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.
FSU also ranks No. 1 in Florida for having the most graduates who practice in health professional shortage areas and No. 17 among all public and private institutions rated in the category.
“This ranking is particularly important to us, as it speaks directly to our mission of preparing physicians who will deliver high-quality, patient-centered care in communities of greatest need,” said Alma Littles, M.D., dean of the College of Medicine. “This is why we are here — and this is one of the primary reasons why the Florida Legislature established this college 24 years ago. I am pleased that this ranking validates the commitment of our students, our alumni and the hard work of our faculty and staff who make this possible.”
Among all public colleges ranked in the survey, the FSU College of Medicine also achieved the following:
No. 30 for the most graduates who practice in a primary care area such as family medicine, internal medicine, geriatrics, general practice, pediatrics, and obstetrics/gynecology. FSU is also No. 1 in Florida in this category.
No. 39 as having one of the most diverse student bodies.
No. 88 with the most graduates practicing in a rural area.
As of July 2024, the FSU College of Medicine has 1,953 physician alumni, with 1,074 in practice and the remainder either in residency or fellowship programs or having chosen another career path. More than 53% of practicing M.D. alumni work in the state of Florida.
M.D. Class of 2026 student lead author of journal article
Austin M. Spitz
Austin M. Spitz, a medical student (Class of 2026) working with Dr. F. Andrew Kozel’s FSU Neuromodulation Lab, was the lead author of an article published in The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry.
Co-authors on the work, titled “The Relationship of Anxious Arousal with Treatment of Dysphoria Using Virtual Reality Mindfulness and Two Accelerated Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation Protocols,” were Kozel, Mariah Jensen, Isabelle Taylor, M.A., Kevin A. Johnson, Ph.D., and Megan C. Senda, B.S.
All the authors work at either Kozel’s lab, the FSU Neuromodulation™ Clinical Practice, or both.
As the article noted, “Dysphoria, defined as ‘a mood characterized by generalized discontent and agitation,’ is a symptom complex present in several medical conditions including major depressive disorder (MDD), generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and chronic pain.”
The article is also posted on the journal’s website, www.psychiatrist.com. Spitz also presented the work in poster form at the College of Medicine’s 20th Annual Research Fair on Feb. 9.
Now at the Pensacola Regional Campus, Spitz hopes to specialize in psychiatry.
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.”
Healthcare visits by smokers: Does cessation treatment differ based on clinical condition?
FSU PrimaryHealth™ building named in honor of Dr. Daniel Van Durme
Pat Van Durme, left, and Interim Dean Alma Littles, M.D., embrace after revealing the new sign designating FSU PrimaryHealth as the Daniel J. Van Durme, M.D., Building. FSU Vice President Kyle Clark, who participated in the reveal, is at left, gathering the tarp that dropped. (Photo by Mark Bauer, FSU College of Medicine)
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.”
Alma Littles, M.D.
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.
From left, Amber Dudek, Pat Van Durme, Nora Albibi. (Photo by Robert Thomas, FSU College of Medicine)
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.”
Some of the Van Durme family who attended the May 30, 2024, building dedication were seated on the front row with Pat Van Durme. (Photo by Robert Thomas, FSU College of Medicine)
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!”
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.
Pastor Jasmine Sailor
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!'”
