Nationally known UF physician James Cerda dies at Shands
James J. Cerda, M.D., a University of Florida physician scientist who won national acclaim for his contributions to nutrition research---primarily related to the health benefits of citrus pectin---died Wednesday morning, Jan. 24, at the Shands at UF medical center following a brief illness.
Cerda had celebrated his 70th birthday in December and retired six months ago after a 28-year career on the faculty of the University of Florida College of Medicine’s division of gastroenterology and nutrition. For many years, he directed a nutrition research laboratory within the medical school’s department of medicine, and was chief of nutritional support services at Shands at UF.
The family has announced plans for visitation at 7 p.m. Friday at the Queen of Peace Catholic Church in Gainesville. A funeral mass is being planned on Saturday morning at the same church, to be followed by a military burial.
Cerda’s 39-year medical career was marked by high achievement in medical research, teaching, patient care and public service and even entertainment. Music and medicine were twin passions of his life and his success in both are acclaimed in a new book, Doctors Afield, featuring 27 physicians involved in the arts. He was known in medical circles nationally and internationally for his performances as a classical and jazz pianist, and in the Gainesville community as a founder and performer with the Docs of Dixieland.
He will be remembered especially for the discoveries he made during 20 years of investigation into the health and nutritional benefits of citrus pectin. Through animal and human research, he documented the fact that adding grapefruit pectin to the daily diet will lower blood levels of cholesterol, one of the key fatty substances that clogs human arteries and can heighten risks for heart attack and stroke.
Cerda’s citrus research led to his development and the subsequent commercial marketing of a cholesterol-lowering dietary supplement called ProFibe™, a mixture of powdered grapefruit pectin with guar gum and egg white. Cerda reported in 1995 the results of a field study involving 100 people, who experienced decreases of 17 percent to 25 percent in their blood cholesterol readings within 30 days after adding the pectin supplement to their daily diet. The powder is designed to be mixed into beverages or cooked foods, or sprinkled onto fresh fruits, salads or cereals, and to be combined with a low-fat diet.
For this and related studies, Cerda was selected as the first noncardiologist to win the Paul Dudley White Award in 1989 for contributions to the field of cardiology. National acclaim came again in 1999 when Cerda received the Distinguished Clinical Award from the American Gastroenterological Association. He also won the Florida Blue Key Faculty of the Year Award of 1990, as well as the campuswide University of Florida research award in 1990 and 1991.
And for his outstanding compassionate teaching of medical students, he won the Hippocratic Award from graduating seniors at UF’s medical school in 1976.
Military service was still another major aspect of Cerda’s busy career. He retired in the fall of 1990 as a rear admiral in the U.S. Naval Reserve Medical Corps and shortly thereafter was awarded the Presidential Legion of Merit for meritorious conduct and exceptional service in the reserves. He had served in the armed forces and reserves for a total of 33 years.
Cerda filled national leadership roles in medical education and policy-making. He had recently completed two years on the accreditation review committee for the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education and was serving on the American Council of Continuing Medical Education. He was an elected member of the National Academies of Practice, an interdisciplinary group of health-care policy advisers. He also was a long-time member and former chairman of the Florida Board of Medicine, the state’s regulatory board for physicians.
He authored or co-authored more than 200 published scientific articles and served as a reviewer for professional journals related to internal medicine and gastroenterology, particularly in the topical areas of nutrition, digestive diseases and obesity.
An honors graduate of the University of Maryland School of Medicine in 1961, he completed his internship at the Harrisburg Hospital in Harrisburg, Pa., and fellowship training in gastroenterology at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. He spent the first 10 years of his career in research, teaching and patient care at the University of Pennsylvania before joining UF’s medical faculty in 1972.
Cerda is survived by his wife, Mariana; three children---James J. Cerda Jr. of Clearwater; Deborah Ann Howell of Gainesville, and Carla Fairchild of Tampa; five grandchildren---Stephen and Aaron Cerda of Clearwater; Corin and Meagan Howell, Gainesville; and Brett Fairchild, Tampa. Cerda also is survived by a brother, Louis Cerda of Monroe, La.