July 8, 2026 — When Adam Holtzman, M.D. ’13, was a young boy, his father would receive emergent pages calling him into the hospital to perform lifesaving surgery. He sometimes shadowed the cardiovascular trauma surgeon during rounds and operations, observing the magnitude of impact his father had on his patients’ lives.

“I always thought it was so cool how he would be counted on in those critical situations,” Holtzman said.

Those core memories stuck with Holtzman. During his undergraduate studies at the University of Florida, he decided to pursue medicine himself, and he continued his education in Gainesville for medical school and residency training.

Holtzman was recently recognized as a 2026 member of the UF 40 Gators Under 40. The honor spotlights alumni who have accomplished outstanding achievements in their field while being strongly tied to UF.

While on a clinical rotation in Jacksonville during medical school, Holtzman connected with radiation oncology faculty who became his mentors and future colleagues. Program Director Robert Amdur, M.D., matched him with radiation oncologist Brad Hoppe, M.D., M.P.H., who guided Holtzman through a research project on lymphoma patients at the UF Health Proton Therapy Institute in Jacksonville, one of the first units of its kind in the country. Holtzman said his training experience at UF was exceptional, especially since he had the opportunity to study under dedicated physicians with a direct lineage to the founders of radiation oncology.

“At UF, I felt like I was learning from people who had helped shape the field, not just practice it,” Holtzman said. “Mentors like Drs. Amdur, Hoppe, Okunieff, and Bill and Nancy Mendenhall taught me that radiation oncology is about technology, but also judgment, communication, research and carrying the field forward.”

Now building on that foundation as a leader in particle therapy, Holtzman focuses his research on improving tumor control and quality of life for patients with head and neck cancers. The Mayo Clinic researcher has authored more than 50 peer-reviewed publications and delivers plenary lectures across the globe. To better treat rare, aggressive and radioresistant cancers, Holtzman is part of the Mayo Clinic team preparing to launch the first carbon ion therapy program in the Americas, with treatments expected to begin in 2028. Carbon ion therapy uses heavier charged particles to focus radiation on tumors while sparing nearby healthy tissue.

Despite his many accolades, Holtzman gets the most satisfaction from being immersed in the research process, treating patients and mentoring the next generation of radiation oncologists. He compares his career to training for a marathon. Running a victory lap may be nice, he said, but the real fulfillment lies in the disciplined six to 12 months spent preparing for a race.

“If you’re always looking toward, ‘Oh, what’s the next goal?’ or ‘What’s the next achievement?’ then you’re never going to actually enjoy the moment,” Holtzman said. “Enjoying what you do on a daily basis is the reward that sustains me.”

He typically wakes up before the sun at 5 a.m. to run, bike or lift weights as a mental recharge. These activities give him a window to meditate before beginning his work that day.

“If you do something hard first thing in the morning,” Holtzman said, “it makes everything else easy.”

Holtzman’s focus on relishing each step forward allows him to take any challenge in stride. He recently ran a marathon in Tokyo and is raising his three children –– ages 5,7 and 9 –– with his wife to grow up as healthy, confident individuals. His positive outlook propels him even through difficult cases, likening the feeling of healing a high-risk patient to the endorphin rush of winning the lottery.

“My wife and kids keep me grounded,” Holtzman said. “In a field where the stakes are high every day, they remind me what I’m ultimately working for, helping people have more time with the people they love.”

Holtzman is currently designing several clinical research trials to further shape international treatment guidelines for rare and resistant cancers. As a clinician educator, he is always seeking to improve his student and patient interactions.

“I like to think I have a good bedside manner,” Holtzman said. “But I’m just always reflecting and thinking, ‘How can I do a better job? How can I be a better communicator?’ And then also figuring out how to train the next generation better.”

Holtzman’s mentors taught him many lessons that he now tries to instill in the next generation of clinicians. They “poured their heart and soul” into motivating students by setting aside time to sit down with them for hours –– meaningful labor that often goes unrecognized, Holtzman said. To emulate their dedication, Holtzman often quotes his mentors and borrows materials from their lectures to integrate into his own, continuing UF’s pedigree of leaders in academic medicine.

With the rapid adoption of artificial intelligence in academic medicine, Holtzman sometimes feels he is navigating unfamiliar territory when preparing students to enter the field of oncology. AI models now assist with notetaking, target delineation and a bulk of the calculations he was trained to do by hand. Like his approach to other aspects of his life, Holtzman is excited to meet the challenge.

“I’m still nimble enough to learn and adapt,” Holtzman said. “But I know the next generation will be even better at the new technologies, and maybe there’ll be an even better way to learn that I’m not even thinking of.”

Holtzman has a well of faith in the UF graduates who will proceed him. He loves working with students and was inducted into the Gold Humanism Honor Society and awarded the UF Outstanding Resident Educator Award for his dedication to service and education.

UF’s infrastructure is well-designed to provide the resources necessary to support a variety of medical career pathways, he said, speaking from experience as a medical student and assistant professor. Outside the university, he strengthens the bridge between academic medicine and the community by hosting lectures and sharing his expertise through podcasts, including a recent appearance on Mayo Clinic’s “Tomorrow’s Cure,” where he discussed carbon ion therapy and the future of precision cancer care.

Holtzman’s career now runs in parallel with his father’s, who is still actively practicing. As a man with the stoic demeanor of a poker player, his father shows his pride by inquiring about the radiation oncology literature Holtzman authors. Now, Holtzman works hand-in-hand with surgeons like his father to save the lives of patients depending on him.

Success is a moving target, Holtzman said, but also a state of mind he actively embodies every day.

“I have one of the best jobs in the world,” he said.