Longtime faculty member and assistant dean of simulation education had been interim chair for a year

A national search for the next chair of emergency medicine at the University of Florida College of Medicine-Jacksonville turned up the best candidate in its own backyard.

Steven A. Godwin, M.D., FACEP, was named chair of the department he has been running as interim chair for a year. Godwin has been assistant dean for simulation education since 2007 and is an associate professor of emergency medicine.

"The University of Florida College of Medicine-Jacksonville is privileged to have Dr. Steven A. Godwin as the new chairman of emergency medicine and looks forward to great accomplishments from him and his department as he assumes his new role," Daniel R. Wilson, M.D., Ph.D., vice president for health affairs and dean of the college wrote in an email to faculty Thursday.

Godwin said the more than two dozen full-time emergency medicine faculty have a breadth of knowledge in various aspects of practicing and teaching medicine – not just emergency medicine — and he wants to leverage that knowledge in building programs.

"We have faculty that are already doing great work," Godwin said. "We just want to continue to build on that foundation and improve the quality of our programs and education."

He wants to continue to focus on research and training in patient safety, which he says is a cornerstone to all aspects of the academic medical center. Godwin is one of the creators of Sim Wars, a simulation team competition that has been highlighted at conferences across the country.

Godwin earned his medical degree from the Medical University of South Carolina and did his emergency medicine residency at UF in Jacksonville, serving as chief resident his final year. He was named an assistant professor in 1997 after finishing his residency, and was promoted to associate professor in 2006.

Godwin was previously the emergency medicine residency director from 2000-08. Godwin has been in charge of the simulation program for emergency medicine since 2001 and has been medical director of the Center for Simulation Education and Safety Research since its inception in 2004.

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Steven A. Godwin, MD, FACEP

Professor
Chair, Department of Emergency Medicine; Assistant Dean, Simulation Education; Program Director, Patient Safety Fellowship