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DISTINCTIONSJACKSONVILLEYVETTE MCCARTER, Ph.D.,a professor of pathology andlaboratory medicine, has beenappointed by the AmericanSociety for Microbiology as themicrobiology representativeto The Joint Commission’sLaboratory Professional andTechnical Advisory Committee. Yvette McCarterThis committee is involved inadvising The Joint Commission on laboratoryrelatedissues. McCarter will serve a four-yearterm.ROBERT NUSS, M.D., dean ofthe UF College of Medicine-Jacksonville regional campusand associate vice presidentfor health affairs, has beennamed to the Florida Boardof Medicine, which overseesphysicians throughout thestate. The appointment wasRobert Nussmade by Gov. Charlie Crist Nov. 18. Nuss willserve a four-year term, pending approval fromthe Florida Senate. The board certifi es physiciansand physician assistants, establishes regulationsfor licensure, imposes penalties for violations andadopts standards for physician assistants.COLLEGE OF MEDICINEDAVID MEURER, M.D., a clinical assistantprofessor of emergency medicine and medicaldirector of the ShandsCair Adult Team and theGainesville Fire and Rescue HazMat Team, wasrecently appointed to the State Emergency MedicalServices Advisory Council. The council, which ismade up of individuals fromdifferent constituency groups,serves to advise the FloridaDepartment of Health Bureauof Emergency Medical Services.Meurer seeks to represent bothcitizens and EMS providersand advocate for aeromedicalissues during his appointment.David MeurerADRIANO TONELLI, M.D., asecond-year pulmonary andcritical care fellow, receivedthe Young InvestigatorAward at CHEST 2008, theAmerican College of ChestPhysicians’ national meeting, inPhiladelphia Oct. 29. Awardswere based on outstandingAdriano Tonellioriginal scientifi c research, andrecipients were evaluated on their written abstractand presentation. Tonelli’s work was titled “Themajority of adults identifi ed as PiZZ Alpha-1-Antitrypsin defi cient are over the age of 50.”PUBLIC HEALTH AND HEALTH PROFESSIONSBRUCE CROSSON, Ph.D., aprofessor of clinical and healthpsychology, received a SeniorResearch Career Scientist awardfrom the Department of VeteransAffairs Rehabilitation Researchand Development Service. Healso received a contract for atwo-year, multicenter study onBruce CrossonGulf War illness that will bring$905,000 to UF. In addition, he was recently reappointedas an honorary professor at the Universityof Queensland in Brisbane, Australia. Honoraryprofessorships are awarded to internationallyrenowned individuals to facilitate scientifi ccommunication and collaboration.IDA KELLISON andANIA MIKOS,doctoral students in thedepartment of clinicaland health psychology,received Benton-MeierNeuropsychologyScholarships from theAmerican PsychologicalFoundation. Only two ofIda Kellisonthese scholarships areawarded nationally eachyear, and UF studentsclaimed both 2008awards. The $2,500scholarships recognizestudents with a promisingcareer in neuropsychology.UF neuropsychologyAnia Mikosstudents have won atleast one of the Benton-Meier NeuropsychologyScholarships each year for the past several years.SHANNON SISCO, astudent in the clinicaland health psychologypredoctoral program,was awarded a NationalInstitute on AgingPredoctoral Fellowshipin Aging. The 12-monthfellowship is reservedfor students who displayShannon Siscoa commitment to agingresearch and have been productive in terms ofpublications, presentations and grants.An ambassador for studentsBy Sarah CareyIN MEMORIAMFilled with sadness for the passing of a man who helped define the UF College of Veterinary Medicine, friendsand family transformed a memorial service Nov. 19 into a passionate celebration of the life of longtime facultymember and dean emeritus of students Jim Himes, Ph.D.Past and present students, faculty and administrators as well as members of Himes’ family shared their memoriesof a man who was born in Ohio, but who called Gainesville home for more than 40 years.Himes, who passed away Nov. 16 at 89, came to UF in 1965 as an assistant professor of veterinary science in theCollege of Agriculture. He received a joint appointment in the newly formed College of Veterinary Medicine in1973, where he eventually served as assistant dean and dean of students until his retirement in 1992.But even after retirement, he kept the college close to his heart.“He was just an extraordinary person who made this college his family until about a month ago,” recalled thecollege’s dean, Glen Hoffsis, D.V.M.“He made eye contact. He looked directly at you and smiled,” recalled Alexa McDermott, senior class president.Link Welborn, D.V.M., a member of the college’s class of ’82 and a driving force behind the college alumni council’s creation of the James A HimesScholarship, remembered meeting Himes while a pre-veterinary student in 1977.“The period of preparation for veterinary school and the application and interview process is a stressful time for every student, and it was nodifferent for me,” Welborn said. “However, Dr. Himes’ quiet, warm, reassuring manner relieved as much of the anxiety as was possible. He madeevery student feel as if he cared for them, and I’m convinced that he did genuinely care for all of us.” PPOST12•08 / 01•0922 POSTVisit us online @ http://news.health.ufl.edu for the latest news and HSC events.
PROFILETHEtransplantNow a UF vet student,Max Polyak helpeddevelop a technique thatis saving people’s livesone organ at a timeKIDMax Polyak, a UF veterinary medicine student, also serves as director of the organperfusion center at the Shands Transplant Center at UF. Here, he is shownpreparing a kidney for machine perfusion and transplantation.By Sarah CareyAfter graduation from the University of Southern California in1990, Max Polyak planned to be a diplomat. Toward that end,he participated in a medical relief team, fl ying critically injuredcivilians out of Bosnia during that country’s civil war.The experience changed him forever.“The longer I was there, the more I realized it was thediplomats who were screwing things up,” said Polyak,now a sophomore veterinary student at UF. “The peoplehaving the biggest impact were the physicians andnurses — the medical folks on the ground.”Instead, Polyak nurtured his travel bug, travelingto England, where he received a master’s degree innatural sciences from the University of Cambridge.With an eye on medical school, Polyak wound upback in the U.S., working in Cornell University’stransplant surgery department.The 10 years he spent there allowed him tocultivate a unique niche.Focusing on techniques to improve the function oftransplanted organs, Polyak developed thedepartment’s research laboratory, the largest of itskind in the country. His research focused on the timewhen a donor organ is outside of the body prior totransplantation.“We formulated different types of drugs that wewould infuse into organs so they’d function better,”Polyak said. “When you watch ‘ER’ you see an Igloocooler with an organ inside of it being rushed to theemergency room. We changed that paradigm. Wewould hook the organ up to a machine to trick it intothinking it is still inside the body.”This technique, now in practice at severaltransplantation centers in the U.S., gives medicalpersonnel more time to test the organ for viabilityand to send it to recipients across the country.Polyak’s research involved developing the drugsolution used to perfuse the organ and perfecting themachine used to optimize organ viability.“I was really close to going to medical school, andthe surgeons I worked with really wanted me to stay,”Polyak said. “But I knew it wasn’t for me.”Polyak, now 39 and a father, wanted to be aveterinarian, like his own father and brother. Heapplied to the University of California at Davis, theUniversity of Pennsylvania and UF, and was acceptedat all three schools. But Polyak was Florida-bound.Soon after moving to Gainesville, Polyak heardfrom some of his UF contacts from the humantransplant world. “They said, ‘we heard you werehere in Gainesville and we want to start a clinicalservice to machine-perfuse donor kidneys for ourpatients,’” Polyak recalled. “They knew about myexperience and asked if I would help set up an organperfusion lab, so we started talking and goteverything approved.”In the past year, the Shands Transplant Center atUF’s organ perfusion laboratory, which Polyak directs,has increased the number of kidney transplantsperformed at UF&Shands by 120 percent.“We are now taking organs we wouldn’t have evenconsidered years ago and actually using them,” he said.Being a veterinary student and holding down a jobdirecting the perfusion lab is not as difficult as itmight appear. Many procedures can be scheduled,and he works with a committed staff, Polyak said.Of course, his veterinary education is also takinghim into new areas of research.Polyak recently worked with UF large animalsurgeons David Freeman Ph.D., and Alison Morton,D.V.M., on equine colic.“We are delighted to have him involved in ourresearch on improving survival in ischemic-injuredequine colon,” said Freeman, associate chair of largeanimal clinical sciences, associate chief of staff of theAlec P. and Louise H. Courtelis Equine Hospital anddirector of the Island Whirl Colic Research Laboratory.“Max is a remarkable individual and hasaccomplished more before he earns his professionaldegree than many accomplish afterward, inveterinary or human medicine.”Polyak is excited about the possibility of futurehuman and veterinary medicine collaborations intransplantation technology.“We now have a series of experiments that areongoing,” Polyak said. “The goal is to use techniquesthat are proven in the human organ transplant fieldto improve healing in surgical colic cases.”Polyak co-authored several papers presented thissummer at the International Equine ColicSymposium and the American GastrointestinalAssociation. Most recently, he presented his findingsat the American College of Veterinary Surgeonsmeeting in San Diego.“Max has brought novel concepts and ideas to ourresearch, and he is definitely a great person to workwith — very intelligent, yet unassuming, and with agreat sense of humor, too,” Morton said.As for his future? Polyak likes contemplating acareer in academic veterinary medicine or possiblyequine practice.“The area of equine veterinary medicine iscertainly the most attractive to me,” he said. PVisit us online @ http://news.health.ufl.edu for the latest news and HSC events. 12•08 / 01•09POST23
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Page 4 and 5: EDUCATIONPHOTOBYSARAHKIEWELart tai
Page 6 and 7: PATIENT CAREHow Delilah (and Bear)
Page 8 and 9: RESEARCHThe prodigyHigh school stud
Page 10 and 11: RESEARCHPhoningit inStudy showsphon
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Page 15 and 16: COVER STORYIt all began when Lee Kr
Page 17 and 18: YEAR IN PHOTOS3254Visit us online @
Page 19 and 20: JACKSONVILLEMeet the CHAMPSBy Kelly
Page 21: Honoring Gators from across the glo

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