Celebrating Distinction honors faculty for “great work”

Twenty-five faculty members attained a lifetime achievement during Celebrating Distinction, an Oct. 10 event honoring the installation of endowed professors and chairs at the UF Health Science Center.

UF Health President David Guzick, M.D., Ph.D., welcomed benefactors, newly appointed professors and chairs, faculty and family members to the celebration in the DeWeese Auditorium at the McKnight Brain Institute. He shared the history of endowed chairs to explain the importance of the day’s celebration.

The concept of endowed chairs began in the Roman Empire with Emperor Marcus Aurelius, and continued into modern universities to include Lady Margaret Beaufort, her grandson, King Henry VIII, and Sir Isaac Newton, Guzick explained.

“Once these endowments are established, it’s for centuries, and that’s really the amazing thing we’re celebrating today,” Guzick said. “It’s in the context of this history that we celebrate today the newly appointed endowed chairs and professorships at the Health Science Center and the donors who made them possible.”

The installation ceremony included faculty from the colleges of public health and health professions, pharmacy, veterinary medicine and medicine, both in Gainesville and Jacksonville. Each college’s dean presented wooden chairs with the faculty member’s name engraved on an attached plaque.

Kevin R. Vincent, M.D. ’03, Ph.D., was the only College of Medicine alum to receive an endowed chair appointment in the past year.

“It’s a great honor to be chosen as an endowed chair, but it’s a greater reward for who the chair is named after,” Vincent said.

The professorship was created in honor of Peter Indelicato, M.D., a renowned figure in the field of sports medicine and Vincent’s “biggest and best supporter,” Vincent said.

Michael Good, M.D., dean of the College of Medicine, congratulated the new appointees before announcing the 18 faculty members from the College of Medicine.

“We would be a very good medical school with our state funds, but it’s our partnership of private funds and private gifts that really allow us to distinguish ourselves,” Good said. “And so, to the faculty who are receiving these endowed professorships, this really is a true testament to the great work that you are doing.”

College of Public Health and Health Professions

  • William W. Latimer, Ph.D., M.P.H.
    Elizabeth H. Faulk Professorship
  • Arch G. Mainous III, Ph.D.
    Florida Blue Endowed Chair

College of Pharmacy

  • Hartmut Derendorf, Ph.D.
    The V. Ravi Chandran, Ph.D., Professorship in Pharmaceutical Sciences
  • Maureen Keller-Wood, Ph.D.
    CVS/Pharmacy Inc. Professorship

College of Veterinary Medicine

  • Nicholas J. Bacon, Vet. M.B.
    Jean Imparato Clinical Associate Professor of Surgical Oncology
  • Maureen T. Long, D.V.M., Ph.D., DACVIM
    Fern Audette Professor of Equine Studies

College of Medicine – Jacksonville

  • Michael S. Nussbaum, M.D., F.A.C.S.
    Methodist Medical Center Professor of Surgery

College of Medicine

  • John D. Ash, Ph.D.
    Francis M. Bullard Eminent Scholar Chair in Ophthalmic Sciences
  • K. Leslie Avery, M.D.
    Paula Koch Professorship in Pediatric Critical Care
  • Thomas M. Beaver, M.D., M.P.H.
    Anonymous Chair in Thoracic/Cardiovascular Surgery
  • Gregory M. Christman, M.D.
    The J. Wayne Reitz Chair in Reproductive Biology
  • Yehia Daaka, Ph.D.
    Haskel Hess Professorship in Anatomy and Cell Biology
  • Philipp Dahm, M.D., M.H.Sc.
    Rudolph Acosta Jr., M.D., Professorship in Urology Fund
  • Jeffrey Fair, M.D.
    Robert H. and Kathleen M. Axline Professorship in Surgery
  • Kelly D. Foote, M.D.
    The Cathy Donnellan, Albert E. and Birdie W. Einstein Fund Inc., William Merz Professorship
  • F. Jay Fricker, M.D.
    Virginia Sutherland Root Professorship in Pediatric Cardiology
  • Burak Gumuscu, M.D., Ph.D.
    Stop Children’s Cancer/Bonnie R. Freeman Professorship for Pediatric Oncology Research
  • Bruce A. Mast, M.D., F.A.C.S.
    Maurice J. Jurkiewicz Professorship in Reconstructive Plastic Surgery
  • Nikolaus McFarland, M.D., Ph.D.
    Wright/Falls/Simmons Professorship in PSP/Atypical Parkinson’s
  • Duane Mitchell, M.D., Ph.D.
    Phyllis Kottler Friedman Professorship
  • Linda S. Morgan, M.D.
    Nell Bryant Kibler Professorship in Ovarian Cancer Research
  • Lucia Notterpek, Ph.D.
    William T. and Janice M. Neely Professorship for Research in Multiple Sclerosis
  • Hari K. Parvataneni, M.D.
    Peter Gearen, M.D., Endowed Professorship in Orthopaedics
  • Scott A. Rivkees, M.D.
    Nemours Eminent Scholar Chairs in Pediatrics
  • Kevin R. Vincent, M.D., Ph.D.
    Peter Indelicato, M.D., Endowed Professorship in Orthopaedic and Sports Medicine