UF Medicine alumni celebrate, raise funds for scholarships during Alumni Weekend
The M.D. class of 1982 scholarship fund achieved endowment-level status
Oct. 12, 2023 — First-year medical student Giselle Calero immediately felt at home when she was accepted to the UF College of Medicine and met faculty in the program. However, the Miami native born to Cuban immigrants was unsure whether she could afford to attend her dream medical school.
As a recipient of the Jennie Petkavage Scholarship, Calero was able to commit to UF and join her fellow members in the M.D. class of 2027 at orientation this summer.
“I knew this was the kind of program in which I would flourish and that UF would appreciate the person I am and the goals I want to accomplish,” Calero said. “Being a scholarship recipient relieved me and my family of a huge financial burden. It gave me back my freedom to choose my own path with my goals and mission at heart. I can now focus on my patients and community.”
Calero shared her journey to the College of Medicine at an evening reception with UF M.D. and P.A. graduates during the 2023 Alumni Weekend celebration from Oct. 6-7. During this year’s festivities, alumni and their families gathered on campus for a trip down memory lane, as they met current students like Calero, connected with their former classmates and glimpsed the ongoing innovations at their alma mater.
Alumni board president Brian Taschner, M.D. '98, speaks to a crowd of attendees during the 2023 UF College of Medicine Alumni Weekend.
Photo by Nate Guidry
Fort Myers-based cardiologist Brian Taschner, M.D. ’98, has attended Alumni Weekend for years. In 2023, his class celebrated its 25th anniversary, and he joined the celebration as president of the college’s alumni board, a two-year term he began in May.
“My family’s consistently gone to the tailgates, and it’s allowed us over time to see the progress that has been made at the medical school and the innovations there,” he said. “I also enjoy having the chance to catch up with not just people from my class but also people from the medical school in general.”
Wall of Fame awardees announced
Robert Borrego, M.D. '84
During Alumni Weekend, two alumni joined the ranks of the College of Medicine Wall of Fame: Robert Borrego, M.D. ’84, and Maria Elena Bottazzi, Ph.D. ’95. Borrego, a U.S. Army veteran, currently serves as the trauma medical director and chief of surgery at St. Mary’s Hospital in West Palm Beach and as an associate professor of surgery at Florida Atlantic University, where he trains rotating medical students and residents to become tomorrow’s top trauma surgeons.
Maria Elena Bottazzi, Ph.D. '95
Bottazzi serves as co-director at Texas Children’s Hospital Center for Vaccine Development, an associate dean at the Baylor College of Medicine’s National School of Tropical Medicine and a professor of pediatrics, microbiology and molecular virology at Baylor, where she works to eliminate the cycle of poverty through studying neglected and emerging tropical diseases.
In addition to Saturday’s tailgate, attendees had a chance to tour some of the premier spaces at the college, taking a look at the programs and research underway by current faculty, learners and trainees. Stops on the tour included the Mobile Outreach Clinic, the UF Diabetes Institute and the Center for Translational Research in Neurodegenerative Diseases. Alumni and their families also saw demonstrations in the UF Center for Experiential Learning and Simulation.
Key announcements were shared at a reception and dinner celebrating milestone M.D. and P.A. classes: the class of 1982 successfully raised more than $100,000 to meet its endowment goal, enabling future students to benefit from the generosity of Gator doctors.
Mark Adkins, M.D. ’82, a retired diagnostic radiologist, said he was excited to learn about his cohort’s achievement.
“I am especially proud that my class reached this goal, becoming one of only four classes so far to endow a scholarship,” he said. “It has been a pleasure to help provide support to medical students financially and academically. It is very important to me to support the future of the medical profession.”
Taschner, who previously supported the college’s Legacy Challenge fundraising campaign, echoed Adkins’ thoughts regarding the importance of scholarships for students.
“Medical school costs have gone up significantly, and one of the best ways we can continue to attract the best students to our institution is to pay it forward,” Taschner said. “Donating was very gratifying for my wife and I, and I think it can be for others as well, because you’re able to see that individual students are benefiting from your philanthropic nature.”
