After a 40-year career in South Africa, Carlos C. Fernandes, M.B.Ch.B. (M.D.), has joined the University of Florida College of Medicine-Jacksonville as the new chief of the division of otolaryngology.
Fernandes, also an associate professor in the department of surgery, started work in Jacksonville this month. He was professor and head of the department of otorhinolaryngology at the University of Natal Medical School (now the Nelson R. Mandela School of Medicine) from 1977 to 1995. Since then, Fernandes has worked in private practice in Durban, South Africa.
He earned his medical degree from University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Fernandes said he hopes to increase the scope of surgeries in the otolaryngology division and make the UF College of Medicine-Jacksonville’s division a leader in the field.
Fernandes said he had been looking to move his family – he has four children between the ages of six and 19 – to the United States for some time. He said the mix of fantastic living amenities in Jacksonville and the high academic and medical standards at UF made the college a perfect fit.
Fernandes said the two things his children are most looking forward to with the move are American schools and, of course, Walt Disney World.