College of Medicine Movie

Read Kirch’s keynote address

View anniversary slideshow

By Ron Hartung

Oct. 8, 2010

Darrell Kirch, guest speaker at the College of Medicine’s capstone 10^th-anniversary event Oct. 7, offered congratulations for 10 years of innovation – and challenged his audience to join him in transforming the nation’s health system into one that truly responds to patients’ needs.

“I can’t say enough good things about what you’ve accomplished,” said Kirch, president and CEO of the Association of American Medical Colleges. “The problem is now we need to extend it to other medical schools and to the entire health-care system.”

Kirch took his listeners, both on the main campus and by webcast at the college’s regional campuses, on a lively tour of the past century of American health care. He showed how the U.S. – despite great advances in medical knowledge and education – has created a culture that discourages patient-centered care. Add in the recent health-reform act and the downturn in the economy, Kirch said, and you have a system in urgent need of change.

“Who is going to fix this?” he asked. “You need to have some of the best minds in the nation who understand how you deliver health care, how you educate health professionals and how you study – do research on what works and doesn’t. You need to have those come together, and they come together in academic medicine.”

He described a recipe for change that has six ingredients – and he said he had seen all six ingredients at work during his two days at the College of Medicine. Those ingredients are:

1. A mission statement that you actually intend to fulfill. “You have the most focused mission statement I’ve ever seen for a medical school,” he said. “And you’ve been relentless in every one of your programs to line up your activities with that mission statement.”
2. Integrated, interactive leadership. “You are displaying integrated leadership,” Kirch said. “Dean [John] Fogarty is a very, very talented person, but he could never get that mission fulfilled as a commander. He could only do it surrounded by a group of like-minded leaders. I saw leadership from the students today when I saw some of the things that they do in your outreach programs. It’s not a single leader; it’s widely distributed leadership.”
3. Teamwork. “Everywhere I’ve looked in this College of Medicine, I’ve seen teams,” he said. “Your Learning Communities are teams, right? It permeates the curriculum. Your outreach programs are team-based. You understand it’s the power of the team, it’s the wisdom of the team. None of us, as an individual, can get it done.”
4. A focus on results. “What I’m impressed by is you’re actually saying not just, ‘Are we doing good things?’ but ‘Are we really delivering on what we promised – what we promised when we were established and what we say in our mission statement, what we say to our students when they apply?’ You’re measuring your results in line with your promises.”
5. Medical ethics. “When you have expansive areas of Florida where people can’t even get to health care, when you have people searching in vain for decent primary-care homes, that’s not a just health-care system,” Kirch said. “So it isn’t a political issue; it is an ethical issue for any of us who have any concern about health care.”
6. Courage. “You know, some of you as med students – especially those in the early years – showed some real courage coming to a start-up medical school,” he said. “The faculty who came here showed some real courage. President [Sandy] D’Alemberte clearly was a courageous leader. [Sen. Durell Peaden Jr.] showed courage with an idea that was swimming against the stream of the times. We’re at a time in our country when I fear courage is in short supply. But I know where we need it most is in fixing our health-care system and training the next generation of physicians to be our partners in doing that.”

Kirch’s final words to his audience: “You’re doing a wonderful job; we have a lot of work left to do. I really look forward to joining you in that task.”

CONTACT: Doug Carlson
(850) 645-1255; doug.carlson@med.fsu.edu
 
Oct. 18, 2010
 
 
Dance Marathon at Florida State University and Children’s Miracle Network at Shands Children’s Hospital at the University of Florida will present a $211,000 check to the Florida State University College of Medicine for the benefit of children throughout Gadsden and Leon counties.
 
The proceeds are part of the record $451,000 raised in 2010 by Dance Marathon, the largest student-run philanthropy on the Florida State campus. Children’s Miracle Network at Shands Children’s Hospital at UF distributes part of the money raised to the Florida State College of Medicine for use in pediatric outreach programs.
 
The College of Medicine is using part of the proceeds to pay for a school-based health program in Gadsden County designed to address health care disparities among area children. The record proceeds this year will help expand mental health care availability in the schools. Other projects funded by the Dance Marathon earnings include equipment for the pediatrics unit at Tallahassee Memorial Hospital.
 
Scheduled to participate in the signing ceremony are Dr. John P. Fogarty, dean of the FSU College of Medicine; Dr. Rick Bucciarelli, associate vice president for health affairs for government relations at the University of Florida; members of the FSU Dance Marathon overall committee and FSU medical students who are part of the Pediatrics Interest Group. The presentation will take place:
 
TUESDAY, OCT. 19
 
12 P.M.
 
FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF MEDICINE ATRIUM
 
1115 W. CALL ST.
 
TALLAHASSEE
 
Directions: From downtown travel west on Tennessee Street and turn left on Stadium Drive. The College of Medicine is located on the corner of Stadium Drive and Call Street. Limited press parking will be available by RSVP in a parking lot located off of Call Street between the College of Medicine and the Psychology Building. Additional parking is available in the parking garage on the corner of Stadium Drive and Spirit Way.
 
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College of Medicine receives grant for community-based clinical research

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. —The Florida State University College of Medicine and the University of Florida have jointly received $600,000 from the State University System of Florida Board of Governors to strengthen research, education and service efforts in areas of public health and to boost economic growth.

The award, under the New Florida 2010 Scholar’s Clustering Grant Program, aims to foster collaborations among state institutions in the areas of health, science and engineering. It is part of a broader program to engage the state university system in the creation of high-skill, high-wage, knowledge-based employment opportunities.

The funds will support the UF-FSU Community Research Collaborative Program, a research effort that combines Florida State’s strength in community-based medical education with UF’s expertise in clinical and translational science research.

“Working with physicians in the community setting will provide new and invaluable research opportunities where the majority of patients get health care in Florida,” said John P. Fogarty, M.D., dean of the Florida State University College of Medicine.

The project will establish a statewide network of facilities affiliated with the two universities that will connect local communities with teams of clinical scientists, physicians and physicians-in-training, creating new opportunities to conduct clinical and public health research.

“This new program, grant and FSU partnership accelerate our commitment to move medical advances from university laboratories into Florida communities, making positive and lasting differences in the lives of the people of Florida," said Michael Good, M.D., dean of the UF College of Medicine. “Our mutual goal is to change lives for the better and significantly improve health throughout our state.”

In addition to benefiting the state’s 19 million residents, the universities will be able to create new opportunities and advances for physicians, scientists and medical students while exploring the causes, prevention, diagnosis and treatment of diseases.

Initial efforts will involve two projects:

• Assessing and monitoring cases of mild traumatic brain injury and of health risk behaviors among youngsters in Florida. The project will give physicians and medical students access to state-of-the-art instruments that will allow surveillance, detection and follow-up of mild traumatic brain injury cases among youth who take part in organized sports.
• Evaluating practices already in use by pediatricians and family physicians for assessing and monitoring health risk factors such as diet, exercise and obesity in children and adolescents, and seeing how information technology can aid the process.

The College of Medicine has an established network of more than 1,900 community physicians across the state, who provide care for more than 2 million Florida residents.  The research initiative will present opportunities for affiliated physicians to participate in projects that are of potential benefit to their current and future patients.

“Our community-based medical education model is vital to our mission of focusing on primary care and in the development of the FSU Clinical Research Network that will involve hundreds of medical practices in six cities across the state,” said Michael Muszynski, M.D., regional campus dean for research at Florida State. “With these relationships and this grant we’ve got a great first step in putting community-based health care research to work for the people of Florida.”

UF’s resources for the Community Research Collaborative Program include the long experience and expertise of researchers in the CTSI in clinical studies and biomedical informatics. That will enable researchers to formulate sound protocols for collection and analysis of vast amounts of health data relating to the entire state or to subsets of the population. The institute integrates the research and training activities of 12 colleges, two clinical campuses, two regional health care systems and connections in all 67 counties in the state.

“This is a huge opportunity to expand our ability to engage physicians and patients across the state in clinical research, with the goal of improving health,” said Michael Conlon, chief operating officer of the UF CTSI. “We’re going to be able to do community-based research across the state because of this partnership.”

The collaboration also stands to have a large economic impact on the state. Research that allows health risk identification, disease marker detection and injury avoidance will translate into savings in health care dollars that would otherwise be spent to treat illness.

“With an  established clinical research infrastructure we will be in position to  help attract even more research dollars to the state and help address a slate of other health issues, as well,” said Myra Hurt, Ph.D., senior associate dean for research and graduate programs at the Florida State College of Medicine. Hurt is co-principal investigator for the project, along with David Nelson, M.D., director of the UF Clinical and Translational Science Institute.

“Working together, the universities will create new opportunities and advances not only for physicians, scientists and students, but most importantly, for the citizens of Florida, as we explore patient-oriented research into the causes, prevention, diagnosis and treatment of diseases,” Nelson said.

 
 Read the entire report

OUR IMPACT ON OUR COMMUNITIES

Highlights from the 2010 socio-economic impact study prepared for the Florida State University College of Medicine by MGT of America Inc.

FACTS AND FIGURES

• Overall, the College of Medicine occupies 376,000 square feet of space (counting all of the regional campuses).
• It has affiliation agreements with 46 hospitals that collectively encompass more than 8,000 acute-care beds. It also has affiliation with 45 county health departments, clinics and similar organizations.
• It has approximately 115 full-time faculty members on the main campus in Tallahassee and approximately 1,700 part-time clinical faculty members across the state.
• The faculty members are supported by more than 500 full- and part-time technical and support staff.
• Enrollment reached full capacity in May 2010. The first class of approximately 120 students is scheduled to graduate in May 2011.
• So far, the college has produced 336 graduates with the M.D. degree.

MISSION FULFILLMENT

• Ten years after its legislative authorization, the FSU College of Medicine is a clear success. It has now reached its full enrollment capacity and will be producing a steady stream of new physicians for the state.
• It has effectively fulfilled the mission that was envisioned for the new medical school when it was established by state leaders. It has outperformed its state and national peers on many measures related to primary care, elder care and attention to the needs of medically underserved populations.

PRACTICING IN FLORIDA

• Of the 27 members of the first graduating class in 2005, 22 have completed residency/fellowship training and entered practice (more than 81 percent). Of those who have completed residency, 14 (nearly 64 percent) are now practicing in Florida. The percentage capture rate is highest among the state’s medical schools and is more than 1.6 times greater than the national average of 39 percent for in-state retention of medical school graduates.
• Of the 51 College of Medicine graduates who are known to have completed residency, 34 (or 67 percent) are practicing in a primary care specialty. Most important, 24 of these primary care physicians are practicing in Florida.

PRIMARY CARE

• When they were asked [on the AAMC’s Matriculating Student Questionnaire] about career plans when they entered the program, 49 percent of College of Medicine students indicated the intent to pursue a primary care specialty upon graduation, compared with only 43 percent of their national peers. The College of Medicine had admitted students who were about 14 percent more likely to pursue primary care medical careers than new students starting at other medical schools.
• In the most recent match (March 2010), 56 percent of the College of Medicine’s graduating class selected to pursue residency training in primary care, compared with only 43 percent nationally and 42 percent in other Florida medical schools. Throughout its history, 55 percent of the College of Medicine’s graduates have pursued residency in primary care – a proportion that is 25 percent greater than the national proportion over the same period.

GERIATRICS

• The College of Medicine has a separate Department of Geriatrics, one of only a few in the United States.
• College of Medicine students receive extra training with seniors in the continuum of doctoring courses as well as through the required geriatrics clerkship. As a result, they average 325 contact hours training in the diagnosis and treatment of elders – an exposure significantly higher than students in typical programs elsewhere.

RURAL HEALTH CARE

• Fifty-seven students from rural counties have enrolled in the College of Medicine over the past 10 years, accounting for 6.9 percent of all entering students. This compares with a 6.3-percent statewide representation of college-aged population from these same rural areas.
• Thirteen percent of 2009 matriculants at the College of Medicine indicated their plan to practice in a non-suburban community with population of 10,000 or less, compared with 5.1 percent of their counterparts nationally.
• Of the 51 College of Medicine graduates who have completed residency training and entered practice to date, seven (14 percent) are practicing in a predominantly rural area in Florida. Numerous others are in practices with significant numbers of rural patients.

RACIAL AND ETHNIC DIVERSITY

• Of the recently matriculated 120-member Class of 2014, approximately 20 (one-sixth of the class) were enrolled as a direct result of one of the College of Medicine outreach programs and contribute to a much more diverse student body.
• Over its 10-year history, 10 percent of College of Medicine students have been African-American and 16 percent Hispanic. The proportion of African-American and Hispanic students at the college far exceeds their representation in the state medical community and mirrors the overall mix of the state population more closely than most other professional schools. The representation of racial and ethnic minorities among the student body significantly exceeds their presence among Florida’s current M.D. population.

CARING FOR THE UNDERSERVED

• Full-time physician faculty members provide care to underserved populations at local facilities, including assignments at the local community health center, rural Department of Health facilities, a school-based health center and a domestic violence center. These sites also serve as clinical locations for first- and second-year students throughout the state to reinforce clinical skills and gain experience in caring for the underserved.
• Once students begin clerkships in the third year of the curriculum, the emphasis continues with students developing their understanding of and skills for meeting the medical needs of underserved populations. In particular, the third-year, three-week Community Medicine Clerkship is required for all students at the regional campus sites and is designed to broaden students’ understanding of the role played by community agencies in health promotion and disease prevention. Other opportunities include multiple rotations at the Immokalee Health Education Site, which draws much of its clientele from migrant populations.  
• Also, College of Medicine faculty members sponsor trips to Panama and the Texas border through the student organization FSUCares to deliver health care to people who have little or no access to medical care.

ECONOMIC IMPACT

• More than $503 million has been expended by, or on behalf of, the college or its affiliates since its inception in 2000-01.
• Annual expenditure levels reached nearly $73 million in 2009-10, while still operating 26 students short of full capacity.
• Based on the most recent year’s (2009-10) estimates, more than $160 million in impact will occur on an annual basis each successive year of full-capacity operation.
• The most recent budget data (2010-11) suggest ongoing impacts at levels exceeding 2009-10 levels, particularly considering planned expansions to the research program (estimated to grow three times over in five years, and up to five times its current levels in 10 years).
• The cumulative investment into state and local economies over the first 10 years of College of Medicine operation is estimated to have exceeded $1 billion.

TAXPAYER RETURN ON INVESTMENT
An assessment of resource investments often entails an analysis to determine the return that is experienced on those funds. It can be demonstrated that state taxpayers’ contributions toward operation of the College of Medicine have yielded extremely fruitful results. The most recent accounts of operations include the following:

• The College of Medicine received about $39 million in public funds toward its operations in 2009-10.
• The total economic impact for this same period totaled nearly $161 million.
• The annual return on investment (total benefits divided by funds invested) amounted to over 410 percent, exclusively in terms of economic benefit.

TOTAL EXPENDITURES AND STATEWIDE ECONOMIC IMPACT

(JUNE 2010 CONSTANT DOLLARS)

 Source: Florida State University College of Medicine Finance and Administration; assorted multipliers embedded in impact calculations per Bureau of Economic Analysis, RIMS II

FUTURE ECONOMIC IMPACT

• Based on the most recent expenditures (approaching $73 million) and estimates of statewide impact, the College of Medicine can be expected to contribute more than $160 million per year to the statewide economy, including $100 million in the Tallahassee market and in excess of $5 million in each of the regional campus markets. The activity totals nearly $1 billion every six years.
• Realistically, this likely represents an underestimate, as it does not account for the potentially substantial increases in research funding and activity anticipated in coming years. 
• Additionally, as the college’s graduates begin to bolster Florida’s physician work force, substantial benefits could be experienced by the state and campus localities in terms of economic development. The additional contingent of highly skilled professionals working throughout the state increases personal income levels and allows for more dollars to be retained as patients are able to seek treatment locally rather than outside the region or state. Furthermore, the locales become more attractive options for health care and related research businesses, as well as individuals and businesses from broader industries, based on quality-of-life enhancements resulting from the improved health-care infrastructures.

STUDENT SATISFACTION
Compared with their counterparts in other allopathic medical schools across the nation, College of Medicine graduates are significantly more satisfied with their educational experience. Data from the AAMC Graduation Questionnaire for the Class of 2009 (the most recent version available) reveal that the average response from College of Medicine graduates was higher than the national average on 117 of 125 key survey items relating to basic science instruction, clinical clerkships, and professional skills development.

• The mean response for College of Medicine graduating students was higher than the national average for 18 of 19 items that addressed satisfaction with the content and structure of basic science courses and their value in preparing for clerkship training, and the overall mean score across all items was 10 percent above the average of counterparts nationally.
• For the 51 items related to clerkship experiences, College of Medicine graduating students were again much more satisfied. Their average response was more positive in all but five instances. Four of those five were related to the quality of instruction provided by residents and fellows, which is not a key part of the College of Medicine instructional delivery model (unlike at most schools). Again, the mean response for clerkship experiences for the College of Medicine was 10 percent more favorable than the national average.
• College of Medicine graduating students were even more positive about their experiences in medical school when responding to the 47 items related to the development of a variety of doctoring and professional skills. Their overall mean response was 13 percent above the national average; they rated 45 of the 47 responses higher than their national peers.
• Seven items on the questionnaire related to instruction in caring for elders, a special focus of the College of Medicine mission. The College of Medicine response was more positive in every instance, and the mean response was 13 percent above the national average.

STUDENT PERFORMANCE

• Evidence of the strong performance of the College of Medicine instructional program also can be found in the performance of its students on the U.S. Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE). The USMLE is composed of different assessments conducted at various points in a student’s educational program. Step 1, which occurs at the end of the second year, assesses student knowledge of the basic sciences and ability to apply key concepts to the practice of medicine. Step 2 CK assesses clinical knowledge early in the fourth year. This assessment classifies test items along two dimensions: disease category and physician task. Step 2 CS, which also occurs early in the fourth year, assesses clinical skills through observation of student interactions with simulated patients.
• The mean Step 1 score for College of Medicine students in the Class of 2011 was 218, compared with the national average of 221. Their performance is well above the 188 score necessary to “pass.” College of Medicine students had a 96-percent pass rate on first attempt, compared with 94 percent nationally. All College of Medicine students attained a passing score on a retake of the exam.
• A 218 mean score may appear to reflect only average outcomes. However, College of Medicine results were higher than predicted based on national norms for entering students. Because of its efforts to admit students most likely to serve in rural and underserved areas, the College of Medicine accepts students with lower-than-average Medical College Application Test (MCAT) scores. Based on the strong positive correlation between MCAT scores and USMLE test scores, the predicted response for College of Medicine test-takers was only 211. That is, the training received during the first two years of the College of Medicine curriculum has enabled its students to perform significantly better than expected.
• The value added by the College of Medicine curriculum is even more apparent in Step 2 CK results. The Class of 2010 had a mean score of 230, just above the national average of 229. When considering the performance of these same FSU students on the MCAT exam several years earlier, their expected performance was only 214. All test-takers in the Class of 2010 passed Step 2 CK. This pattern of significantly higher-than-predicted performance for College of Medicine students on Step 2 CK has prevailed since the second graduating class.
• The Step 2 CS assessment results are reported using a “pass-fail” designation and not a numeric score, so fewer comparisons are possible between the performance of the College of Medicine and all medical schools nationally. In the six years of USMLE testing at Florida State, 99 percent of students passed Step 2 CS on the first attempt, compared with 96 percent of all U.S. and Canadian students and 83 percent of international students.

GRADUATE MEDICAL EDUCATION

• Directors of residency programs not only observe the strong USMLE scores attained by applicants from the College of Medicine but also openly express their satisfaction with the strong on-the-job performance of those graduates in their residency programs. As a result, residency program directors now actively recruit College of Medicine students for their programs. One faculty member observed that “FSU has gone from unknown to sought after in residency placements” in its first few years.
• Two metrics demonstrate the College of Medicine’s success in preparing its students for graduate medical education – the ability of students to match with programs of their choice and their performance in their residency program. On the most recent residency program Match Day in March 2010, all College of Medicine students matched. This 100-percent overall match rate compares with the national rate of 93 percent.
• College of Medicine students exhibit superior performance while serving in their residency. Among the charter Class of 2005, the only class in which a majority of its members have completed residency training, 30 percent served as “chief resident,” generally considered the strongest performer in his or her cohort. College of Medicine graduates are attaining this leadership recognition at a rate far higher than predicted.

STUDENT COMMENTS
These are paraphrases of comments students made during interviews with MGT of America Inc. Though they may not be accurate word for word, they faithfully reflect the intent of what was said.

1. Extensive patient contact on campus during Years 1 and 2 of the program made the third-year clerkships more productive for me.
2. The Clinical Learning Center and standardized patients on the main campus are critical to student success in clinical training on the regional campuses.
3. The community learning environment helps us prepare to function as a team.
4. The FSU College of Medicine model fosters community building instead of competition.
5. I had an amazing OB experience with 10 deliveries and 40 assists.
6. I have had more hands-on opportunities than my counterparts at other medical schools.
7. The community faculty members are very impressive – they are great doctors, brilliant, want to teach, and embrace their roles in helping us.
8. Working one-on-one with individual practitioners during Year 3 has helped me realize there are many different strategies for blending professional and personal life.
9. The "quality time" I am able to spend with faculty is key to the success of the FSU College of Medicine model.
10. As an FSU College of Medicine clerk, I am functioning at the same level as residents trained elsewhere.
11. When a student from a well-known private medical school came to Pensacola for one of his clerkship rotations, he told me his experience here was more productive than anything at his home institution.
12. In sitting for the USMLE clinical skills assessment with students from other schools, I found I had logged far more hours working with patients than my counterparts.

CLERKSHIP FACULTY COMMENTS
These are paraphrases from interviews with MGT of America Inc.

1. Based on my prior teaching experience at another medical school, I can tell you that the FSU model should be the model.
2. Third- and fourth-year students from the FSU College of Medicine are ahead of residents I have worked with elsewhere.
3. FSU College of Medicine students are “nicer human beings” than I find at other schools.
4. I wish I had been provided the same opportunities when I was a medical student.
5. Serving as an FSU College of Medicine faculty member has contributed to improvements in the quality of health care in my community.
6. Access to the FSU College of Medicine e-library has enhanced my ability to provide up-to-date, evidence-based diagnoses and medical care.
7. Students have elevated the appreciation for and use of technology in private practices where they have been assigned.
8. With the encouragement of their students, faculty members now practice evidence-based medicine. 
9. Physicians are proud to serve on the FSU faculty and overtly make public their appointment on websites.
10. Faculty members feel they have now gone to medical school twice, and learned more the second time.
11. Patients are impressed their doctor is good enough to be a faculty member.
12. Working with students is like a shot of adrenalin.

COMMUNITY BOARD COMMENTS
These are paraphrases from interviews with MGT of America Inc.

1. The regional medical campus is a tremendous asset for our community (Daytona Beach).
2. The FSU College of Medicine is a big factor in our community’s efforts to reverse its brain drain (Pensacola).
3. It is prestigious for our community to be a site for a medical school (Tallahassee).
4. The Torrey Pines Institute for Molecular Studies knew an FSU College of Medicine campus was coming to town when they made a decision to come to the region (Fort Pierce).
5. Our hospitals around Fort Pierce are now talking about starting residency programs; the College of Medicine expanded their vision about the value of hospitals in medical education.
6. The College of Medicine was the catalyst for Florida Hospital Orlando to expand from three to seven residency programs.
7. We expect to hire many College of Medicine graduates in the future.
8. Many recent College of Medicine graduates have standing job offers to return to our community to practice when they complete residency training.
9. When new physicians come to town, they immediately inquire about and make known their interest in academic appointments.
10. The College of Medicine was able to get the two big hospitals in town to work together for the good of the community.
11. I am absolutely convinced that quality of care has increased in our community since the FSU regional medical campus was established.
12. The new doctors being attracted to our community due to the FSU campus are of the highest caliber – this is more than a work force issue, it is being able to recruit the best of the best.

IMPACT ON OTHER FSU PROGRAMS

• Medical schools are recognized for having rigorous academic admission standards, and high school seniors interested in medical careers are already thinking about how to gain a competitive edge in the medical school application process when they select their undergraduate institution. One factor they consider is whether their potential undergraduate universities also offer medical education, in hopes that they can establish valuable contacts through faculty references and undergraduate research opportunities that will help in medical school admission. This factor can be seen in the quality of the FSU freshman class since the establishment of the College of Medicine.
• At the same time that the quality of the incoming freshman class was increasing, the proportion of students declaring a major in programs generally considered to be pre-med also increased. The programs in the life and natural sciences attracted approximately 10 percent of freshman majors in 2000 and nearly 16 percent in 2010. Interestingly, the number of majors in all other disciplines was almost the same in fall 2009 as in fall 2000, meaning that the pre-med majors absorbed all the growth in first-time freshmen at FSU.
• The College of Medicine’s impact on university-wide research performance has been significant with the arrival of full-time faculty members at the medical school, particularly in the past five years. Total sponsored research funding for College of Medicine faculty members has grown from $3.7 million in FY 2004 to $10.6 million in FY 2009. On the basis of research funding per full-time faculty member, the College of Medicine’s performance is especially impressive. Compared with other schools and colleges at FSU, the research funding per faculty member for the College of Medicine ranks second highest. Of particular note, approximately 30 percent of the increase in overall research funding at FSU over the past five years is attributed to the College of Medicine.

To get a copy of the full MGT report, e-mail doug.carlson@med.fsu.edu.

The Florida State University College of Medicine on Wednesday will unveil an exhibit related to the historic passage of Medicare and recognize retired Tallahassee physician Charles Mathews, who donated several items.
 
Mathews attended the first meeting on Medicare at the White House with President Lyndon Johnson in 1966 and recently donated the materials provided for that meeting. Other items on display are the pen President Johnson used to sign the Medicare bill, and historic photos and documents from the Claude Pepper Papers, housed at the Claude Pepper Library. The items will be permanently housed at the university’s Claude Pepper Institute on Aging and Public Policy.
 
In addition to Mathews, others scheduled to participate in the unveiling ceremony are College of Medicine Dean John P. Fogarty; Dr. Ken Brummel-Smith, chair of the Department of Geriatrics; and representatives from the Pepper Institute. The event will take place:

WEDNESDAY, DEC. 15
 
10 A.M.
 
FSU COLLEGE OF MEDICINE ATRIUM
 
TALLAHASSEE

CONTACT: Marshall Kapp
(850) 645-9260; marshall.kapp@med.fsu.edu

By Ron Hartung
February 2011

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- Making health-care choices for another adult is a role no one really wants but anyone might get. A new publication for Florida residents just made that role a little easier.

The booklet, “Making Medical Decisions for Someone Else: A Florida Handbook,” is based on one created in 2006 by the American Bar Association’s Commission on Law and Aging. The ABA offered it as a template for states to adapt.

At the Florida State University College of Medicine, the Center for Innovative Collaboration in Medicine & Law seized that opportunity.

“I did my own research on relevant Florida law, and I also sent out a draft for comments to the Florida Hospital Association, the Florida Medical Association, the state long-term-care ombudsman, the Bio-Ethics Network of Florida, the ABA commission and others,” said Marshall Kapp, director of the Medicine & Law Center, who has posted the completed handbook at /innovativecollaboration/home.

“It basically deals with planning for incapacity at a time when medical decisions may need to be made and you won’t be able to make them for yourself anymore,” Kapp said. “It also deals with the rights and duties of the substitute decision-makers.”

The 20-page booklet uses plain language to walk decision-makers through their new role. It alternates between encouragement (“Anxiety is normal”) and advice (“The aim is to choose as the patient would probably choose, even if it is not what you would choose for yourself”).

One theme the booklet stresses is the importance of communicating with the patient, when possible, and learning what he or she prefers. To assist in that process, the booklet includes a two-page quiz. The quiz instructs decision-makers to answer the questions as they think the patient would answer them; have the patient answer them; and then compare and discuss the two sets of answers.

Charles Sabatino, director of the ABA Commission on Law and Aging, said that for most people, serving as a health-care substitute decision-maker comes as a surprise.

“They don’t realize that it's a serious and difficult job until they are pulled into it in a crisis,” he said. “And unlike most jobs we take on, there are very few educational resources out there to train us for that role. The guide fills a deep gap in resources.”

Only three other states have versions of the ABA guide so far: Maryland, New Hampshire and North Dakota. Because of its elder population, Florida especially needs such a guide, Kapp said.

In addition, he noted that Florida was home to the Terri Schiavo case. Schiavo, a St. Petersburg resident, was in a coma from 1990 to 2005. The state and nation were divided by the legal battle that raged between her husband and her parents over whether Schiavo would have wanted to be kept alive through a feeding tube. Eventually the courts, the Florida governor and even the U.S. president were involved.

The Schiavo case was high-profile and important, Kapp said, but it was very much the exception.

“A big part of why a booklet like this is important,” he said, “is that in the vast majority of circumstances there can be a meeting of the minds that is reached, and ultimately things can be done on the basis of consensus rather than conflict. We ought to be educating both professionals and the public in a way to avoid future Schiavo cases.”
 

Feb. 10, 2011

The Florida State University College of Medicine on Friday will host “Sexuality and Aging,” an event geared toward senior citizens. The event is part of the geriatrics department’s “It’s Never Too Late to Learn” series that brings medical students and elders together in activities to promote active lifestyles leading to positive health outcomes.
 
More than 150 Tallahassee senior citizens, several dozen medical students, including members of the Geriatrics Interest Group, and nearly a dozen community health organizations and sponsors will participate. Among the organizations taking part are the Tallahassee Senior Center, The Area Agency on Aging for North Florida, Thagard Student Health Center, Bond Community Health Center, Department of Elder Affairs, Big Bend Cares Clinic, Pepper Institute on Aging, Leon County Health Department and Homes Instead Senior Care.
 
The event includes free health screenings, demonstrations related to sexuality and aging, and a presentation by Dr. Lisa Granville, professor and associate chair of the department of geriatrics at the College of Medicine. It will be held:
 

FRIDAY, FEB. 11
10 A.M.-1 P.M.
FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF MEDICINE

CONTACT: Doug Carlson
(850) 645-1255; doug.carlson@med.fsu.edu

CONTACT: Ron Hartung
(850) 645-9205; ronald.hartung@med.fsu.edu

Feb. 15, 2011

FOR THE 10th YEAR, FSUCARES IS SPENDING SPRING BREAK ON MEDICAL OUTREACH TRIPS

If it’s spring break, don’t look for the students of FSUCares on a beach or at a bar. This year, like every year since the Florida State College of Medicine welcomed its first class in 2001, these students will be giving out medical supplies and treatment — and getting a cultural education in return.

On Wednesday, Feb. 16, they will be available for interviews and photos as they pack medical supplies donated by the Tallahassee community. Fourteen first- and second-year College of Medicine students will make the annual trip, along with six faculty members. They will split into three groups: one in Immokalee, southwest Florida; one on the Texas border; and one in a small village in Panama. Spring break is March 7-11.

FSUCares’ mission is to increase outreach to underserved communities, said Elena Reyes, faculty adviser for FSUCares. She also is the director for the “Cross-Cultural Medicine” course, an elective designed to help students develop the knowledge and skills to work with Florida’s underserved Latino community.

“In Panama, we will be working in the clinic that we helped build through donations in the small Filipina village,” Reyes said. “The theme for the 10th-anniversary trip is long-term community partnership through service-learning.” Besides medical supplies, FSUCares also has been collecting gently used clothing for all three sites.

Students will be available for interviews and photos on:

WEDNESDAY, FEB. 16
4:30 – 6:30 P.M.
FSU COLLEGE OF MEDICINE
1115 W. CALL ST., TALLAHASSEE

Directions: From downtown, travel west on Tennessee Street and turn left on Stadium Drive. The College of Medicine is at Stadium and Call Street. Limited press parking will be available by RSVP in a parking lot located off Call between the College of Medicine and the Psychology Building. Additional parking is available in the parking garage at Stadium Drive and Spirit Way.

For more about FSUCares, visit /fsucares/home

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - Some of the biggest names in evolutionary medicine will be in Tallahassee Feb. 25 and 26 for an international conference at The Florida State University.

Registration for the conference, “Evolutionary Medicine: Contributions to the Study of Disease and Immunity,” is free and open to the public.

The keynote speakers include one of the founders of the evolutionary medicine field –– Dr. Randolph Nesse of the University of Michigan –– and the co-author of the field’s first textbook, Sir Peter Gluckman of the University of Auckland (New Zealand). 

Also scheduled to speak are Kathleen Barnes, of the Johns Hopkins Center for Global Health; Paul Ewald, director of the Evolutionary Medicine Program at the University of Louisville; and Michael Ruse, the Lucyle T. Werkmeister Professor of Philosophy at Florida State University.

Evolutionary medicine is the application of evolutionary knowledge to the understanding and treatment of health and disease. Nesse has described it this way: “We’re trying to understand why natural selection has not made the body better, why natural selection has left the body with vulnerabilities. For every single disease, there is an answer to that question. And for very few of them is the answer very clear yet.”

“Evolutionary medicine is on the cutting edge of how we think about health and disease,” said Joseph Gabriel, an assistant professor in the FSU College of Medicine and a member of the conference’s organizing committee. “It’s tremendously exciting to have some of the leading experts in the world come to Florida State University to discuss the topic with us.”

Nesse is a professor of psychiatry and psychology and the director of the Evolution and Human Adaptation Program at the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor. He is the author of “Why We Get Sick” (1995; co-written with the now-late George Williams), the founding document of the field.

Gluckman is a University of Auckland Distinguished Professor and one of New Zealand’s most highly decorated medical scientists. In 2001 he was awarded New Zealand’s highest scientific award, the Rutherford Medal. He served as the first Chief Science Advisor to the Prime Minister of New Zealand, and is the founding director of the Liggins Institute, home of the Centre for Human Evolution, Adaptation and Disease. Gluckman is the co-author of “Principles of Evolutionary Medicine,” the first textbook on the topic.

The two-day conference will be held:

FRIDAY, FEB. 25
8:30 – 5:30
AUDITORIUM
FSU COLLEGE OF MEDICINE

AND

SATURDAY, FEB. 26
9:30 – 5:30
ROOM 1024
KING LIFE SCIENCES BUILDING

Register for the conference and find a complete schedule at www.bio.fsu.edu/FowlerII/.

For a map of the Florida State campus, go to http://map.campus.fsu.edu/index.aspx.

Cosponsors of the conference are Florida State’s College of Medicine, Department of Biological Science, and History and Philosophy of Science Program. Support for the event comes from the Frank and Yolande Fowler Endowment in Modern Molecular Biology and the William H. and Lucyle T. Werkmeister Endowment Fund.

Few events hold more drama, or have more impact, in the life of a medical student than Match Day. For many, the sealed envelope holds the key to the future.

The residency match is conducted annually by the National Resident Matching Program. It’s the primary system for pairing graduating medical students across the United States with residency programs at teaching hospitals.

At the College of Medicine, 114 students from the Class of 2011 are expected to learn where they will continue their medical education.

Graduating medical students across the country receive their match information at the same time on the same day. The College of Medicine’s ceremony takes place:

Thursday, March 17
12 p.m.
Ruby Diamond Concert Hall
Tallahassee, Fla.

Where are they now? Updated information about College of Medicine alumni.