Path to preeminence
New School of PA Studies endowment is first of its kind in the country
hen Randolph B. Mahoney, MPAS, PA-C, attended the UF College of Medicine, he found it to be a place of innovation, collaboration and progress.
That’s why, through his family foundation, he donated $1 million to the UF School of Physician Assistant Studies.
“The UF College of Medicine was, is and continues to be a very special place,” Mahoney said.
Mahoney’s $1 million gift will fund an endowed directorship for the UF School of Physician Assistant Studies. The directorship position is currently held by Ralph W. Rice, DHSc, PA-C, who plans to retire later this year.
Mahoney said his most recent contribution to the PA school is intended to help keep the UF College of Medicine moving forward on its path toward absolute preeminence.
Randy Mahoney
Photo by Mindy C. Miller
“We wanted to assist the UF College of Medicine in moving the School of Physician Assistant Studies from the top 50 to the top 10 in the nation,” he said. “By endowing this position, it would potentially help recruit the best candidate because it is the only endowed directorship of its kind in the country.”
Mahoney, who serves as an emeritus assistant professor at the UF PA school and received his master’s degree from the school in 2001, has a clear vision of the qualities Rice’s successor should possess. He said he has complete faith in the search committee, led by Joseph C. Fantone, MD, senior associate dean for educational affairs for the UF College of Medicine.
“This position needs someone who has the capability, the leadership and a vision for moving the school from great to preeminent,” he said.
This is the third of three major gifts Mahoney has made through the Hall-Halliburton Foundation Inc. In 2012, he established the William M. Hall professorship in PA studies, the first of its kind for a physician assistant school in the nation. The second gift came in 2014 when Mahoney gave $500,000 to help fund the administrative suite of the PA school in the George T. Harrell, MD, Medical Education Building, named the Randolph Mahoney Physician Assistant Studies Suite.
Mahoney said he is motivated to give by the exemplary leadership shown by Michael L. Good, MD, dean of the UF College of Medicine, and his staff.
“Dean Good and his team have really moved the UF College of Medicine forward and will move it toward absolute preeminence,” he said. “We’re very appreciative of their leadership.”
The Hall-Halliburton Foundation is a private foundation that was started in 1977 with legacy endowments from Mahoney’s relatives. It provides grants to charitable organizations and institutions, including arts programs in Jacksonville, a Labrador retriever rescue organization and a farm for retired horses.
“Our goal is to move the needle, see change, do things that move us forward,” Mahoney said. “Instead of giving a small amount to a thousand people, we give larger gifts to a small number of organizations that we feel can make a difference. We like to step in and do things when others can’t help.”
Mahoney, who earned an undergraduate degree from Duke University, previously served as the director of clinical studies for the UF School of Physician Assistant Studies. He practices general and surgical dermatology with Jacksonville’s Advanced Dermatology and Cosmetic Surgery a few days a month. Much of his time is spent in the sky as an international commercial pilot for American Airlines, flying between Europe and North America.
Though flying is a full-time job for Mahoney, he remains enthralled with the practice of medicine.
“I love the challenge of figuring out what the patient’s problem is and how to improve their life,” he said. “The fun is in the puzzle of getting there — using your clinical skills and knowledge. Being able to move someone toward improvement is a blast.”
This story originally ran in the Winter 2017 issue of the Doctor Gator newsletter.
