscore the need for caution in the widespread use of such sweeteners and highlight the importance of further mechanistic studies.”
 

Third-year Florida State University College of Medicine student Tiffany Nong and Viralkumar Bhanderi, M.D., a clerkship faculty member and oncologist with Florida Cancer Specialists & Research Institute, are contributing authors on research evaluating chatbot accuracy in the field of blood cancer.

Their contributions, guided by senior author Justin Taylor, M.D., a physician-scientist at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine's Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer, 
were published Sept. 3 in Future Science OA, a peer-reviewed, open access journal.

The new study investigated ChatGPT 3.5 and the quality of responses it provided to a set of 10 medical questions specific to the field of blood cancer. The questions posed to the chatbot were similar to common patient questions as they progress through treatment. Five of those questions were general questions often asked by patients when first diagnosed. The others were more specific medical developments related to disease care. The study was conducted in July 2024 and the responses were evaluated by four anonymous hematology-oncology physicians.

It showed that the chatbot performed best on general questions but struggled to provide information about newer therapies and approaches.

Nong, who is in clinical training at the Fort Pierce Regional Campus, served as first-author on the research.




 

When the Winter Haven Hospital/Florida State University Family Medicine Residency Program launched in2020, its goal was to address a physician shortage by retaining at least 50% of its graduates in Polk County.

The program has exceeded its goal and it shows no signs of slowing down. Nearly 80% of the 19 resident physicians who have graduated from the program since 2020 are now or soon will be practicing in Polk County, including six of the eight who graduated in June.

BayCare’s mission is to improve the health of all we serve, so the health system has invested in training physicians through residency programs, including the Winter Haven Hospital/Florida State University Family Medicine Residency Program.

A key lawmaker and Florida State University leaders Wednesday touted a new law that includes offering free genetic screening for newborns and bolstering research on rare
pediatric diseases.

Gov. Ron DeSantis last month signed the law (HB 907), which was unanimously passed by the Legislature in April and is dubbed the Sunshine Genetics Act.

The law creates a pilot program led by the Florida Institute for Pediatric Rare Diseases at Florida State University, with families able to choose to have their babies’ full genetic
codes sequenced.

Florida State University’s efforts to address pediatric rare diseases have reached greater heights.

Gov. Ron DeSantis recently signed HB 907 – the Sunshine Genetics Act – which establishes a pilot program for newborns through the Florida Institute for Pediatric Rare Diseases
at FSU. And with the initiative, families can have their baby’s full genetic code sequenced at no cost to identify potentially serious conditions.

“This not only marks the beginning of the next generation of healthcare for Floridians, but it also ensures thatIPRD (Institute for Pediatric Rare Diseases) will go on to live longer than anybody here in this room,” Rep.Adam Anderson, R-Palm Harbor – whose son Andrew died from Tay-Sachs disease – said July 9 at a ceremonial check presentation at the FSU College of Medicine.

As the new Sunshine Genetics law was made effective July 1 and kicks off the pilot program with $3 million, the Institute for Pediatric Rare Diseases at FSU – launched in
February 2024 – has received an additional $4.5 million from Florida’s 2025-2026 budget to boost research, which totals the state’s allocation toward the overall initiative to $7.5 million.

The Florida State University community gathered Wednesday to showcase the creation of an institute in its College of Medicine anda pilot program that will provide free genetic screening to newborns, established by HB 907, passed this spring.

The Florida Institute for Pediatric Rare Diseases was a “labor of love” for state Rep. Adam Anderson, the Palm Harbor Republican first elected to the House in 2022. It memorializes his late son Andrew, felled by Tay-Sachs disease, a deadly genetic malady.

Anderson called the project a “truly a historic milestone that’s giving Florida a once-in-a generation opportunity to lead the nation in genetic and precision medicine,” adding that “half-a-dozen” states have reached out to him about the idea.

Florida State University President Richard McCullough, in an opinion piece published in the Tallahassee Democrat, emphasized the importance of establishing Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare (TMH) as an academic medical center. McCullough wrote: 

An academic medical center is a hospital that is closely partnered with a medical school at a major research university. It combines patient care, medical education, and groundbreaking research. It is a place where physicians, scientists, and educators work together to heal patients, discover new treatments, and train the next generation of health care professionals. Academic medical centers have driven some of the greatest advancements in modern medicine.

McCullough went on to tout the partnership between the FSU College of Medicine and TMH that has existed for decades and the goal to "expand these commitments and make them even better."


 

The Florida State University College of Medicine's primary care program earned the highest designation in Florida among public medical schools, according to the recently released 2025 U.S. News & World Report's edition of Best Graduate Schools.

In all, 21 graduate programs at FSU are ranked in the Top 25 among public universities.

"Having access to a primary care physician provides a foundation for healthy individuals and entire communities," said College of Medicine Dean, Alma Littles. "This ranking underscores our commitment to serving the health care needs of Floridians - and we are proud that more than half of our graduates continue to live and work in this state."

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Research led by the FSU College of Medicine Department of Geriatrics reveals that unmarried people are at least 50% less likely to experience cognitive decline. The work of lead and corresponding author Selin Karakose, a postdoctoral scholar alongside professor and principal investigator Antonio Terracciano, was covered in an April 1 article in Psychology Today.

The study findings were reported in "Marital status and risk of dementia over 18 year: Surprising findings fron the National Alzheimer's Coordinating Center," in Alzheimer's & Dementia. 

The study included 24,000 participants between the ages of 50 and 104, who took a neuropsychological test of cognitive status annually and were evaluated by clinicians.

 

With 222 documented measles cases in the past two months across at least 12 states, including one confirmed death, there's a growing concern among medical professionals that other preventable diseases, like polio, rubella and mumps, could also make a comeback. There has been a significant increase in vaccination exemptions across the country.

"The threshold for achieving what people call herd immunity - I prefer the term community immunity - is 95%," said George Rust, M.D., MPH, a professor and co-director of the Center for Medicine and Public Health at the FSU College of Medicine.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the nationwide vaccination rate for the measles was 93% for the 2022-23 school year.
 

Given the exploration of ketamine as a therapeutic agent for depression, Florida State University College of Medicine researcher Mohamed Kabbaj and his colleagues examined the relationship between social isolation, alcohol exposure and ketamine in model mimicking human depression. Their findings could reshape the clinical approach to ketamine treament in depressed patients with substance use disorders.

Kabbaj's research was published eNeuro, an open-access journal of the Society of Neuroscience, and featured in a recent edition of Science Magazine. . 

The Florida Senate Committee on Education PreK-12 unanimously supported a bill aimed to help people with autism secure more opportunities to join the workforce on Tuesday, Feb. 19.

Amy Wetherby, director of the FSU College of Medicine's Autism Institute, addressed the committee - the first of three committee stops for the bill - in support of the proposed legislation. She told the committee that the bill is a "really, really important as a step" in employing people with autism.

"I think one of the most important things in the life of a person with autism is to get a job," said Wetherby, one of the nation's foremost authorities on the neurological and developmental disorder. "It improves their outcomes as adults. The best outcomes are associated with employment in terms of mental health outcomes, in terms of wellbeing and in terms of quality of life."
 

 

FSU College of Medicine Associate Professor Gregg Stanwood, Ph.D., a developmental neuropharmacologist and behavioral neuroscientist, has weighed in a study that raises questions about the impact exposure to microplastics is have on health.

"Initial indications from research studies in people, as well as model organisms like isolated cells, zebrafish and rodents, suggest that microplastic exposures contribute to increased risk of serious health conditions, including neurodegenerative diseases," Stanwood said. "It's tool son to quantify the exact degree of those increased risks."
 

FSU College of Medicine Department of Behavioral Science and Social Medicine faculty members Karen Geletko, MPH and Jon Mills, Ph.D., MBA co-authored an article with second-year medical student John Acosta-Penaloza, which was published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine's open access journal, AJMP Focus.

Acosta-Penaloza, a graduate of the Bridge Class of 2023, was the lead author on the article, "Demographic Characteristics Associated With Adolescent Receipt of Provider E-Cigarette Screening and Advice and the Impact on Harm Perception." The article is a product of Acosta-Penaloza's Bridge research project. Geletko and Mills served as his faculty mentors.

The research examines the frequency medical providers screen adolescents for e-cigarettes and advise against its use during health care visits. The study also examines the associations between provider intervention and adolescent harm perception. Findings from the research reveal that provider intervention was more likely among those aged 13-18, who are male, White and/or non-Hispanic and that provider intervention was associated with the belief that e-cigarettes are equally or more addictive than cigarettes.