It has been two decades since the Florida State University College of Medicine was established.

The college will commemorate its 20th anniversary with a virtual ceremony Friday, Nov. 6. The event will recognize Myra Hurt, who served as the college’s acting dean when it opened, and the college’s Hall of Fame Class of 2020. The event also will serve as a virtual reunion for alumni.

In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, social-distancing regulations have pushed individuals into isolation rather than proximate relationships. In an interview with Psychology Today, Assistant Professor Martina Luchetti sheds light on her research on how social support and human resilience have overcome increased loneliness despite the regulations.

The Florida State University College of Medicine Family Medicine Residency at BayCare Health System in Winter Haven welcomed its inaugural class of residents this summer.  

The first six residents of the Winter Haven program – Dr. Marvin Dieujuste, from Fort Lauderdale; Dr. Brian Greene, from Reno, NV; Dr. Feisal Hamam, from Paterson, N.J.; Dr. Trevor Owens from Cocoa; Dr. Ravi Patel from Bonifay and Dr. Dianna Pham, who was raised in Winter Haven – are learning more about the family medicine specialty during a three-year stint.

"We wanted people with strong medical knowledge, but they also need to have a passion for caring for the whole person. They also have to be a good team player who is able to interact well with everyone, from pharmacists to nurses and everyone on the patient journey," said founding program director Nathan Falk.

Cardiologist Lensey Scott, a 2006 M.D. graduate of the FSU College of Medicine, recently joined the team at Baptist Health Heart Institute/Arkansas Cardiology-Conway.

Dance Marathon at Florida State University hosted its sixth annual Florida Statement fundraising push on Oct. 27. Florida Statement took place over the course of 26.2 hours with a goal of raising $424,000.

At the center of this year’s Florida Statement is Leon county and its surrounding counties and the medical needs provided by DM at FSU through FSU’s College of Medicine Pediatric Outreach Program.

Tallahassee clerkship faculty member Ronald Saff was quoted in a Healthline article about knowing the difference between allergy symptoms, COVID-19 and wildfire smoke irritation.

The College of Medicine's M.D. Class of 2024 will receive their white coats during a virtual ceremony on Friday, Oct. 16.

Sanjay Kumar, an associate professor in the College of Medicine’s Department of Biomedical Sciences, and his team are paving the way toward finding effective therapies for this disease.

He and his team found a mechanism in the brain responsible for triggering epileptic seizures. Their research indicates that an amino acid known as D-serine could work with the mechanism to help prevent epileptic seizures, thereby also preventing the death of neural cells that accompanies them.

A team of researchers from the Florida State University College of Medicine has found that an amino acid produced by the brain could play a crucial role in preventing a type of epileptic seizure. Temporal lobe epileptic seizures are debilitating and can cause lasting damage in patients, including neuronal death and loss of neuron function. Sanjay Kumar, an associate professor in the College of Medicine’s Department of Biomedical Sciences, and his team are paving the way toward finding effective therapies for this disease.

When the pandemic hit, mental health professionals predicted lockdowns and social distancing would result in a wave of loneliness. But researchers who study loneliness, including the College of Medicine's Angelina Sutin, say that hasn't happened.

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Christie Alexander, associate professor at the FSU College of Medicine and president of the Florida Academy of Family Physicians, helped formulate a cheat sheet for Men's Health to outline the most common symptoms for the cold, flu and COVID-19, and offered some tips on what to do if you feel under the weather.

An article in the Tallahassee Democrat discusses how the COVID-19 crisis has aggravated domestic abuse situations with stress and stay-at-home orders to prevent spread of the virus.

While calls to Refuge House’s hotline numbers are down about  30% — from an average of 300 calls from within Leon County to about 200 — the decline signals trouble. Victims, particularly ones throughout the rural Big Bend, aren’t reaching out as much as they were. 

College of Medicine Professor Suzanne Harrison commented on the lack of resources victims in rural areas have.

“They don’t have the same degree of resources that you might have in a more urban area,” says Dr. Suzanne Harrison, a rural and family medicine doctor who teaches at the Florida State University College of Medicine.

Christie Alexander, associate professor at the College of Medicine and president of the Florida Academy of Family Physicians, discussed this year's cold and flu season in an Oprah.com article.

Big Bend CARES provides assistance to people living with HIV and conducts HIV prevention and education programs to the general community in the Tallahassee area. During the coronavirus pandemic, the organization has helped HIV patients get the help and support they need, says Jonathan Appelbaum, chair of the Department of Clinical Sciences at the College of Medicine.

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A new study of teenagers and young adults living with HIV found they are more likely to make healthy lifestyle choices when intervention counseling is delivered in a clinic setting, rather than a community setting.

The new study, published in JAMA Open Network and co-authored by Sylvie Naar, found young people living with HIV had higher viral loads when their counseling was delivered at home. 

A study published in the Journal of the Medical Directors Association demonstrated that a partnership between long-term care organizations in two countries working in collaboration with researchers and national health care organizations can generate changes that improve quality of care for residents. Professor and Chair of the Department of Geriatrics Paul Katz was a co-author on the study.

Comments from Les Bietsch, chair of the Department of Behavioral Science and Social Medicine, were included in a recent Associated Press  article about Florida's public health system and its impact on the COVID-19 pandemic.

Amid a pandemic, five separate medical task forces for five separate major college football conferences have had to analyze the potential safety and health concerns associated with having a college football season. Les Beitsch, chair of the Department of Behavioral Sciences and Social Medicine at the FSU College of Medicine is one of the 15 panelists (plus one alternate) advising the ACC.

As Florida State University students return to school this fall, new COVID-19 protocols and programs await them as the university works to ensure the health and safety of the entire campus community. 

A pillar of this effort is the  Secure Assessment for FSU Exposure Response (SAFER) initiative. 

The program aims to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 through contact assessment, while providing support for students, staff and faculty who have been exposed or tested positive for the virus.

Identifying close contacts is key to halting the spread of the virus, said Emily Pritchard, . Pritchard, FSU’s liaison to the Florida Department of Health for COVID-19 and research faculty member in Biomedical Sciences at the FSU College of Medicine is the administrative lead for the SAFER initiative. Senior Associate Dean Daniel Van Durme, the chief medical officer for the COVID-19 testing program, said determining whom infected persons might have come in contact with is crucial to halting spread.

An article from the AAMC reads, in part, "When Daniel Alban heads back to Florida State University (FSU) College of Medicine next week, the second-year student says he’ll be excited but also somewhat nervous. Since COVID-19 ended his in-person classes months ago, so many aspects of medical education have changed — from strict safety protocols to dramatically different modes of learning.

'The upcoming semester feels like a test run for all of us, maybe even a bit of a mess,' Alban says. 'But we’re up to the challenge. Students are resilient.'"

Care Point Health & Wellness Center has launched a new partnership with the Florida State University College of Medicine, bringing three staff physicians to their full-time clinic team of providers. 

A new study suggests that adults experienced few changes in “Big Five” personality traits as a result of the initial phase of the COVID-19 pandemic in the U.S. Associate Professor Angelina Sutin of the Florida State University College of Medicine and colleagues present these findings in the open-access journal PLOS ONE on August 6, 2020.

A group of historians including Associate Professor Joseph Gabriel recently collaborated on a round-table conversation about what they've learned from the world’s response to COVID-19, as well as themes that teachers and professors can use to encourage future discussion of COVID-19 in the classroom. An article from the Corvallis Advocate summarizes the group's viewpoints.

Florida State University researchers received a record level of funding in the 2020 fiscal year, bringing in $250.1 million in grants from federal, state and private sources.

The quarter-billion milestone in research funding is more than $16 million higher than the previous record, which FSU posted in fiscal year 2019.

Dr. Sallie Permar, a physician-scientist who investigates the prevention and treatment of neonatal viral infections, and Dr. Stephen Patrick, a 2007 FSU College of Medicine alumnus and neonatologist focused on the impact of the opioid epidemic on pregnant women and infants, have been jointly awarded Weill Cornell Medicine’s fifth annual Gale and Ira Drukier Prize in Children’s Health Research.

The Drukier Prize, which honors early-career pediatricians whose research has made important contributions toward improving the health of children and adolescents, was established in 2014 as part of a $25 million gift to Weill Cornell Medicine.

Since its inception in 2015, the Autism Navigator program, which is housed in the Autism Institute at the Florida State University College of Medicine, has offered the bulk of its services online, which has proven invaluable during the coronavirus pandemic and related shutdowns.

For the past couple of years, BayCare’s Winter Haven Hospital has been working with Florida State University’s College of Medicine to establish a new residency program. The goal of the program is to attract more primary care physicians to the area, since a majority of doctors will start their practices within 100 miles of where they do their residencies, according to the American Medical Association. The new residency program recently welcomed its first crop of fresh residents, with six medical school graduates taking their places in the program in June and beginning their curriculum on July 1.

The Florida State University College of Medicine Family Medical Residency Program at Lee Health welcomed eight new resident physicians who started their training on June 22, 2020. The new residents include Dr. Francesca Blazekovic, Dr. Jenna De Francesco, Dr. Thomas Flynn, Dr. Shane Geffe, Dr. Joseph Guernsey, Dr. Gerard Mulles, Dr. Dakin White and Dr. Luke Wren

The coronavirus pandemic has begun to overwhelm Florida nursing homes. Those with scant resources may feel pressured to set up isolation wards that many are not fully equipped to create safely. Paul Katz, chair of the Department of Geriatrics, commented on the growing concern.

The article appeared in numerous news outlets including The Times of Israel , the Las Vegas Sun , Tampa Bay Times , Chicago Tribune , Orlando Sentinel and more.

Our personalities are shaped by our experiences and social interactions, so how might the months of being isolated from friends, family and colleagues have altered us? Associate Professor Angelina Sutin led a study that looked for signs of personality change during the very early stage of the pandemic in the US. It showed that most traits showed no average-level change at all, and contrary to expectations, average neuroticism actually fell slightly for those not in isolation, perhaps because people attributed feelings of stress to what was going on in the world, rather than to their own personality.

Leslie Beitsch, chair of the Department of Behavioral Sciences and Social Medicine at the FSU College of Medicine, co-authored an editorial for the Tampa Bay Times about how to stem coronavirus in Florida.

A study from the Florida State University College of Medicine found that social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic has not led to an overall increase in loneliness among Americans.

Suzanne Bennett Johnson, a distinguished research professor at the Florida State University College of Medicine and past president of the American Psychological Association, wrote a response for a Healio article about screening newborns for type 1 diabetes risk. Universal genetic screening of newborns for type 1 diabetes risk should not be done unless there is a treatment, she wrote. Genetic screening for type 1 diabetes risk in newborns is controversial for several reasons.

New research from Assistant Professor Martina Luchetti and Associate Professor Angelina Sutin found that social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic has not led to an overall increase in loneliness among Americans. Instead, people reported feeling more supported by others than before the pandemic.

An article about loneliness amid the COVID-19 pandemic discusses how there are some indications that people's resilience plus increased use of communications technology may be helping lessen the broader impact of the pandemic on loneliness, according to Martina Luchetti, assistant professor at Florida State University College of Medicine.

Joedrecka Brown Speights, chair of the Department of Family Medicine and Rural Health, will participate in a panel discussion on community engagement and social justice during the virtual National Conference of Family Medicine Residents and Medical Students on July 30-Aug. 1. She was interviewed by AAFP about becoming a family medicine doctor, addressing health equity, her spirituality and her work related to her small congregation.

"It's part of our duty to recognize that people have not only physical and mental health but spiritual, financial, relational and emotional aspects to health as well," she said. "I hope my training makes me a more compassionate, loving and understanding person."

More than 2,000 employees have been tested at Florida State University’s drive-through COVID-19 site since it opened June 24 in the Traditions parking garage on campus. Beginning Monday, July 13, FSU’s College of Medicine will take over for University Health Services at the garage site. The university plans for testing to be available through the fall semester at different locations on campus.

While the COVID-19 pandemic, lockdowns and social distancing rules continue to hinder some medical students' ability to learn clinical skills, Alan Durkin of Ocean Drive Plastic Surgery has teamed up with the FSU College of Medicine's Fort Pierce Regional Campus to safely teach 30 medical students the art of suturing, or 'stitches,' in Vero Beach. 

A new center for the treatment of anxiety and depression that aims to bridge the gap between science and practice opens Wednesday, July 8. In an effort to bring the latest research to help patients, the center’s practitioners will be both faculty and clinicians in training from various Florida State University colleges. The clinic off Lee Avenue, called FSU BehavioralHealth at Apalachee Center, is launched by FSU’s College of Medicine and the Apalachee Center.

Florida State University and Apalachee Center opened a new medical clinic July 8 that will provide assessment and evidence-based treatment for mood and anxiety disorders.

FSU BehavioralHealth at Apalachee Center is the clinical arm of the FSU Mood and Anxiety Center of Excellence — a member of the National Network of Depression Centers.

The National Salute to America's Heroes has been on the lookout for four local heroes in South Florida who have made an impact in battling the COVID-19 pandemic. National Salute to America's Heroes partnered with Hyundai to present four heroes with new Hyundai Sonatas a signs of appreciation for their service. FSU College of Medicine alumnus Makandall Saint Eloi (M.D. '16), an emergency medicine doctor at Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami, was recognized as one of the heroes.

Niharika Suchak has been named Big Bend Hospice's new medical director. Dr. Suchak has served as the associate medical director since February 2016. Suchak is a clinician-educator and an associate professor in the Department of Geriatrics at the College of Medicine. She is the director of Year 1 Clinical Skills at the med school and also serves as medical director of FSU TeleHealthTM, and chair of the FSU TeleHealthTM Committee.

New research from Assistant Professor Martina Luchetti and Associate Professor Angelina Sutin found that social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic has not led to an overall increase in loneliness among Americans. Instead, people reported feeling more supported by others than before the pandemic.

A study conducted at the FSU College of Medicine indicates that instead of feeling more lonely during the COVID-19 pandemic and stay-at-home orders, people have reported a remarkable amount of resilience and gumption.

The 32304 zip code in Tallahassee has more poor households than anywhere else in Florida. The coronavirus outbreak has only made it worse. Joedrecka Brown Speights, a Florida State University College of Medicine professor and expert on family, maternal and child health comments on the disparity.