Aspiring physicians travel a long road, from college to medical school, then residency and potentially a fellowship, but the path is one from which Myron Rolle (M.D., ’17) never wavered. In August, he finished his fellowship and is now an attending pediatric neurosurgeon at Nemours Children’s Hospital, Florida, in Orlando.

It takes personal fortitude, determination and a supportive family and community to accomplish these milestones, and these are the ingredients Rolle has had throughout his life — as an undergraduate at Florida State University, a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University, an NFL player, an FSU medical student and now a physician. But the road does not stop there for Rolle. He already has set his sights on not only being a stellar pediatric neurosurgeon, but also on ways he can make the community at large a better, healthier place for everyone — and the FSU College of Medicine helped lay the groundwork for his future goals.

“The college definitely shaped my vision to use the platform I have as a pediatric neurosurgeon and to spend that capital in the community to prevent children from even ending up in my operating room,” Rolle said. “I want to ensure that children have — and families have — a fair shake in life. These are things you wouldn’t necessarily think a pediatric surgeon should get involved with, but when you come from a place like the FSU College of Medicine that is focused on the community and people, especially marginalized populations, it was very helpful in my training and is something that shines through every single day.”

It is this same philosophy that attracted Rolle to Nemours Children’s Health, one of this country’s largest integrated pediatric health systems.

“The idea that Nemours Children’s likes to stretch beyond the hospital and into the community was something that was very appealing to me,” he said. “My research is in population health with pediatric gun safety and head trauma safety, food security, especially for women of childbearing age to prevent neural tube defects, these sorts of things. When I talked to the Nemours Children’s leadership about some of my interests, beyond just the clinical aspects of taking out pediatric brain tumors and fixing aneurysms, the vision of being a leader in the community was perfectly aligned, so I said, ‘yeah, this is the right spot for me.’”

One of Rolle’s interests is educating women about the important role of folic acid during pregnancy.

“I’m very passionate about it,” he said. “We know that if women of childbearing age eat food with folic acid or take supplements, they can reduce their child’s risk of being born with a neural tube defect such as spina bifida. For these children, it is a $1 million to $1.4 million investment from birth for the remainder of their lives, considering the type of procedures, medications and therapy they will require.

“But if you invest in folic acid fortification and the foods that women — typically women in poor communities — are able to eat, then the risk of going through a lifetime of disruption and a lifetime of very, very costly care goes down.”

Rolle contributes much of his success to mentors who helped and guided him along the way: his parents, mother-in-law and his wife, Latoya, a pediatric dentist.

“Latoya has just been an amazing partner through this, through the steps of becoming a pediatric neurosurgeon, through the stressors that it takes to do the job,” he said. “She's my sounding board, my biggest cheerleader.

“For instance, recently I had one of my first solo cases as an attending. She prayed for me. She called me. She psyched me up. Before I got into the car, she hit me on the chest like she was my teammate, like, ‘you better do this, boy.’ I'm like, ‘okay, all right. Is that what we're doing? All right. I love it.’ I drove out of the house like I was ready to run through a wall. Those little things just mean a lot.”

And Rolle’s band of cheerleaders has grown substantially over the past few years with the addition of two sets of twins to their family: one set, a boy and a girl, age 3, the other, also a boy and a girl, age five.

“They know mommy is a tooth doctor and daddy is a head doctor,” he said. “They are so proud of that, and we are so proud of them.”

Rolle said he will continue his advocacy work and is grateful for the strong foundation the college provided him and the current, supportive environment at Nemours, adding,  “I’m hopeful the FSU College of Medicine is proud of myself and others who have done similar work, because I believe that’s part of the mission of what (FSU) President (John) Thrasher and others wanted who were instrumental in starting our College of Medicine.”

What’s next for Dr. Rolle?

“In all seriousness, I want to continue to grow as a father, as a husband, as a leader and as a Christian here in this Orlando community.”

Contact Patrick Crowley, patrick.crowley@med.fsu.edu