The Sarasota Memorial Research Institute and Florida State University College of Medicine held their first joint Interprofessional Research Conference at Sarasota Memorial Hospital’s Sarasota campus in May. The event, along with the groundbreaking of SMH’s new Research& Education Institute later this month, reflects the local health system’s national reputation as a teaching hospital and expanding commitment to clinical research. More than 150 healthcare professionals gathered to learn about innovative research projects and clinical studies led by multi-disciplinary specialists from across the region. The event featured dozens of individual and group poster, panel and podium presentations by physicians, pharmacists, nurses and other clinicians and a keynote address by National Institutes of Health award-winning researcher Irshad Chaudry, PhD. SMH and FSU leaders also presented nine research and innovation awards at the event, which was supported by the Sarasota Memorial Healthcare Foundation.

The 2023 award recipients are:

• SMH Distinguished Physician Research & Innovation Award – Beverly Long, MD
• SMH Distinguished Nurse Research & Innovation Award – Bridget Drafahl, PhD, C-ONQS, CNS, RN
• SMH Research & Innovation Excellence Award – Colleen Lindner, DNP, APRN, FNP-BC
• SMH Distinguished PharmacyResearch & Innovation Award – Pamela Lewis, RPh
• SMH Pharmacy New Investigator Research Award – Jonathan Summerlin, PharmD
• FSU Emergency Medicine Resident Research Award – Emily Wheeler, MD
• FSU Emergency Medicine Distinguished Faculty Research Scholar Award – Sagar Galwankar, MBBS, MBA, MPH
• FSU Internal Medicine Resident Research Award – Stephanie Williams, MD
• FSU Internal Medicine Distinguished Faculty Research Scholar Award – Robert Smith, PhD                                                                                                   

Thanks to support from donors and the Sarasota County Public Hospital Board, Sarasota Memorial is slated to break ground on a new, $75 million Research & Education Institute on the SMH-Sarasota campus later this month. Designed to promote collaboration, discovery and innovation in medical education and research,the 5-story facility will house Sarasota Memorial’s clinical research division, nursing and clinical education, and graduate medical educationprograms, medical library and a new, state-of-the-art simulation center designed for hands-on training.