College of Medicine receives preliminary accreditation

The College of Medicine received on Feb. 6, preliminary accreditation from the Liaison Committee on Medical Education, which allows the new school to accept its first class of future doctors in the fall of 2009.

“At last, South Florida has a public medical school – one that will lead medical education in the 21st century,” said FIU President Modesto A. Maidique. “All the pieces are in place to open our doors to some of our brightest and most caring young people and help them become medical doctors right here in our community for our community.”

Prospective students may begin the application process in June through the American Medical Colleges Application Service. The founding class of 40 students is expected to graduate in 2013.

College of Medicine Dean and Senior Vice President for Health Affairs Dr. John Rock says that the school has been designed around an innovative approach to medical education that one day may become the standard throughout the nation and part of the answer to America’s health care crisis.

At the heart of the College of Medicine’s curriculum is NeighborhoodHELP (Health Education Learning Program), an integrated inter-disciplinary approach to health care.

“Through meaningful involvement in South Florida’s poorest areas, our students will not only learn but contribute handsomely, alongside their counterparts in other health professions,” he said.

To read more about the College of Medicine’s preliminary accreditation and its initiatives, click here.

College of Medicine appoints chair of Department of Orthopedics, deputy general counsel

As FIU continues to build a renowned and prestigious team of doctors to lead the College of Medicine, Dr. John Uribe has joined the university’s family as chair of the Department of Orthopedics.

“Dr. Uribe is one of the premier orthopedic surgeons in South Florida and a leader in his field at the national and international levels,” said College of Medicine Dean and Senior Vice President for Medical Affairs Dr. John Rock. “We are very pleased that he has agreed to join our medical team.”

Uribe received his medical degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He completed his residency in orthopedic surgery at the University of Miami and subsequently was awarded a sports medicine fellowship at the Hughston Clinic. He currently practices orthopedic and arthroscopic surgery at Doctors Baptist Hospital and is an attending physician at Jackson Memorial Medical Center.

“I am honored to be able to play a role on the ground floor of this unique and creative teaching and learning experience,” Uribe said. “Here at FIU, we have the unique opportunity to get the best clinical teachers in the community in order to cover the entire spectrum of muscular skeletal care, which is unusual for a medical school. It gets very little attention in the primary years of a medical student’s education.”

In other news, Jody Lehman Esq., a prominent South Florida attorney, has been appointed deputy general counsel and chief legal officer for Health Affairs at FIU.

Lehman is a well-known lawyer in the South Florida healthcare community and is nationally recognized among the not-for-profit health system legal community.

Prior to joining FIU, she was the president of Healthcare Compliance Strategies in Miami, an Internet-based business providing compliance products for the health care industry. And for a little over a year, she was a principal attorney for HealthCare Appraisers in Delray Beach, an entrepreneurial health care valuation firm.

She spent 12 years as the corporate vice president and general counsel with Baptist Health South Florida. During her time there, she was at the forefront as the not-for-profit hospital acquired four other hospitals and several ambulatory surgery, outpatient diagnostic and urgent care centers located throughout South Florida.

FIU professor named 2007 Engineer of the Year

Congratulations go out to Associate Professor Berrin Tansel, who recently was named the 2007 Engineer of the Year by the American Society of Civil Engineers Miami-Dade Branch.

A 2006 Kauffman Professor, Tansel has been a faculty member for 17 years. She is an associate professor in the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department and associate director of the university’s Center for Diversity in Engineering and Computing.

She holds a bachelor of science in chemical engineering from Middle East University and master’s and Ph.D. degrees in environmental engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

“Lost” Lloyd Morgan painting donated to Wolfsonian-FIU

The Wolfsonian-FIU recently received a Lloyd Morgan painting of the buildings designed by the New York architectural firm of Schultze & Weaver from 1921-1936.

“This gift is a wonderful addition to our extensive holdings of work by Schultze & Weaver,” said Marianne Lamonaca, the museum’s associate director of curatorial affairs and education. “While we knew of this painting through a photograph in the archive, we thought it was lost.”

The 6’-by 14’ piece was donated by Morgan’s nephew, Horace Kephart, a retired Philadelphia businessman, and his family.

Morgan, a graduate of Pratt Institute and the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, became a partner at Schultze & Weaver in 1928. The firm’s hotels were the subject of The Wolfsonian-FIU’s 2005 exhibition, “In Pursuit of Pleasure: Schultze & Weaver and the American Hotel.” The Biltmore Hotel and the Freedom Tower are among its Miami projects.

In a recent blog on her Web site, Beth Kephart Books, the artist’s niece, wrote of the painting, “It was his life work, a single cityscape raised against a red-brown sky. After he passed away, the painting was sent to us, but none of our walls were ever big enough to hold it.”

The artist’s family restored the painting, which now will be installed in The Wolfsonian-FIU’s permanent collection gallery. For more information, call 305-531-1001.

CRI, Frost Art Museum to house López Dirube collection

The Cuban Research Institute (CRI) and the Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum will house a collection of works from the estate of the late Rolando López Dirube, one of the most significant Cuban artists of the 20th century.

A major contribution to the museum, this is the only collection that spans the career of López Dirube from the 1950s to the 1990s and includes the range of mediums in which the artist worked. The collection includes more than 60 items, including sculptures, mixed media pieces, and drawings.

“Given the fact that most of my father’s work is in private hands, this donation will ensure that the public has access to a complete representation of his career,” said his daughter Dorita López, the artist’s daughter.

The López Dirube estate also has donated memorabilia of the artist to the Special Collections Department of the Green Library, making FIU the world’s premier destination for those interested in the life and career of López Dirube. The Frost Art Museum soon will sponsor a variety of activities designed to highlight the significance of the collection.

“López Dirube was an artist of primordial aesthetics, who possessed a natural creative force with which to contend,” said Damián Fernández, director of the CRI. “His work both reflects and transcends the artistic currents of his times.”

For more information, contact the Frost Art Museum at 305-348-2890 or the CRI at 305-348-1991.