UF's Bucciarelli appointed interim chair of pediatrics

A prominent University of Florida pediatrician and expert in newborn medicine has been named interim chairman of the UF College of Medicine's pediatrics department.

Richard Bucciarelli, M.D., associate vice president for health affairs for government relations, succeeds Douglas Barrett, M.D., in this role. Barrett, who served in the position for 11 years, is the newly appointed UF vice president for health affairs.

The pediatrics department has more than 100 faculty members and is responsible for a third of the inpatient and outpatient visits to the UF Health Science Center.

Bucciarelli, who served as the department's associate chairman for 10 years, took office April 1 and will continue to serve until a permanent pediatrics chair is recruited. He joined the UF faculty in 1982.

While serving as interim chair, Bucciarelli will continue in his current position as the Health Science Center's director of government relations during the legislative session in Tallahassee.