UF College of Medicine recognizes outstanding efforts of two alumni and one faculty member
The University of Florida College of Medicine has honored two of its graduates and a faculty member for outstanding contributions to their fields.
At a UF Medical Alumni Association ceremony Sept. 29, alumni John B. Downs, M.D., chairman and professor of anesthesiology at the University of South Florida in Tampa, and James Mandell, M.D., president and chief executive officer of Children’s Hospital Boston, were named to the college’s Wall of Fame in recognition of their service to medicine, education, government and the community.
In addition Albert L. Rhoton Jr., M.D., the R.D. Keene family professor of neurosurgery at UF, was presented with the University of Florida Honorary Alumnus Award.
The event was held at the Evelyn F. and William L. McKnight Brain Institute of UF.
Downs, a 1969 graduate, is revered as a pioneer in anesthesiology and critical care medicine. He has greatly influenced the development of monitoring techniques used in intensive care and in operating rooms worldwide. He holds a U.S. patent for creating a method and developing equipment for ventilatory therapy. His expertise also has had a tremendous influence on all levels of medical education. Under his leadership, for example, the USF anesthesiology department has increased the number of residents nearly tenfold.
Downs completed his residency and fellowship at UF, and served as an assistant and associate professor of anesthesiology from 1973 to 1979. He has held various leadership roles, and is the past president of the Society of Critical Care Medicine and the Florida Society of Anesthesiologists.
Mandell, a 1970 graduate, is recognized internationally for his surgical skills and research as a pediatric urologist. A professor of surgery at Harvard Medical School, he specializes in prenatal diagnosis and in urologic surgery in premature infants and newborns.
He was instrumental in establishing a successful pediatric urology research laboratory at Children’s Hospital Boston. Mandell also is a leader in medical and graduate student education.
After graduating from the College of Medicine, Mandell stayed at UF to complete two years of postgraduate training. He has held various leadership positions, including dean of Albany Medical College and executive vice president for health affairs at Albany Medical Center.
He currently is president of the Society of University Urologists.
The Wall of Fame Award is given annually to alumni who symbolize the far-reaching impact that UF medical education has on the betterment of health and human lives. Twenty-three UF medical alumni have received this honor. Nominations are reviewed by a selection committee of UF medical alumni and faculty.
The College of Medicine began participating in the UF Honorary Alumnus Award in 2000 to bring campuswide recognition to UF’s non-alumni medical faculty whose expertise as clinicians, educators and researchers reflects positively on the university.
Rhoton joins an elite group of honorees: In more than 40 years, just 120 Honorary Alumnus Awards have been bestowed universitywide. Rhoton was selected for the honor by the UF Alumni Association board of directors after a committee of medical alumni and faculty recommended him.
Rhoton, who joined the UF faculty in 1972 as division chief of neurological surgery, became the first chairman of the department of neurological surgery when it was formed in 1978; he then served for nearly 20 years. Known as one of the fathers of microscopic brain surgery, he has developed more than 200 instruments used in neurosurgery and other specialties. He is recognized for his role in defining the brain’s anatomy, particularly through his achievements in mapping the blood vessel circuitry of the brain. Rhoton directs an international neurosurgical training program at UF’s Health Science Center, through which more than 1,000 visiting neurosurgeons have learned new microsurgical techniques.
He has served as president of numerous major societies of neurological surgeons at the national and international level. Earlier this year, he received the Medal of Honor from the World Federation of Neurological Societies, the highest honor given to a neurosurgeon worldwide.
Plaques honoring the award winners for the Wall of Fame and Honorary Alumnus awards are located in the Health Science Center Founders Gallery.