For Florida
TRAINING LEADERS AND TRANSFORMING LIVES
With Florida’s population projected to surge by 18% to over 27 million by 2045*, the demand for accessible, high-quality health care has never been greater.
*According to data from the State of Florida’s Office of Economic and Demographic Research
For nearly 70 years, the University of Florida College of Medicine has risen to this challenge, transforming patient care, medical education and research in the Sunshine State. Through innovative education, the institution empowers future generations of dedicated, empathetic clinicians and medical researchers, many of whom go on to practice and lead advancements shaping the health and well-being of their communities from coast to coast.
World-class faculty and staff bring a relentless drive to improve lives, fueling discoveries like a pioneering mRNA therapy that redefines cancer treatment, a suite of mobile health units that deliver lifesaving care and preventive medicine to neighboring communities, and a rapidly growing UF Health network dedicated to meeting Floridians where they are.
Because for those who make up the college community, it’s not just medicine — it’s a mission.
And it’s all for Florida.
SUNSHINE SCHOLARS
Fueling Florida’s future health care leaders
Students and trainees passionate about helping patients and advancing medical discoveries gain hands-on experience at the UF College of Medicine. Many look forward to addressing health needs in their home state of Florida after graduation.
Meet our students
OFELIA ALVAREZ
Medical student
Hometown: Orlando, Florida
Alvarez, whose parents immigrated to the U.S. from Colombia, is the first in her family to attend college. She received her undergraduate degree from UF and will be the first doctor in her family.
As a young girl, Alvarez had limited exposure to the medical field. Her parents mostly relied on home remedies, avoiding doctors’ offices outside of emergencies because they did not have health insurance or access to Spanish translation services. The few times they did see a physician, Alvarez would do her best to interpret English intake forms and paperwork for her family.
“I remember how frustrated my mom felt having to ask me for help and how helpless it felt that my family couldn’t make sure we were at least filling out the documentation correctly,” she said. “I thought there should be some kind of change. I realized I could be somebody who helps.”
Now, Alvarez is making that change a reality. Through volunteer work with the Helping Hands Clinic, contraCOVID Gainesville, and Health Education and Literacy Organization, she has translated hundreds of pages of medical documentation and clinic evaluations for Spanish-speaking patients and their families. She has helped patients seeking treatment, information and resources for everything from primary care to the COVID-19 pandemic to cancer diagnoses.
The community and mentorship she’s experienced at Florida has helped her gain confidence and embrace her journey. Alvarez said she enjoys bonding with her collaborative learning group and coaching others interested in applying to medical school.
“Everyone is so willing to help, which is something I love about UF and why I feel so lucky to have been chosen to continue my education here,” she said. “I am looking forward to when I have my lightbulb moment of knowing what specialty I aspire to pursue.”
SEAN WALTERS, MEd
PA student
Hometown: Lake City, Florida
Walters turned to a career in health care after serving in the U.S. Army as a combat medic and sergeant stationed at Fort Hood, Texas, in Afghanistan, and at Walter Reed Hospital in Bethesda, Maryland, from 2012-16. During his deployment, Walters was recognized as one of the first people since the Vietnam War to earn a battlefield promotion to the rank of specialist.
“As the sole medical provider for my platoon, I carried all the medical supplies I could, in addition to standard gear, everywhere I went,” he said. “I learned valuable skills from our battalion’s physician assistant and had the opportunity to use them to treat not only soldiers but also Afghan citizens. After an honorable discharge from the military, I knew I wanted to continue to serve my country and community.”
Walters’ next steps saw him join Teach for America, working with underserved children in Missouri before returning to his home state of Florida, where he taught mathematics at Buchholz High School in Gainesville. He also joined the Florida National Guard in 2021 to continue working part-time as a medic at Camp Blanding in Starke. While serving, he sustained a life-threatening injury during a training event.
“My life was saved by a timely diagnosis and intervention by the unit physician assistant, which ultimately led to my decision to pursue a career as a PA,” he said. “I chose UF because I value service to the community and believe I will have an opportunity to make a difference in people’s lives.”
AJISHA ALWIN
PhD candidate
Hometown: Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India
Alwin spends her days diligently researching Clostridium difficile, or C. diff, and the gut microbiome in the lab of Gary P. Wang, MD, PhD, professor of medicine and chief of the division of infectious diseases & global medicine, to understand why and how donor stool treatments can inform targeted therapeutics. So far, her lab has identified a few novel gut microbes that stand out as effective and asymptomatic treatments in model experiments.
Beyond the bench, Alwin can be found lending a helping hand, whether it’s serving with the college’s Medical Graduate Student Organization to support her classmates, mentoring undergraduate scientists or opening her home as a study space for peers and fellow international students.
“My policy is help anyone you can if you can make their life a little bit easier,” Alwin said. “That’s one of my big passions.”
One of her favorite memories at UF so far is laughing with classmates at the antics of Nick, her beloved orange rescue cat, while studying for a challenging course.
“My cat would knock over our white boards every time we used to write the amino acid structures,” Alwin said. “He hated them. I was like, ‘Sweetheart, we don’t like learning the structures either, but come on!’ Studying together was helpful for me and my friends, and it’s a fond memory I’ll never forget. It’s hard to find community, but I’ve been happy to find that in my lab mates and friends at UF. It adds to the graduate experience as a whole.”
Alwin is also a professional badminton player and an alumna of UF’s badminton team, where she helped bring home second place for the Gators in Division 2B at the Eastern Collegiate Playoffs in 2022.
“The strong, motivated person I am today is largely thanks to the incredible mentors who supported me through challenges and guided my growth as a scientist and individual,” she said. “I now aspire to become a principal investigator of my own research lab one day as a faculty member mentoring the next generation of scientists! I was recently selected to participate in the 2025 UF Preparing Future Faculty program, and I am excited to learn more about my dream career and everything it entails in the program as a step toward my goal.”
RACHEL MOOR, MD ’20
Neurosurgery resident
Hometown: Sarasota, Florida
Now in her fifth year of neurosurgery residency at UF, Moor shares Gainesville as her second home with her husband and fellow Gator alumnus, Jordan, their daughter, Winona, son, Lyndon, and their two pets, a dog named Filet Mignon and cat called Hippocrates.
Moor, who received her undergraduate and medical degrees at UF, plans to pursue a pediatric neurosurgery fellowship after completing her residency training. In addition to a passion for patient care, Moor is interested in researching treatments for pediatric brain cancer.
She aims to remain in academic medicine and leverage what she’s learned at UF to care for patients in her home state, run a lab and mentor the next generation of women in neurosurgery.
“When I was thinking about where to attend medical school and complete my residency training, I wanted to be somewhere with strong academic and community ties,” she said. “The UF College of Medicine does a great job of straddling both. It was valuable for me to work with patients from different walks of life and to take care of people in this city I’ve lived in for 11 years now.”
EMPOWER UF MEDICINE STUDENTS WITH A GIFT THAT DRIVES INNOVATION AND IMPACT
LEARN HOW BY CONTACTING HHOLCOMB@UFL.EDU OR 352-627-7749.
REDEFINING RESEARCH
Innovative tools, methods create real-world impact
Researchers and physician-scientists at the UF College of Medicine pursue leading-edge work that addresses some of the most pressing medical crises facing the population, including cancer, neurological disorders and antibiotic resistance.
Personalizing treatment options for diabetes
World-renowned researchers at the UF Diabetes Institute are continually making advances to help patients with Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes, conditions that impact more than 11% of the state’s population.
Florida investigators study gene variants that may be key to understanding why people develop Type 1 diabetes. Eventually, this research could lead to personalized treatment for people with this chronic disease.
Florida is also home to the largest diabetes organ and tissue sample and donation program, the Network for Pancreatic Organ donors with Diabetes, or nPOD. Tissue and blood samples from living study participants have been shared with more than 250 investigators worldwide, shipping from either Gainesville or an ancillary site in California. Investigators use these resources to further advance diabetes research and explore potential therapies.
A promising therapy for cancerous brain tumors
A groundbreaking Florida study has shown that a personalized mRNA therapy can stimulate the immune system to fight glioblastoma, an aggressive brain cancer with very limited treatment options.
Developed using each patient’s own tumor cells, it was tested in a small human trial, where it rapidly triggered an immune response against the cancer. This success builds on similar findings in animals with naturally occurring brain tumors. The treatment could pave the way for new therapeutics for hard-totreat cancers.
Following the trial’s positive results, researchers are expanding their study to include a larger group of adult and pediatric patients, working with multiple hospitals across the U.S.
Developing innovative treatments for Parkinson’s
A California nonprofit has selected a Florida chemist as one of five scientists nationally for an ambitious two-year effort to move promising Parkinson’s disease discoveries to patients.
Parkinson’s damages and ultimately kills brain cells that make dopamine, one of the brain’s vital signaling chemicals. Over time, those with Parkinson’s may develop stiffness, moving and balance difficulty, tremors and difficulties with speech, sleep, pain and fatigue. Medications and procedures can help with the symptoms, but the disease worsens over time, and a cure remains elusive.
An estimated 65,000 Floridians have Parkinson’s, and more than 3,000 people a year die from it. Nationally, scientists estimate that 1 in 500 people over age 65 has Parkinson’s.
The lab selected for the project develops potential medications designed to act on disease-causing RNA. RNA reads the genetic code of DNA and helps carry out those genetic instructions to build proteins and regulate cellular processes. The group has found that RNA itself can cause disease, so creating medicines to act on it could be an important new strategy for treating Parkinson’s.
UF Medicine research by the numbers
MAKE A DIFFERENCE BY SUPPORTING UF MEDICINE RESEARCH OR CLINICAL CARE
LEARN HOW BY CONTACTING ERINBAUER@UFL.EDU OR 630-610-9915.
CLINICAL CONNECTIONS
Leveraging expertise to keep Floridians healthy
It starts with one patient. At the UF College of Medicine and UF Health, physicians and health care teams treat each case as unique while connecting the dots to find ways to impact as many Floridians as possible.
Patients travel from around the state, nation and world to seek expertise and care at UF Health. An expanding clinical footprint means more opportunities to meet people where they are with the care they need, when they need it. See a snapshot of just a few ways the College of Medicine and the academic health center are leading the way to tackle health care issues for Floridians and beyond.
Cancer
Florida has the second-highest cancer burden in the nation. As the only National Cancer Institute-designated cancer center based at a public university in the state, the UF Health Cancer Center and its clinical programs aim to prevent, detect, treat and ultimately cure cancer. Highlights include:
- Mobile Cancer Screening Connector: The newly launched, 40-foot-long mobile cancer screening bus will increase access to lifesaving services, including 3D mammograms and cervical, colon and prostate cancer screenings.
- 15 of the 23 counties the Cancer Center serves have mammogram rates below the state average — and higher than average rates of advanced-stage breast cancer diagnoses.
- 10 of the 23 counties have breast cancer mortality rates higher than the state average.
- The UF Health Adolescent and Young Adult Cancer Program: One of four in the state, the program is expanding clinical care and services tailored to the needs of adolescents and young adults with cancer, from developmental and mental health to social challenges.
Neuromedicine
Florida neurologists and neurosurgeons are recognized as some of the brightest minds in brain science across the nation. Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show stroke was the No. 5 cause of death for Floridians in 2021, the most recent data available. And while brain tumors are rarer than other forms of tumors and cancers, their impact can be devastating on quality of life. Multiple innovative clinical programs from UF Health are working to move the needle on neuromedicine treatments. Highlights include:
- Mobile Stroke Treatment Unit: The first of its kind in Florida, the unit decreases the time it takes to make an accurate stroke diagnosis and administer time-sensitive stroke therapies — saving time and brain.
- 1,181 responded calls
- 131 acute, critical interventions administered on the ambulance
- 140 mutual aid requests for rural emergency medical services rendezvous
- 20-30% increase in discharge-to-home
- Shorter hospital length of stay, by an average of 2 days
- Reduced mortality by 45%
- Noninvasive treatment for neurological disorders: The UF Health Dorothy Mangurian Neuroimaging Center is one of only two facilities with a magnetoencephalography, or MEG, lab — and the only one at an academic health center — in Florida. Located on the Norman Fixel Institute for Neurological Diseases at UF Health campus, the MEG scanner offers a noninvasive functional neuroimaging technique that allows clinicians to map brain activity with exceptional accuracy, facilitating greater precision in epilepsy and brain tumor surgeries.
Cardiology
Heart disease is the leading cause of death in Florida. Physicians at the College of Medicine and UF Health are employing new technologies and techniques to prevent as many complications from a cardiology event, such as a heart attack, as possible. Highlights include:
- ECPR for refractory cardiac arrest: UF Health Shands Hospital is one of a handful of centers that offers extracorporeal cardiopulmonary resuscitation, or ECPR, a groundbreaking technology that significantly improves the chances of survival and neurological recovery for patients in refractory cardiac arrest.
- Conventional CPR, out-of-hospital cardiac arrest: 10%-15% overall survival rate
- With ECPR: 30%-35% overall survival rate
- ECPR at UF Health: 60% overall survival rate
- UF Health Aortic Disease Center: Surgeons at the Aortic Disease Center — the second-highest volume center of its kind in the nation — developed the Florida Sleeve surgical technique for repairing ascending aortic aneurysms. In standard repair approaches, the mitral valve typically must also be replaced. The Florida Sleeve approach preserves the patient’s own mitral valve, leading to better long-term outcomes.
- UF Health Congenital Heart Center: UF Health’s program is among the highest-ranked pediatric congenital heart centers in the nation and the largest in the state, with a survival rate at or near 100% for all surgical procedures.
ALUMNI IN ACTION
Graduates shaping Florida’s future
From patient care to education to research, UF College of Medicine alumni are making an impact on the health care landscape and the next generation of medical leaders in communities throughout the state.
ALMA LITTLES, MD ’86
Family medicine | Tallahassee
Littles, who grew up in rural Quincy, Florida, became the first in her family to attend college and now serves as dean of the Florida State University College of Medicine and vice president of the Florida Medical Association, leading with a passion for achieving better access to health care for rural North Florida communities.
ANTONIO L. AMELIO, PhD ’05
Cancer biology | Tampa
As vice chair for research in head and neck oncology and an associate professor in the department of tumor microenvironment and metastasis at the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute, Amelio leads a lab focused on discovering the molecular mechanisms that drive tumor development and progression to uncover unconventional therapies.
SUNIL JOSHI, MD ’98
Allergy & immunology | Jacksonville
As the first chief health officer for the city of Jacksonville — which has a population of over 1 million people — Joshi serves as a spokesperson for health issues, coordinates efforts to improve health outcomes and helps bring resources that can reduce disparities and impact population health to the area.
BRIAN TASCHNER, MD ’98
Cardiology | Fort Myers
After previously working in private practice and for a large hospital system that focused on acute and chronic cardiac conditions, Taschner now practices cardiology only in an outpatient setting, which allows more time to focus on preventive care. A proponent of fitness and nutrition, he has devoted his career to not only treating his patients but also educating them on ways to improve diet and lifestyle, with hopes of preventing cardiovascular disease.
HUGH WEST, MSS, MPAS ’96, PA-C
Primary care | West Palm Beach
A senior colonel in the U.S. Army Reserve, West is the lead physician assistant for the Home-Based Primary Care program at the West Palm Beach VA Medical Center, which provides an array of services to homebound veterans. He has commanded Army units from the company to brigade level and has been deployed overseas numerous times.
JENNIFER KEEHBAUCH, MD ’92
Family medicine | Orlando
A U.S. Air Force veteran dedicated to caring for the underserved, Keehbauch is the vice president and chief medical officer of Advent Health Winter Park Hospital and co-founder of the Community Medicine Clinic, which provides non-emergent care to the uninsured. She also serves on the board of the Lifeboat Project, which aims to raise awareness about human trafficking and empower survivors through short- and long-term aftercare, residential programs and education.
