Celebrating Women in Medicine and Science Month
Female faculty at the UF College of Medicine pave the way for the next generation
September 20, 2023 — Since its opening in 1956, the University of Florida College of Medicine has been home to generations of women making a positive impact in health care, education and biomedical innovation. This September, we are honoring Women in Medicine and Science Month by spotlighting the impact of four female educators, leaders, researchers and clinicians at the college.
Melissa Turley, Pharm.D., MPAS ’05, PA-C; Ashleigh Wright, M.D. ’07; Antonette Bennett, Ph.D. ’09; and Faye Pais, M.D., illustrate the remarkable achievements and lasting contributions of women in their disciplines.
Learn more about each faculty member and their inspirations and powerful impact below.
Educator: Melissa Turley, Pharm.D., MPAS ’05, PA-C
As the associate program director and a clinical assistant professor at the UF School of Physician Assistant Studies, Melissa Turley, Pharm.D., MPAS ’05, PA-C, focuses on student success, while also teaching and practicing in the clinic.
She instructs PA students during both years of their program, where she teaches courses on physical diagnosis, hospital and advanced clinical practicums, evidence-based medicine and more. In honor of her dedication to learners, Turley was recently named by students in the PA class of 2023 as the Outstanding Academic Year Instructor during their commencement ceremony.
“I emphasize that patient care differs from standardized tests in that there is often more than one ‘right’ answer,” she said. “We also focus on making treatment decisions that are accessible to different patient populations. The best reward is when I have a student message me after graduation to say they were able to take knowledge from those sessions and apply that in practice, leading to a positive patient outcome.”
Turley completed a dual-degree program at the UF colleges of Pharmacy and Medicine in 2005. She returned to UF in 2013 as a PA with the UF Student Health Care Center before joining the School of PA Studies faculty in 2019.
“I am fortunate to have so many experiences with women as positive role models, including faculty advisers in graduate school and colleagues in all of my workplaces,” she said. “However, I credit my mom for creating a home environment where I was encouraged to pursue both family and career goals without limitations. She did this with such conviction that I never even considered that being a woman could possibly hold me back. My mom inspires me to encourage other women to view being a woman as an opportunity instead of a barrier.”
Leader: Ashleigh Wright, M.D. ’07
As the medical director of the Anaclerio Learning and Assessment Center, triple Gator Ashleigh Wright, M.D. ’07, is dedicated to helping the next generation of physicians become empathetic, capable caregivers.
Working with students from the beginning of medical school through graduation, Wright builds creative, challenging patient activities that encourage learners to strive for excellence. Her roles as a faculty member, mentor and director help bolster the same program that trained her in the early 2000s.
“Watching students improve over four years is an amazing experience, and I am grateful to be involved in the process,” said Wright, an associate professor in the department of medicine. “I have enjoyed a wonderful career in medicine, and I look forward to many more years.”
Wright first joined The Gator Nation in 2000 for her undergraduate studies. She was inspired to pursue medicine from a young age by her father, who worked in patient care as a urologist, and her mother, who supported and encouraged Wright throughout her childhood.
At the College of Medicine, she found role models in fellow female physicians such as Heather E. Harrell, M.D. ’95, FACP, the associate dean of medical education; Shelley Collins, M.D., the senior associate dean for undergraduate medical education; Maria Kelly, M.D. ’02, FAAP, the assistant dean and chief medical officer of University of Florida Health Physicians; and Carolyn Stalvey, M.D. ’99, a professor in the department of medicine.
Now as a mother watching her children grow with wonderful teachers, Wright said, she has learned the true impact working in education can have.
“My daughter Madeline, who is now 10 years old, inspires me to be the best version of myself,” she said. “For women who are early in their careers or are considering medicine, I am so excited for your future! I encourage you to be curious, look at every day as an opportunity to learn more about medicine and discover what aspect of medicine most speaks to you.”
Researcher: Antonette Bennett, Ph.D. ’09
In 2011, UF College of Medicine graduate Antonette Bennett, Ph.D. ’09, returned to her alma mater to continue her work exploring pathogenic and beneficial single-stranded DNA viruses for use in gene therapy. Now an assistant research scientist in the department of biochemistry and molecular biology, Bennett uses leading-edge technology to study virus structures, ultimately designing vectors to improve treatment for patients.
“My family, friends and people I know who are sick and don’t have a solution to their ailment have always been a concern for me,” Bennett said. “I have always dreamed and hoped that one day I could make a difference and contribute in any way to alleviate their suffering. This was the main reason I pursued a career in this field.”
At UF, the late Mavis Agbandje-McKenna, Ph.D., a globally renowned parvovirus researcher, was an inspiration to Bennett, who stepped into the McKenna laboratory as a student for the first time in 2004.
“She was an extraordinary friend and mentor,” Bennett said. “She modeled what a woman, a person in science, should be.”
Finding a good mentor and friend like Agbandje-McKenna is Bennett’s advice to any woman looking to work in biomedical sciences.
“If this is your ultimate career choice,” she said, “do the research, shadow someone who is working in your area of interest, have a career plan and decide if this career choice will make you happy.”
Clinician: Faye Pais, M.D.
After completing a pulmonology and critical care medicine fellowship at UF Health in 2022, California native Faye Pais, M.D., began working as a faculty member and interstitial lung disease, or ILD, specialist in the College of Medicine’s division of pulmonary, critical care and sleep medicine.
Through her dedicated work with a distinct but poorly characterized group of inflammatory muscle disorders known as myositis, Pais helped launch a new Myositis Interstitial Lung Disease Center at UF Health in May to improve patient outcomes and provide a better understanding of the life-threatening disease. The center is one of very few in the world solely dedicated to advancing myositis ILD research and treatment using a lung-based approach.
“Interstitial lung disease and myositis is newly recognized, and our understanding is limited. But one thing is very clear: prompt recognition of lung involvement is paramount. While believed to be a muscle-based disorder, it is the presence and severity of lung disease that determines treatment and survival,” she said. “The highlight for me with the new center is the opportunity to work with a close-knit team of renowned colleagues from different medical subspecialties, all sharing the same passion for myositis ILD.”
In her life and career, Pais has been inspired and supported by mentors and loved ones, including her grandmother, her husband and Diana Gomez Manjarres, M.D., co-director of UF’s ILD program. She said her three dogs also ensure she strikes a work-life balance by reminding her to “paws for their cause.”
“Find your passion, and you will never work a day in your life,” Pais said. “I care for patients with a rare autoimmune lung disease. With a special team of providers, I start each day doing what I love.”
