April 26, 2023 — Several College of Medicine clinicians were formally recognized for their achievements with awards during the spring faculty assembly, which took place April 14 in the George T. Harrell, M.D., Medical Education Building. These awards recognize the college’s most outstanding, active peers for providing extraordinary service.

While each clinical department named winners of the Clinical Excellence Award, two faculty members were honored collegewide with the accolade, which recognizes faculty members who epitomize excellence in patient care, clinical innovation and mentorship: Anthony T. Yachnis, M.D., a professor in the department of pathology, immunology and laboratory medicine and program director for the neuropathology fellowship; and Mustafa M. Ahmed, M.D., an associate professor in the department of medicine.

Departments also named recipients of the Rising Star Award, which honors early-career clinical faculty who demonstrate exceptional skill and enthusiasm for patient care, show consistent dedication to quality measures and efficiency and embrace innovations in their chosen fields. Four faculty received this recognition at the college level: Amanda M. Frantz, M.D., an assistant professor in the department of anesthesiology and the interim chief of the division of critical care medicine; Adetola F. Louis-Jacques, M.D., a clinical assistant professor in the department of obstetrics & gynecology; Michol Cooper, M.D., Ph.D., an assistant professor in the department of surgery; and Brian C. Lobo, M.D., an assistant professor in the department of otolaryngology-head & neck surgery and the associate chief medical informatics officer for UF Health.

Tomas D. Martin, M.D., a professor of surgery and the director of the UF Health Aortic Disease Center, received the college’s David A. Paulus Award for Clinical Excellence, which is annually given to a faculty member who best demonstrates the ideals of clinical excellence manifested by the late David Paulus, M.D., a longtime faculty member in the department of anesthesiology.

Three faculty members received a Faculty Council Lifetime Achievement Award, which recognizes those who provide extraordinary service to the College of Medicine, including recognition for the college through national reputation in their respective fields. The 2023 awardees are F. Kayser Enneking, M.D., a professor of anesthesiology and orthopaedics; Frederick Jay Fricker, M.D., an eminent scholar and professor in the UF Health Congenital Heart Center; and Michael S. Okun, M.D., the executive director of the Norman Fixel Institute for Neurological Diseases at UF Health.

Congratulations to the following faculty members who received clinical excellence and Rising Star awards at the departmental level: