($348,000). The bottom-earning specialties
in the 2014 survey were HIV/infectious
disease ($174,000), family medicine
($176,000), and pediatrics ($181,000).
Largo Medical
Center
, which
is a member
of NSU-COM’s
Consortium
for Excellence
in Medical
Education, received approval in March to
offer one of the most highly specialized adult
kidney transplant programs on Florida’s West
Coast. The program will serve the state’s
Transplantation Area 2, which comprises 13
counties and is expected to be operational in
2015. Largo Medical Center is one of only eight
hospitals statewide approved to provide kidney
transplant services. In addition, Largo will
expand access to emergency care in Clearwater
in the fall of 2014 with the opening of a
freestanding emergency department in central
Pinellas County called Clearwater ER.
As part of its outreach efforts for National
Osteopathic Medicine Week, the college’s
Student Osteopathic Medical Association
(SOMA)
chapter hosted ShaDO Day on April
17. As part of the festivities, 30 undergraduate
students from various schools, including some
from NSU’s Pre-Medical Society and Pre-SOMA,
were invited to attend classes and participate
in various activities with the NSU-COM
students. Activities included a vitals workshop
in the Simulation Lab, attending the OMM Lab,
and having lunch with the college’s inimitable
dean, Dr. Anthony J. Silvagni.
COM
munications
7
COM Outlook . Summer-Fall 2014
NSU’s
Third Annual Big Thank You Scholarship Lun-
cheon
, which was held on March 24 in the Don Taft Univer-
sity Center Arena, provides NSU administrators and students
an opportunity to honor scholarship donors who continually
make a difference in the students’ lives.
OMS-III Diondra Burney
(pictured below with Dr.
Silvagni) received the
Beth and Joel L. Rush, D.O., Endowed
Scholarship
, which is accompanied by a $1,000 cash award
and is provided to NSU-COM students who are in good aca-
demic standing and are in extreme and/or urgent financial
need at any juncture during their NSU-COM education.
OMS - I I I S umme r
Jones
received the
Mor-
ton Morris Public Health
Endowment Scholarship
,
which is accompanied by
a $1,000 cash allocation,
while
OMS-II Earl Gerald
Carlos
received the
Judy
Morris Endowment Me-
morial Scholarship
, which
NSU-COM Donors Honored at
Big Thank You Luncheon
OMS-I Katia Jean Baptiste
is one of three South Florida
medical students who received a paid summer preceptor-
ship at a Humana-owned primary care medical center. Hu-
mana presented the Terry G. Smith, M.D., Memorial Primary
Care Medicine Preceptorships at a reception held March 26
at Florida International University in Miami.
Jean Baptiste, who was chosen based on recommenda-
tions and her interest in primary-care medicine, will com-
plete a four- to six-week paid summer preceptorship at a Hu-
mana-owned primary care medical center in South Florida.
Katia Jean Baptiste Honored
with Humana Award
is accompanied by a $500 cash award. Both public health
scholarships are provided due to the generosity of Marie
Morris—the widow of Morton Morris, D.O., J.D., FAOAO,
who served as executive dean for professional affairs at the
NSU Health Professions Division prior to his death in May
2008. To be eligible for the scholarship, nominees must be
NSU-COM students or have already achieved their D.O. de-
gree, showcase high academic achievement, be currently en-
rolled in the college’s Master of Public Health Program, and
demonstrate financial need.
Pictured
(from left) are
Summer Jones,
Marie Morris,
and Earl
Gerald Carlos.
Pictured are Jill Sumfest, M.D., Humana vice president; Delfina Wilson, Ph.D.,
director of student services; Katia Jean Baptiste; Dr. Anthony J. Silvagni;
Dianna Silvagni, J.D., clinical assistant professor of medical education; and
Stephanie Petrosky, M.H.A., RD, director of administrative services.
