2 | DOCTOR GATOR
When John Mayfield, MD '19, hit the
road for residency interviews, he didn’t
expect to be taken down memory lane.
The recent UF College of Medicine
graduate traveled to Boston for a residency
interview in December and stayed with
cardiovascular anesthesiologist Danny
Muehlschlegel, MD, and neurologist
Susanne Muehlschlegel, MD, who attended
medical school in Germany before couples
matching at UF for residency in the early
2000s.
“I am of German heritage and celebrated
traditional German Christmas with my
great-grandmother,” Mayfield says.
“The Muehlschlegels were great in
welcoming me into their home and helping
me revisit those Christmas memories
from childhood.”
The pairing was made possible through
the UF Medical Alumni Affairs HOST
program, which matches fourth-year
medical students with alumni who provide
accommodations — along with residency
advice and information about their
respective communities — to students who
are on the residency interview trail.
Get involved at drgator.ufl.edu/host.
COLLEGE OF MEDICINE RESEARCHER NAMED
UF INNOVATE’S 2018 INNOVATOR OF THE YEAR
UF College of Medicine researcher and
professor Mavis Agbandje-McKenna, PhD,
was named the 2018 Innovator of the
Year by UF Innovate during an event that
honored innovators who had disclosed,
licensed or optioned a technology in the
2018 fiscal year.
Agbandje-McKenna, who serves as the
director of the UF Center for Structural
Biology, was chosen for the breadth,
depth and impact of her work in adenoassociated
virus gene therapy. Her
multidisciplinary research examines the
events that occur during a viral
infection. Though viruses cause many
human diseases, they can also serve as
vehicles for the delivery of therapeutic
genomic material to targeted cells and
tissues, serving as a method of treatment
for genetic diseases.
“I love discovery and being able to see
my ideas become a reality,” Agbandje-
McKenna said. “For me, doing what you
love and being paid for it is a secret that
you want to share with everyone.”
Mavis Agbandje-McKenna, PhD, poses with colleagues and her 2018 UF Innovator
of the Year award during a UF Innovate event. From left to right: Arun Srivastava,
PhD, James Flanegan, PhD, Nicholas Muzyczka, PhD, Robert McKenna, PhD,
Kenneth Berns, MD, PhD, and David Norton, PhD.
Drs. Susanne Muehlschlegel, John Mayfield and Danny Muehlschlegel
John Smulian, MD, MPH
Robert Hatch, MD, MPH
A HOST FOR THE HOLIDAYS
PHOTO COURTESY OF JOHN MAYFIELD, MD ’19
/host