PHOTO BY MINDY C. MILLER
FAL L 2 0 1 9 | 27
PHOTO BY SARAH KIEWEL
College News
News+Moves
Dr. David Nelson appointed president of UF Health,
senior vice president for health affairs at UF
After serving in an interim role for nearly a year, David R. Nelson, MD, was
appointed president of UF Health and senior vice president for health
affairs at UF in April. An expert in liver disease, his research has generated
more than $80 million in funding, and he has authored more than 200
publications. He has held multiple leadership roles, co-authoring the
U.S. treatment guidelines for hepatitis C and representing the U.S. on
the World Health Organization HCV guidelines committee. Nelson has
received numerous awards for his work, including the Association of
American Medical Colleges’ Learning Health System Research Champion
Award and the FDA’s Regulatory Science Excellence Honor Award,
and he has been continuously recognized as one of America’s top
gastroenterologists.
“Dr. Nelson is a highly respected and remarkably talented physician,
researcher, scholar and educator — all qualities that make him the right
leader for UF Health at a key moment in its trajectory,” said UF President
Kent Fuchs.
Schatz named interim chair of
department of pediatrics
Desmond Schatz, MD, was named interim chair of the department of
pediatrics at the UF College of Medicine and physician-in-chief of UF Health
Shands Children’s Hospital.
Schatz, a professor of pediatrics and the associate chair of the department,
assumed the role June 20 as Scott Rivkees, MD, began his appointment as
state surgeon general and secretary of the Florida Department of Health.
Schatz is an internationally regarded Type 1 diabetes researcher who has
published more than 360 papers, the majority related to the prediction,
natural history, genetics, immunopathogenesis and prevention of the
disease. He continues to serve as medical director of the UF Diabetes
Institute and director of the Clinical and Translational Science Institute’s
Clinical Research Center.