Dec. 10, 2024 — “You know, you should be a doctor.”

To 8-year-old Alma Littles, these seven words from her second-grade teacher planted a seed that, nurtured by the love of family and friends, the faith of her church, and the nourishment of a rich education, grew into a flourishing legacy: Alma B. Littles, M.D. ’86 — youngest of 12 siblings from Quincy, Florida, first-generation college graduate, family medicine physician, mentor, advocate, and community builder.

Now dean of the Florida State University College of Medicine and vice president of the Florida Medical Association, Littles has dedicated her career to giving back to her community and shaping the future of medicine in Florida.

“In second grade, I wasn’t sure exactly what that would be like,” Littles said. “I hadn’t seen a doctor since birth. But it stuck. Whenever anyone would ask, ‘What do you want to be when you grow up?’ I’d say a doctor. And as I got older, learned more about illnesses and medicine, and saw people sick and dying around me, I thought, ‘This is what doctors do. Maybe I could do something to help if I were a doctor.’”

With this determination, Littles excelled in school, loving math and science and being drawn to problem-solving. Her junior year of high school, recruiters from the University of Florida engineering program spoke to her class about opportunities for college in Gainesville, and the next year, when her adviser asked what her plan was, she knew she wanted to be a Gator.

“It was far enough away to not commute every day but not so far that I couldn’t come home quickly if I needed to,” Littles said. “I loved it! Absolutely loved it! It was an opportunity to enjoy life and also meet new friends — There’s a stadium full of them!”

Her education in Quincy was so strong that the first few semesters of undergraduate studies at UF felt like a review of high school. But being from a small town and a first-generation student, there were some surprises.

“I remember general chemistry, my first huge class with 300 people,” Littles said. “It was a little daunting.”

It was in one of those first weed-out classes where Littles learned medical school required a whole separate application process after undergrad. She knew it took eight years to get through medical school, but no one in her family had prior experience to explain acceptance cycles, and in the ’70s, she didn’t have a computer to look up the difference.

“It wasn’t until UF that I learned, oh, this is not as direct as I thought,” she said. “But I saw no reason to leave. I had done some shadowing, gotten to know people at UF Health Shands Hospital, and learned it was a good medical school where I wanted to stay.”

Littles said she has so many vibrant memories from her time at the UF College of Medicine, like using her stethoscope for the first time to examine a hospital patient, putting on her white coat, falling in love with pediatric and adult medicine on rotations, and performing a “Wheel of Misfortune” senior skit with her classmates parodying the popular “Wheel of Fortune” game show using a wheel full of various disease diagnoses — a performance captured on tape that she still treasures a copy of.

“At the UF College of Medicine, it was just that really great feeling that ‘Wow, this is what it’s all about. This is what I came here to do,’” she said.

During school breaks, Littles would return home to Quincy, proudly showing her second grade teacher her report cards and all she was learning at UF. But it was more than just academic achievement that fueled her ambition. Witnessing the preventable illnesses and deaths of family and friends around her, many of whom lacked access to routine health care in rural Gadsden County, motivated Littles to pursue a career in family medicine and make a difference in the lives of adults and children in her community.

After graduating from the UF College of Medicine, Littles completed her family medicine residency at Tallahassee Memorial Hospital, now Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare, in 1989, where she served as chief resident and received the Parke-Davis Teacher Development Award for Family Practice Residents from the American Academy of Family Physicians in honor of her work.

That same year, she returned to Quincy and opened a private practice caring for many of the families she grew up with — a true full-circle moment.

“When I started my practice, my mother would send patients to me all the time,” Littles said, chuckling. “I remember telling her, ‘You know mom, I actually pay someone to make appointments for me.’

“What was really special for me was I ended up taking care of a lot of my former schoolteachers. That was rewarding, eye opening,” she said. “I got to see them in a different light.”

Littles also welcomed young students and trainees into her practice, offering mentorship, shadowing opportunities, and preceptorships. She loved teaching and traveled into Tallahassee to teach family medicine residents for a half day every two weeks. After the birth of her son, Gentle Germaine Littles, and expanding her private practice to a group practice with six other doctors that included her own pediatrician from Quincy, Littles became a full-time faculty member with Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare, rising to become director of the family medicine residency program in a few short years.

When conversations began about starting the Florida State University College of Medicine in 2000, Littles was recruited to launch the Department of Family Medicine and Rural Health. She stayed on to help guide the college through accreditation and remained there in leadership, serving as interim dean starting in February of 2023 before being named dean on July 1, 2024.

Organized medicine is another passion Littles has grown over her career, helping lead groups like the Florida Academy of Family Physicians, the American Academy of Family Physicians, the Florida Medical Association, the American Medical Association, the Association of American Medical Colleges, the Capital Medical Society, and more.

Outside of work, Littles cherishes time with her husband and son, often sharing a love of sports no matter what colors the team is wearing. She is also secretary of Shiloh Primitive Baptist Church in Quincy, a position she inherited from her mother.

Throughout it all, she has remained connected with her fellow Gators, serving as chair of the UF College of Medicine Class of 1986 reunion committee.

“It’s fun keeping in touch, helping organize, and getting people back together,” Littles said. “It’s important to me to maintain those relationships.”