Bucciarelli Named Vice President for Governmental Relations

Gail F. Baker, Vice President

University of Florida President Charles Young has named Dr. Richard Bucciarelli to the post of vice president for governmental relations. The appointment is effective Sept. 1.

“As I assessed the university’s present and future, it was clear that we needed a senior-level administrator focused on this critical area. Dr. Bucciarelli’s combination of skills, experience and savvy make him an excellent choice to lead our government relations team. I am delighted he accepted this important responsibility,” Dr. Young said.

Dr. Bucciarelli, associate chairman of pediatrics in UF’s College of Medicine, is currently associate vice president for health affairs for government relations, the primary lobbyist for UF’s Health Science Center in Tallahassee and Washington, D.C. He has held that position since January 2001.

A 1972 graduate of the University of Michigan School of Medicine, Dr. Bucciarelli, completed his internship and residency at UF and became a fellow in neonatology and cardiology. He was a member of the pediatric faculty at the University of Utah for five years before returning to UF in 1981 as chief of neonatology.

From 1991 to 2001, Dr. Bucciarelli served as associate chair of Pediatrics and became very involved in pediatric health policy research as a member of the Institute for Child Health Policy at UF. Dr. Bucciarelli also served on the American Academy of Pediatrics Committee on Federal Governmental Affairs for six years before becoming chairman in 1999.

In addition to serving recently as interim chair of the Department of Pediatrics, Dr. Bucciarelli holds appointments as a professor in the division of neonatology, the department of obstetrics and gynecology, and the College of Nursing.