Dec. 5, 2011

The incoming dean at the College of Medicine’s Tallahassee Regional Campus has a Tallahassee background, the same patient-centered focus as the medical school – and, by coincidence, the same last name as the outgoing dean.

As of Jan. 3, Ron Hartsfield, M.D., will assume the role that Mel Hartsfield, M.D., has filled for the past five years.

Ron Hartsfield is a Tallahassee native. (The town is full of Hartsfields; these two say they are “distant” relatives.) Ron graduated from Florida State University with a degree in psychology. In 1981 he graduated from FSU’s Program in Medical Sciences, the predecessor of the College of Medicine, before earning his M.D. at the University of Florida College of Medicine. 

He did his training at the University of Alabama, Birmingham and is board-certified in internal medicine and hospice and palliative medicine. He has spent the past four years as medical director at Big Bend Hospice in Tallahassee. He said he has enjoyed his interactions with students from the College of Medicine and the Tallahassee Memorial Hospital Family Medicine Residency Program. 

“He is highly patient-focused and has lived the mission of the College of Medicine during his career,” Dean John P. Fogarty said Monday in a note to medical school students, faculty and staff. “I believe he is a great fit for the College of Medicine and the Tallahassee community.”

Tallahassee’s regional campus is one of six within the medical school. The others are in Daytona Beach, Fort Pierce, Orlando, Pensacola and Sarasota. Medical students spend their first two years on Florida State’s main campus. Then they spend Years 3 and 4 at one of the regional campuses, learning one-on-one from physician/faculty members in clinics and other outpatient settings as well as in hospitals.

“It is clear to me,” Fogarty wrote in an earlier message, “that one of the unique and defining elements of our educational program is the relationship that students develop with their regional campus. Dr. Mel Hartsfield was certainly loved and respected by his students.”

Now he is returning to his previous employer, Archbold Health System, which has become one of the medical school’s valued partners in Thomasville, Ga. He will be vice president of medical affairs. 

“This will allow him to continue to work with our students and remain connected to the College of Medicine,” Fogarty said. “I appreciate all the great work that Mel has done over these past five years as we expanded our class, supporting the development of our partnership with Thomasville.”