Professor Jonathan Appelbaum, M.D., was elected vice chair of the American Academy of HIV Medicine Board of Directors. Appelbaum will serve a two-year term. He previsoulsy served as secretary and treasurer.

"My goal is to support the chair and the executive director, and I will continue to serve as the head of the Florida Steering Committee of the organization."

Six College of Medicine employees were honored by the Faculty Council for outstanding work, and nearly 20 were recognized for their length of service.

The awards, presented annually, went this year to:

• Nancy Hayes, Ph.D., associate professor, director of clinical foundations — Outstanding Service Award.

• Amelia Jones, executive assistant, Department of Behavioral Sciences & Social Medicine — Outstanding Staff Award.

• James Olcese, Ph.D., associate professor, Department of Biomedical Sciences — Outstanding Senior Investigator Award.

• Jose Pinto, Ph.D., assistant professor, Biomedical Sciences — Outstanding Junior Investigator Award.

• Javier Rosado, Ph.D., clinical assistant professor, Immokalee Health Education Site — Guardian of the Mission Award.

• Niharika Suchak, M.D., associate professor, Department of Geriatrics; course co-director, Medicine 1 — Outstanding Faculty Educator Award.

Recognized for 15 years of service to the College of Medicine (seen below, starting second from the left) were:

• Rob Montgomery, accounting representative, Finance & Administration.
• Julie Peacock, clinical coordinator, Tallahassee Regional Campus.
• Trey Dyal, administrative specialist, Division of Finance & Administration.
• Wanda Gaines, administrative specialist, Department of Family Medicine & Rural Health.
• Pam McCully, associate director of budget and financial services, Finance & Administration.

 

These employees were recognized for 10 years of service (starting second from the left):

• Connie Donohoe, MPH, GME program manager and FMPP practice manager.
• Kelly Gallavan, administrative specialist, Finance & Administration.
• Elaine Geissinger, MPA, regional campus administrator, Tallahassee Regional Campus.
(Skipping over Dean John P. Fogarty)
• Lela Stefanovic, laboratory researcher, Biomedical Sciences.
• Margie Norman, program associate, Office of Medical Education.
• Sharica Hayes, administrative specialist, Division of Student Affairs.

Not pictured were these other 10-year honorees:

• Suzanne Baker, M.A., research program director, Department of Geriatrics.
• Michael Blaber, Ph.D., professor, Biomedical Sciences.
• Doug Carlson, director of public affairs and communications.
• Rhonda Collins, M.S., assistant director, Department of Clinical Sciences.
• Deb Danforth, M.S., associate professor and director, Clinical Learning Center.
• Karen Geletko, MPH, assistant in medicine, Behavioral Sciences & Social Medicine.
• Traci Parker, executive assistant, Pensacola Regional Campus.
• José E. Rodríguez, M.D., associate professor, co-director, Center for Underrepresented Minorities in Academic Medicine. 

Florida Surgeon General Celeste Philip, MD, MPH, appointed Kim Landry and Michael Smith to the Telehealth Advisory Council. Landry, a Pensacola clerkship faculty member, serves as the EMS medical director and chief medical officer for Leon County EMS and Lifeguard Ambulance Service, Inc. Smith serves as the Telemedicine Program Development Director for the college. The council is managed by the Agency for Health Care Administration and will help regulate the use of webcams and other technology to treat patients from a distance. 

Police Tech Manager Tony Cooper (on right) was recognized for 25 years of service with the FSU Police Department.

"It is a very humbling feeling," said Cooper. "It doesn’t feel like it’s been 25 years. I work with a group who protects and serves. Securing the College of Medicine for the past 12-plus years has been the greatest reward. My top accomplishment is superseding the expectations of my special duty here at the college." 

Vishal Dahya (M.D., '14) recently published "CT-derived Skeletal Muscle Index: A Novel Predictor of Frailty and Hospital Length of Stay after Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement" in the American Heart Journal. Dahya will present his findings at the 2016 American Heart Association Scientific Sessions in November.

Michael Nair-Collins, assistant professor of Behavioral Sciences and Social Medicine, made two presentaions of international scope recently. He presented “Heart donation after cardiac death: Contradictio in terminis? An ethical exploration of the determination of death” in Rome, Italy during the fourth Congress on Ethical, Legal and Psychosocial Aspects of Transplantation. The meeting was held by the European Society for Organ Transplantation in April.

Nair-Collins was also the keynote presenter at Dying, Death, Donating: International Conference on the Ethics of Organ Donation. His presentation, "Donation after cardiac death and the dead donor rule," was made at the Universidad Autonoma de Madrid and Universidad de Granada in Spain in September. 

Utilizing research conducted by Ewa Bienkiewicz, biomedical sciences associate professor, a new skin spray could help stop the progression of Alzheimer's disease, bypassing difficulties associated with digestive treatments. Bienkiewicz is the co-founder of Alzyn, an emerging company under the Florida Institute for Commercialization of Public Research. Alzyn recently signed a license agreement with Transdermal Delivery Solutions to create a HypoSpray® solution to slow the progression of Alzheimer’s disease. Bienkiewicz and her protein biology lab tested many compounds, evaluating levels of the disease's biomarkers. They observed a potential therapeutic intervention and preventive strategy that could be developed into a spray. Bienkiewicz’s research findings will be published in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease. Co-authors are Stephen Beesley, Ph.D., James Olcese, Ph.D., and Charles Saunders, Ph.D.

Fourth-year student Jarrod Robertson was a contributing author to "First 101 Robotic General Surgery Cases in a Community Hospital" in the July - September 2016 issue of the Journal of the Society of Laparoendoscopic Surgeons, JSLS. Clerkship Faculty Member Rodolfo Oviedo, M.D., was the main author. Robertson is currently conducting clinical rotations at the Tallahassee Regional Campus where Oviedo teaches. 

Professor Marshall Kapp presented “Risk Management and Culture Change: When Resident Voice and Choice Conflicts With Standards of Practice,” at the Inaugural Conference of the American Association of Directors of Nursing Services in Baltimore.