Bucciarelli Named UF Vice President For Governmental Relations

August 5, 2002

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — 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.

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

“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,” Young said.

A 1972 graduate of the University of Michigan School of Medicine, Bucciarelli, 56, 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 1991-2001, Bucciarelli served as associate chairman of pediatrics and became involved in pediatric health policy research as a member of the Institute for Child Health Policy at UF.

Bucciarelli also served on the American Academy of Pediatrics Committee on Federal Governmental Affairs for six years before becoming chairman in 1999. At the same time, he was appointed chairman of the academy’s Workgroup on Access and Health Care Coverage for Children and is one of the major architects of the academy’s MediKids proposal.

He became involved in pediatric health policy research as a member of the Institute for Child Health Policy at UF. During the past six years, Bucciarelli and his colleagues have analyzed various aspects of the Healthy Kids program in Florida, as well as the entire KidCare program, Florida’s State Children’s Health Insurance Program.

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