Aug. 15, 2022 — Shireen Madani Sims, M.D. ’01, wakes up every morning excited to go to work and hopes to inspire medical students to find the same passion in their future careers.

A quadruple Gator, completing her undergraduate studies, medical degree and residency at the University of Florida before joining the faculty, she comes from a family dedicated to health care. Her father worked as an OB-GYN, and her mother and grandmother cared for others as nurses. Madani grew up seeing the difference they made in patients’ lives and can’t remember a time when she didn’t want to be a doctor. What she didn’t expect was to feel such a strong passion for education, an interest she discovered in her time at the University of Florida College of Medicine.

“I would never have guessed I would end up in academic medicine,” said Madani, assistant dean of student affairs at the College of Medicine and professor and vice chair for education in the department of obstetrics and gynecology. “But throughout your time at UF, you meet mentors and you see amazing people doing phenomenal work. I was lucky to have so many wonderful mentors: Dr. Ken Kellner, Dr. Pat Duff, Dr. Amelia Cruz and Dr. Keith Stone, among others. They showed me what an educator can be, and I realized this was the type of job I wanted.”

Upon completing her undergraduate and medical school studies at UF, Madani stayed at the College of Medicine for residency training and joined the faculty shortly after. She initially served as the clerkship director for the OB-GYN department, helping medical students find what they were passionate about. Now, as the assistant dean of student affairs, which she described as her dream role, she guides students toward their own dream careers.

“I really get to take on an exciting role in the career advising program here at UF,” Madani said. “It’s about trying to help students figure out what their priorities and values are to help them find a job that’s going to get them excited to get out of bed and go to work every day.”

Outside the student affairs office, Madani stays connected to her other passion — caring for patients. She provides care to women from their teenage years through menopause. Sometimes, she treats multiple generations of a family.

“I love getting to take care of women,” Madani said. “I love the trust patients put in me to talk about such sensitive issues and the opportunity to make a difference in the lives of my patients.”

Madani seeks to provide the highest-quality care possible and has piloted a program to screen patients for hereditary breast and ovarian cancer during their annual exams. She advocates for this screening in patients because early identification of a gene can lead to opportunities for enhanced screening and risk-reducing surgeries and medications that can prolong a patient’s life prior to and after a cancer diagnosis. The program is now expanding, with physicians such as Sharon Aroda, M.D., in the department of internal medicine, also offering these screenings to their patients.

She also maintains a leadership role at the national level in OB-GYN education and advising through the Association of Professors of Gynecology and Obstetrics. Here, she shapes the OB-GYN curriculum for medical schools across the country, expanding her impact on the future of medicine.

In her clinical practice and educational role, Madani aims to impact the life of each person she encounters.

“The best part of being an educator is seeing the things you’ve taught people go on and on,” she said. “I want to continue to develop the career advising program here and support our students from the day they step in the door until they graduate and beyond.”