Feb. 25, 2026 — When his father required open heart surgery after rheumatic fever, 9-year-old Christopher O. Hoyte felt deeply impacted by seeing his hero so sick and unguarded.

“He’s one of those very stoic people, and I’d never seen him vulnerable like that, ever,” he said. “I’ve always been close to my dad, and as he was going through that health issue, having the other physicians helping to take care of him left a mark on me. I thought, ‘I want to be able to do that for other people, too.’”

That experience led Hoyte, M.D., M.B.A., FAACT, FACMT, to pursue a career as a physician. Decades later, that path has led him to the University of Florida College of Medicine, where he will begin his tenure as chair of the Department of Emergency Medicine March 11.

Hoyte, who grew up in Dallas, attended medical school at Rutgers University in New Jersey, where he initially planned to pursue a career in transplant surgery.

“Then I did my emergency medicine rotation, and I got to take care of really sick people,” he said. “And it anchored me back to when I was 9, spending time in the ED with my dad, and I think there was some visceral connection there.”

Absorbed by the fast-paced environment of the emergency department, the deductive work of developing a treatment plan with limited information and getting the chance to be like the doctors who helped his family remain calm during an illness set Hoyte on a trajectory he never looked back from.

Following medical school, Hoyte moved to Chicago, where he completed a general surgery internship at St Joseph’s Hospital and an emergency medicine residency at Cook County Hospital, serving as chief resident.

While at Cook County Hospital, two of his mentors and role models were toxicologists, inspiring Hoyte to specialize in the area. He eventually pursued a medical toxicology fellowship at Rocky Mountain Poison and Drug Center in Denver.

“You have to know why this particular substance is hurting and poisoning someone, understand the body’s pathways and be able to intervene,” Hoyte said. “You have to be able to recognize it rapidly and then know what to do as the next step.”

Prior to joining the UF faculty, Hoyte most recently spent 16 years with the University of Colorado. Some of the roles he held included medical director of the Rocky Mountain Poison Center, medical director of the Toxicological Services Clinic, associate vice chair of academic affairs and education for the Department of Emergency Medicine, and founder and director of Rocky Mountain Health, which collaborates with industry to improve health care. He also earned his master’s in business administration from the University of Colorado at Denver School of Business.

A significant foundation for his leadership philosophy came from working in the ED during the COVID-19 pandemic. While the department served as a critical care unit, visitors could not visit terminally ill loved ones out of precaution for spreading the virus.

“There was a lot of emotional drain, not just because it was hard work but also because some people didn’t get to see their families and loved ones before they died,” Hoyte said. “One of the things I reminded everybody is, ‘Look at this privilege we get. Let’s go make the most of that.’ I wanted to motivate the people around me, not just during COVID, but after as well. We can’t ever put it in our full rear view, but we’ve got this great privilege to be able to do this. Let’s go do it the best we can.”

Hoyte was drawn to Gainesville by the faculty, leadership and growth opportunities available at the College of Medicine and UF Health. Over the next 10-15 years, he anticipates significant changes to the emergency medicine field.

“Complex care must happen within the hospital, but there’s a lot of acute care services in emergency medicine that do not need to occur within our four walls,” he said. “One of the things I think we need to get right in emergency medicine is delivering care to patients where they need it, without them having to come to the hospital, and finding ways we do so in a sustainable way.”

He is also keen to apply artificial intelligence to the ED when it makes sense.

“I think getting it right on the trust, accuracy and consistency will be very important,” he said. “We should harness the power of AI wherever it’s safe and improves medical quality and benefits patients.”

When he’s not busy with work, Hoyte enjoys staying active and spending time with his family.

His favorite sport is soccer, though he also cycles with his wife, Flavia, an allergist and immunologist. The couple also coordinates with one another on parental duties, juggling busy clinical schedules with their children’s activities, like bringing Alexandra, 11, to dance practice and Christian, 5, to basketball.

The philosophy his dad instilled in him for life and work is something Hoyte tries to impart upon his own children.

“He would always say to me, ‘How you do anything is how you do everything,’” Hoyte said. “I heard that 50 times from him. It’s something that’s ingrained in me, and that’s a big part of how I approach a lot of things, from talking to my children to taking pride in my work.”

View photos from the chair signing event with Hoyte in late 2025.

Photos by Hannah Clark