The University of Florida College of Medicine-Jacksonville announced the establishment of the Methodist Medical Center professor of surgery in transplantation Wednesday evening at Shands Jacksonville.
The professorship represents the fifth professorship for the Jacksonville regional campus of the College of Medicine and the first since 1997. Dr. Thomas G. Peters, chief of the division of transplant surgery who was brought to Jacksonville in 1989 to develop MMC's transplant program, will be named the Methodist Medical Center professor in transplantation during the event.
Methodist Medical Center has a long and proud history that goes back more than 100 years before it joined forces with University Medical Center, Shands HealthCare and the University of Florida in 1999 to form Shands Jacksonville.
Marcus Drewa, who spent more than 30 years at the helm of MMC as its CEO, spearheaded a campaign to establish the professorship. The endowment was created last year thanks to the generosity of key leaders of the former hospital, including William W. Gay and the late George T. Miller through the B.S. and M.W. Reid Charitable Trust, both longtime chairmen of the Methodist Hospital Foundation, and several other area donors.
The strength of the Jacksonville Transplant Center at MMC and its high success rates helped distinguish the center as a leader in health care in North Florida. Drewa, Gay and others who guided the medical center during hardships and prosperity wanted to honor that reputation while at the same time support the department of surgery.
"We are very fortunate to have had people like George Miller and Bill Gay support our mission to improve health care for the North Florida community for all those years," Drewa said. "That support and their belief in what we were trying to accomplish continues with this very important endowment."
Peters, chief of the division of transplant surgery who was brought to Jacksonville in 1989 to develop MMC's transplant program, agrees.
"Endowed professorships and chairs are necessary to recruit top-notch people," he said. "This professorship helps to elevate our program."
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