FAU honored Barbara and Richard Schmidt, whose 1998 gift helped launch the Schmidt College of Medicine. Barbara Schmidt stands between her husband and her daughter, Michelle Maros. Also (l-r): Phillip Boiselle, college dean; FAU President John Kelly; Garner and Michael Dennis, college advisory board chairman. Photo provided
By Christine Davis
Stephen Garner began serving as Delray Medical Center’s chief operating officer this month. He will also be the group COO for Tenet Health’s Palm Beach County hospitals, managing the daily operations and overseeing the development and implementation of long-range objectives for Delray Medical Center, Good Samaritan Medical Center, Palm Beach Gardens Medical Center, St. Mary’s Medical Center and West Boca Medical Center.
Previously, Garner served in Tenet Healthcare’s executive development program at Abrazo Arrowhead in Arizona. Projects he completed there included a $4 million operating room expansion, a $2 million interventional radiology suite renovation, plus multiple da Vinci robot purchases and installations for surgery.
Florida Atlantic University recently commemorated the 20th anniversary of the $15 million gift from the Boca Raton-based Schmidt Family Foundation. Matched by the state of Florida, the donation created the Charles E. Schmidt Department of Biomedical Science in 1998 and launched the Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine.
At a special dedication ceremony, benefactors Barbara and Richard Schmidt were honored along with philanthropists Lisa and Michael Kaufman and Dr. Charles H. Hennekens, the first Sir Richard Doll professor and senior academic adviser in the university’s medical school.
The Kaufmans’ gift of $250,000 will name the “Lisa and Michael Kaufman College of Medicine Lounge” on the first floor of the medical school’s main building.
Hennekens’ $200,000 gift will name the “Hennekens Library and Technology Hub in Honor of Sarah K. Wood, M.D.” Hennekens served as a mentor to Wood, who is now the senior associate dean for medical education in the university’s Schmidt College of Medicine.
Lab research scientist Nishant Visavadiya, Ph.D. (back), and students Gabriel Pena and Jessica Halle, from FAU’s Department of Exercise Science and Health Promotion, were part of a study that showed high-intensity interval exercise can combat cognitive dysfunction in obese people. Photo provided
An efficient way to exercise could also be an effective strategy to prevent and combat cognitive dysfunction in obese individuals, according to a new study from Florida Atlantic University.
FAU researchers are the first to use high-intensity interval exercise, which consists of short bursts of intense exercise with rest intervals, in both obese and normal-weight individuals, to test its effect on a particular protein in the brain.
Obesity lowers that protein and the underlying mechanisms are not well-understood. Lower levels of this protein are associated with Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s as well as obesity.
Results show that with high-intensity interval exercise, this protein was turned up in obese subjects when compared to normal-weight subjects.
The researchers note that this relatively simple and effective form of exercise supports its use as a preventive measure and as an intervention to combat obesity and other chronic conditions.
Send health news to Christine Davis at cdavis9797@gmail.com.
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