Two alumni added to UF College of Medicine Wall of Fame
Christopher Broder, PhD ’89, and Mark Atkinson, PhD ’88, honored during the annual Alumni Weekend
uring the annual Alumni Weekend celebration in October, Christopher Broder, PhD ’89, and Mark Atkinson, PhD ’88, were inducted into the UF College of Medicine Wall of Fame, an honor created in 1988 to recognize outstanding alumni who have made contributions to medicine, government, education and the community. Broder and Atkinson joined the ranks of 36 other alumni named to the wall who have left their mark in science and medicine.
“Thank you for representing the UF College of Medicine so incredibly and for the distinction you have built in your careers,” said Interim Dean Joseph A. Tyndall, MD, MPH, during the unveiling ceremony Oct. 4 in the Founders Gallery on UF’s campus.
Joseph A. Tyndall, MD, interim dean of the UF College of Medicine; Mark Atkinson, PhD; Broder; and alumni board president Mark Michels, MD, at the annual Wall of Fame unveiling ceremony in October.
Photo by Jesse S. Jones
Christopher Broder, Ph.D.
Christopher Broder, PhD ’89
His work has led to the development of vaccines and therapeutics for important emerging viral diseases, he’s an inventor on 19 patents worldwide and his work has been cited more than 20,000 times. Christopher Broder, PhD ’89, is a leader in the world of virology, and his journey began at the UF College of Medicine.
“Entering the PhD program at the UF College of Medicine opened my eyes to the real importance of infectious disease,” says Broder, who serves as a professor and chair of microbiology and immunology at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Maryland. “I didn’t just learn how to ask scientific questions and design an approach to answer those questions; I learned the process of gathering and using existing knowledge to formulate the right questions.”
After Broder graduated from UF — where he established a molecular pathogenic model for the flesh-eating group A streptococci bacteria — he became a National Research Council research associate at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Laboratory of Viral Diseases. From 2006 until 2018, he served as the director of the emerging infectious diseases graduate program at the Uniformed Services University.
When Broder reflects on all he’s accomplished so far, one breakthrough remains top of mind. Broder helped develop the Equivac HeV vaccine, the first commercialized vaccine to protect horses from the Hendra virus and subsequently prevent the transmission of this virus from horse to human.
Broder calls being named to the UF College of Medicine Wall of Fame one of the “highest honors” he’s received in his scientific career.
“Being recognized by my alma mater on my accomplishments since leaving UF is an exceptional tribute,” he says.
— TF
Mark Atkinson, PhD ’88
In 1970s Detroit, mechanics and cars were built in droves. There, in a middle school shop class, a 12-year-old raised by a single mom discovered a love for problem-solving by taking engines apart and putting them back together. That passion and curiosity would eventually drive him from his Michigan hometown to sunny Florida in pursuit of a solution to one of the most pervasive health issues.
Upon coming to the UF College of Medicine as a graduate student, Mark Atkinson, PhD ’88 — the first in his immediate family to ever attend college, let alone graduate school — sought to answer three questions: Can we predict who will develop Type 1 diabetes, can we determine what causes the disease and can we cure it? Although the first task is largely complete, three decades later, scientists are still working to answer the latter two queries.
“There’s promise that we’re on the precipice of that long-held breakthrough notion about preventing and curing the disease,” he says. “There’s never been a time with more potential to see that occur.”
This potential for a breakthrough pushes Atkinson to keep his foot on the gas all these years later. As the director of the UF Diabetes Institute, the American Diabetes Association Eminent Scholar for Diabetes Research and the Jeffrey Keene Family Professor, he and his team collaborate with colleagues throughout UF’s academic health center and beyond on initiatives ranging from research on diabetes development in dogs to nutrition and education programs for the community.
As one of the most-cited authors in Type 1 diabetes research, he’s received accolades from national and international organizations such as JDRF and the American Diabetes Association but counts the 2019 UF College of Medicine Wall of Fame recognition among his top accomplishments.
“This award is special because this place is home,” says Atkinson, who founded the Network for Pancreatic Organ donors with Diabetes program, or nPOD — now the largest Type 1 diabetes research program in the world — and established a nonprofit with his wife in 2011 to deliver diabetes supplies to patients in developing countries. “I always felt there’s no place I could do more for Type 1 diabetes than at UF.”
Despite the honors that line his office walls, what fuels Atkinson are the connections he forms with people, from collaborators across campus and around the world to patients and families affected by the disease he’s dedicated his career to driving away.
“At UF, diabetes research becomes more than a job; it becomes a mission,” he says. “It’s something you talk and think about, not just while you’re on campus or in this hospital. It’s about 24/7 dedication.”
— SR
This story originally ran in the Winter 2020 issue of the Doctor Gator newsletter.
