18 | F LO R I DA P HYS I C IAN
One of two VA hospitals in the North Florida/South Georgia Veterans Health
System, the Malcom Randall VA Medical Center opened its doors to patients
in October 1967, seven years after the UF College of Medicine graduated its
inaugural class of medical students. Since then, the hospital — part of the
largest integrated health system in the nation — has provided comprehensive
treatment for hundreds of thousands of veterans from all branches of the U.S.
military for medical issues ranging from spinal cord injury to post-traumatic
stress disorder while training countless students and residents.
“The VA has a long, proud history of affiliating with medical schools,”
says North Florida/South Georgia Veterans Health System chief of staff
Bradley Bender, MD, noting that the roots of the alliance between academic
medicine and the Department of Veterans Affairs reach back to the end of
World War II.
Today, VA facilities have affiliations with 135 allopathic U.S. medical
schools, and 60 percent of physicians around the nation receive portions
of their clinical education at a VA facility, during their training,
according to the Association of American Medical Colleges. In fact, the
VA is the largest provider of health care training in the country.
One aspect of the Malcom Randall VA Medical Center that sets it
apart, however, is its physical — and metaphorical — closeness to UF.
“There’s nothing like face-to-face communication,” Bender says
of the VA and UF, neighbors that share the same stretch of Archer
Road. “Several UF College of Medicine leaders have also had prior
roles at the VA, so they appreciate how the VA contributes to the
overall health care mission. Our partnership is like a marriage —
we work hard to ensure things go smoothly.”
This strong relationship, built on the pillars of collaboration
in patient care, teaching and research, follows the vision of
the hospital’s first director, the late Malcom Randall, who
the facility was named after in the late 1990s and who once
referred to the partnership between the VA and UF as “the
real strength of this hospital.”
In clinical practice, the VA’s affiliation with UF provides
the facility with additional health care providers.
About 180 VA physicians hold faculty appointments
at UF, and about 200 UF faculty members have
privileges at the VA.
“In the recruiting process, it helps us attract
academically minded physicians who want to work
with students and residents,” Bender says. “In fact,
a lot of our best doctors were trained at the
University of Florida.”
One such doctor is Chad Hood, MD ’97,
who rotated at the VA as a UF medical student
and later served in the Army before returning
to Gainesville. Today, he is the associate chief of
staff for education for the North Florida/South
Georgia Veterans Health System and an assistant
professor in the UF College of Medicine
department of medicine.