UF Vice President of Health Affairs Assumes Role As Head of New UF Institute

March 5, 1998

GAINESVILLE, Fla.– David R. Challoner, head of the University of Florida’s Health Science Center, is leaving the post he has held for 16 years to launch an institute aimed at putting the state at the leading edge of biomedical research.

Challoner, currently vice president for health affairs at UF, will take on his new role Sept. 1. A search committee to find his replacement has not yet been named.

The institute, to be located on the UF campus, will encompass programs dedicated to advancing the growth of science and technology and to helping the state capitalize on the national economic bonanza forecasted the biomedical sciences.

“Dr. Challoner has discussed with me over the past several years the possibility of his developing an Institute of Science and Health Policy,” said UF President John Lombardi. “I succeeded in prevailing on him to stay at the leadership of the Health Science Center while we worked our way through some difficult transitions that required his experience and leadership. He graciously agreed and postponed until now the decision to change directions.”

Challoner said it has been both “a privilege and a pleasure to lead the Southeast’s most comprehensive academic health sciences center.”

“Over 40 years, we have built world-class programs, faculty and health-care providers,” Challoner said. “What we lack is a world-class ‘think tank’ in which we identify those obstacles and opportunities on the horizon that will influence research and health access in the new millennium. My goal is to capitalize on the wealth of knowledge I have amassed through years at the helm of the Health Science Center, coupled with years of service on national policy boards.”

The institute’s creation is in keeping with national trends, said Dr. Jordan J. Cohen, president of the Association of American Medical Colleges.

“This institute joins the ranks of a handful of such entities at other premier universities that hold much promise for helping to guide our country through a demanding period of transformation in structure and financing of health care,” Cohen said. “By lending his support to many influential organizations, Dr. Challoner has had a notable impact on our nation’s health-care system and has gained unique experience in all aspects of this unique enterprise.”

Other advances made under Challoner’s 16 years of leadership include:

• the evolution of Shands HealthCare from a 450-bed teaching hospital to a health-care delivery system encompassing eight hospitals and an operating budget of $1 billion;
• an increase in sponsored research from $20 million in 1982 to $100 million in 1998;
• construction of more than $375 million in new facilities supporting education, research and patient care, including the Community Health Center on Gainesville’s east side.