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Seven faculty and staff named Health Care Heroes

The Jacksonville Business Journal recently named the winners of its Health Care Heroes awards for 2013. The list included seven providers from UF Health.

The weekly newspaper annually recognizes physicians, nurses and scientists who make extraordinary efforts to save lives and improve the quality of health care.

The 30 recipients were chosen from dozens of nominees and will be honored Thursday, Oct. 31, during a breakfast at the University of North Florida.

"We are proud of the UF Health Jacksonville faculty and medical staff who are honored this year as Health Care Heroes and I thank the Jacksonville Business Journal for this uniquely important event," said Daniel R. Wilson, MD, PhD, dean of the University of Florida College of Medicine – Jacksonville. "This recognition reflects remarkable dedication of UF Health to the advancement of medicine, pioneering of best practices and the provision of quality patient care with safety and effectiveness that ranks with the best of any academic health center in America."

This year’s Health Care Heroes recipients from UF Health were:

EDUCATION

Kelly Gray-Eurom, MD, associate professor and associate chair of emergency medicine
Gray-Eurom created a statewide program for senior emergency medicine resident physicians called Life After Residency, which prepares them for the business side of emergency medicine. During the past year, Gray-Eurom served as president of the Florida College of Emergency Physicians. She also works nationally with the American College of Emergency Physicians and locally with the citywide CaRE2 (Care and Coordination to Redefine and Reduce ED Encounters).

NURSING

Cynthia Gerdik, RN, director of critical care
Gerdik pioneered UF Health's Partners in Care program, which allows patients and family members to activate the Rapid Response Team. That team supports nursing when a patient’s condition deteriorates. She created a color-coded armband system that easily identifies patients’ special needs for clinical staff. She also oversees an initiative at the hospital called "Nursing CSI," in which nurses share best practices with each other.

Vicki Truman, RN, UF CARES
Truman is a nurse case manager for the UF Center for HIV/AIDS Research, Education and Service (UF CARES). She works one on one with HIV-positive patients to help them understand their diagnosis and receive the proper medical care and support. Truman is also president of the North Florida Association of Nurses in AIDS CARE (ANAC). In that role, she assists in the development of other nurses who deliver care to people affected by HIV.

PEDIATRICS

Daniel J. Indelicato, MD, assistant professor of radiation oncology
Indelicato is the lead physician for the University of Florida Proton Therapy Institute’s pediatric proton program, the largest program of its kind in the world. He works closely with physicians at Wolfson Children’s Hospital and Nemours Children’s Clinic to aid children who need combination cancer treatment such as chemotherapy or surgery. He contributes to medical journals and has helped establish protocols for the treatment of children with rare brain tumors.

PHYSICIANS

Martha Wasserman, MD, associate professor of radiology and chief of women's imaging
Wasserman helped introduce 3-D digital breast tomosynthesis for breast cancer diagnosis at the UF Health Breast Center – Jacksonville. The tomosynthesis equipment is the first of its kind in Northeast Florida. She assisted the hospital in getting the newest technology in bone-density screening. Last year, she created the first women's imaging fellowship program on campus. Also in 2012, she gained national recognition for her publication about women’s imaging in "Applied Radiology."

Scott Silliman, MD, associate professor of neurology
Silliman has played a major role in developing one of the largest multiple sclerosis programs in Florida and the busiest stroke center in Jacksonville. Silliman is now instituting a telemedicine stroke program for rural hospitals in southern Georgia and northeast Florida, linking their stroke care to UF Health Jacksonville’s program. He is the founding director of the neurology residency and vascular neurology fellowship programs at the UF College of Medicine – Jacksonville.

SURGEON

Michael S. Nussbaum, MD, professor of surgery
Nussbaum is director of UF College of Medicine – Jacksonville’s general surgery residency program and the gastrointestinal/minimally invasive surgery fellowship program, which he established in 2010. During his five-year tenure as UF’s chair of surgery in Jacksonville, he recruited several high-performing faculty surgeons and residents to the campus. Among his community involvement, he is president of the Jacksonville Chapter of the American College of Surgeons and serves on the executive committee of the Florida Chapter of the American College of Surgeons.

Featured Faculty

Kelly R. Gray-Eurom, MD, MMM, FACEP

Kelly R. Gray-Eurom, MD, MMM, FACEP

Professor
Chief Quality Officer, UF Health Jacksonville; Assistant Dean for Quality and Safety; Associate Chair and Director, Business Operations, Department of Emergency Medicine

Scott L. Silliman, MD

Scott L. Silliman, MD

Professor
Medical Director, Comprehensive Stroke Program; Program Director, Vascular Neurology Fellowship