The first FSU MED magazine in nearly five years features a familiar face on the cover, Dean Alma Littles, M.D., a glimpse into the future for the College of Medicine and its role with FSU Health, Class Notes, Regional Campus highlights and much more.
FSU College of Medicine Department of Behavioral Science and Social Medicine faculty members Karen Geletko, MPH and Jon Mills, Ph.D., MBA co-authored an article with second-year medical student John Acosta-Penaloza, which was published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine's open access journal, AJMP Focus.
The research examines the frequency medical providers screen adolescents for e-cigarettes and advise against its use during health care visits. The study also examines the associations between provider intervention and adolescent harm perception. Findings from the research reveal that provider intervention was more likely among those aged 13-18, who are male, White and/or non-Hispanic and that provider intervention was associated with the belief that e-cigarettes are equally or more addictive than cigarettes.
Florida State University College of Medicine Dean Alma Littles, M.D., was recently recognized in 850 Business Magazine's Pinnacle Awards' Pinnacle Awards edition. Littles was featured in the section titled Honoring 12 Women of Excellence.
Demographic Characteristics Associated With Adolescent Receipt of Provider E-Cigarette Screening and Advice and the Impact on Harm Perception
The team of 11 undergraduate students from six different colleges, primary principal investigator Cesar A. Rodriguez, M.D., College of Medicine research faculty and entrepreneur in residence, and secondary principal investigator David Montez, an associate director at the FSU Center for Undergraduate Research and Academic Engagement, won its second-ever gold medal at the iGEM 2024 GrandJamboree held in Paris, France, this semester.
The team’s work addressed a rare metabolic disorder called trimethylaminuria (TMAU), which causes a strong body odor released through sweat, breath and urine. They sought to create a breathalyzer device that could guide a patient’s treatment by monitoring the level of trimethylamine (TMA), the molecule that causes the odor, in the breath.
“Achieving this gold medal truly means everything to me and the team,” said team leader Ely Nieves. “We care deeply about the TMAU community and worked really hard to make forward progress on our project every single week. It was fantastic to see our work come together and place among the best teams in the world.”
This year’s work built on last year’s project focusing on treatment for the same condition, which earned the team a silver medal — the fourth in a row for the university’s team — at the 2023 Jamboree. Their work yielded promising results and continues as a project within FSU’s Institute for Pediatric Rare Diseases, a new institute located within the College of Medicine that is expanding its reach alongside the larger FSU Health initiative.
“FSU is competing at the highest levels — we’re among the best teams in the world,” Rodriguez said. “Our students are looking at the world. They’re finding these problems and then they’re using state-of-the-art technology to address the problem.”
TMAU is characterized by the body’s inability to oxidize TMA into a compound called odorless trimethylamine N-oxide (TMAO) in the liver. It’s estimated that one in 200,000 to 1 million individuals has the condition.
More than 400 teams from more than 45 countries presented their work to an international panel of over 400 judges at the four-day event in separate divisions for high school, undergraduate and graduate school students.
Other gold-medal winners included institutions such as Stanford University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of Oxford, University of Cambridge, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay and Tsinghua University.
The 2024 research team worked to educate the public about their research and TMAU through the development of a project website and educational videos, and by hosting the second annual Biotechnology Expo at the Challenger Learning Center in July. The expo brought together bio-focused researchers from throughout the Tallahassee community to educate K-8 students.
“FSU’s success in the iGEM competition is a testament to the power of interdisciplinary research,” said David Montez, co-principal investigator and associate director of FSU’s Center for Undergraduate Research and Academic Engagement (CRE). “Students from a wide variety of disciplines develop new skills and apply them together toward a common goal. The students grew in their respective majors, all to serve a chronically underserved patient community.”
The iGEM program at FSU is a shared initiative of the College of Medicine and the Center for Undergraduate Research and Academic Engagement. The program accepts students from any major and is housed in the CRE, a unit of FSU’s Division of Undergraduate Studies.
For more information about the Center for Undergraduate Research and Academic Engagement, visit cre.fsu.edu.
Members of the 2024 FSU iGEM team pose for a group portrait in Paris. Front row, from left, Jordan Schwartz, Hanna Yilmaz-Rodriguez, Michael (Vincent) Pilapil; second row, from left, Ava Polly, Zachary Asarnow, Dorian Chin; third row, from left, Lucas Bonassi, Aidan Marengo, Ely Nieves and Arjan Adhikari. Team member Megan Perusse traveled with the group to Paris but was submitting an assignment at the time the photo was taken. (Photo courtesy of FSU iGEM.)
Alma Littles, M.D., dean of the Florida State University College of Medicine, has been appointed to a four-year term on the Graduate Medical Education Committee for the state of Florida Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA).
She was appointed by Dr. Deborah German, chair of the Council of Florida Medical School Deans (CFMSD). Littles serves as vice chair of the council, which includes the deans of every public and private medical school in the state.
Littles, senior associate dean for medical education and academic affairs at the College of Medicine since 2003, is no stranger to serving on advisory committees for state agencies. At AHCA, she previously served on the Comprehensive Health Information System Advisory Council (2006-2008), as well as the Family Medicine Resident Recruitment and Retention Committee (1995-2012), chairing it from 2001 to 2012.
A member of the Florida Department of Health (DOH) Physicians Workforce Advisory Council (2015-2019), including the last two years as char, she also served on the Florida Correctional Medical Authority (2009-2012). Littles has served on the National Board of Medical Examiners’ Advisory Committee for Medical School Programs since 2013.
German, vice president for health affairs and dean of the College of Medicine at the University of Central Florida, also appointed Joan St. Onge, M.D., senior associate dean at the University of Miami’s Miller School of Medicine, and Stephen Cico, M.D., associate dean for graduate medical education at UCF.
In addition to German’s three appointments, the Graduate Medical Program Committee includes four appointees by the governor, two each by the AHCA secretary and the state surgeon general and one each by the president of the Florida Senate and the speaker of the Florida House of Representatives.
AHCA was created by the Florida Legislature as part of the Health Care Reform Act of 1992 and is tasked with managing the state’s Medicaid program, as well as overseeing the licensure of the state’s health care facilities.
