Health Center Appreciation Picnic

November 3, 2005

WHAT: The University of Florida Health Science Center, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary this academic year, will hold an appreciation picnic lunch with a 1950s theme for all HSC faculty and staff and employees of Shands at UF. Featured speaker will be Douglas Barrett, M.D., UF senior vice president for health affairs. Entertainment includes 1950s music, the Gator Dazzlers dancers and a performance by an Elvis impersonator. As many as 6,000 employees are expected to attend.

The Health Science Center, composed of six colleges, four major research institutes, a health science library and Shands at UF, was the brainchild of former UF President J. Hillis Miller, for whom the center is named. The organizational structure, unusual for its time, is now considered a model for promoting interdisciplinary research and education. Miller, along with people he recruited to start the health center, were also considered visionary in terms of their focus on public health and disease prevention.

CONTACT: Melanie Ross (352) 273-5812 or (352) 690-7051, UFCardiac@aol.com

WHEN: 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 4. Formal program from noon to 1 p.m.

WHERE: On the plaza between the HPNP Building and the Communicore Building. Temporary media parking accessible in lots off Newell Drive (across from the McKnight Brain Institute on Newell Drive).