FSU's second annual Discovery Days, a weeklong celebration of impactful work happening around the campus, the College of Medicine maintained an active presence. From the kickoff Pediatric Rare Diseases Symposium through the Women in Science Panel, featuring Dean Alma Littles, M.D., you can find a complete recap here.

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FSU College of Medicine researcher Martina Luchetti, Ph.D., led a National Institutes of Health-funded study, which produced results that showed loneliness significantly increases the risk of dementia.

Co-authors on the study included College of Medicine colleagues Damaris Aschwanden, Ph.D., Amanda Sesker, Ph.D., Antonio Terracciano and Angelina Sutin.

 

Florida State University’s Institute for Pediatric Rare Diseases – which is still in its initial stages as the state’s first-of-its-kind center – has received its second major funding of $5 million.

The check was presented Monday morning during FSU’s inaugural Pediatric Rare Disease Symposium at the College of Medicine, kicking off Discovery Days, a week-long celebration of FSU research, creativity and discovery enterprise on campus.

Research by FSU College of Medicine professor Angelina Sutin, Ph.D., finds connection between having a purpose in life with brain health.

"Across every study and every sample that we have look at, we find that feeling more purposeful is related to a lower risk of developing dementia," said Sutin, in an article published in WedMD.

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Paula Nieto-Morales, in pursuit of a doctorate in biomedical sciences at the Florida State University College of Medicine and a career as a pediatric cardiologist, is 'always working.'

"I have always been fascinated by the heart and the fact that it never stops," she said.

Neither does Nieto-Morales, an avid runner who loves to travel and has insatiable appetite for knowledge.

"She's the type of student who thrives on challenges and constantly seeks new opportunities to learn and grow," said College of Medicine biomedical sciences professor, Jose R. Pinto, Ph.D., one of her mentors. "You have to keep providing her with tasks and projects because she's always eager to take on more and push her limits."

 

FSU College of Medicine second-year medical student, Jade Bowers, RN, is one of six co-authors of an article addressing The Invisible Epidemic of Childhood Food Insecurity. 

Bowers, a pediatric nurse in Tallahassee, has encountered numerous examples of children receiving inadequate nutrition. She and her co-author peers have outlined necessary steps to help combat food insecurity and its connection to poor health outcomes among children.
 

The FSU Family Medicine Residency Program at BayCare Health System in Winter Haven is the first program in the country to integrate the use a non-invasive devise for evaluating suspicious skin lesions into its education program. 

Nate Falk, M.D., assistant dean and graduate medical education director of the program, said the use of the DermaSensor devise aims to "empower its future physicians with enhanced skin cancer detection skills and the ability to provide the best possible care to their patients."

More children in Florida are being diagnosed with autism than ever before. Fortunately, two professors at Florida State University are researching how to diagnose it earlier, and how to teach autistic children once they’re in school.

“We know that early detection of autism is crucial for improving treatment for children,” says Amy Wetherby, who is a distinguished research professor in FSU’s College of Medicine and the director of FSU’s Autism Institute. “By identifying autism early, intervention can take advantage of the plasticity of the brain in the first three years of life. With early diagnosis and intervention, children with autism are more likely able to be included in regular classrooms from preschool to kindergarten and beyond.”

Andrew Anderson was a perfectly normal newborn, his parents thought, just like his two older sisters.

It wasn’t until he was 6 months old that they sensed something was wrong with their only son, who wasn’t hitting his milestones. After a year of misdiagnoses and genetic testing, they uncovered the cause: Andrew had Tay-Sachs disease, a rare inherited disorder that damages nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord. It has no cure. When he was 4 years old, Andrew passed away. The end of his life marked the start of a legacy — one furthering research into rare pediatric diseases in Florida.

“It led us where we are,” says state Rep. Adam Anderson, Andrew’s father. “There’s no way I’d be working on this stuff if I hadn’t lived that experience. It’s not only become a passion; it’s literally my calling in life.” Last year, Anderson, a Republican from Palm Harbor, successfully pushed for $1million in state funding to launch the Florida State University Institute for Pediatric Rare Diseases. The institute, which opened earlier this year and is the first of its kind in the state, is dedicated to researching and treating rare childhood diseases.

Tiem Strouse seemed like a perfectly healthy baby boy when he was born in 2013 in St. Petersburg.

But at about 13 months his development stalled. The baby words that had come early stopped. He would only walk on the balls of his feet and at times would spin around for no reason, mom Liz Strouse said. He also appeared to be suffering from night terrors.

The first specialist that examined him wrongly concluded he had Down syndrome. It was the start of a five-year struggle for his parents to know what was affecting their son’s development. It only ended when a genetic test revealed he had a neurodevelopmental genetic disorder caused by mutations in the ADNP gene.

There are more than 7,000 known rare diseases that affect 350 million people around the world. Florida Rep. Adam Anderson is hoping to provide a glimmer of hope to Floridians after losing his son, Andrew, to Tay Sachs disease. His recently passed piece of legislation helped launch the College of Medicine's Institute for Pediatric Rare Diseases.

He wants to "position the State of Florida to be a nationwide leader in genetics and gene therapy" through research advancement in search of cures for pediatric rare diseases.
 

Students from the Florida State University College of Medicine recently visited Jefferson County to learn about the health care needs of those living in underserved areas. It marked the first time since 2019 - pre-pandemic - that the Rural Learning Experience (RuLE) was an in-person event. Medical and PA students took part in the event, which has been an educational component at the college since 2010 but had been held virtually each of the last four years.

The critical need for the newly created FSU Institute for Pediatric Rare Diseases, housed within the College of Medicine and led by Professor Pradeep Bhide, Ph.D., Jim and Betty Ann Rodgers Eminent Scholar who is also chair of Developmental Neuroscience, is explained in stark detail as the Tampa Bay Times shares one family’s story of pain and despair in trying to get an accurate diagnosis for its toddler.

The Panhandle’s newest healthcare facility will open its doors this month. Hospital officials said the first building is the first step in a new era of healthcare in the area. 

The Florida State University and Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare campus began seeing primary and urgent care patients at the medical office building on Monday, July 15. 

Staff expects to launch the cardiology and ambulatory surgery center in September. They will fill the rest of the four-story office building during the next six months. 

“The beauty about this building is it’s the beginning and the foundation for our future health system out here have primary and urgent care out here. Cardiology, other specialties including orthopedics and gynecology, and outpatient military surgery center, which will have five operating rooms fully equipped,” said Andrew Starr, TMH Chief Health Operations Officer. 

The medical office building is the first one standing at the FSU TMH campus. The main hospital will start construction in 2025 and they hope to be open in 2027.

After serving as Florida State University’s College of Medicine interim dean for over a year, Dr. Alma Littles has been named the new permanent dean of the evolving medical school. She begins Monday.

“When I first saw the College of Medicine mission statement, it resonated with me,” Littles said in a prepared statement. “The college’s priorities and my goals as a physician mirror each other.

"Growing up in a rural and underserved community stimulated my interest in investing my talents toward helping people whose health care needs are not easily met,” she added. “The college has remained dedicated in training physicians who can help to meet those needs.”

Mental health care is being advanced in the Tallahassee region with the opening of an innovative facility that will house the Florida State University College of Medicine’s new Psychiatry Residency Program
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Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare and the Apalachee Center have a partnership with FSU through the residency program initiative, and the new center will also bring the two healthcare organizations’ outpatient behavioral health services together under one roof.

Florida State University and Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare recently signed a memorandum of understanding to seal their partnership for a future academic health center in Tallahassee, slated to open in fall 2026.

Through the agreement, a new "FSU Health TMH Trustees" will oversee decisions related to the academic health center and a medical campus underway in Panama City Beach on behalf of the university and hospital.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the Live Healthy Act, which aims to grow the health care workforce. By 2035 the state is expected to face a shortage of 18,000 doctors.

"The shortage is not getting better, it's getting worse," said FSU College of Medicine Interim Dean Alma Littles, M.D., who grew up in rural Gadsden County. "Around me, I was acutely aware of individuals both in my family, community, my church, etc. who did need health care and were not able to receive it."

The Live Healthy Act does several things, including expanding programs to attract more professionals and adding residency programs.

"We know that if we can have sufficient training programs in Florida, to train them in residency, we are likely to retain them in the State of Florida," Littles said.

Fourth-year Florida State University College of Medicine student Cunyet Ozkardes will be on familiar turf when he begins his residency training at Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta. As a recipient of Emory's 2023 Open DOOR (Diversity and Opportunity in Ophthalmology Rotations) scholarship, Ozkardes was able to complete an away rotation at the Emory Eye Center and opened his eyes greater career opportunities.
 

As Florida State University’s College of Medicine celebrated the nationwide event known as Match Day, over a hundred of its graduating medical students got the official word on where they will receive residency training.

Shouts of joy, happy tears and group hugs filled FSU's Ruby Diamond Concert Hall Friday afternoon as students simultaneously tore open their envelopes, reading their letters with loved ones about where they will practice for the next several years in their chosen medical specialty.

Florida State University is slated to receive nearly $623 million in the Florida Legislature's proposed 2024-2025 budget, which includes a number of specific College of Medicine projects.

Lawmakers are expected to approve and forward the budget to Gov. Ron DeSantis on Friday, March 8, closing out the legislative sessions. Beyond its portion from the university's operating allocation, these are some of the specific College of Medicine-related items in the proposed budget:
 

• Institute of Pediatric Rare Diseases ($5 million)
• Autism Institute ($1.48 million)
• FSU Behavioral Health ($525,000)

Dr. Norman B. Anderson, clinical psychologist and well-known leader in the behavioral and social sciences, passed away on March 1, 2024. Dr. Anderson was born on October 16, 1955, in Greensboro, NC.

Anderson was appointed assistant vice president for research and academic affairs and professor of social work at Florida State University in 2017. In these roles he worked with faculty and administrators, including those at the College of Medicine, to advance the research mission of the university and to facilitate the success of emerging academic leaders.

Throughout Florida and the nation, there’s a significant physician shortage that creates barriers to health care for many. To help meet the demand for new physicians, BayCare plans to increase its residency positions to more than 650 by 2029.

“Here in Polk County, all the programs are academically sponsored by Florida State in collaboration with BayCare and Winter Haven Hospital,” said Nathan Falk, founding family medicine residency director for the FSU College of Medicine program at the BayCare Health System in Winter Haven.

“We first started the family medicine residency program in 2018, and we saw our first class onboarded in the summer of 2020. We graduated our first class in the summer of 2023. Of that first class, we graduated five individuals, and four out of the five stayed here in Polk County to practice, with the fifth one going to Orlando. So all five of them stayed in Central Florida.”
 

FSU College of Medicine Interim Dean Alma Littles, M.D. and Pradeep Bhide, Ph.D., executive director of the FSU Institute for Pediatric Rare Diseases, joined State Rep. Adam Anderson at the Florida Capitol Thursday in observance of Rare Disease Day.

"It's the most fitting day for Rare Disease Day because it is in fact the most rare day of the year," Anderson said of the February 29 gathering, which included a number of parents whose children suffer from rare diseases.

The College of Medicine's newly funded institute will conduct research and use technologies like gene therapy to help unlock the most effective treatments for children with rare diseases.

"We know that patients prefer to stay closer to home to receive care, and we look forward to developing a center that will allow them to receive much of the early testing, counseling and treatment of pediatric rare diseases as close to home as possible," Littles said.

Three Florida State University College of Medicine doctoral students were among a cohort of 24 who were celebrated as 2023-2024 recipients of McKnight Doctoral or Dissertation Fellowships at the 38th Annual McKnight Fellows Meeting and Research & Writing Conference in Tampa.

Doctoral candidate Meaghan Navarrete Mathews was honored as a McKnight Dissertation Fellow, while doctoral students Nella Delva and Zenzeale Hudson were recognized as McKnight Doctoral Fellows.

George Rust, M.D., FSU College of Medicine professor and director of the university's Center for Medicine and Public Health, has warned colleagues over the past year that pockets of vaccine hesitancy could lead to a potential measles outbreak in Florida.

The Florida Department of Health in Broward County is investigating multiple cases of measles at a Weston elementary school.

"There's the possibility that children who are not immunized and who are susceptible to measles are attending school, potentially getting measles and transmitting it to other kids," Rust said. "Now, you've, on the one hand, allowed parents to make their own choices for the child who are not immunized, but you've also taken away some choices for those parents who may feel that their children should be protected."

Florida State University’s College of Medicine recently announced plans to launch a new psychiatry residency program — an addition that will bring psychiatric training into the Tallahassee area.

In partnership with Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare (TMH) and the Apalachee Center, the initiative would help address the crucial need for training mental health care providers in the region and across Florida.

State Rep. Adam Anderson on Thursday announced the establishment of Florida State University's new Institute for Pediatric Rare Diseases.

The state’s first-of-its-kind center is personal to the Palm Harbor Republican, who lost his four-year-old son Andrew to a rare genetic disorder called Tay-Sachs disease - a disease that causes rapid degeneration of nerve cells in the brain and in the spinal cord.

The Florida State University community is still remembering the esteemed retired professor Myra Hurt after she died last August. She was 75.

To continue celebrating Hurt’s life, FSU's College of Medicine will be holding a tribute 2-4p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 27, in the college’s Durell Peaden Auditorium, 1115 W. Call St. Theevent is open to the public.

“Dr. Hurt is literally referred to as the mother of the College of Medicine,” the medical school's interim dean, Dr. Alma Littles, told the Tallahassee Democrat. “You can’t really say FSU College of Medicine without thinking of Dr. Myra Hurt.”

Florida State University College of Medicine researcher Angelina Sutin, Ph.D. was among several experts to weigh in on the effects of neuroticism on human health. 

Research suggests that neuroticism raises the risk of mental disorders such as depression and anxiety as well as physical illnesses like heart disease and some cancers. Some research links neuroticism with neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's.

When Dr. Alma Littles was in second grade, her teacher told the bright, young girl she would make a good doctor someday.

“I didn’t know what that meant,” said Littles, the youngest of 12 children growing up in Quincy. “I don’t think I had ever seen a doctor.”

That young girl did indeed grow up to be a family physician, treating residents of her hometown, an area where doctors were scarce.

Littles’ career as a physician, educator and health leader blossomed, and in February 2023, she was named the interim dean of theFlorida State University College of Medicine, a school Littles helped create, with a mission that reflects her own life story.

“We were developing physicians who would practice personal and patient-centered care, focusing on populations of need, the underserved, geriatric patients,” Littles said. “I called it my personal, professional mission.”

FSU College of Medicine's Jonathan Appelbaum, M.D. and Michael Gloth, M.D. are among several physicians who share their advice on how patients can better ensure that their visits to the doctor's office goes well.

 

Maternal mental health is known to be a crisis across Florida — and throughout the nation.

That's why Florida State University’s College of Medicine and the Florida Maternal Mental Health Collaborative (FLMMHC) will host the state’s eighth annual Perinatal Mental Health Conference this Thursday, Dec. 7, and Friday, Dec. 8. The conference will be at the FSU Alumni Center, 1030 W. Tennessee St. in Tallahassee. This year marks
the conference’s first time taking place here since 2015. The annual event is also the state’s only conference that focuses on perinatal – the weeks right before and after birth – and maternal mental health.

“Every year, we identify what the needs are in the state and we mobilize stakeholders from the organization to see what we can do to address them,” said FLMMHC Co-Founder Heather Flynn, also an FSU professor and chair of the College of Medicine’s Department of Behavioral Sciences and Social Medicine.

The Homeless Outreach Medicine and Education (HOME) program, student-run by the College of Medicine's School of Physician Assistant Practice, is providing medical assistance to the unhoused community in Tallahassee..

"A lot of times when unhoused patients come into the ER or somewhere like that, they feel judged," explained Sam Mankus, the HOME president and a member of the PA Class of 2024. "[HOME] helps build a more positive relationship between healthcare providers and the unhoused community."

Over the last year the HOME program student volunteers, joined by a social worker and a licensed medical professional, make weekly rounds at a local encampment, where they measure vital signs, listen to the health concerns of individuals and provide advice and recommendations for further care.

Florida State University College of Medicine researcher Antonio Terracciano, Ph.D., who recently published research linking loneliness and Parkinson's disease, contributed to a Wall Street Journal story on the negative effects of loneliness.

"This uncomfortable, distressful feeling of being lonely over time has a negative effect," said Terracciano, a professor in the Department of Geriatrics. "You are in a state of stress, and over time this can increase vulnerability to disease."

Dr. Alexander Dumas "A.D." Brickler, who delivered more than 30,000 babies over the course of a storied 60-year career in medicine when he retired at age 90, passed away on Oct. 30.

"He, of course, helped train me when I was a resident and later worked for me when I became residency director at TMH," said FSU College of Medicine interim dean, Dr. Alma Littles. "Beyond that, he trained hundreds of family medicine residents here in Tallahassee, and also helped train hundreds of our medical students here at the FSU College of Medicine. We honored him with an Honorary Professor Emeritus award based on his many years of service to us."

The Florida State University College of Business is bringing together healthcare leaders from throughout Florida and the U.S. for a comprehensive one-day forum to address the industry's most pressing workforce, policy, financial and technology issues.

The Business of Healthcare Summit, scheduled for Jan. 26 at the Augustus B. Turnbull Conference Center, will examine healthcare operations in the state and nation from the perspective of hospitals, private practices, health systems, policy boards and other professional organizations.
 

Florida State University College of Medicine graduate Shlermine "Shea" Everidge (M.D., 2006) has been hired by Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare as the area's first fellowship-trained breast surgical oncologist. 

Dr. Everidge, who completed her general surgery residency at TMH, is just the third physician from a Florida-based residency program to be trained at the prestigious Breast Surgical Oncology Fellowship Program at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas.

Loneliness may be linked to a higher likelihood of Parkinson’s disease, according to new research.

The new study, published earlier this week in JAMA Neurology, found that people who said they were lonely were 37% likely to be diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, a neurodegenerative disorder that can cause shaking, stiffness, memory issues, and other symptoms. 

A new study suggests that loneliness may be associated with a significant increased risk of developing Parkinson's disease, the second most common neurodegenerative condition after Alzheimer's disease.

"The findings add to the evidence that loneliness is a substantial psychosocial determinant of health," the authors noted in the study published in JAMA Neurology.

The study's lead author, Florida State University College of Medicine professor Antonio Terracciano, Ph.D., told UPI via email that "loneliness and other measures of social connectedness have been previously associated with other neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer's disease and related dementias. Still, to our knowledge, no previous study had tested the association with Parkinson's disease."

Joslyn Schipper, a member of the FSU College of Medicine Class of 2024, shared her thoughts on obesity in medical education:

Obesity has evolved from an isolated concern to a pervasive health crisis. Within the United States along, nearly 42% of adults are classified as obese and obesity is considered a leading cause of morbidity and mortality. The direct medical expenditure associated with obesity in the United State reached approximately $173 billion in 2019, with projections indicating an increase of $48-66 billion on the coming decade.

In light of obesity's concerning prevalence and economic burden, it becomes imperative that we equip future healthcare providers with the knowledge and skills essential for effective obesity management. 
 

Loneliness is associated with the risk for incident Parkinson disease (PD), independent of other risk factors, according to a study led  by Florida State University College of Medicine researcher Antonio Terracciano, Ph.D., and published online in JAMA Neurology.

Florida Lieutenant Governor Jeanette Nuñez held a press conference at FSU PrimaryHealth to highlight the Florida Reimbursement Assistance for Medical Education (FRAME) program, through which a total of $16 million has been distributed to qualified health care professionals. Lieutenant Governor Nuñez was joined by State Surgeon General Joseph A. Ladapo, Florida State University (FSU) leadership, the Florida Medical Association, and a FRAME program award recipient.

Among those participating was FSU College of Medicine Interim Dean Dr. Alma Littles.

“The FSU College of Medicine was created with a mission to be responsive to community needs, and that’s what the State of Florida is doing with the FRAME program – addressing the state’s health care needs in a proven and effective manner,” Littles said, from the College of Medicine's facility in Southwest Tallahassee, which opened in 2019 to serve the underserved community. “This funding will provide valuable incentive for our graduates to practice primary care in Florida in communities that often struggle to recruit enough doctors and other health care professionals. I thank the Florida Legislature, the Governor, and the Lieutenant Governor for this important commitment to the health of all Floridians.”

View the entire press conference here

The Florida Statue University College of Medicine's Pensacola Regional Campus has been fulfilling its mission by addressing the health-care professional shortage. One of three regional campuses celebrating their 20th anniversary in 2023-2024, Pensacola has produced more than 50 alumni who are currently practicing in the region, according to its regional dean Dr. Paul McLeod.

Among them is Pensacola native Jada Leahy, M.D., who was inducted into the FSU Medical Alumni Hall of Fame on Sept. 23.

The artificial sweetener aspartame is associated with learning and memory deficits that can be passed on to the next generation, scientists in the Bhide Lab at FSU's College of Medicine have discovered.

These effects were seen after consuming as little as 10% of the Food and Drug Administration's daily recommendations.

A popular sugar-alternative has been linked to cognitive issues in a new study.

Researchers from Florida State University, in Tallahassee, found that mice who consumed a fraction of the recommended amount of aspartame had differences in their cognitive performance when compared to those who just drank water.

More worrying is that the rodents appeared to pass on the cognitive deficits to their pups. 

Florida State University broke ground on a new academic health center Thursday as it moves one step closer to establishing the state-of-the-art facility, which is slated to open in late 2026.

The Florida Legislature and Gov. Ron DeSantis granted FSU $125 million two years ago toward building the health center, which will be a five-story building of up to 130,000 square feet with about 350 parking spaces, according to a draft report.

A person’s sense of purpose declines leading up to and following a diagnosis of dementia or cognitive decline, according to a new study.

“Purpose in life is the feeling that one’s life is goal-oriented and has direction. It is an important component of well-being,” said Dr. Angelina Sutin, lead author of the
study published Wednesday in the journal JAMA Network Open.

Researchers now know a sense of purpose is an important factor of good health across adulthood, added Sutin, professor of behavioral sciences and social medicine at the Florida State University College of Medicine in Tallahassee.

Updated recommendations by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) giving an “A” rating to three available PrEP medications could further reduce the risk of acquiring HIV, providing challenges to access are improved.

“These recommendations are very important, as access to PrEP has been disappointing and uptake overall has been very low, particularly in communities most affected by HIV,” said Jonathan Appelbaum, chair of the Department of Clinical Sciences at Florida State University College of Medicine. 

Appelbaum went on to stress the importance of outreach and education for frontline health-care providers, many of whom “still don’t feel at ease prescribing PrEP.”

Despite the recommendations, access and insurance coverage for PrEP is also threatened by litigation.

“USPSTF’s new recommendation, if it is allowed to prevail in governing insurance coverage, will minimize cost barriers,” said Appelbaum, “but we will still have issues of access and stigma to deal with.”
 

Through FSU PrimaryHealth, the Florida State University College of Medicine is one of four core partners serving Sabal Palm Elementary School. It is the only community partnership school in Leon County and draws from 32304 zip code in southwest Tallahassee, an area plagued by poverty.