Daniel Van Durme, M.D., transformed the health care landscape of southwest Tallahassee. In doing so, he transformed countless lives and likely saved many when the COVID-19 pandemic struck a few months later.

Charged with overseeing the creation of a primary care clinic for the Florida State University College of Medicine to operate, the physician and educator known as “DVD” worked with local officials, colleagues, community partners, stakeholders and other interested parties to find the spot where the clinic could make the biggest difference. It turned out to be a place so lacking in access to quality health care that it had been designated a “medical desert.”

FSU PrimaryHealth™ was the culmination of his labor of love and commitment to the practice of medicine in general, and family medicine, in particular. On Thursday, May 30, 2024, a year to the day after he died from injuries he sustained after a motorist cut through a parking lot to avoid waiting at a traffic light and struck his motorcycle, the building was dedicated to his memory.  But instead of being a somber occasion, the ceremony was “a celebration of an amazing man of many gifts,” said Interim Dean Alma Littles, M.D. The occasion also celebrated the clinic’s five-year anniversary.

“No one was more proud of this facility and its impact on this community than Dr. Dan Van Durme,”  Littles said. “His vision for, and commitment to, developing a teaching clinic that would serve patients who did not always have access to care, and provide a practice site where students could learn the art and science of medicine, was central to FSU PrimaryHealth™ becoming a reality.”

She thanked FSU’s administrative leadership and the FSU Board of Trustees for approving the college’s request for the change that will forever connect Van Durme’s name to the facility, the FSU PrimaryHealth™ Daniel J. Van Durme, M.D., Building.

Van Durme held many positions and titles during his almost 20 years at the FSU College of Medicine, the last being senior associate dean for clinical and community affairs and chief medical officer. The face and voice of FSU's response to the COVID-19 pandemic, he was beloved by colleagues, staff, students and alumni, who generously donated to the Daniel Van Durme, M.D., Memorial Scholarship Fund created shortly after his death.

His widow, Pat Van Durme, helped Littles introduce the first two scholarship recipients, third-year medical students Nora Albibi and Amber Dudek. Both are part of the Family Medicine Scholars program he helped create and “embody Dan’s commitment to the practice of family medicine,” Littles said. Each received $2,500 to help defray the expenses of medical school, and a big hug from Van Durme's wife.

Afterward, Pat Van Durme spoke about her late husband’s love for his colleagues and his students. Dinner conversations were filled with details about who was doing what, she said, which he shared with enthusiasm.

“I know a lot about all of you,” she jokingly warned the crowd.

In early 2015, he began a “gratitude journal” in which he entered three things each evening that he was grateful for that had happened that day. Some were mundane; others merely puzzling: “I took Pat out for yogurt and she forgave me.” His wife had no idea what infraction she had forgiven him for, but she was glad the frozen yogurt was enough. The crowd laughed and concurred.

There was only one journal entry in all capital letters before he ceased writing in May, which is when things get really busy at the College of Medicine and New Year’s resolutions can fall by the wayside: “POSSIBLE FSU MEDICAL CLINIC IN THE WORKS.”

When he later took his wife to the future site of FSU PrimaryHealth™, it was a far cry from what it would become, but he vividly described for her what would go where.

“I could see it all,” she said, smiling at the memory, “through his eyes.”

All three of their children, the spouse and significant other of two of them, and the two grandchildren she described as “the light of our lives” were there, as well as one of her husband’s brothers, Matt, and his girlfriend, Susan; his sister Claire, whom she described as “my sister, too”; and her best friend, Vicki Tangney, who helped her navigate her journey of loss when DVD died. Many extended family members and friends from the Tampa and Orlando areas also made the trip for the dedication, as well as local friends, colleagues, and members of the community the clinic serves.

Earlier in the ceremony, FSU Senior Vice President for Finance & Administration Kyle Clark, who also spoke at the college’s Celebration of Life ceremony for Van Durme last fall, said the formal naming in the building meant “the house that DVD built” was no longer just a phrase in his mind.

Cyneetha Strong, M.D., co-medical director at FSU PrimaryHealth™ who has been affiliated with the college since its founding, recalled the day three or four years before the dream became reality that Van Durme approached her about his vision for opening a faculty clinic. “And if you know Dr. Van Durme,” she said, “you know it was a big vision!”

  Video synopsis of the Daniel J. Van Durme, M.D. celebration

Although they didn't speak, other honored guests included Dr. Jai Vartikar, FSU’s first lady; FSU Vice President for Student Affairs Amy Hecht; FSU Vice President for Research Stacey Patterson; Tom Block, executive director of the Capital Medical Society; Pam Irwin, former director of the Capital Medical Society; Tallahassee Mayor Pro-Tem Curtis Richardson; Dean Watson, M.D., vice president and chief integration officer at Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare; leaders of Sabal Palm Elementary School, Tallahassee’s community partnership school through the Florida Children’s Home Society; Children's Home Society head Anne Munson; and Jay Millson, executive vice president and CEO of the Florida Academy of Family Physicians, of which Van Durme was a past president. He was also a member of the board of directors of the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP).

Pat Van Durme was notified recently that her late husband would be honored at this fall's annual meeting of AAFP with its John G. Walsh, M.D.,  Award for Lifetime Contributions to Family Medicine, one of the highest honors awarded by AAFP, based on his dedicated and varied service to family medicine. 

The ceremony concluded with a stirring a capella rendition of “Lean on me” by Pastor Jasmine Sailor and a countdown to dropping the tarp over the new sign. Littles invited the crowd to join in the family activities celebrating both the anniversary and Van Durme, “who was fond of reminding us, 'Everybody can be a health care hero!'”

Contact Audrey Post at audrey.post@med.fsu.edu

Robert "Bubba" Hamilton, administrative director of graduate medical education (GME) at the Florida State University College of Medicine, recently completed his GME administrator certification program from the National Society of Academic Medical Administrators.

The six-week certificate program provides specific training and an in-depth understanding of program administrator responsibilities, GME and ACGME requirements, systems and common best practices of the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education, the non-profit organization that accredits residency and fellowship programs in the United States. Further, it defines the GME lifecycle, required systems and accreditation responsibilities and how to successfully manage both ACGME accredited and non-accredited programs. 

Hamilton joined the college’s GME team, headed by Associate Dean Bill Boyer, DHSC, in August 2023 from Philadelphia, where he was the director of simulation at Crozer Health. He was a critical care and flight paramedic for 30 years, as well as an Emergency Medical Services (EMS) instructor. He is also a regional faculty/instructor for the American Heart Association and a prehospital trauma life-support instructor for the National Association of EMTs.

Robert "Bubba" Hamilton, administrative director of graduate medical education (GME) at the Florida State University College of Medicine, recently completed his GME administrator certification program from the National Society of Academic Medical Administrators.

The six-week certificate program provides specific training and an in-depth understanding of program administrator responsibilities, GME and ACGME requirements, systems and common best practices of the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education, the non-profit organization that accredits residency and fellowship programs in the United States. Further, it defines the GME lifecycle, required systems and accreditation responsibilities and how to successfully manage both ACGME accredited and non-accredited programs. 

Hamilton joined the college’s GME team, headed by Associate Dean Bill Boyer, DHSC, in August 2023 from Philadelphia, where he was the director of simulation at Crozer Health. He was a critical care and flight paramedic for 30 years, as well as an Emergency Medical Services (EMS) instructor. He is also a regional faculty/instructor for the American Heart Association and a prehospital trauma life-support instructor for the National Association of EMTs.

A doctor who has really been there

Dr. Bryanna Harris Hipp knows what it’s like to be a caregiver for a person with a disability. When the Orlando native’s mini-match sent her to the Orlando Regional Campus for her third and fourth years of medical school, she lived with her sister’s family and was one of the caregivers for her brother-in-law.

Sawyer Bartell was paralyzed in a diving accident a few years ago. He and wife Sara are the parents of two little girls, 5-year-old Jenna and 3-year-old Eila, who call Aunt Bryanna “Bobo.”

“They couldn’t say ‘Bryanna’ when they were learning to talk," her mother, Tanna Harris, said, "and she’s still ‘Bobo’.”

It was a great arrangement for the close-knit family: Hipp had a rent-free place to live and Sawyer Bartell got skilled care from one of the M.D. Class of 2024’s top graduates. She was the recipient of the Robert D. Snyder, M.D., Award for Outstanding Student in General Surgery with a Focus on Breast Cancer Award, as well as the Individual Achievement Award, which is given in recognition of a student with significant contributions and achievements as recognized by her classmates and faculty. Orlando Regional Campus Dean Mark Chaet said the Individual Achievement Award was an obvious selection. She’s also a product of the Bridge to Clinical Medicine master’s program, one of the College of Medicine’s pathways programs created to broaden and diversify the pool of applicants to medical school.

Her family and close friends Taylor Igo and Lauren and Eric Saccomanno were at commencement to share Bobo’s achievements. She’s headed to Advocate Health Care in Chicago for a residency in general surgery.

A family legacy in health care

When Amelia Hartje announced from the Ruby Diamond Concert Hall stage in March that she had matched in pediatrics at the University of Alabama Medical Center in Birmingham, she shared that she was “following in the footsteps of my 97-year-old grandma.”

Doris Phillips, M.D., was one of four women accepted into the University of Alabama Birmingham’s class of 1950. She and her husband, the late Carey William Phillips, M.D., had a pediatrics practice together there.

“I never met him,” Hartje said. “He passed when my mom was 15. But if you walk into the Children’s Hospital of Alabama, my grandmother’s name is there on the wall.”

Dr. Phillips finally fully retired at the age of 89. She was unable to make the trip to Tallahassee but watched the live-stream. Hartje had many relatives to help her celebrate her graduation, including her husband, Gustavo Machado, and her aunt, Jean Phillips, her late mother’s sister and a daughter of the pediatric power couple. Phillips is a registered nurse, working in kidney transplants.

Hartje shared a photo of her with her grandmother from 2020, whom she visited in Birmingham after she received her white coat. Dr. Phillips donned her old stethoscope for the occasion.

Speaking of doctor couples, and grandmothers ...

Dr. Taylor Posey and her partner, Dr. Donovan Trudeau, like to say they met in the psychiatric ward. Then they laugh.

Both were medical students, she at the Florida State University College of Medicine and he at the Alabama College of Osteopathic Medicine in Dothan, Ala., but both were assigned to their respective Pensacola regional campuses. He was nearing the end of a rotation with  Pensacola psychiatrist Dr. Georgia Ketchum at what was then called Pavilion, now called HCA Florida West Hospital, as Posey was just starting hers. Ketchum sent Trudeau to meet her in the lobby, help her pass the security doors into the psychiatric unit and orient her to the psychiatry rotation. Something definitely clicked.

"He was so beautiful and obviously I knew he was smart already, so he checked a few boxes in the first few seconds of us meeting (love at first sight??)," Posey wrote. Their rotations overlapped for only two days and then he was gone, but he found her on Instagram soon after and they started messaging. "I asked him to dinner and the rest is history!"

Trudeau was one of a large group of whooping, hollering supporters as Posey was hooded Saturday. The weekend before, she was doing the whooping and hollering as he graduated. He is headed to a military residency in internal medicine at the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio and Joint Military Base San Antonio as a U.S. Air Force officer, while she’s going to Bayfront Medical Center in St. Petersburg for a residency in obstetrics and gynecology. Given how busy both will be, they're confident a long-distance romance will work out fine.

“I’m definitely not letting her get away,” he said.

Posey was another graduate paying tribute to a grandmother who couldn't attend in person. "Nana" Cindy Posey, who lives in Destin, is 86 and it's "much harder for her to get around and travel than it used to be."

The graduate posed for a photograph holding a picture of her and Nana with the iconic Westcott Fountain in the background. We can almost hear Nana now echoing President Emeritus John Thrasher's words from his commencement address, "That's my granddaughter, the doctor."


... and grandmothers and great-aunts

Some people were fortunate enough to have a grandmother at medical school graduation in person. Dr. Jodi Wilson had many family and friends in attendance, including her grandmother, Ann Doonan, and her great-aunt and Doonan's sister, Linda Luke.

At Friday's awards ceremonies, Wilson was recognized as a member of Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society and one of six women honored by the American Medical Women's Association with a Glasgow-Rubin Achievement Citation for graduating in the top 10% of their class. Tallahassee Regional Campus Dean Sandeep Rahangdale said Wilson was invited to interview for residency at some of the top programs in the country, including Harvard and Johns Hopkins. She  matched in her first choice: The FSU College of Medicine's internal medicine residency program at Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare.

"We're so happy she's staying here," Tallahassee resident Doonan said.

Paying it forward

M.D. Class of 2024 President Nick Thomas has known since he was a kid that he wanted to be a doctor. He tells everyone that he was inspired by his nephew Kahlil, who is only six years younger than he, and Kahlil’s mother May, one of his sisters who was only 15 when Kahlil was born with cerebral palsy.

Kahlil has had multiple surgeries to improve his quality of life, and Thomas wants to “pay it forward” as an orthopedic surgeon. Sister May went on to finish high school and college, a testament to her perseverance.

The cheering section for Thomas was large and loud at both the commencement ceremony Saturday and the Presentation of Awards Ceremony the day before. Thomas was the recipient of the Myra M. Hurt Leadership in Medicine Award, one of the college’s highest honors for a graduate. Hurt was the acting dean when the FSU College of Medicine was first created and is widely considered the college’s godmother.

Dr. Anthony Speights, senior associate dean for interdisciplinary medical sciences and Thomas’ mentor, presented the award. Thomas asked his inspirational nephew to hold it for a family portrait a short while later. On Saturday, the scenario repeated itself as Kahlil held his uncle's medical school diploma.

Contact Audrey Post at audrey.post@med.fsu.edu

Keri Wortherly knew she’d be in the spotlight twice during Saturday’s College of Medicine commencement ceremony, the first time to be hooded with her Pensacola Regional Campus classmates and the second to be promoted from second lieutenant to the rank of captain in the U.S. Air Force.

As the Jacksonville native returned to the stage in her uniform, all eyes in Ruby Diamond Concert Hall were on her, as the only graduate in the M.D. Class of 2024 headed into the military. She matched in general surgery at the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio and Joint Military Base San Antonio.

Her eyes shone with pride as the audience gave her a standing ovation.

Most years, between four and 10 M.D. graduates head to residency in one of the military services, according to Dean Emeritus John P. Fogarty, a career physician with the U.S. Army who retired at the rank of colonel before moving into academic medicine. He added the military promotion to the commencement ceremony while dean; both the College of Medicine’s M.D. graduation and Armed Forces Day fall on the third Saturday in May each year.

“Whether one or many, it’s always the same,” Fogarty said, “ending with a standing ovation to thank them for their service.”

Service members are “pinned” at a special ceremony at 8:30 a.m. Later, after being hooded by their respective regional campus deans, military grads slip backstage to change into their uniforms for their promotion ceremony. Once all new physicians have been hooded, an official representative of the military – now Fogarty, since his retirement in early 2023 – reads the orders promoting each from the rank of 2^nd lieutenant to captain, or the equivalent in that particular military branch. Each officer repeats the oath he or she took when first joining the military, and then is presented with an FSU veterans’ coin. FSU President Emeritus John Thrasher, a decorated Army veteran of the Vietnam War, presented Wortherly’s coin “as a reflection of the past, present and future and her linkages to FSU,” Fogarty said.

To give the newly-promoted officers time to get backstage and change back into their academic regalia, the ceremony leader calls “Cue the music!” and the Armed Forces Medley is played. Anyone in attendance who served in the military is invited to stand when “their” song is played.

Senior Associate Dean Paul McLeod, M.D., who also serves as dean of the Pensacola Regional Campus, stood for “Anchors Away,” the U.S. Navy anthem, moments after Wortherly received her orders.

Although Worthley is the only active-duty officer, four other members of the Class of 2024 are military veterans and were recognized: Jason Conner, who will begin residency in emergency medicine at Orlando Health; Christopher Davidson, who matched in FSU’s emergency medicine program at Sarasota Memorial Health Care; Hunter Paterson, who will join Wortherly in general surgery at the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio; and Michael Sussman, who matched in obstetrics and gynecology at Tulane University School of Medicine.

On the eve of commencement, one of the most significant days in the life of a medical student, the Florida State University College of Medicine Class of 2024 gathered inside the John Thrasher Building for one final time to celebrate.

Friday’s annual Presentation of Awards ceremony drew a full house inside the Durell Peaden Auditorium as 40 students from the 110-member M.D. class, many accompanied by family and friends, were feted.

Those recognized at the ceremony included members of the Alpha Omega Alpha (AOA) Honor Medical Society and the Chapman Chapter of the Gold Humanism Honor Society (GHHS), as well as winners of 17 separate awards covering a host of medical specialties and eight college-wide awards selected from nominations by students, faculty and staff.

Sarah Hicks, who will be moving on to residency in pediatrics at the University of Alabama-Birmingham following graduation, had quite a day. In addition to being inducted into both the AOA and GHHS, she and classmate Anabelle Rosenthal were recipients of the Frank C. Walker Jr., M.D., Excellence in Pediatrics awards.

With family and friends on hand, who Hicks said “really made me who I am,” she was visibly moved when presented the final award of the night by the college’s interim dean, Alma Littles, M.D.

The J. Ocie Harris Outstanding Student Award, named in honor of the College of Medicine’s dean from 2003 to 2008, is presented to the student showing the best all-around promise of becoming a physician of the highest caliber.

“It made it really, really, special,” Hicks said between congratulatory greetings at the post-event reception. “It was not expected at all. When I stood up there and looked out at all my peers and so many amazing physicians who have already done so many amazing things, it meant so much to me and I’m so grateful.”

COMPLETE LIST OF AWARD WINNERS

WATCH THE CEREMONY

Soon-to-be physician Joey Cyriac began his FSU career eight years ago as an undergraduate member of the Honors Medical Scholars program, one of several pathway programs the College of Medicine offers for those exploring medical careers.

“The Honors Medical Scholars program was a big reason why a lot of us came to Florida State University,” said Cyriac, one of four HMS graduates presented awards. “The (HMS) mission statement is sort of similar and aligned with the College of Medicine, so our recognizing that as seniors in high school drew us to the College of Medicine. That sort of resonated and has grown stronger as we continued through our education. It’s a big reason why all four of us have stayed.”

Cyriac, along with Hanna Lateef, received the Linda Stine Interprofessional Leadership Award. Fellow HMS alumni in the M.D. Class of 2024 Sheena Chege, Khari King and Rida Darji, were multiple award winners.

Chege was honored with the Nobles/Brown Altruism in Medicine and the Luther W. Holloway Award for Pediatrics, in addition to being inducted into AOA and GHHS, where she was joined by King. Darji collected the J. Orson Smith, M.D. Scholarship in Internal Medicine and along with classmate Julian Melchor, was presented the Access to Care Award in Honor of Robin McDougall. Each of those was awarded by the Capital Medical Society Foundation.

Sharing the awards stage with his HMS classmates made it more special for Cyriac.

“The emotion that sticks out is appreciativeness,” he said. “Not only for the colleagues that we are so fortunate to have that are like-minded and driven that we were lucky to have over the past eight years, but also the mentors, faculty and staff, the countless people that kind of helped us come to where we are.

“I’m so thankful for the mentors, the relationships and everything else this journey has provided.”

Among the other major awards, Class of 2024 President Nick Thomas was presented the Myra M. Hurt Leadership in Medicine Award by his mentor, Dr. Anthony Speights, senior associate dean of Interdisciplinary Medical Sciences.

In addition to the honors society and M.D. Class of 2024 Presentation of Awards ceremonies, the College of Medicine also held a ribbon-cutting for the Chapman Wellness Garden and presented the second Hippocratic Award to Fort Pierce Regional Campus Clinical Assistant Professor George Fyffe, M.D.

Contact Bob Thomas at robert.thomas@med.fsu.edu