Dr. Alma Littles was named interim dean of the Florida State University College of Medicine. (FSU Photography Services/Bill Lax)Florida State University Provost Jim Clark has named Dr. Alma Littles interim dean of the College of Medicine. The assignment volition statesman Feb. 1.
Littles, who has served arsenic elder subordinate dean for aesculapian acquisition and world affairs astatine the aesculapian schoolhouse for astir 20 years, succeeds Dr. John P. Fogarty. Fogarty is retiring aft 14 years arsenic the College of Medicine’s dean.
“Dr. Littles is assuming this relation astatine an breathtaking clip for the College of Medicine,” Clark said. “Her agelong tenure astatine FSU combined with her relationships with the section wellness attraction assemblage marque her an perfect acceptable to pb the college, and we are grateful that she is consenting to instrumentality connected this challenge.”
Littles grew up successful Quincy arsenic the youngest of 12 children and returned determination pursuing aesculapian schoolhouse to supply superior attraction successful an country wherever specified aesculapian providers were scarce. The FSU College of Medicine was created to nutrient much superior attraction physicians, particularly those who would attraction for older patients and patients successful agrarian and number communities.
“The aesculapian school’s ngo sounded similar my beingness story,” Littles said. “I was from a agrarian area, and I was funny successful the wellness attraction of radical from agrarian areas and successful recruiting much students from those places into medicine. The words successful the ngo connection astir serving underserved communities were similar they were written for me.”
After graduating from the University of Florida College of Medicine, Littles completed her household medicine residency astatine Tallahassee Memorial Hospital, aboriginal returning to service arsenic the program’s director. She became the acting and past founding seat of the Department of Family Medicine and Rural Health not agelong aft the FSU College of Medicine was created during the 2000 legislative session.
“Growing up, and having practiced medicine successful a small, agrarian Florida town, I was acutely alert of the needs regarding physicians providing superior attraction and serving citizens successful agrarian and different underserved areas of the state,” Littles said. “It was my designation of and committedness to this intent that motivated maine to permission the patient-care mounting I loved to determination to the FSU College of Medicine.”
She besides became acting dean of the Tallahassee Regional Campus erstwhile the archetypal cohort of third-year aesculapian students astatine FSU went retired into assemblage settings to implicit their required and elective rotations. The assemblage besides went connected to unfastened determination campuses successful Daytona Beach, Fort Pierce, Orlando, Pensacola and Sarasota.
In her relation arsenic a elder subordinate dean, Littles has led the college’s accreditation efforts, the improvement and improvement of its program and the enlargement of its community-based acquisition exemplary that differs from the immense bulk of aesculapian schools.
FSU’s exemplary sends students crossed Florida for one-on-one, apprenticeship benignant clerkships with established assemblage physicians. Most aesculapian students successful the U.S. implicit their clerkships successful a ample teaching infirmary oregon world aesculapian center. The extremity astatine FSU is to besides exposure students to the relation of assemblage physicians and the worth those individuals person successful a patient’s life.
From its archetypal people of 27 graduates successful 2005, the assemblage has produced 1,721 M.D. alumni, and precocious graduated its 4th people of doc assistants. More than 1,000 FSU alumni physicians are present successful signifier (with much than 500 of those successful Florida) portion others are completing residencies and fellowships. Nearly 200 PA graduates person besides entered the workforce.
Littles assumes enactment of the assemblage astatine a captious juncture. FSU is partnering with Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare and the St. Joe Company to make an world wellness attraction field located connected an 87-acre parcel adjacent Latitude Margaritaville Watersound, a 55-plus assemblage planned for 3,500 homes successful Panama City Beach.
The field initially volition see an ambulatory and urgent attraction center, for which a groundbreaking ceremonial volition instrumentality spot Jan. 17. Future improvement plans see the operation of an urgent attraction halfway and a 100-bed inpatient installation successful a portion wherever the nearest hospitals are 30 to 45 minutes away.
The assemblage besides is preparing for the improvement of a caller world probe gathering successful Tallahassee with a $125 cardinal appropriation from the Florida Legislature.
“The FSU College of Medicine tin go a aesculapian schoolhouse that demonstrates the effectual coexistence of a beardown aesculapian acquisition program, robust probe program, and formidable objective module signifier without shortchanging occurrence successful each areas,” Littles said. “In summation to its beardown acquisition programs, our objective practices volition request to turn successful a mode that meets the aesculapian school’s ngo and goals for diligent care, provides objective acquisition sites for students and residents, and contributes to the increasing objective probe initiatives.
“The objective practices of module astatine the determination campuses supply a affluent assets for objective and translational probe and acquisition and necessitate continued nurturing to let the aesculapian schoolhouse to beforehand cognition successful the 21st century.”
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