UF and UF Health recently announced an additional $25 million gift from the Lauren and Lee Fixel Family Foundation aimed at improving the lives of patients across the globe through the continued expansion of the Norman Fixel Institute for Neurological Diseases at UF Health. The new investment will spur growth in the areas of national and international telemedicine, Alzheimer’s disease clinical research, mental health, traumatic brain injury and ALS and will help cultivate the next generation of expert researchers tackling these challenging diseases.

The gift will be part of a new $75 million initiative that will combine contributions from UF, UF Health and additional private donors to build on the momentum following the institute’s founding just two years ago.

Dean Colleen Koch, M.D., M.S., M.B.A., outlines her approach to building the strategic plan to take the College of Medicine into the next five years in the latest issue of Florida Physician. 

“We are going to the front lines and asking, ‘What do we need to do to get to where we want to go?’ and using that feedback to shape the discussion and our path forward,” she says.

Faculty, residents and students at the UF College of Medicine are making great strides toward equal access to care for underserved patients. The UF College of Medicine Department of Neurology recently established a Diversity and Inclusion Council dedicated to making all physicians, researchers and patients feel welcome when they give and receive care. The council, which comprises faculty, residents and an undergraduate student, has four project areas: diversity education, clinical care, mentorship and community outreach. 

“Every staff, trainee and faculty member have signed on to the four core values of our department: integrity above all, strength through diversity, compassion and respect and team and service before self,” said department chair Michael Okun, M.D. “It is not an accident that diversity is listed just after integrity.”