Distinctions

Awards and honors presented to faculty, staff and students at UF Health

Powerful play

On any given day, 50 to 70 percent of patients at the UF Health Shands Children’s Hospital are restricted to their rooms due to their medical conditions and aren’t afforded the opportunity to participate in the interactive events occurring in the hospital playrooms. But that will soon change, now that the UF Health Child Life Program has received one of seven national “Healing Power of Play” grants. The $16,605 grant was awarded by the Mattel Children’s Foundation and administered by the Children’s Hospital Association. Funds will be used to develop a library of specifically designed play kits, a “mobile playroom” and multisensory cart, and technology-enabled software applications, all of which will be available to patients in isolation.

Serving the community

The UF College of Medicine was one of three finalists for the Association of American Medical Colleges’ Spencer Foreman Award for Outstanding Community Service. This competitive award is presented annually to organizations with a longstanding, commitment to addressing community needs. “This is a very competitive award and we were delighted to be among the finalists,” said Thomas Pearson, M.D., M.P.H., executive vice president for research and education at UF Health. UF Health earned the recognition because of several long-term initiatives that help improve community health, including the Interdisciplinary Family Health program, HealthStreet, the Equal Access Clinic, the Mobile Outreach Clinic and the Institute for Child Health Policy.

Comprehensive care

The UF Health Shands Comprehensive Stroke Center has earned national comprehensive stroke center certification from The Joint Commission. The UF Health Shands Comprehensive Stroke Center joins an elite group of hospitals focused on quality and effective stroke care proven to improve patients’ outcomes. These stroke centers, recognized as industry leaders, set the national agenda in highly specialized stroke care.

College of Dentistry

Ann Progulske-Fox, Ph.D., a distinguished professor in the department of oral biology, was elected as a fellow in the American Association for the Advancement of Science in October 2014. Progulske-Fox was selected for her distinguished contributions in the field of microbiology that have increased understanding of the links between oral and systemic health.

College of Medicine

Mustafa Ahmed, M.D., an assistant professor in the department of medicine division of cardiovascular medicine, received a 2014 Spirit of Gainesville award for his efforts to help disadvantaged people in Gainesville at the RAHMA Mercy Clinic. Ahmed helped found the free clinic in Gainesville in 2011. 

Johannes Vieweg, M.D., the Wayne and Marti Huizenga eminent chair in urology, and director of the UF Prostate Disease Center has been elected to the Clinical Society of Genitourinary Surgeons. The CSGUS is one of the most prestigious societies in the field, with active membership limited to 25 of the top academic urologists in the United States.

College of Veterinary Medicine

Bonnie Gatson, D.V.M., an anesthesia and pain management resident, has received national recognition for her research, which identifies the CPR chest compression technique that causes the most muscle fatigue. She received the American College of Veterinary Anesthesia and Analgesia’s 2014 Smith Medical/SurgiVet Resident Abstract award. The award is given for the best abstract submitted to the group’s annual conference. She completed the project with her mentor, Andre Shih, D.V.M., an associate professor of anesthesiology and pain management.

College of Public Health and Health Professions

Aarthi Madhavan and Isaac Sia both received scholarships from the American Speech-Language-Hearing Foundation to support their research studies at the UF Swallowing Research Laboratory. Madhavan, a doctoral student in the department of speech, language and hearing sciences, received the New Century Scholars Doctoral Scholarship. Sia, a rehabilitation science Ph.D. student, was awarded a Graduate Student Scholarship. They were recognized at the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association’s annual conference held in Orlando in November.