Meet three Medicine alumni inducted into the 2024 UF Gators 40 Under 40 cohort
UF Alumni Association award recognizes those making an impact in their communities and professions
Images from the 40 Gators Under 40 Awards Reception and Dinner on Friday, March 29, 2024 at Emerson Alumni Hall at the University of Florida in Gainesville, FL. Photo by Matt Pendleton. Photography for UF Alumni Association.
Photo by Matt Pendleton
April 4, 2024 — Every year since 2006, outstanding University of Florida alumni under age 40 have been recognized for their achievements and impact on their organizations and communities.
This year, three College of Medicine alumni were recognized for going greater in their professions. Meet UF Medicine’s 40 Gators Under 40 honorees for 2024.
Avan Armaghani, M.D.
Avan Armaghani, M.D.
Avan Armaghani, M.D. ’12, is a breast medical oncologist at Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, where she is a core faculty member for the University of South Florida and the Moffitt hematology/oncology fellowship program. She also serves as the fellowship breast rotation leader.
What inspired you to pursue your chosen career path?
During my internal medicine residency at UF, I explored different medicine subspecialities and was immediately drawn to oncology. The field provides a unique opportunity to form a special bond with patients and their caregiver/families. I am so grateful that I get to care for cancer patients. They teach me about hope, resilience and perseverance and the power of positive thinking. I carry those lessons with me every day.
How did your studies at the College of Medicine prepare you for success?
I am grateful to have had the opportunity to study at the UF College of Medicine. I had incredible teachers and mentors who provided constant support, encouragement and inspiration, which allowed me to succeed and follow my dreams and passions.
What career advice would you give to current UF Medicine students?
I think the most important thing is to never lose sight of your goals, your dreams and your passions, and to use that as your source of strength and motivation.
What does it mean to you to be selected as a 40 Gators Under 40 recipient?
I am honored and humbled to receive this recognition. I went to UF for undergraduate school, medical school, residency and fellowship, so I consider it home. Go Gators!
Devin Bustin, M.D.
Devin Bustin, M.D.
Devin Bustin, M.D. ’11, is board-certified in emergency medicine and clinical informatics and serves as the chief medical officer for OvaryIt, head of clinical informatics at Atria Health, associate director of clinical informatics at Sollis Health and an attending physician in the Mountainside Medical Center emergency department. He has a passion for ethical entrepreneurship centered on using technology and novel health care delivery approaches to increase quality, efficiency and access to care.
What inspired you to pursue your chosen career path?
My decision to pursue medicine was deeply influenced by my father, a compassionate physician whose dedication inspired me from a young age. While at UF as an undergrad, I worked as an EMT with the City of Miami Department of Fire-Rescue, which ignited my passion for helping vulnerable individuals in critical situations. These hands-on experiences led me to emergency medicine. After graduating from the UF College of Medicine and completing my residency training at Carolinas Medical Center, I worked in the emergency department at Tallahassee Memorial Healthcare for seven years. I loved my career; however, I developed a desire to make an impact at the population-health level.
After my wife was adversely impacted by a poorly designed contraceptive telehealth service, we co-founded OvaryIt to increase access to convenient, high-quality and affordable contraceptive services for all. Through this journey, I discovered a passion for health technology, clinical informatics and entrepreneurship that has shaped my multifaceted career in medicine.
How did your studies at the College of Medicine prepare you for success?
Attending the UF College of Medicine was undoubtedly one of the most pivotal decisions I’ve made in my journey. The supportive community of faculty and peers at the college fostered an environment of continuous learning and growth. The comprehensive curriculum provided me with a great foundation during the initial years and the excellent hands-on clinical rotations offered invaluable real-world experiences. Upon graduation, I felt prepared and confident as I started my residency training. Additionally, UF Medicine is an excellent value, and I had much less student loan debt than many of my peers. This made the transition from student to resident to attending physician much more comfortable and allowed me to have more financial freedom in my career decisions.
What career advice would you give to current UF Medicine students?
I would offer the advice that has guided me throughout my journey: embrace every opportunity. Beyond the textbooks and exams, remember to cultivate empathy and compassion in every patient interaction. These human interactions will ultimately be what fulfills you as a physician when the novelty fades. Also, embracing a mentality of lifelong learning will serve as the cornerstone of your success. Finally, please prioritize your well-being and strive for a healthy work-life balance. Medicine is a challenging career path and your journey in medicine is as much about personal growth as it is about professional achievement.
What does it mean to you to be selected as a Gators 40 Under 40 recipient?
I’m deeply grateful for the support and opportunities I’ve received from the University of Florida. This recognition has been extremely validating for me and reaffirms my motivation to leverage technology and morally responsible entrepreneurship to much-needed change in health care.
Jennifer Goetz, M.D.
Jennifer Goetz, M.D.
Jennifer Goetz, M.D. ’13, is the director of inpatient psychiatry and an eating disorder clinical care consultant at Mass General Brigham Salem Hospital and Mass General Brigham in Massachusetts.
She has provided treatment for patients with a wide variety of psychiatric conditions, from affective and psychotic disorders to eating disorders. She receives referrals from colleagues locally, regionally and nationally and was recognized by Baltimore Magazine as a “Top Doctor” for the clinical care of pediatric patients with eating disorders and for her work with this population at The Johns Hopkins Hospital.
What inspired you to pursue your chosen career path?
I have always been drawn to patients with complex medical and psychiatric needs. When I was a teenager, I struggled with anorexia nervosa, and recovering from that is what initially led to my interest in a career in medicine. While I thought I would pursue primary care/pediatrics, I was continuously drawn to patients with mental illness throughout my rotations in medical school.
Drawing on my own recovery gives me hope I can offer to my patients and their families. I believe in the ability to heal and gain one’s life back from these illnesses — there is no better joy and honor than to be able to help patients and families through their own journeys.
How did your studies at the College of Medicine prepare you for success?
I wholeheartedly credit my training and foundations in medical school with my success in residency, fellowship and as an early career physician in psychiatry/child psychiatry. UF Medicine gave me a strong foundation in the basic and clinical sciences, the ability to reason through and problem solve, to think critically and creatively — all skills I use daily.
My mentors at UF taught me to advocate and to use my voice as an agent of change and not to settle for what we know as being good enough — but to push the envelope, to question our current understandings and treatments and to remain humble and curious.
What career advice would you give to current UF Medicine students?
It’s important to remain open during your time at UF Medicine in terms of what lies in front of you. Each experience, from dissection in anatomy to scrubbing into trauma surgery at 3 a.m., has a purpose and no matter what you are interested in, there truly is value in each experience you will go through. Allowing yourself to be in the moment, to take in the teaching of each experience and to give yourself time to reflect on all that you are seeing and doing is critical.
What does it mean to you to be selected as a 40 Gators Under 40 recipient?
I think the UF College of Medicine is the greatest medical school in the world, and I believe the curriculum, the experiences and the people set you up to be successful in medicine, no matter what field you choose.
I loved medical school because of the people. To know I am representing the college well out here in the Northeast is an incredible honor that to me reflects wholly on the amazing teachers and mentors who shaped me during medical school.
Student Q&A with the 40 Gators Under 40
In March, the 2024 UF Medicine honorees of the 40 Gators Under 40 awards returned to the College of Medicine for a Q&A session with current students.
Photos by Emily Mavrakis
