President Machen Names New Senior Vice President for Health Affairs

Bernie Machen, President

I am pleased to announce the selection of Dr. David S. Guzick as the University of Florida’s Senior Vice President for Health Affairs and President of the UF&Shands Health System.

Dr. Guzick (pronounced Guh-zik), 57, Dean of the University of Rochester’s School of Medicine and Dentistry, will begin July 1. He also will serve as Chairman of Board for the Shands at UF Teaching Hospital and Clinics Inc.

An advocate of integrating patient care and academics, Dr. Guzick will lead the development of a shared vision for UF’s Health Science Center and Shands HealthCare. Joint priorities and strategies encourage collaborations that are expected to translate not only into new medical discoveries but also into better health care.

An accomplished researcher, physician and administrator, Dr. Guzick possesses the set of skills necessary to guide our Health Science Center and Shands HealthCare into the future. He’s thoughtful, deliberate and forward-thinking. Please join me in welcoming him to Gainesville.

A reproductive endocrinologist, Dr. Guzick is an internationally recognized expert on women’s health epidemiology, and on the development and management of endometriosis, infertility and polycystic ovary syndrome.

He earned his medical degree and a doctorate in economics from the New York University School of Medicine and completed an internship and residency in obstetrics and gynecology at The Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. He then completed a fellowship in reproductive endocrinology at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School, later joining the faculty as an assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology.

After moving on to the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, where he was Director of Reproductive Endocrinology for nine years, Dr. Guzick joined the University of Rochester Medical Center in 1995 as the Henry A. Thiede Professor and Chair of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology. He was named Dean of the School of Medicine and Dentistry in 2002.

Dr. Guzick was named to the prestigious Institute of Medicine of the National Academies this past October. Board-certified in obstetrics and gynecology and in reproductive endocrinology, he is principal or co-principal investigator on more than $15 million annually in National Institutes of Health grants. Dr. Guzick also serves on the boards of several medical journals and professional societies and is a referee for The New England Journal of Medicine, among other publications.

”The University of Florida is virtually unique in having six health science colleges and a major teaching hospital on its main campus,” Dr. Guzick said. “UF is poised to take full advantage of the integration of Shands with the clinical and research programs of the Health Science Center and across the entire campus. Exciting times lie ahead and I look forward to leading this effort.”

Dr. Guzick replaces Dr. Douglas J. Barrett, who is stepping down from the Health Science Center’s top post, a position he’s held for the past seven years. A pediatric immunologist, he will return to clinical practice and teaching on the pediatrics faculty in the College of Medicine.

Dr. Barrett has served with distinction. He leaves a talented team of professors and researchers who together will make facing the challenges of modern health care that much easier. I am grateful for his leadership.