College of Nursing

Toni Glover, Ph.D., GNP-BC, ACHPN, has been selected for the inaugural class for the Strategic Communications Academy for UF Leaders and Scholars, a new initiative from the UF College of Journalism and Communications and UF Training & Organizational Development. Glover will use the training to further develop communication and dissemination strategies for research and practice on geriatric palliative care.

Susan Garbutt, D.N.P., R.N., C.I.C., C.N.E., is now a Certified Healthcare Simulation Educator from the Society for Simulation in Healthcare, joining over 1,000 professionals from 26 countries. Certification of individuals is an internationally recognized method of demonstrating quality to consumers and industries. By meeting the standards that have been set through a peer-developed process, health care simulationists can demonstrate that they have the knowledge, and abilities desired to deliver quality health care simulation activities.

College of Pharmacy

Joshua Brown, Pharm.D., Ph.D., M.S., an assistant professor of pharmaceutical outcomes and policy, has been selected as a TEDMED 2017 Research Scholar. Representing corporate, academic and nonprofit organizations, among others, the scholars will help identify the topics, themes and speakers that will appear at the annual TEDMED event. Brown’s research interests include pharmacoepidemiology, drug policy and health outcomes.

College of Public Health and Health Professions

Robert Cook, M.D., M.P.H., a professor of epidemiology and medicine, has been named chair of the Florida Consortium for HIV/AIDS Research, the scientific arm of The AIDS Institute. The consortium promotes and coordinates inter-institutional and interdisciplinary collaboration on HIV research, including behavioral/epidemiologic studies, clinical trials, and studies of basic science, virology and vaccine development. Cook also directs the Southern HIV and Alcohol Research Consortium.

Tara Sabo-Attwood, Ph.D., an associate professor and chair of the department of environmental and global health, has been appointed to the advisory board of the journal Environmental Science: Nano. Published by the Royal Society of Chemistry, the journal is designed to cover the benefits and implications of nanoscience and nanotechnology on environmental and human health and the sustainable design, development and use of nanotechnologies.

Thomas Maren, creator of glaucoma drug Trusopt, chosen for Florida Inventors Hall

Thomas Maren, M.D., a founding father of the UF College of Medicine whose four decades of basic scientific research led to the development of a top-selling drug for glaucoma, has been named a 2017 inductee to the Florida Inventors Hall of Fame. Maren arrived on the UF campus in 1955 and continued working as a graduate research professor until months before his death at the age of 81 in 1999.

Maren gained international recognition for his pioneering investigation of an enzyme called carbonic anhydrase and its role in fluid production and flow in the eyes, brain, spinal cord and lymph system. In 1995, his years of collaborative research with scientists at Merck and Company resulted in an eye drop for glaucoma called Trusopt, which worked without many of the side effects of earlier oral medications, such as fatigue, anorexia and numbness in the extremities.

UF licensed the drug to Merck and it has brought more than $250 million in royalties to the university for reinvestment in new research. Maren also generously donated much of his own royalties back to the university to support research and education.

Jeffrey R. Martens, Ph.D., the Thomas H. Maren Professor and chair of the UF Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics, wrote in a letter supporting Maren’s nomination to the Hall of Fame that “the impact of these funds, both in terms of scholarship development and continued research opportunities, cannot be underestimated.

“The University of Florida, the state of Florida and the world have benefitted from the invention and success of Trusopt and each will continue to benefit from the legacy of Dr. Maren’s work and the Maren Foundation far into the future,” Martens wrote.

David Day, director of the UF Office of Technology Licensing, noted in his letter nominating Maren to the Inventors Hall of Fame that Maren valued highly his role as a teacher and research mentor.

“His work at UF involved his mentoring of young doctors and researchers within the institution, who then carried their expertise to their patients and research labs in Florida and indeed around the nation,” Day said.

Maren will be inducted into the Florida Inventors Hall of Fame at a ceremony in September.