Six Shands Jacksonville and University of Florida College of Medicine-Jacksonville physicians and other healthcare providers were recognized by The Jacksonville Business Journal at the Fourth Annual Health Care Heroes awards program on Nov. 1. In all, 27 healthcare professionals in Northeast Florida were honored.
Lifetime Achievement
Robert Nuss, MD, University of Florida College of Medicine-Jacksonville
In June of this year, after devoting 35 years to developing, funding, promoting and supporting the growth of the University of Florida Health Science Center in Jacksonville, Robert Nuss was named the University of Florida's first dean of its first regional campus. This means that he has put Jacksonville on the map in terms of providing leading academic, clinical and research facilities for those who live in Northeast Florida and Southeast Georgia. Nuss has worked diligently to ensure that the UF Health Science Center-Jacksonville continues to grow in order to meet Florida's need for additional physicians, nurses, pharmacists and dentists.
Community Service
Willie Roberts, RN, Shands Jacksonville
Willie Roberts is team leader for the Ryan White Part A Program at Shands Jacksonville. Roberts began working with infected pregnant women and their children 18 years ago by managing the Public Health HIV/AIDS ambulatory clinic. In 1998, she founded the Christian Women Coalition, a support group for persons infected and affected by HIV. Through this program, she provides education, testing and counseling for family members, friends and others interested in learning about the disease. Through her efforts, members of the coalition are spokespersons for HIV prevention. They travel extensively, educating youth and adults alike about the HIV epidemic and how to prevent the spread of this disease. Roberts has presented abstracts at two international HIV conferences in Switzerland and South Africa.
Emergency Medical Providers
Miren Schinco, MD, Kamela Scott, PhD, University of Florida College of Medicine-Jacksonville and Julia Paul, RN, Shands Jacksonville
Jacksonville's crime rate has received local and state attention. Those who treat the victims are speaking out with hopes of forcing change. A team of healthcare professionals with Shands Jacksonville's Trauma Program brought city leaders together in September for a forum called "Youth and Domestic Violence: A Community Epidemic."
Miren Schinco, MD, division chief and associate professor of Trauma and Critical Care Surgery in the UF College of Medicine-Jacksonville, and Julia Paul, RN, Trauma Program manager at Shands Jacksonville, organized the daylong event, featuring national and local experts, including Kamela Scott, PhD, director of Psychological Services for the Trauma Program, who discussed the adolescent violence intervention program "Turning Point: Rethinking Violence." Turning Point was developed integrating four key components to achieve the greatest effect: trauma experience, victim impact panel, group process and referral/community networking.
Scientist
Steven Goodison, PhD, University of Florida College of Medicine-Jacksonville
Steven Goodison, PhD, is a scientist with a mission: improve the lives of cancer patients, especially those with breast, prostate and bladder cancer. An internationally renowned researcher, the inventor on two issued patents and on two patents pending, and the author of 72 peer-reviewed research articles, Goodison is an associate professor in the Department of Surgery at the University of Florida College of Medicine-Jacksonville. The funding for his grants, which tops $4.2 million, is helping scientists worldwide better understand tumor biology, use genes to help detect and diagnose cancer, examine the role infection plays in cancer and analyze specific genes in tumor progression. His overall goal is to use his research to develop improved cancer detection tests, identify diagnostic/prognostic signatures for use in the clinical setting and aid the design and implementation of improved therapeutic strategies.
Physician
Eric Stewart, MD, University of Florida College of Medicine-Jacksonville
When patients don't know where to turn, Eric Stewart is there. An assistant professor of Family Medicine, Stewart practices and demonstrates a zeal and passion for the little people, those who silently suffer or fill up emergency rooms because without a primary care physician, they are unable to determine if the symptoms they have are life threatening or just another pain. Stewart operates community clinics for the uninsured and underserved. He opens his office at 5:30 a.m. It is not uncommon to visit his office at 6 a.m. and find the waiting room full. This vice president of Community Affairs and Community Clinics for Shands Jacksonville begins his day very early, volunteers after hours and on weekends, answers his calls within minutes, attends meetings and travels to support staff presentations.
Oncology
Nancy Price-Mendenhall, MD, University of Florida Proton Therapy Institute
As a practicing radiation oncologist, professor and chairperson of the UF College of Medicine Department of Radiation Oncology, Nancy Price Mendenhall saw the need to improve the odds for cancer patients treated with external beam radiation. Though recent advances in conventional X-ray therapy had improved dose distribution, Mendenhall's research indicated another innovation with even more promise: proton therapy. Based upon her recommendation in 1998 and her ongoing leadership and persistence through the 2003 groundbreaking and 2006 opening, Jacksonville now is home to the University of Florida Proton Therapy Institute, the only proton therapy facility in the Southeast and currently one of only five in the nation. Proton therapy precisely delivers the most radiation dose to cancer cells, sparing most healthy tissue and causing fewer side effects. The result is a better chance for a cure for cancer patients-and sometime the only chance for beating the disease.
(Excerpts taken with permission from the Jacksonville Business Journal, Nov. 2-8, 2007)