Advances | Tampa General Hospital | West Coast Spring 2026

THE ACADEMIC DIFFERENCE

TAMPA GENERAL AT THE FOREFRONT OF HEART SCIENCE

23 EXCLUSIVE DESTINATIONS FROM THE NORTHEAST TO FLORIDA

PELICAN CLUB Jupiter

NORTH PALM BEACH COUNTRY CLUB North Palm Beach

KRAVIS EVENTS West Palm Beach

CONTENTS

Departments

FORWARD

10 A DIET-CANCER CONNECTION

Study links seed oils in ultraprocessed foods to chronic inflammation and tumor growth

12 TARGETING HIDDEN CANCER

Understanding the benefits of heated chemotherapy during ovarian cancer surgery

14 BACK TO PLAY THE SAME DAY

Sedation-free pediatric transnasal endoscopy for young patients

16 STRONGER AFTER SERVICE

Integrated veteran care, from fitness to brain-injury rehab

20 TR ANSFORMING LYMPHEDEMA TREATMENT

Tampa General brings precision microsurgery to Florida patients

WELL-BEING

60 GOURMET HOSPITAL TRAY

A celebrity chef helps Tampa General Hospital redefine hospital food—delivered with room-service hospitality

68 HEART OF THE MATTER

Level up your wellness endeavors with these tech-forward products that promote a healthier heart and a happier you

ON THE COVER: A precise replica of a human heart created with a 3D printer using high-resolution scans of a real heart. It is an example of the game-changing technologies Tampa General cardiologists use to plan surgeries.

Features

24 BR AIN TRAINING

Pacemaker-like device helps stroke survivors regain use of arms, hands

28 ADVANCING CARDIOLOGY

At Tampa General Hospital, groundbreaking technology and research are rewriting cardiac care

34 A SECOND CHANCE

Speed and expertise saved Jason Shedden’s life after his heart failed 19 times

38 EXTENDING ACCESS, ADVANCING CARE

Tampa General Hospital advances its statewide network

44 THE FUTURE OF MEDICINE

Tampa General Hospital is innovating AI technologies to enhance the human touch

48 EXPANDING BOUNDARIES

The TGH Transplant Institute continues to set new benchmarks with advanced techniques and organ preservation systems

52 A LIFE WITHOUT LIMITS

The Helen A. Rich Breast Center of Excellence at the TGH Cancer Institute is the final legacy of a cancer patient who was moved by her care team’s compassion to invest in expanding access to world-class treatment

58 IN THEIR OWN WORDS: NEW BEGINNINGS

Patients share how the expert care they received gave them renewed hope—and a rebirth

1 Tampa General Circle Tampa, FL 33606

813.844.7000 • TGH.org

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Drew A. Graham Chair of the Board

Erika Abel, MD Medical Chief of Staff

Natalie Annis-Goodwin

Marylou Y. Bailey

Kimberly A. Bruce Raviender Bukkapatnam, MD

Kenneth A. Burdick

Blake J. Casper

Gregory J. Celestan

Phil Dingle

Oscar J. Horton

Patricia Jurinski

EXECUTIVE LEADERSHIP TEAM

T. Corey Neil

Debbie A. Rinde-Hoffman, MD

Joseph Williams

Bruce Zwiebel, MD

Scott Arnold, Executive Vice President & Chief Digital & Innovation Officer

Stacey Brandt, Executive Vice President & Chief Administrative Officer

Jennifer Crabtree, Senior Vice President & President of the Tampa Medical & Research District

Peggy Duggan, MD, Executive Vice President, Chief Physician Executive & Chief Medical Officer

Melissa Golombek, DNP, MHCM, RN, NE-BC, CPN, Executive Vice President & Chief Operating Officer

Wendi Goodson-Celerin, DNP, APRN, NE-BC, Executive Vice President & Chief Nursing Executive

Courtney Hancock, Vice President & Chief of Staff

Jim Kennedy, General Counsel

Frann M. Leppla, Executive Vice President & President, TGH Foundation

Charles J. Lockwood, MD, MHCM, Executive Vice President, USF Health; Dean, USF Health Morsani College of Medicine; Executive Vice President & Chief Academic Officer, Tampa General Hospital

Mark Moseley, MD, MHA, CPE, Executive Vice President & President, USF Tampa General Physicians

Mark Runyon, Executive Vice President & Chief Financial Officer

Abraham Schwarzberg, MD, Executive Vice President, Chief of Oncology & President of the Tampa General Provider Network; Co-Vice President, Clinical & Translational Research, TGH | USF Health Joint Office of Clinical Research

Steve Short, Executive Vice President, Strategic Growth

Adam Smith, Executive Vice President & Chief Ambulatory Care Officer

SHARED PURPOSE

We heal. We teach. We innovate. Care for everyone. Every day.

VISION

We will become the safest and most innovative academic health system in America.

John Couris, President and CEO, Florida Health Sciences Center | Tampa General Hospital

South Florida's Premier Addiction & Mental Health Treatment Center

Hanley Center delivers compassionate, comprehensive behavioral healthcare from our lush 14-acre campus in sunny West Palm Beach. Our expert clinical and medical team provides leading-edge treatment for diverse needs through a variety of specialized programs. We offer age and gender-specific care, along with tailored tracks for veterans, first responders, pregnant and postpartum women, and high-profile individuals.

Hanley's serene campus is also home to one of Palm Beach County's only stand-alone residential mental health programs, providing a restorative setting for healing.

The path to recovery starts here.

THE ACADEMIC DIFFERENCE

Publisher Terry Duffy

Director of Sales Deidre Wade

Associate Publisher Dina Turner

Editorial Director Daphne Nikolopoulos

Editor Cathy Chestnut

Creative Director Olga M. Gustine

Senior Art Director Ashley Meyer

CONTRIBUTING EDITORS

Stacey Brandt, Jennifer Crabtree, Courtney Hancock, Beth Hardy, Laurie Slater

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS

Eric Barton, Phil Borchmann, Laura Cavender, Robin F. DeMattia, Judy Alexandra DiEdwardo, Karen Feldman

Maggie Gahan, Erika Klein, Rob Lucarelli, Dave Scheiber, Denise Scott, Liza Grant Smith, Seth Soffian

ADVERTISING

Account Managers Kathy Breen, Tanya Lorigan

Advertising Services Coordinator Elizabeth Hackney

Marketing Manager Rebecca Desir

PRODUCTION

Production Director Selene M. Ceballo

Production Manager Lourdes Linares

Digital Pre-Press Specialist George Davis

Senior Advertising Designer Jeffrey Rey

Advertising Design Coordinator Anaely J. Perez Vargas

Production Coordinator Ileana Caban

Digital Marketing Manager Tyler Sansone

OPER ATIONS

Chief Operating Officer Todd Schmidt

Accounting Specialist Becky Briand

Accounts Receivable Specialists Ana Coronel, Avery Morales

Distribution Manager Judy Heflin

Logistics Manager Omar Morales

Circulation Manager Marjorie Leiva

Circulation Assistant Britney Stinson

Circulation Promotions Manager David Supple

IT Manager Omar Greene

In Memoriam Ronald J. Woods (1935-2013)

HOUR MEDIA, LLC

CEO Stefan Wanczyk

President John Balardo

PUBLISHERS

Of 162 tumor samples analyzed, 81 had excessive amounts of omega-6 fatty acid.

RETHINKING FORWARD

ADIET AND CANCER

Study links seed oils and omega-6 fats in ultra-processed foods to chronic inflammation and tumor growth

BY CATHY CHESTNUT

Tampa General Hospital and USF Health Morsani College of Medicine researchers have linked certain lipids—commonly found in seed oils, a standard ingredient in ultra-processed foods—to chronic inflammation and tumor growth in the colon. And it’s just the beginning of crucial dietary information to come from their $3.1 million, five-year study funded by the National Institutes of Health.

This study confirms a message that’s being delivered loud and clear: find healthy alternatives to junk foods common in the Western diet. This science-backed

understanding of the cellular and molecular mechanisms at play comes at a critical time. Colorectal cancer is the second-leading cause of cancer-related deaths in the United States, with rates alarmingly rising in young adults. Dr. Ramani Soundararajan and Michelle Maurin, advanced research scientists in the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine Department of Surgery, are the study’s first authors.

Published in Gut, an international peerreviewed journal, the study examined how omega-6 fatty acid in processed foods might lead to chronic inflammation and

immunosuppression. It was co-authored by Dr. Timothy Yeatman, associate director of Translational Research at the TGH Cancer Institute and professor of surgery at the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine. A surgical oncologist with a 30-year career in prestigious cancer programs, Yeatman turned his attention to nutrition and returned to Tampa General, where he set up a lab focused on investigating the role of lipids in cellular processes and disease. Despite the development of advanced oncology treatments, “that doesn’t cure enough people,” Yeatman said. The

Dr. Timothy Yeatman

Dr. Ganesh Halade

emphasis has long been on genetics, but understanding the diet’s role in promoting—or preventing—chronic inflammation has changed his perspective.

“Your body can cure cancer,” he said.

THE STUDY

Yeatman also collaborated with Dr. Ganesh Halade, a professor in the USF Health Heart Institute at the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine.

He analyzed 162 tumor samples—and 81 had excessive amounts of omega-6 fatty acid.

Because Halade specializes in cardiovascular research, he had studied seed oils—and how they are metabolized in the body—for 19 years because he suspected they are a major source of unhealthy fats hidden in processed/ packaged food products. It was “the elephant in the room and people were ignoring that component,” Halade said. He invested three years in developing a state-of-the-art lab with a high-resolution mass spectrometer at the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine.

He “precisely quantitated the metabolites coming from processed food products containing linoleic acid (omega-6 polyunsaturated fatty acid) that get metabolized into arachidonic acid.”

Inflammation is a normal defense that the immune system switches on to heal wounds and fight infections. A defense response is triggered by leukocytes, or white blood cells, which target pathogens or infection. “We evolved to have an inflammatory response followed immediately by healing or the resolution of inflammation,” Yeatman said. However, when that process doesn’t finish its job, it becomes chronic inflammation, which causes an imbalance in the

immune system, potentially allowing tumors to develop and grow.

Researchers in the 1800s, Yeatman said, described colon tumors under a microscope as “poorly healed wounds.” Unchecked inflammation damages cells and hampers their ability to fight potentially cancerous cell growth. In the case of a tumor, “a number of the molecules coming from the seed oil fat present in processed food are preventing that wound from healing,” Halade said.

The colon tumor samples Halade analyzed containing excessive omega-6 were made up of 50 percent cancer cells and 50 percent normal cells, but “the immune cells aren’t working. They’re turned off,” Yeatman said. “That’s what we’re trying to understand.”

Lipids are a diverse group of organic compounds that are part of cell membranes, playing essential roles in energy storage, cell structure, hormone production, and other important functions. Omega-6 lipids are in corn, soybean, cottonseed, sunflower, and safflower oils. Because seed oils are inexpensive, their usage since the 1950s has dramatically risen and they are omnipresent today in fast food, packaged snacks, and commercial breads, Yeatman said.

AWhile omega-6 is an essential fatty acid, it needs to be balanced by a higher ratio of good lipids—omega-3 fatty acids. What Yeatman and Halade showed through their research is that too much omega-6 in the diet can hinder the benefits of omega-3 because they compete for the same metabolic enzyme in the immune system.

“As obesity is increasing as a silent epidemic, cancer is increasing because these processed foods are driving tumor growth,” Halade noted.

ON OUR PLATE

The team is focusing on resolving, or proresolving, lipids—bioactive lipids derived mainly from omega-3 fatty acids—that lead to the resolution of inflammation in a process described as “lipid class switching.”

Resolution medicine can simply come from the foods we choose to eat or through supplements, Yeatman said. Early trials using specialized derivatives of fish oil have shown promise in addressing chronic inflammation, for instance. The team is investigating how the diet, lipids balance, and microbiome “adjust the immune system in a good or bad way,” Yeatman said.

Dr. Ganesh Halade and Dr. Timothy Yeatman in the high-tech lab they developed to quantitate metabolites.

Targeting HIDDEN CANCER

Heated chemotherapy during surgery helps women with advanced ovarian cancer live longer

BY CATHY CHESTNUT

A major new study led by doctors at Tampa General Hospital and the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine shows that a specialized cancer treatment— called heated intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC)—can help women with advanced ovarian cancer live longer.

The study, published in the Annals of Surgical Oncology, looked at more than 1,400 patients across the United States. It found that women who had chemotherapy before surgery, followed by surgery and HIPEC, lived significantly longer than those who had surgery without HIPEC.

“This research shows that HIPEC can give patients a real survival advantage when it’s used at the right time,” said Dr. Adrian Kohut, gynecologic oncologist at the TGH Cancer Institute and USF Health.

WHAT IS HIPEC?

Ovarian cancer is often diagnosed late, after it has already spread. Standard treatment involves major surgery to remove all visible tumors.

“Surgeons have to carefully check every part of the abdominal cavity to remove what they can see and feel,” Kohut explained.

But tiny cancer cells usually remain behind. That’s where HIPEC comes in. After surgeons remove all visible tumors, heated chemotherapy is pumped directly into the abdominal cavity. The heat enhances the effectiveness of chemotherapy, allowing it to destroy hidden cancer cells more efficiently.

HIPEC has been studied since the 1970s, but only in the past 20 years has it become a

proven treatment for ovarian, gastrointestinal, and appendix cancers.

TAMPA GENERAL’S EXPERIENCE

Tampa General is one of the busiest centers in the country for HIPEC. It utilizes specialized equipment, trained staff, and safety protocols that enable the procedure to be performed safely and effectively.

Since Dr. Thomas J. Rutherford joined the TGH Cancer Institute as its medical director eight years ago, the hospital has performed more than 400 HIPEC surgeries.

One patient, Brenda Gotlen, was told she had less than six months to live after being diagnosed with ovarian cancer. After undergoing HIPEC at Tampa General, she has been cancer-free for more than eight years.

“Patients come from all over Florida—and even from other states—for this treatment,” Kohut said.

WHAT THE STUDY FOUND

The research compared two groups of women with advanced ovarian cancer:

• Those who had chemotherapy first, followed

by surgery and HIPEC, lived about one year longer on average than women who had surgery without HIPEC (57.6 months versus 45.7 months).

• Those who had surgery first, then HIPEC, did not see a survival benefit.

Complication rates were similar whether or not HIPEC was used, indicating that it does not increase the risk of complications. Past international studies have also shown HIPEC can lower the risk of death compared to surgery alone. “These findings are reassuring,” Kohut said. “They tell us that HIPEC, when paired with chemotherapy before surgery, really makes a difference for patients.”

Doctors at Tampa General use protocols designed to keep patients safe, even after multiple rounds of chemotherapy. This includes incorporating standardized protocols during and after surgery in collaboration with a multidisciplinary team that includes gynecologic and surgical oncologists, anesthesiologists, trauma surgeons, nurses, pharmacists, and others.

“We believe this treatment will become more available across the country as more centers adopt it,” Kohut said.

Dr. Adrian Kohut

A surgical team led by Dr. Thomas J. Rutherford performs HIPEC at Tampa General.

A A

BACK TO PLAY

the Same Day

Without need for sedation, pediatric transnasal endoscopy offers shorter medical visits for young patients

BY ERIKA KLEIN

When a child needs an endoscopy to examine their esophagus or digestive tract, the procedure involves anesthesia and a small camera attached to a flexible tube guided through the mouth. While safe, sedation can carry some risks and the process can be uncomfortable, often requiring hours of fasting beforehand and recovery time afterward.

Since 2024, children receiving an endoscopy at Muma Children’s Hospital at TGH have a new way of undergoing endoscopy, one that doesn’t require anesthesia. The innovative, minimally invasive procedure, called unsedated transnasal endoscopy (TNE), uses a thin, flexible tube passed through the nose to the esophagus. Tampa General Hospital was the first health system in the Tampa Bay region to offer this option. The test can last less than 10 minutes and children can even wear virtual reality goggles, focusing on a child-friendly game or video instead of the procedure.

The new method benefits any child who needs an endoscopy and it’s especially helpful for those with conditions like eosinophilic esophagitis. The chronic condition is associated with food allergies and can cause reflux, slowed growth, and trouble swallowing. Rates have increased fivefold over the past 15 years, and it is one of the Muma Children’s Hospital’s top three diagnoses in pediatric gastroenterology, according to Dr. Racha Khalaf, medical director of Pediatric Gastroenterology at Muma Children’s Hospital and chief of pediatric gastroenterology, hepatology, and nutrition at the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine. With more than 472,000 estimated total cases of eosinophilic

esophagitis in the United States, the National Organization for Rare Disorders reports that the condition no longer qualifies as rare.

“As more children are diagnosed at young ages, many will need multiple endoscopies over the course of their treatment, sometimes a dozen or more,” said Khalaf. “That’s why it’s so important for us to provide the newest technology and the least-invasive methods possible.”

For Nikki Hurley, senior director of patient services for Muma Children’s Hospital and the TGH Women’s Institute, the introduction of TNE exemplifies Tampa General’s commitment to innovation and putting patients first. The academic health system began offering the procedure in October 2024 in part because of Khalaf’s experience performing TNE and her passion for providing better options for local patients.

REDUCING PREP TIME AND RISK

With TNE, doctors can check a child’s treatment progress without using sedation. A traditional endoscopy is low risk, but by removing sedation, TNE further reduces the chance of complications. “Any time you talk about sedation, whether it’s in a child or an adult, there’s always an inherent risk,” Hurley said. “So, any time that we can avoid doing sedation for anyone, we definitely want to be able to do that.”

Unsedated TNE also improves the patient’s experience through quicker and easier preparation and recovery. Children receiving a standard endoscopy are not able to eat breakfast and need to arrive at their appointment early for anesthesia. With TNE, however, “patients come in about an hour

Nikki Hurley

Dr. Racha Khalaf

before their procedure, and then as soon as the procedure is done, they’re walking out of the hospital,” Khalaf said. “There’s no recovery time from anesthesia; they can go back to their soccer match, their classroom— whatever they need to do afterwards.”

POSITIVE EXPERIENCES DURING PROCEDURES

The goal is always to help put patients at ease, but this is particularly essential for children who need repeated endoscopies. “You don’t want them to have a bad

Aexperience because that can really set the tone for all of their future care,” Hurley pointed out.

Many parents also express surprise that their children will sit through the procedure. The virtual reality goggles are “so distracting that [children] are just not thinking about the other stuff that’s happening around them,” Hurley said. “It allows them to be calm and allow for the procedure to happen. Once the parents see it, they’re very grateful. We are excited to continue to be able to offer this to more and more patients.”

LEADING WITH INNOVATION

The popularity of TNE has drawn new families to Tampa General and allowed local patients to receive specialized care without traveling outside the Tampa Bay region. For Hurley, it reflects the academic health system’s broader purpose: “How can we advance patient care with quality in mind, and how can we do things differently?” Khalaf agreed, adding, “We want to be at the forefront of innovation and help bring that to our children.”

A young patient is distracted with virtual reality goggles during an unsedated transnasal endoscopy at Muma Children’s Hospital at TGH.

STRONGER

AFTER SERVICE

TAMPA GENERAL HOSPITAL BUILDS A CONNECTED SYSTEM OF CARE FOR VETERANS, FROM FITNESS TO BRAIN-INJURY REHAB TO PRIMARY CARE

BY ERIC BARTON

In a community with one of the nation’s largest veteran populations, the health stakes are clear. There are 98,000 veterans in the Tampa Bay area, in addition to active-duty families at MacDill Air Force Base. That concentration has made Tampa a hub for military health care and highlights the need for specialized appointments, coordinated

services, and enhanced navigation between military and civilian care.

A

Tampa General Hospital leaders saw an opportunity to fill those gaps. The hospital’s veteran programs now cover a wide range of services that include physical training, specialty rehab, brain health services, direct primary care, and behavioral health.

Anna Palermo

Dr. Rigoberto Nunez

A

FROM GYM FLOORS TO CLINIC ROOMS

On any weekday at Tampa General’s Davis Islands fitness center, veterans work through strength and mobility exercises with trainers.

The workouts are adjusted for lingering injuries, with plans tailored to long-term goals.

Called the Warrior Health & Fitness Program, it is the first project of the partnership with Home Base, Red Sox Foundation, and Massachusetts General Hospital, which began in 2021. The 90day program is free for military veterans.

Participants undergo a baseline assessment, including cardio, strength, and flexibility; trainers then build a plan that blends physical training, nutrition, and lifestyle coaching.

“Our trainers are really equipped to serve this population,” said Anna Palermo, assistant director of strategic partnerships and community engagement at Tampa General.

Trainers and dietitians receive training to better understand service-related injuries, rank

structure, and the value placed on discipline and accountability, Palermo said. Spouses and friends are encouraged to join group workouts or attend cooking classes offered to veterans, too. “When veterans are struggling, sometimes their family members are, too,” Palermo said.

A typical week might include two personal training sessions, a group fitness class, and a nutrition workshop. The cooking classes— held in a teaching kitchen—are as much about community as they are about preparing healthy food. Veterans swap stories over chopping boards and trade military slang along with recipes. Palermo sees those moments as the real glue.

PRIMARY CARE FOR VETERANS

Opened in 2025, the Military & Veteran Primary Care Center in Tampa offers primary care services exclusively to veterans, reservists, and National Guard members. One of the first of its kind in the Tampa Bay region, the center was developed in partnership

with veteran advocacy groups and provides integrated primary care, behavioral health, labs, pharmacy services, and a dedicated care navigator. The center works in close cooperation with Tampa General’s Warrior Health & Fitness Program and the Traumatic Brain Injury Program to deliver a comprehensive and coordinated outpatient care model for those who have served.

TREATING UNSEEN INJURIES

Some wounds are imperceptible. At Tampa General’s Outpatient Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) Program—administered with Home Base Florida and USF Health—the focus is on addressing lingering brain injuries that can affect veterans for years.

Many patients are post-9/11 veterans who sustained concussive injuries in training or combat who may still need treatment. Symptoms such as dizziness, imbalance, memory lapses, and difficulty concentrating can erode confidence and keep patients from

LEFT: The 2025 ribbon cutting for the opening of the Military & Veteran Primary Care Center—one of the first of its kind in the Tampa Bay region. ABOVE: The center offers primary care services exclusively for veterans, reservists, and National Guard members.

work, social activities, or driving. “A lot of times they’ve had these symptoms for years,” said Dr. Rigoberto Nunez, chief of physical medicine and rehabilitation at Tampa General.

The TBI program begins with a comprehensive evaluation of mental health, cognition, and physical function. Veterans are screened for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other mood ailments, and referred to counseling as needed. Cognitive testing measures memory and processing speed, leading to strategies ranging from structured task lists to speech-language therapy. Physical rehab often involves vestibular therapy to restore balance.

Nunez describes the process as short but concentrated—typically two to four weeks— with a focus on measurable improvement. He recalls patients arriving with canes who, after targeted therapy, walked out without assistance. “My job is to make them more functional, to get them back to work, to get them doing what they do for fun,” he said.

The program is tightly connected to other Tampa General services. Fitness trainers flag participants with coordination issues and

AFORWARD

primary care providers refer patients with memory or balance problems. By integrating care, Tampa General assists veterans in connecting with specialists.

Nunez says the impact extends beyond physical recovery. For veterans who have endured symptoms for years, just naming the problem—and learning it can be treated— changes their outlook. “I mean, it’s the coolest job,” he said. “We’re helping these patients regain their life.”

MAKING CONNECTIONS

The clinic also serves as a touchstone for education. Veterans are encouraged to view even minor symptoms as worth checking, a shift from their learned culture of pushing through obstacles. In group discussions, patients share coping strategies—how to navigate a crowded room without triggering dizziness or how to structure tasks to avoid fatigue—turning the clinic into an informational forum as well as a treatment center.

To better connect all its services for military veterans, Tampa General hired Zachariah Pearson as military and veteran services

manager. An Army veteran, Pearson previously worked with the Veterans Administration, Wounded Warrior Project, and CareerSource Tampa Bay.

Tampa General participates in Hiring Our Heroes, helping veterans transition into civilian jobs inside the hospital while building a workforce that understands patients from the inside out.

LOOKING AHEAD

In 2026, the TGH Behavioral Health Hospital plans to add a behavioral health program tailored to veterans, aimed at closing a gap for those dealing with PTSD, depression, and other mental health concerns. Palermo anticipates that veteran team members will help design it, so it addresses specific needs.

In a community with one of the nation’s largest veteran populations, the stakes are clear. Veterans often receive fragmented care— primary care in one place, rehab in another, counseling elsewhere. Tampa General is connecting those services to provide cohesive and integrated treatment to help veterans achieve an improved quality of life.

LEFT: Tampa General’s Military & Veteran Primary Care Center offers on-site lab services. ABOVE: Warrior Health & Fitness cooking classes teach veterans how to prepare healthy meals.

Partnering for Breakthrough Care

Transforming LYMPHEDEMA TREATMENT

Tampa General Hospital brings groundbreaking, precision microsurgery to Florida patients, with plans to expand the robotic procedure to other specialties

BY ROBIN F. DEMATTIA

Tampa General Hospital became the first medical center to offer new robot-assisted lymphatic microsurgery in January 2025. Oncology patients with, or at risk for, lymphedema benefit from the technology, which can suture tiny vessels and nerves as small as 0.2 mm in diameter—as thin as a human hair.

“This Symani robotic microsurgical technology

allows us to treat disease with an accuracy and precision that leads to better outcomes,” said Dr. Nicholas Panetta, chief of the TGH Plastic & Burn Surgery Institute and chair of the Department of Plastic Surgery at the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine. “We can now intervene with surgery earlier in a way that halts disease progress or leads to complete recovery.”

Lymphedema is a chronic condition

characterized by the accumulation of lymphatic fluid, leading to swelling, discomfort, and functional impairment in affected areas, typically the arms or legs. It occurs when the lymphatic system is unable to properly drain fluid, resulting in persistent swelling. Individuals with lymphedema may experience pain, restricted mobility, increased risk of infection, and significant emotional distress.

Dr. Eduardo M. Sotomayor

Dr. Nicholas Panetta

RIGHT: Massimiliano Simi, PhD, vice president, global research and development and co-founder, Medical Microinstruments; Dr. Eduardo Sotomayor, vice president and executive director, TGH Cancer Institute; Rhea Law, president, University of South Florida; Michael Griffin, vice chair, Board of Trustees, University of South Florida; Dr. Nicholas Panetta, chief, TGH Plastic & Burn Surgery Institute and chair, Department of Plastic Surgery at the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine; Mark Toland, CEO, Medical Microinstruments.

Cancer-related lymphedema often arises following the removal of lymph nodes or radiation therapy, both of which can disrupt normal lymphatic drainage and lead to fluid accumulation.

Patients who undergo a mastectomy or lumpectomy with axillary lymph node dissection for the treatment of breast cancer, as well as those receiving radiation therapy to the underarm area, are at higher risk of developing breast cancer-related lymphedema (BCRL).

Symptoms can include swelling, tightness or heaviness, restricted range of motion, thickening or redness of skin, discomfort or pain, and an increased risk of infection. The condition can manifest months or even years after treatment.

EXPANDING PRECISION MICROSURGERY TO OTHER SPECIALTIES

The new robotic microsurgical technology allows physicians to treat lymphedema before it progresses, when the channels are delicate, using unprecedented precision to stitch vessels together. The surgery may help patients by reducing the impact of cancer-related lymphedema, leading to fewer additional future treatments.

Using the new robotic surgical system, surgeons can control the smallest wristed instruments ever created, paired with significantly improved video visualization of microscopic structures, to perform the lymphatic reconstructions. Utilizing 3D monitor technology and holding instruments in their hands whose motions are mimicked by robotic instruments performing the surgery, surgeons are able to suture with a high degree of precision. The new system that TGH uses greatly reduces slight tremors that a physician might make, leading to more precise surgery. “It allows us to really suture in a way that was not

previously possible,” Panetta said. “The robot allows me to reduce my movement in space to 1/20th of what it would be otherwise.”

Breast cancer patients are currently the primary beneficiaries of this technology, but the potential applications are broad. Panetta explained that about one-third of breast cancer patients require intervention in their lymph nodes to treat their disease, putting them at risk for development of BCRL.

In addition to treating patients who have developed cancer-related lymphedema, the plastic surgery department collaborates with surgical oncologists to reconstruct lymphatic channels that are divided during the course of their cancer surgery, reducing the patient’s risk of developing lymphedema altogether.

“Patients are appreciating the earlier results,” Panetta said. “We are seeing significant reductions in their accumulated fluid. And we’re able to prevent the progression of disease in a meaningful way using the robotic technology.”

Patients having pelvic lymph node surgery, including the treatment of colorectal and gynecological surgeries, as well as head and neck surgeries, also can benefit from the combined surgeries. On this front, Tampa General is training more physicians in several specialties to use the robotic microsurgery system.

“This technology has the ability to expand the pool of surgeons available to help patients in need,” Panetta said. “We are getting to put this in the hands of more providers and expand patient access to these types of procedures. This is a good example of Tampa General and USF having a vision for what is going to be on the forefront and providing access to cutting-edge technology for our patients. The path to the

future is this type of robotic surgical technology. It’s exciting to be part of defining that future and help craft how this benefits patients.”

The agreement to use Medical Microinstruments’ (MMI) Symani Surgical System was finalized during a 2024 trade mission to Italy, where MMI is based, hosted by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and First Lady Casey DeSantis. USF President Rhea Law signed documents with MMI during a ceremony attended by Panetta as well as Dr. Eduardo Sotomayor, vice president and executive director of the TGH Cancer Institute.

“Our unique microsurgery and reconstructive oncology program with its particular focus on breast cancer patients and lymphedema at TGH | USF is a prime example of how academic medicine can bring life-changing treatment to patients,” said Sotomayor. “Before we collaborated with USF, lymphedema patients did not have the choice for a surgical solution in the Tampa Bay region. Now, they have hope for a meaningful solution.”

Charles J. Lockwood, MD, MHCM

Executive Vice President, USF Health

Dean, USF Health Morsani College of Medicine

Executive Vice President and Chief Academic Officer, Tampa General Hospital

TAMPA GENERAL: THE REGION’S ONLY ACADEMIC HEALTH SYSTEM*

Tampa General partners with Florida’s #1 rated medical school for research** to innovate and elevate academic medicine

All academic medicine isn’t equal. Our physicians are scientists, surgeons, researchers, educators and innovators. Every day, they use their scientific breakthroughs to deliver new treatments, teach new techniques and create new protocols used worldwide. From the lab to the clinic, the classroom to the operating room, we’re a fully integrated academic health system designed to deliver exceptional patient-centered care.

*University-based program

*Highest U.S. News & World Report rating for medical research

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Pacemaker-like device helps stroke survivors regain use of arms, hands

BY KAREN FELDMAN

G BRAIN TRAINING

etting dressed. Eating a meal. Signing a document. These are activities most people accomplish without thinking about them.

But for many stroke survivors, these oncesimple skills and many others lie beyond their reach, even after months of physical therapy.

Tampa General Hospital was the first on Florida’s West Coast to offer a promising new therapy aimed at improving arm and hand function, no matter how long ago a stroke occurred. In many cases, users experience

some improvement in the first few days of therapy. After six weeks, the majority reported significant improvement.

The Vivistim System uses vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) paired with rehabilitation therapy to improve arm and hand function in those who have had an ischemic stroke (when blood flow to the brain is blocked or interrupted due to a blood clot or narrowing blood vessels). It consists of a pacemakersized, battery-operated device that is implanted with a lead that connects to the vagus nerve.

The vagus nerves—one on each side of the body—are the largest cranial nerves, running from the brain to the heart, lungs, and digestive system. They control involuntary sensory and motor functions such as muscle sensations, taste, speech, heart rate, blood pressure, digestion, and urine output.

“We wrap the end of the lead against the vagus nerve,” explained Dr. Yarema Bezchlibnyk, a Tampa General neurosurgeon and assistant professor in the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine Department of Neurosurgery, Brain and Spine. “It takes

Dr. Yarema Bezchlibnyk

The Vivistim System consists of a pacemaker-sized, battery-operated device that is implanted with a lead that stimulates the vagus nerve with electricity to activate parts of the brain.

There’s not anything else out there that produces such results.”

AREMA

about 90 minutes and is not especially painful because it’s all under the skin, and we don’t pass through muscle. The idea is that stimulating this nerve with electricity will then send that electricity up to the brain, where it can activate different parts of the brain to help people to normalize circuits that aren’t working the way they should be.”

In essence, “it helps to change the wiring of the brain,” he said.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved VNS for drug-resistant epilepsy in 1997, and for treatment-resistant depression in 2005. On July 30, 2025, the agency approved its use for treating rheumatoid arthritis.

Researchers are assessing its potential for treatment of migraine headaches, heart disease, Parkinson’s disease, inflammatory bowel disease, post-traumatic stress disorder, and other conditions.

What is new is that Vivistim pairs VNS therapy with task-oriented rehabilitation, which enables users to work with the device to promote specific functions both in the rehab clinic and at home.

NO RUSH FOR TREATMENT

After that initial time of healing and

therapy, patients often reach a plateau and get discouraged when they stop seeing progress. However, many patients who experience significant improvement used the Vivistim two or more years after their stroke, long after the initial recovery period. “They had been living with this lack of functional capacity for several years, but with therapy they were able to recover some of that function,” Bezchlibnyk said. “It’s astonishing. Despite multiple trials, there’s not anything else out there” that produces such results.

The dramatic results have changed his thinking. “My impression used to be that the sooner you got to the patient, the better,” Bezchlibnyk said. “That is not the case. While we still like to get to patients as soon as they start to plateau, there is no sunset on (using) this technology.” In fact, in the trial, patients were considered eligible for paired VNS therapy up to 10 years from their stroke.

brain, Bezchlibnyk explained.

GAINING GROUND

ATo qualify, patients must have a “persistent, clinically meaningful impairment of arm function,” Bezchlibnyk noted.

The Vivistim is implanted in the left side of the upper chest, with a lead that runs from the device to the vagus nerve. Once the two small incisions heal, the user can activate the device

St. Petersburg resident Paula Adams is a believer. Two strokes left her with weakness on her left side. Although she recovered somewhat in the months following the strokes, she did not regain functional use of her left arm and hand. That forced Adams to give up her job as an executive secretary. For four years, she focused on recovery, working with a Pilates instructor three times a week after her physical therapy ended.

Then Adams heard that Tampa General was offering Vivistim therapy and immediately made inquiries. After an initial assessment, she went through analyses of her functional impairment and her overall health, and all her medical providers were consulted. That’s when she won approval for the device.

When Adams learned she’d been approved, she had a split second of doubt, then said yes. “If I don’t try this, I’ll never know what it could have done,” she by passing a small magnet over it. That causes it to send out gentle electrical pulses to the vagus nerve, which can activate parts of the

She focused on recovery for four years, then had a Vivistim device implanted in 2025. “If you want to get better, this is the way to do it,” she said. “It’s made a huge difference for me. It gave me hope.”

recalled thinking. “I’ve always been willing to do the work. I have places I want to travel. I want to live my life and don’t want somebody to have to care for me.”

Her Vivistim was implanted in February 2025. That was the easy part. Occupational therapy came next.

“Patients have to be committed to this,” Bezchlibnyk said. “They have to go to their rehab sessions. Each session is about 90 minutes, three times per week, for a minimum of six weeks. And they are encouraged to do this at home, too. The more committed the patient, the more benefit they’ll get.”

Are there risks involved? Post-stroke patients may have other conditions that must be factored into the process. Most use blood thinners to prevent further clots and must

Astop taking them temporarily to undergo surgery. Bezchlibnyk said Tampa General has not encountered problems with this since they began performing the procedure in December 2023.

“All surgeries have risk, but it’s still a low risk, even for patients with stroke, as long as they can come off blood thinners,” Bezchlibnyk said.

There’s a small chance of infection as well. In such cases, it’s removed but can be reimplanted later.

Adams said her implant “was really a piece of cake—no pain.” Once her incisions healed, she began her 90-minute therapy sessions, three times a week. She did more at home while cooking dinner, trying to write, or taking a shower.

MEASURING SUCCESS

Adams saw substantial improvement within a few weeks. “It’s coming along,” Adams reported five months after receiving the implant. “I am making more progress than I think I would have made without it. I’m continuing to use it.”

To assess impairment and progress, the medical team uses a stroke-specific, performance-based index, called the FuglMeyer Assessment. It measures motor function, sensation, joint function, and balance.

For patients to be considered “responders” to the treatment, Bezchlibnyk said, their score on the index would have to increase by at least 5 points. The 2021 study on which the FDA approval is based showed that 47 percent of patients using Vivistim for six

Two strokes left Paula Adams, pictured with her husband, Roy, with weakness on her left side.

weeks experienced clinically significant improvement, compared to 24 percent who did therapy without the Vivistim. When it comes to quality of life, 65 percent of Vivistim users reported clinically signifi cant improvement performing activities of daily living. A new study has found that after three years, the effects of the therapy continue to benefi t the users, and the responder rate has climbed to 85 percent.

“We’re seeing results that are better than the trial that led the FDA to approve the technology,” said Bezchlibnyk.

Meanwhile, Adams has her own way of gauging progress by using the “nine-

peg test,” a base with nine holes and nine pegs. Patients are timed to see how long it takes to put all the pegs in the holes and take them out again. “Before therapy, it took me four and a half minutes,” Adams said. “After three weeks, it took a minute and a half. Today, I did it in 60 seconds.”

To others who might be undecided, she advised, “The procedure is easy, but you’ve got to be willing to do the work. So many stroke patients lose their motivation; they don’t feel they can do it. That’s a hard thing to overcome.”

She speaks from experience. “In the early days, I felt emotional. I cried. I cried a lot,” she said. “If you want to get better, this is the way to do it. It’s made a huge difference for me. It gave me hope.”

Someone in the United States suffers a stroke every 40 seconds.

A STROKE FACTS

More than 795,000 people in the U.S. have strokes every year.

A stroke is a brain injury caused by blood flow disruption—either from a blood clot that prevents blood from reaching the brain (ischemic) or a break in a blood vessel (hemorrhagic).

Stroke is the fifthleading cause of death in the U.S. and a leading cause of serious long-term disability.

87 percent of strokes are ischemic.

ADVANCING CARDIOLOGY

At Tampa General Hospital, groundbreaking technology and research are rewriting what’s possible in cardiac care

BY ERIC BARTON

Dr. Fadi Matar

Dr. Shone Almeida

Dr. Aarti Patel

Dr. Hristina Natcheva

Dr. Daniela Crousillat

Dr. Fadi Matar holds a precise replica of a patient’s heart, created with a 3D printer using high-resolution scans of their actual heart, to plan surgery. Tampa General’s 3D Medical Visualization and Printing Lab is developing a “pulsatile” model—one that will pump fluid exactly as a patient’s heart pumps blood.

Dr. Fadi Matar held a heart in his hand. It’s not an anatomical model from a medical textbook, the sort with smooth curves and idealized dimensions meant to represent the “average” human heart. This is a patient’s heart, recreated in precise detail by a 3D printer using high-resolution scans of their actual heart. The bulges, bends, and delicate surfaces are exact,

as if Matar had somehow removed it from the chest and frozen it in place.

Matar, interventional heart failure program director and director of the David and Tara H. Ruberg Research and Innovation Center of Excellence at Tampa General Hospital’s Heart & Vascular Institute and professor and chief of cardiology at the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine, uses these

models to plan surgeries and transcatheter procedures. Now, before a single incision, he can test procedures, study angles, and know precisely how a replacement valve will fi t.

The 3D model is one of several innovations that have changed the way the academic health system treats heart patients. Matar, in collaboration with Dr. Devid Zille, director of the 3D Medical Visualization

and Printing Lab at Tampa General and assistant professor of medicine at USF Health Morsani College of Medicine, has led the way in discovering new ways to care for heart diseases that used to be largely untreatable. “Now we have hope,” Matar said. “We have the ability to help people whom we were unable to help previously.”

The stakes could hardly be higher. Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States, responsible for 1 in every 3 deaths—more than 919,000 people in 2023 alone, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Despite its century-long reign as the nation’s top killer, more than half of U.S. adults don’t realize heart disease holds that title. In this environment, any advance that can diagnose earlier, treat more precisely, or prevent altogether isn’t just innovation—it’s survival.

And at Tampa General, innovation is constant. From national collaborations on mysterious heart conditions to firstin-Florida surgeries, the hospital’s cardiac specialists are rethinking what can be accomplished.

Collaboration at the Frontier of Heart Science

Last year, Dr. Daniela Crousillat, director, Women’s Heart and Cardio Obstetrics Program and associate program director of the Cardiology Fellowship Training Program for the TGH Heart and Vascular Institute and assistant professor of the Division of Cardiovascular Sciences and Department of Medicine and Obstetrics and Gynecology, USF Health Morsani College of Medicine, headed to Charlotte, North Carolina, to meet with a rare group of peers: cardiologists who share her passion for spontaneous coronary artery dissection (SCAD). In a conference room at Atrium Health, more than a dozen specialists traded fi ndings, charted gaps in research, and tried to answer

Brenda Smith was treated for spontaneous coronary artery dissection (SCAD), a tear in the artery wall that disrupts blood flow. It is the leading cause of heart attack among women under 50. Tampa General is the only hospital in Florida participating in the International SCAD Registry, designed to accelerate research and improve outcomes.

Now we have hope. We have the ability to help people whom we were unable to help previously.”

—DR. FADI MATAR

a question that has eluded medicine for decades: why does this condition—a tear in the artery wall that disrupts blood flow— happen in otherwise healthy people?

“There’s nothing like being in a group of like-minded individuals who all have different areas of expertise,” Crousillat said. “As a team you can get so much more done than as a single individual.”

or high cholesterol. Half of patients have

SCAD is the leading cause of heart attack among women under 50 and the most common cause in women who are pregnant or postpartum. It presents like any other heart attack—chest pain, shortness of breath, nausea—but without the usual risk factors, such as smoking or high cholesterol. Half of patients have an additional disorder affecting their arteries. For years, it was often missed or misdiagnosed. Today, Tampa General is the only hospital in Florida that participates in the International SCAD Registry, an independent, quality-data repository designed to accelerate research and improve outcomes.

Crousillat hopes targeted treatments will emerge within the next decade. “If we can fi gure out the why, we can help people on the other end,” she said. “For us, moving the needle forward means knowing the answers to the questions.”

SCAD isn’t the only frontier at Tampa General. In 2024, the hospital made headlines with its fi rst heart-lung transplant—an extraordinarily complex

surgery requiring near-perfect timing and Peru

coordination. The patient, 57-year-old Judith Falcon of Lutz, had lived for years with severe pulmonary hypertension, an aneurysm, and fl uid around her heart. After nearly 250 days in the hospital awaiting a match for both organs, she underwent a six-hour operation led by four surgeons who removed the failing organs and replaced them in a procedure so rare that only 45 were performed nationwide in 2022. Just days after surgery, Falcon was walking the hospital halls, and four months

later she was logging three-mile walks and planning a trip to Peru to care for her parents. “This is a miracle for me,” she told news reporters, crediting her doctors and her donor for the opportunity to see her young grandchildren grow up.

Tampa General is pushing boundaries beyond surgical practices. In May 2025, the hospital added two GE HealthCare Revolution APEX 512-slice computerized tomography (CT) scanners—one at the TGH Ferman Family Imaging Center on the Davis Islands campus, the other for inpatients—

Dr. Hiram Bezerra and Dr. Fadi Matar completed the first TricValve procedure in Florida under the FDA Early Feasibility Studies Program in 2025 on a patient with severe tricuspid regurgitation, a life-threatening cardiac condition.

that use AI and motion correction to capture ultra-high-resolution images of the heart and coronary arteries in a single rotation. The upgrade supercharged the Cardiometabolic Disease Prevention Program, spotting heart disease before symptoms appear and allowing cardiologists and radiologists to diagnose everything from artery blockages to structural defects with greater precision.

“This technology is a game-changer for cardiac imaging at Tampa General,” said

Dr. Shone Almeida, the hospital’s cardiac CT program director and an assistant professor of Cardiology and director of the Cardiac CT & Cardiometabolic Disease Prevention Program at the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine. It’s faster, clearer, and more comfortable for patients, while giving doctors the information they need to create highly personalized treatment plans—a leap Dr. Aarti Patel, Cardiology co-director of the TGH Heart & Vascular Institute’s

Cardiovascular Imaging program, calls “a significant breakthrough” for detecting even the most complex conditions.

Dr. Hristina Natcheva, cardiothoracic codirector of the TGH Heart & Vascular Institute’s Cardiovascular Imaging program, TGH Imaging radiologist and assistant professor, Department of Radiology, USF Health Morsani College of Medicine, noted that the cardiac CT scanner “strengthens our ability to detect and diagnose cardiovascular diseases.”

For Tampa General, these kinds of upgrades aren’t about keeping pace— they’re about staying a step ahead. From imaging that detects trouble before it starts to surgical techniques that are rewriting what’s possible, the hospital is steadily building a toolkit for tackling the most challenging heart conditions. That same forward momentum is on display in its adoption of procedures so new they’re barely in medical textbooks.

The hospital’s new GE HealthCare Revolution APEX 512-slice computerized tomography (CT) scanners can detect heart disease before symptoms appear, allowing cardiologists and radiologists to diagnose everything from artery blockages to structural defects with greater precision.

Rethinking the “Forgotten Valve”

When Matar was a young cardiologist, tricuspid valve disease was so overlooked it was nicknamed the “forgotten valve.” The tricuspid valve, which controls blood flow between the heart’s right atrium and right ventricle, simply didn’t command much attention—even though when it fails, blood backs up into the abdomen and legs, causing swelling, liver damage, and sometimes immobilization.

Innovation was on display in April 2025, when Tampa General and USF Health cardiologists performed Florida’s first TricValve procedure under the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Early Feasibility Studies Program. Led by Matar and Dr. Hiram Bezerra, medical director, TGH Interventional Cardiology Center of Excellence, director of the TGH Minimally Invasive program, and a professor at the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine, the minimally invasive technique targets severe tricuspid regurgitation—a dangerous condition in which blood leaks backward through the tricuspid valve. During the procedure, a novel bicaval valve system is implanted into the two large veins that carry blood to the heart.

For the more than 1.6 million Americans affected, many of whom aren’t eligible for open-heart surgery, the device offers a lifeline, easing symptoms and improving blood flow without the trauma of a major operation. Backed by donor support and a strong research infrastructure, Tampa General has already performed seven TricValve cases—the most in the nation—under the FDA’s compassionateuse pathway. This serves to underscore its leadership in bringing new cardiac therapies from concept to clinic.

with those patients. Now we have hope.”

Tampa General also is pushing tricuspid care forward through its fellowship program, in which advanced trainees learn specialized imaging techniques and structural interventions that few other hospitals can teach. “We pride ourselves at Tampa General in having a very thorough training program,” Matar said.

Printing the Future

The 3D-printed heart in Matar’s hand is just the start. Tampa General’s 3D printing lab is developing a “pulsatile” model—one that will pump fluid exactly as a patient’s heart pumps blood. “What’s not constant is the shape of the heart, especially when disease sets in,” Matar explained. “So, in the future I can make a 3D-printed heart that will pump fluid in the way your heart is really pumping the blood.”

“These valves allow patients to live better lives,” Matar said. “Before that, all we could offer was medication. We used to be helpless

These models are already used to plan complex valve repairs and replacements, often revealing risks invisible on scans. Soon, they could also serve as real-time training tools, letting therapeutic devices scientists, cardiac surgeons, and interventional cardiologists practice on a remarkable, functioning replica before ever touching the patient.

Even more precise measurements are coming from another innovation: pressure-volume loop technology. By threading a catheter into the heart, doctors can accurately measure how well the right or left ventricle is functioning—critical in deciding whether it can withstand a tricuspid replacement. It’s the kind of detail that can mean a significant difference.

For Matar, these tools aren’t just medical advancements—they’re a way to transform the patient’s odds. “As physicians, when we are faced with suffering patients in front of us, it’s not a good feeling when we cannot give them options,” he said. “Here at Tampa General, we’re fortunate to have a very solid academic heart team.”

A Second CHANCE

By Judy Alexandra DiEdwardo

At 46, Jason Shedden had no idea that the chronic fatigue he had been experiencing was a sign of congestive heart failure—or that his spur-ofthe-moment decision to visit a local urgent care center would save his life.

“I was really tired and hadn’t been feeling good, but I didn’t know how serious it was,” said Shedden, who had a history of heart disease dating to 2020, when he was prescribed diuretics and advised to make dietary and lifestyle changes. That day,

When his heart failed 19 times, advanced air and cardiac teams raced against time with expertise to save Jason Shedden’s life

sensing something wasn’t right, the New Port Richey resident made the decision that would ultimately save his life.

The center’s clinicians were alarmed by what they suspected and recommended that Shedden go immediately to a nearby community hospital. Within hours of being admitted, Shedden went into full cardiac arrest. He was resuscitated 19 times as doctors fought through the night to save his life.

The next day, still in critical condition and lacking the cutting-edge cardiac care he

urgently needed, Shedden was airlifted to Tampa General Hospital aboard one of the five state-of-the-art medical helicopters that serve to transport critically ill patients from 23 surrounding counties.

“Despite his age, the likelihood of Jason dying was as close to 100 percent as I’ve ever known any patient to be,” said internationally renowned Tampa General cardiologist Dr. Guilherme Oliveira, who initiated and oversaw Shedden’s treatment.

“I facilitated his transfer and activated our

I facilitated his transfer and activated our cardiogenic shock team—a 24/7 protocol that very few hospitals have, and the only one in Florida.”

–Dr. Guilherme Oliveira

cardiogenic shock team—a 24/7 protocol that very few hospitals have, and the only one in Florida,” said Oliveira, vice president and medical director of TGH Concierge Health and professor of medicine at the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine, home to one of the nation’s Top 50 cardiovascular programs.

An alert mobilizes an eight-person team of cardiac specialists—including a cardiac surgeon, ICU physician, heart failure specialist, mechanical circulatory support coordinator, vascular surgeon, and

member.

perfusionist—who rapidly assess the patient and coordinate the best treatment options, ranging from medications and electric shock to the most advanced, intricate interventions, which is exactly the level of care Shedden received.

‘SOMETHING BIG HAD HAPPENED’

“This was really a Hail Mary situation where we had a patient who had literally died multiple times and was being kept alive exclusively because we were supporting his

Alungs, heart, circulation, and blood pressure with ECMO (Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation)—a life-support system that takes over the function of the heart and lungs,” Oliveira explained.

“ECMO is an extremely complex and highrisk therapy that requires highly specialized training and a dedicated daily management team of nurses, surgeons, and doctors,” he said. “We’ve had ECMO in operating rooms since the 1960s, but over the last 15 years it’s moved beyond the OR and is now used to

Dr. Guilherme Oliveira

Jason Shedden is visited by his parents and a Tampa General Hospital Aeromed Flight Crew

treat cardiogenic shock—even in patients like Jason who haven’t had surgery. That’s why the team brought him straight to the Cardiac Catheterization Lab, where we could provide everything he needed.”

Shedden’s survival was also supported by the insertion of an Impella device, which helps pump blood for patients with weakened heart function—a procedure in which Tampa General is a national leader. Introduced in 2005 as mostly experimental, the Impella device has been refined over the years, with Oliveira playing a key role as a consultant in its development.

“It wasn’t until I woke up several days later in Tampa General—strapped to a bed with tubes down my throat—and saw my parents walk into my room that I realized something big had happened,” recalled Shedden, who spent two and a half months undergoing treatment, including dialysis. “I was 220 pounds when I went into the hospital and 158 when I left.”

“Young people like Jason have a higher likelihood of surviving all kinds of crises,” Oliveira noted. “They have more reserves, more muscle mass, and a better ability to heal. It was such a privilege to play even a small role in saving Jason’s life. His story is a true

Atestament to what perfectly timed, perfectly coordinated, high-quality academic health care can accomplish.”

Shedden’s narrow escape from certain death wasn’t without complications. Due to inadequate blood flow during his ordeal, doctors were forced to amputate his right leg below the knee.

Even so, Shedden remains deeply grateful to be alive. Fitted with a prosthetic, he returned to work at his landscape company and at his family’s business, Healing Hearts Farm, in the town of Hernando in Citrus County. It is a nonprofit dedicated to serving

children in need, veterans, and individuals in recovery through meditation workshops and equine therapy.

“I thank God every day for the doctors and the hospital, because I wouldn’t be alive right now without them,” said Shedden, who, surrounded by a grateful, teary-eyed family, celebrated his 47th birthday in September 2025. “I understand people are busy and may not think about their health until it’s too late, but I highly recommend being informed and taking the right steps, especially if you’re in your 40s,” he said. “We only get

Aone life, and if you don’t take care of it, it can be gone in an instant.”

He also feels a deep debt of gratitude to his younger sister, Jaclyn, a boardcertified family care nurse practitioner who recognized the urgency of his condition and helped arrange his transfer to Tampa General for the specialized care he desperately needed.

“I guess I didn’t really believe I had a problem,” he admitted. “But if your health isn’t good, you don’t have anything. I don’t care how much money you have—nothing compares to your health. It’s priceless.”

Shedden was resuscitated 19 times as doctors fought through the night to save his life.

LEFT: Dr. Guilherme Oliveira and Jason Shedden celebrate Tampa General’s teamwork, advanced technology, and expertise that saved Shedden’s life. ABOVE: Jaclyn Shedden with her brother.

Expanding Access, ADVANCING CARE AAA

BY PHIL BORCHMANN

Tampa General Hospital extends its statewide network

John Couris Ronald J. Doncaster Dr. Abraham Schwarzberg Jessica Battersby Adam Smith

For almost a century, Tampa General Hospital has been a trusted health care anchor for the Tampa Bay region and West Central Florida. While growing and enhancing its capabilities with an expanding academic medicine base and expertise in harnessing ever-advancing technologies, it continues to serve the community with next-level care. Now, as Tampa General widens its services across the state, more patients in rural and urban areas are being connected to its advanced capabilities and complex care.

New initiatives and partnerships include a Tampa-area center that offers integrated adult care; bolstering care in rural communities; a much-needed medical facility at Babcock Ranch in Southwest Florida; a radiation oncology center in Palm Beach County with Mass General Brigham; and plans for a new hospital in Citrus County. They all are part of Tampa General’s mission to expand access to the academic health system’s highly specialized network of physicians and specialists—and the latest technology and treatments—to complement medical services in small communities and East Coast counties that are in easy traveling distance to Tampa for patients needing complex surgery.

“As one of the nation’s leading academic health systems, Tampa General is ushering in a new era of health care in which individuals from all communities and backgrounds have equitable access to the care they deserve,” said Florida Health Sciences Center | Tampa General Hospital President and CEO John Couris. “Through strategic and forwardthinking partnerships, we are extending Tampa

OPPOSITE PAGE: Darcy J. Davis, president and CEO of the Health Care District of Palm Beach County, and John Couris, president and CEO of Florida Health Sciences Center | Tampa General Hospital, greet residents of Belle Glade following a community-wide town hall about the future of Lakeside Medical Center.

THIS PAGE: A photo of the future radiation oncology center being developed in partnership with Mass General Brigham in Palm Beach County.

General’s world-class capabilities, supported by a distinguished team of researchers, physicians, and health care professionals.”

Tampa General and Mass General Brigham Bring Advanced Cancer Treatment to the Palm Beaches

A new option for cancer care is coming to Palm Beach County through a partnership

between Tampa General and Mass General Brigham—a 10,000-square-foot, jointly owned radiation oncology center at Legacy Place in Palm Beach Gardens.

The day-to-day operations will be handled by Tampa General, while Mass General Brigham Radiation Oncology will provide quality and safety oversight. An integrated team of physicians, radiation specialists, patient advocates, and administrators will provide all patient needs.

“We’ve already seen how our collaboration

can benefit the patients we serve, and by working alongside Mass General Brigham to provide our patients with access to the expertise, experience, and research findings from two of the top academic health systems, we have the potential to make a significant impact on their treatment outcomes,” said Dr. Abraham Schwarzberg, executive vice president, chief of oncology

and president of the Tampa General Provider Network and co-vice president, Clinical and Translational Research, TGH | USF Health Office of Clinical Research.

Babcock Ranch: A Destination for Health and Wellness

The goal to create a destination for health and wellness at Babcock Ranch in Southwest Florida is now a reality as Tampa General is serving the 10,000 residents of America’s first solar-powered town.

Tampa General and developer Kitson & Partners are collaborating to bring top-tier health care to Babcock Ranch, located northeast of Fort Myers. Residents provided their input at a town hall-style meeting. “What they made extremely clear is they needed the traditional health care to start—then get creative later,” said Adam Smith, Tampa General executive vice president and chief ambulatory care officer.

Tampa General is currently offering a mobile primary care unit and a TGH Urgent Care Powered by Fast Track.

A specially equipped primary care mobile unit, staffed by a licensed provider, will be in the community to visit residents’ homes. The unit features everything needed for primary care services including annual checkups, sick visits, vaccinations, and more. The urgent care center offers walk-in care for the treatment of common

Babcock Ranch, a pioneering, solar-powered town in Southwest Florida, christened its newest retail destination—The Shoppes at Yellow Pine—with a celebratory ribboncutting ceremony in October 2025 (right). Spanning 120,000 square feet along Cypress Parkway, the center features a dynamic blend of dining options, national retailers, and essential health care services. Among its key tenants are TGH Urgent Care Powered by Fast Track and a TGH Innovation storefront, both designed to meet the evolving needs of this rapidly growing community.

illnesses and minor injuries. It is staffed by board-certified providers, who offer efficient, high-quality urgent care for coughs, sore throats, ear infections, skin rashes, nausea and other stomach issues, school and sports physicals and simple fractures.

About 4,000 square feet of the 6,000-square-foot center is devoted to traditional urgent care services. The remainder of the space serves as the Innovation Center, which offers a range of health and wellness resources. An onsite nurse navigator will assist visitors to access scales, blood pressure cuffs and wearable devices. Results can be fed into a patient’s electronic medical record. There will also be informational touch screens. “It is based on the tech store concept; we want to teach people how to use the equipment,” Smith said.

Babcock Ranch and Tampa General are not finished with their expansion

plans. A 6,500-square-foot space will provide primary care offices and a laboratory. It’s scheduled for completion early in 2026.

Partnering with the Health Care District of Palm Beach County to Advance Lakeside Medical Center

In rural Belle Glade, Tampa General and the Health Care District of Palm Beach County have entered into a partnership for Tampa General to provide administrative leadership, operational management, and strategic support for Lakeside Medical Center, which is owned and operated by the Health Care District.

As the Tampa Bay region’s only academic health system, Tampa General

I’m very confident that by partnering with Tampa General’s academic health system and network of services, we’ll be able to attract more physicians and other clinical professionals. The goal is to create centers of excellence.”

—RONALD J. DONCASTER, VICE PRESIDENT AND LAKESIDE MEDICAL CENTER ADMINISTRATOR

has been affiliated with the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine for more than 50 years. And Lakeside Medical Center is the only rural teaching hospital in the state. Tampa General is a nonprofit safety net system that provides all residents with care, regardless of their financial status. Tampa General has “an altruistic commitment,” said Ronald J. Doncaster,

vice president and Lakeside Medical Center administrator, “to engage with rural hospitals to provide access to academically focused care, and to do their part to sustain a very fragile rural health care ecosystem.”

Goals of the partnership include advancing access to high-quality care close to home; strengthening clinical training, recruitment and

retention; boosting market growth; and improving community health by supporting better patient outcomes. To formulate the strategic plan, the parties embarked on a listening tour with local civic groups and public outreach initiatives. At a town hall meeting last year, Couris and Health Care District of Palm Beach County President and CEO Darcy J. Davis met with more than

175 residents and community stakeholders, including clergy, elected officials and medical personnel from the communities of Belle Glade, Pahokee, and South Bay, Doncaster said.

Lakeside Medical Center will gain expanded services that will provide additional specialty health care to the community, and the process of identifying those services is underway. The emergency department is an area of focus and an analysis is underway to learn how many patients have to be transferred. “The plan is to identify the main drivers of transfers, one by one, and bring those services here so we can treat patients here,” Doncaster said.

New Women’s and Men’s Centers in Tampa

Staffing and the ability to attract medical personnel to a rural setting is a major concern. “That has been a challenge,” he said. “There’s this misconception that we’re really far away.”

In addition to meeting with many Tri-City civic groups, Doncaster and Dr. Jennifer Dorcé-Medard, Lakeside associate chief medical officer, have met with Palm Beach State College, South University in West Palm Beach, and West Technical Education Center in Belle Glade to generate enthusiasm. “I’m very confident that by partnering with Tampa General’s academic health system and network of services, we’ll be able to attract more physicians and other clinical professionals,” as well as support staff, he said. “The goal is to create centers of excellence.”

A New Hospital in Citrus County

Tampa General is moving forward with a plan to build a 400-bed hospital in Hernando following approval from the Citrus County Board of Commissioners. The two-phase project will include a 120,000-square-foot medical office building, hospital tower, emergency room, helicopter pad, and central energy plant, all on 53 acres.

In its presentation to the commissioners, Tampa General explained that the acute-care facility is needed to meet the need of Citrus County’s growing population—currently about 154,843, which is expected to increase 14 percent by 2030.

The USF Health Pamela Muma Women’s Health Center and Chivukula Men’s Center in Tampa are designed to provide a comprehensive range of specialized concierge services.

The relocation of the Pamela Muma Women’s Health Center from its location at the USF Health South Tampa Center for Advanced Healthcare and the addition of the new Chivukula Men’s Center represent a signifi cant investment in patientcentered care.

Tampa General purchased and renovated a building in the Tampa Medical & Research District in partnership with USF Health, a strategic move that underscores Tampa General and the University of South Florida’s joint commitment to expand access to specialized health care across the region.

Planned for a fall 2026 opening, the centers will provide concierge services that will allow patients easy access to physicians, care staff, and a variety of comprehensive services with just one phone call.

Due to high demand at the Pamela Muma Women’s Health Center on the Tampa General campus, hospital leadership determined a bigger space was needed—and that it should include care for men, too. The Chivukula Men’s Center is made possible by a donation from Dr. Jagadamba and Krishna Chivukula to the TGH Foundation.

“Over time, we found that there were a lot of men who were also interested in something similar,” said Jessica Battersby, director of executive wellness and concierge medicine at USF Health. The two centers are convenient for couples who want to make simultaneous visits.

Cardiology, gastroenterology, dermatology, and sleep medicine are among onsite specialties along with imaging, lab work, and other testing services. Plans for wellness treatments include intravenous drips for hydration, red-light therapy for skin rejuvenation, and acupuncture.

Lakeside Medical Center in Belle Glade is the only rural teaching hospital in the state. Through a new partnership with the Health Care District of Palm Beach County, Tampa General Hospital is providing it with administrative leadership, operational management, and strategic support.

The Future of

BY DENISE SCOTT

MEDICINE

TAMPA GENERAL HOSPITAL IS HELPING TO INNOVATE AI TECHNOLOGIES WITH THE GOAL OF ENHANCING THE HUMAN TOUCH

There’s no doubt that the future of health care includes artificial intelligence, but a human element—the voice—is a key component of groundbreaking technologies that Tampa General Hospital, as the region’s only academic health system, is helping to develop.

VOICE BIOMARKERS DIAGNOSE ILLNESS, PREDICT DECLINE

Advanced heart failure cardiologist Dr. Debbie Rinde-Hoffman is vice chief of business development and physician networks at the TGH Heart & Vascular Institute. When she learned of a company launching an international study for an app to analyze patients’ voices to predict worsening congestive heart failure, she knew Tampa General needed to be a part of it.

The app, named HearO, is a proprietary voice analysis technology developed by Cordio, a company based in Tel Aviv, Israel.

About 6 million people are living with congestive

heart failure in the United States, Rinde-Hoffman said. “Not only is it costly to the system when patients require hospitalizations, but it also increases the morbidity and mortality associated with the disease process.”

When the heart can’t pump as it is supposed to— for reasons including coronary artery disease, high blood pressure, and valvular disease—fl uid builds up in the lungs.

To predict worsening heart failure, a patient speaks five sentences into HearO each morning to detect voice changes caused by an increase in fluid. The app then notifies medical professionals. These changes typically begin two to four weeks prior to the appearance of clinical symptoms. If it proves to be efficacious, “the physicians can change medications proactively before the patient starts to feel poorly,” Rinde-Hoffman said.

Tampa General participated in the HearO study in 2025. Cordio’s next step is analysis, with a goal

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Dr. Yael Bensoussan

Amit Patel

Wendi Goodson-Celerin

Dr. Debbie Rinde-Hoffman

of making the app available for patients to download to their smartphones.

Rinde-Hoffman said HearO could prove to be a huge benefit over the current process for managing congestive heart failure, which requires the implantation of a monitor into the patient’s pulmonary artery to track pulmonary pressures.

With the app, patients “don’t have to have anything implanted,” she said. “This is an easier, less expensive way to be able to prevent readmitting heart failure patients” and improve their quality of life.

HUMAN VOICE DATABASE AIDS INNOVATION

Several other conditions can be diagnosed with voice biomarkers. Laryngologist Dr. Yael Bensoussan, an assistant professor of otolaryngology at the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine, is the co-founder and director of the USF Health Voice Center and director of USF’s new Institute for Voice and Hearing Innovation.

Bensoussan is working to help integrate voice biomarkers into the health care system through a four-year grant called Voice as a Biomarker

of Health, funded by the National Institutes of Health’s Bridge2AI program. Currently in its third year, the project is collecting the largest human voice database combined with health information, all with patient consent. “A lot of work went into that, to do it in a way that’s protecting patients while also fueling innovation,” Bensoussan said.

Bensoussan said acoustic biomarkers can show a high probability of Parkinson’s disease because it causes a specific, slow, monotonous speech pattern. The data can also be beneficial for stridor (noisy, labored breathing), vocal

The HearO app can detect worsening heart failure weeks before clinical symptoms appear based on biomarkers, said cardiologist Dr. Debbie Rinde-Hoffman. Tampa General participated in a 2025 HearO study.

Acord paralysis, post-extubation airway obstruction, some cancers and degrees of frailty—how sick people are.

“Are they in imminent danger? Do they need acute care? From a hospital implementation, that has a lot of value,” Bensoussan said. “If we can tell when people get sicker, we can detect it earlier and give them more care.”

The goal is for other researchers to use the voice database to develop machine learning algorithms to help screen and diagnose patients more easily. The 2025 Bridge2AI-Voice Symposium in April drew exactly that interest.

The event included a TGH Ventures Pitch Competition for Innovative Voice Biomarker Technology that included six voice AI startups.

The winner: Amplifier Health, which will receive up to $25,000 of in-kind support and services, such as research and development at Tampa General, to benefit its AI and voice

analysis that remotely detects and monitors health conditions.

AMBIENT LISTENING: AN IMPROVED FOCUS ON PATIENTS

In addition to serving as a test site for HearO, Tampa General is one of eight beta sites nationwide to help develop Microsoft’s ambient listening technology for nurses.

Amit Patel, chief nursing informatics offi cer and senior director of informatics at Tampa General, said Dragon Copilot for Nursing is being used fi rst on a neuroscience medical-surgical floor during nurses’ head-to-toe patient assessments, and by patient care technicians.

Instead of manually entering data into the hospital’s Epic electronic medical record at the nurse’s station or at a mobile computer, the

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nurse or tech simply opens the app on their company-issued iPhone, pulls up the patient’s record and clicks to begin audio recording.

Wendi Goodson-Celerin is executive vice president and chief nursing executive at Florida Health Sciences Center, which comprises a portfolio of organizations, including Tampa General Hospital. Ideally, she said, nurses will speak their assessments while interacting with the patients. However, if the assessment includes sensitive information and the patient is in a semiprivate room, the nurse will complete the dictation in a private setting.

The most difficult transition for nurses is adapting to expressing their assessments aloud, Patel said. The benefits include having more natural conversations with patients and being more attentive to their needs.

Patients are asked if they consent to the

analysis that remotely detects and monitors nurse or tech simply opens the app on their

Laryngologist Dr. Yael Bensoussan is working to integrate voice biomarkers into the Tampa General health care system through a four-year grant funded by the National Institutes of Health’s Bridge2AI program.

recording at each shift change, and there has been wide acceptance. “They like it because the nurses (and patient care technicians) are spending more time with them and being more attentive to their needs,” Patel said.

Dragon Copilot for Nursing is similar to—but more complex than—DAX Copilot, which transcribes physicians’ patient notes and which Tampa General launched for use in physician offi ces in 2024. In the academic health system’s electronic medical record, however, the data is sorted into as many as 50 to 75 flowsheet rows, then into selecting the correct choices within each row. “Times that by however many patients you have, times how many assessments you have during a day. It adds up to a lot of time on the computer, so we’re hoping to reduce that administrative burden,” Patel said.

Another signifi cant benefi t of Dragon

Copilot for Nursing is the ability to update a patient’s chart before moving to other

a patient’s chart before moving to other duties. Patel said AI’s ability for nearly instantaneous charting is important because various predictive models in the electronic record—which drive clinical alerts for sepsis, a drop in blood pressure and other issues—are reliant on data. “Without that data being as accurate and real-time as possible,” Patel said, vital signs “can’t be as valuable.”

Once the nurse or technician stops recording, Patel said, it takes 3 to 5 seconds for the Dragon Copilot for Nursing technology to complete its data filing. They review it for accuracy and make any needed corrections. Upon acceptance, the flow sheets are filed automatically.

Tampa General is expanding its use of Dragon Copilot for Nursing to other floors

in phases, with the goal of providing it to respiratory therapists, physical therapists, case managers, and more.

in phases, with the goal of providing it to respiratory therapists, physical therapists, case

Patel’s team meets weekly with Microsoft developers to provide feedback on the electronic medical record app. “Microsoft has been wonderful about listening to the team about little tweaks they can make and adjusting in real time,” Goodson-Celerin said.

Patel sees a future in which the technology doesn’t just listen but provides helpful feedback. For example, he said, if the AI agent hears a discussion about medications, it could remind the nurse to consider delaying meds for the patient’s upcoming procedure or alert about contraindications.

Tampa General’s efforts are helping shape new AI technologies that will bring patient care full circle—allowing for a more human touch.

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Tampa General is a beta site that is helping Microsoft develop ambient listening technology for nurses. It allows head-to-toe assessments to be spoken aloud and recorded into a patient’s medical chart in real time.

Expanding AAA

BOUNDARIES

BY SETH SOFFIAN

FIFTY-ONE YEARS AFTER ITS FIRST KIDNEY TRANSPLANT, THE TGH TRANSPLANT INSTITUTE CONTINUES TO SET NEW BENCHMARKS WITH ADVANCED TECHNIQUES AND ORGAN PRESERVATION SYSTEMS

Dr. Kiran Dhanireddy

Dr. Gundars Katlaps

Dr. Benjamin Mackie

Dr. Anthony Watkins

ASome of Tampa General Hospital’s latest achievements might sound inconceivable.

Multiple organs transplanted in one surgery without using a drop of donated blood. Kidneys and other organs pumped continuously with oxygenated blood while traveling greater distances during transport.

All with excellent outcomes.

These groundbreaking feats are just a couple of the most innovative transplantation procedures in the world that are being practiced at the TGH Transplant Institute, the top center in the country for most organs transplanted annually.

Even those pushing the boundaries are sometimes awed. “I don’t think it’s an overstatement to say we are changing the practice of transplantation around the world,” said Dr. Kiran Dhanireddy, vice president and chief of the TGH Transplant Institute and surgical director of the Advanced Liver

Disease and Transplant Center and an associate professor of surgery at the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine.

MORE LIVES SAVED

A year after the 50th anniversary of its first transplantation—a kidney transplant in 1974—Tampa General in 2025 continued to be a global leader in the potentially lifechanging field.

In terms of sheer numbers, the academic health system was on pace to be a national leader in 2025. It ranked No. 1 nationally for the first time in 2024 while setting a national record with 889 hearts, lungs, kidneys, livers, and pancreases.

Tampa General, the only hospital in West Central Florida to offer all five organ transplant procedures to adult patients, also was poised to take the top spot in the nation in most kidney transplants after finishing second in 2024, with 500. (Rankings are based on data from the Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients.)

And it was continuing its momentum by transplanting more than 300 livers—roughly doubling its total of 167 three years prior—after ranking third nationally in 2024, with 279.

“This is a reflection of our commitment to serving the sickest patients in our community,” said Dhanireddy. “It’s really about identifying the needs of a community and designing programs that meet those needs to ensure the best outcomes for those patients.”

In addition to more transplants, Tampa General—one of only a few dozen hospitals in the nation to have performed more than 14,000 transplants—is performing these complex surgeries efficiently with overall optimum outcomes.

Tampa General historically has some of the shortest times to transplant in the country and in Florida, according to the Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients. And its transplant survival rates continue to surpass national averages while ranking in the top 10—and as high as No. 1 in the country in some instances.

Dr. Kiran Dhanireddy (opposite page) is vice president and chief of the TGH Transplant Institute, which partners with companies such as OrganOx (above) to study the latest transplantation tools and techniques.

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LEFT: Tampa General is the only hospital in West Central Florida to offer all five organ transplants for adult patients: heart, lung, liver, kidney, and pancreas, as well as pediatric kidney transplants. BELOW: Team members gather to celebrate bloodless liver and heart transplant patient Cesar Ale (third from the left).

preservation and perfusion technology.

Machines that control temperature and pump organs with blood and nutrients during transport have replaced the traditional ice cooler. That has enabled Tampa General to travel greater distances in search of viable organs, better assess donor viability, and ultimately make use of organs that might not have been feasible in the past, thereby increasing critically short supplies.

“A lot of that is the story of our institution, not just the transplant programs. It is systemic,” said Dr. Benjamin Mackie, vice president and co-chief cardiology, TGH Heart & Vascular Institute, medical director of the Heart Transplantation, TGH Transplant Institute, co-director of Advanced Heart Failure and Transplant cardiologist, Tampa General Hospital, which in 2025 celebrated the

40th anniversary of its fi rst heart transplant. “We really try to drive that mindset on our teams. How can we do it even better than we’re doing it?”

CASTING A WIDER NET

A critical element that enables the TGH Transplant Institute to save more lives has been its aggressive adoption of advanced organ

“It’s dramatically increased our ability to utilize donor organs—which can be a barrier to saving lives with transplant—and more safely and effectively transplant more people,” Mackie said. “With that comes volume, and we like volume not because we like to say we did the most. It’s because we’re saving more lives. It’s really that simple.”

More transplants mean not only more lives changed, but a smaller percentage of patients waiting for their transplant while hospitalized in intensive care.

“A greater portion of our patients are coming from home,” Dhanireddy said. “They are spending less time on the wait list, which means they’re not suffering with the symptoms of their disease. They’re not suffering the risk of mortality waiting for a transplant.”

PUSHING BOUNDARIES

As a leading academic medical center, Tampa General does more than make use of new technology. It helps develop it, partnering with companies such as OrganOx, Paragonix, and others to study the newest transplantation tools, techniques, and more.

Those include studies of different temperatures for organs outside the body, different blood types in transplantation, and even robotic surgery to transplant kidneys to recipients. “We’re already doing donor surgeries robotically,” said Dr. Anthony Watkins, surgical director of the Kidney and Pancreas Transplant Center at Tampa General. “I think we’re fortunate to have a lot of providers who are passionate about what we do. We all recognize we’re here for our patients. I really enjoy our

ability to put our heads together and fine-tune different strategies.”

Instead of 14 exploratory biopsies in the year following heart transplantation, Tampa General patients now need as few as two, Mackie said. That is due to advanced DNA blood tests developed with support from Tampa General and others.

“The vast majority of the time, rejection is not present. We can rule it out with a high level of statistical significance with only blood tests,” Mackie said. “The big winner is the patient.”

Tampa General’s individual-case breakthroughs in 2025 included the world’s first transplant of a heart and liver at the same time while using only the patient’s blood.

The bloodless transplant, needed in this instance because of the patient’s religious beliefs, is almost never medically necessary,

said Dr. Gundars Katlaps, surgical director of the Lung Transplant Program at the TGH Transplant Institute and an associate professor of surgery with the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine. But the successful procedure broadened the scope of what can be achieved—not just in transplantation, but all surgeries, Katlaps said.

“It’s important not only because one day, we might be able to help another similar patient,” said Katlaps, who joined Dhanireddy in leading the procedure. “We are (better) able to help all our patients. The experience helps everybody.”

Other recent Tampa General achievements include multiple heart-lung transplants, the growth of its living donor program, and Florida’s fi rst direct heart donation, which matches a donor to a predetermined recipient.

The TGH Transplant Institute features a multidisciplinary team that supports patients throughout their entire journey.

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A Life Without Limits

The Helen A. Rich Breast Center of Excellence at the TGH Cancer Institute is the final legacy of a cancer patient who was moved by her care team’s compassion to invest in expanding access to world-class treatment

By Dave Scheiber

She may have stood a diminutive 5 feet in height, but Helen Rich took on life with a giant-size stature and personality to match. Here was a woman who rode Harleys, drove race cars, and competed as a fourth-generation equestrian, while writing romance novels in her 60s and 70s and forever following her beloved Chicago Cubs. And it’s fair to say she wore more than her heart on her sleeve—she sported an entire sleeve of colorful tattoos on one arm, too.

“My mom was such an interesting, multidimensional person, and everyone loved her,” said her daughter, Ali DeGray. “She was equal parts this elegant, timeless, highly intelligent lady, and a badass.”

Yet it was Rich’s giving spirit that towered above everything else. Even as the end neared on Christmas Eve in 2024, the mother-daughter duo went online to find foster programs in need of special items for the children. “She was so sick, but we found foster programs that had posted Christmas wishes, and she was just buying bunk beds and mattresses and school backpacks and sending them—it brought her so much joy,” DeGray recalled. “She said, ‘I can be a fairy for good until I die.’ ”

Less than three weeks later, on Jan. 11, 2025, Rich’s passion for life flickered out as she succumbed at age 76 to breast cancer, a disease she had beaten twice before. But her legacy for generosity will live on not just

with the sprawling 5R spread—short for Rich’s Rockin’ Rescue & Retirement Rancho—that she founded to care for abandoned and aging horses, dogs, cats, and all manner of animals. That legacy also will flourish in perpetuity through a transformative gift to the Tampa General Hospital Foundation to establish a comprehensive breast cancer center within the TGH Cancer Institute.

Rich was moved to make a donation of $8.5 million as a result of the world-class treatment she received under the care of Tampa General board-certified medical oncologist Dr. Victoria Rizk. Rich was won over by how quickly the team moved to help her, and by their collaborative, patient-centric approach that

She was just so impressed with the kindness, compassion, and forward thinking of the entire staff—from the nurses to the doctors—and how much they genuinely cared about her,” said Ali DeGray, Rich’s daughter.

Amade her confident they were doing what was best for her. The gift established the Helen A. Rich Breast Center of Excellence within the TGH Cancer Institute, with $1 million put toward creating a dedicated Global Health Program within the academic health system’s Department of Surgery.

During a visit to the TGH Foundation, Rich shared with Florida Health Sciences Center | Tampa General Hospital President and CEO John Couris, along with foundation leadership and her caregivers, that she referred to the Tampa General Davis Islands campus as “the shining city on the hill,” in recognition of the unparalleled quality and empathy of her care team.

“Helen Rich was a brilliant example of why our entire

team at Tampa General is so committed to making the promise of academic medicine accessible right here in our community and beyond,” Couris said. “She recognized that the TGH Cancer Institute had access to top clinical talent and breakthrough research in the wake of her diagnosis. And because of her generosity, our organization will be empowered to continue elevating the care we deliver to patients for years to come.”

The TGH Cancer Institute’s breast cancer center is one of the highest patient volume programs in Florida, with a multidisciplinary team of breast surgeons, breast oncologists, nurse navigators, diagnostic experts, and social workers coordinating care plans for each patient.

“This transformative gift will support our mission to

Dr. Victoria Rizk

John Couris

Dr. Eduardo M. Sotomayor

Frann Leppla

LEFT: TGH Cancer Institute medical oncologist Dr. Victoria Rizk; TGH Foundation donor Helen A. Rich; TGH Cancer Institute Assistant Director of Experience Tracy Stegeman; and TGH Cancer Institute Vice President and Executive Director Dr. Eduardo M. Sotomayor.

ANDY JONES/TAMPA BAY TIMES/ZUMA PRESS

provide compassionate care and academiclevel clinical excellence to breast cancer patients in the Tampa Bay region and beyond,” said Dr. Eduardo M. Sotomayor, vice president and executive director of the TGH Cancer Institute. “It will also enable us to speed up our efforts to improve access to state-of-the-art care for patients in rural areas of our state and reduce the disparities gap in cancer care between urban and rural communities.”

Added Frann Leppla, executive vice president, Tampa General and president of the

TGH Foundation: “Helen was truly one of a kind, a savvy philanthropist, and the type of person to give in the face of hardship. We’re so grateful she chose to make treatments a little brighter for future breast cancer patients. Her spirit touched everyone who got to know her and now that legacy will carry forward with significant meaning and purpose.”

Part of her gift is designed to create a mural and other artwork to put TGH Cancer Institute patients at ease, depicting calming images of Florida nature she loved so much: grazing herons wading through the River of

AAGrass. That same penchant for the power of art inspired the bold, arms-length blend of tattoos that she started in her initial bout with cancer in her 50s, which she continued to build upon.

The first one was of a thunderstorm with a rainbow, accompanied by the words, “Don’t just survive it, sing.” When the cancer returned years later and she conquered tough odds to make it through, Rich added a fist holding a rope with words that simply read, “Endure.” And when the cancer returned for the third time, she added a sword engulfed in

Aflames with the message, “I will not bend, I will not break.”

The eye-catching ink mirrored the mettle of the woman who proudly sported it.

From Wrigley Field to Rescue Ranch

Rich grew up shaped by a varied and most unusual family background, which entwined an iconic chewing gum brand, professional baseball player Ernie Banks, and countless horses.

On the one hand, there was her mother, described by her daughter as a true cowgirl who knew how to birth cattle and break

mustangs. On the other hand, there was her favorite player, Banks, and many spring training seasons of the Chicago Cubs of the 1950s and ’60s. That was all part of life as the granddaughter of Philip Knight Wrigley and Helen Atwater Wrigley, the family famous for Wrigley’s chewing gum and ownership of the Cubs (1916-1981) and their legendary ballpark, Wrigley Field.

Rich was raised in early childhood largely by her grandparents, and she moved constantly with them throughout the year: spending summers in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, falls in Chicago, winters in

Arizona where the Cubs trained, and springs in California on Catalina Island, where the family owned a resort and ranch.

The Wrigleys had Arabian horses, where her love of horseback riding took root.

Rich also had a bit of a rebellious streak.

After a time, she and siblings George and Misdee moved in with their mother in Arizona, but she detested the boarding school she was eventually sent to, managed to get kicked out, and moved to Florida to live with her dad.

Following high school, she attended Stephens College in Missouri and her life

LEFT: Dr. Eduardo M. Sotomayor, vice president and executive director of the TGH Cancer Institute, thanks Rich for her generous support. ABOVE: Rich spends quality time with her family and her beloved dogs. TOP RIGHT: Rich visits with a horse at her home, Rich’s Rockin’ Rescue & Retirement Rancho. RIGHT: Rich and Ali DeGray were a tight mother-and-daughter team.

Asoon launched in multiple paths: a stint as a vet tech; a handful of marriages; having children Erik, Will, and Ali; deepening her love of horses and competitive riding; beating breast cancer twice 11 years apart; and eventually moving her family from Palm Beach to Odessa in 2007, where she founded the animal rescue mission in Hillsborough County, assisted by Ali, then 18.

“Palm Beach is an island, and it had a limit on how many pets you could have, and that really bothered my mom,” Ali DeGray recollected. “Anytime I asked if I could keep a stray animal I found, she would say, ‘Yeah, absolutely.’ So, she started purchasing parcels of land in Tampa to develop the farm, where she could have her own rescue and sanctuary with no limitations.”

Tenacious Spirit, Generous Heart

The mother-and-daughter duo took in everything on the 200 acres, and people started bringing animals to them. It wasn’t just for horses—with 44 there today– but for dogs, cats, pigs, turtles, possums, and critters of all kinds. “Some people are a cat person or a dog person—she loved every kind of animal,” DeGray said. “For my mom, it wasn’t just about taking them in. It was, ‘How do we provide a life of dignity; how do we provide the best quality of life for them?’ That was extremely important to her, especially with senior animals.”

As experienced equestrians, they bought and sold horses as well but often would take in retired show horses to give them a home in their waning years. Then, five years ago, Rich’s

Abreast cancer returned, and it had metastasized throughout her body.

“My mom was by far the toughest person I ever met,” DeGray said. “The second time it was supposed to kill her, but she always kept her sense of humor. I remember she was in chemo and had a bald head, and would be typing away, writing her books. I was an art student at the University of Tampa, and I’d draw all over her head to give her different looks every day —and she loved it.”

On several occasions, Rich made her Tampa General doctors and nurses laugh, too, and flexed her empathetic manner. In October 2024, even when given the prognosis that nothing more could be done, Rich’s natural response was to empathize with her doctor and caregivers rather than crumble at the

ALEFT: Florida Health Sciences Center | Tampa General Hospital President and CEO John Couris warmly greets Rich during a celebration of the gift that created the Helen A. Rich Breast Center of Excellence. BELOW: DeGray and Rich worked together fulfilling Rich’s desire to help those in need, whether at Christmastime or following a natural disaster. TOP RIGHT: Rich began getting bold tattoos during her first bout with cancer. One declared, “Don’t just survive it, sing.” She beat breast cancer twice in 11 years before her third, and last, battle.

news. That was simply who she was—strong and caring to her core.

“She was a fantastic storyteller and had a special and unique talent for putting people at ease,” Rizk said. “When I first met her, Helen told me she had superpowers, and I didn’t fully understand what she meant. That changed as I grew to know her better. Though she was only my patient for a short amount of time, she really was extraordinary in her ability to connect with people.”

Misdee Miller admired her older sister. “One of the many things that made her so special was her ability to grasp life so fully. There was nothing that didn’t interest her and her thirst for knowledge was just amazing,” Miller said. “I always held her in awe, because she knew so much about everything and could do absolutely anything she set her mind to.”

DeGray had a nickname for her irrepressible mom: “I called her Hellcat, because she was untamable. A lot of people know about the animals, but she was always giving in every way you can think.”

That included Rich’s penchant for volunteering to teach spoken-word poetry to children on the South Side of Chicago. It also meant working with DeGray to identify small businesses in Asheville, North Carolina, devastated by Hurricane Helene’s flooding—a restaurant, a tattoo parlor, a pottery studio, and others—and sending money so they could pay their employees and remain open.

And it included gathering all the paper ornaments holding wishes from foster children on a Christmas tree at a nearby Applebee’s. “She would collect all those wishes, buy all the presents the kids had written down, rent a U-Haul trailer, and make sure they received them,” DeGray said.

When Rich began thinking of making her major gift to Tampa General, she was motivated not only by the compassionate, top-quality care she received, but also by a desire to make that kind of care more accessible for others.

“She was just so impressed with the kindness, compassion, and forward thinking

of the entire staff—from the nurses to the doctors—and how much they genuinely cared about her,” DeGray noted with gratitude. “So, she wanted to invest in what they were doing and help with a safety net to treat people who couldn’t afford to be treated.”

A fitting legacy for the woman who lived life to the fullest and, like the message on one of her artful tattoos, endures with a lasting act of generosity.

BOTTOM RIGHT: Rich’s rescue ranch, located in Hillsborough County.

ANDY JONES/TAMPA BAY TIMES/ZUMA PRESS

TESTIMONIALS

In Their Own Words: NEW BEGINNINGS

Tampa General Hospital patients share how the expert care they received gave them renewed hope—and a rebirth

LIFESAVING LIVER TRANSPLANT

Thanks to the nationally ranked TGH Transplant Institute, Palm Beach Gardens resident Chet Brewer is living his best life

Chet Brewer thought the pain on his side was from his gallbladder. But a computed tomography (CT) scan revealed otherwise. It showed a dangerous buildup of fluid in his abdomen indicating chronic liver disease. His doctor referred him to Dr. Sonja Olsen, a liver specialist with TGH Digestive Health Center in Palm Beach Gardens. “I was impressed with Dr. Olsen right away,” Brewer said. “She’s smart and personable and takes the time to sit

and talk to you.”

Olsen advised Brewer to immediately stop drinking alcohol, even in moderation, and put him on a strict low-sodium diet.

“Quitting alcohol was easy; avoiding salt was much more difficult,” said Brewer, who was restricted to a mere half teaspoon of salt a day.

Despite their best efforts, it was clear that Brewer’s liver could not be saved; he required a full transplant. Olsen referred him to the liver transplant team at Tampa General Hospital’s Davis Islands campus in Tampa.

Following his surgery, Brewer easily transitioned back home for his postoperative recuperation under Olsen’s care. More than a year after his transplant, Brewer maintains a healthy diet and no longer needs medication for cholesterol or blood pressure.

“Dr. Olsen helped save my life,” said Brewer. “She got me to Tampa General, where the liver transplant team gave me a chance at a new life.” —Rob Lucarelli

PERSISTENT HUNT FOR EXPERTISE

Through Tampa General Hospital’s partnership with USF Health Morsani College of Medicine, Jocelynn White found answers for her genetic cardiac condition

At age 39, Jocelynn White felt a strange flutter in her chest. That moment would change everything. “I’d known since my 20s that my dad had this really serious heart disease,” she said. “I didn’t think it would ever happen to me.”

She visited several cardiologists; they all said her symptoms were the result of stress. But she sensed something more was wrong. “I had to become my own patient advocate,” White said. Her research led her to contact Dr. David Wilson, a cardiac electrophysiologist at the TGH Heart & Vascular Institute and an associate

professor in the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine Department of Internal Medicine. Within hours of receiving her email, Wilson responded with answers and a clear path forward. Wilson diagnosed White with Lamin A cardiomyopathy, a rare, inherited genetic condition which causes an arrythmia (irregular heartbeat). He implanted a next-generation defibrillator that can stop a patient’s arrythmia by delivering a shock that restores the heart’s typical rhythm.

“As an academic medical center, Tampa General offered expertise and experience I could not find anywhere else, and I am so grateful,” Jocelynn said. “The research they are doing makes me hopeful that in the future there will be a cure. Maybe not in my lifetime, but maybe in my niece’s.”

—Laura Cavender

JocelynnWhite

LibbieDeloshandChetBrewer

BEATING A RARE CANCER

Two years cancer-free, Carl Feldman is grateful for the world-class oncology team that removed a 28-pound sarcoma tumor from his abdomen

Known as the “forgotten cancer,” sarcoma is a rare and complex disease that forms tumors in either the bones or soft tissues. Palm Beach Gardens resident Carl Feldman is one of the fortunate survivors.

In 2023, Feldman had a 28-pound sarcoma tumor removed from his abdomen by Tampa General surgeons. Feldman first learned about his massive, beach-ball-sized tumor in the fall of 2022 at TGH Cancer Institute | Cancer Center of South Florida in Palm Beach Gardens. Medical oncologist Dr. Vijay Narendran confirmed the tumor was liposarcoma, an aggressive, malignant tumor that develops in fat tissue and most often is found in the abdominal cavity or extremities.

Narendran referred Feldman to Dr. Timothy Nywening, a surgical oncologist at the TGH Cancer Institute’s Sarcoma Center of Excellence and an assistant professor, Division of Surgical Oncology, associate residency program director, Department of Surgery at the USF Health Morsani School of Medicine, to remove the tumor. Upon meeting Nywening and completing several preoperative tests, Feldman was relieved to learn that the tumor was manageable and had not spread to any organs.

Nywening operated on Feldman in March 2023, removing the large tumor in two pieces during a ninehour procedure. Following his recovery in Tampa, Feldman was able to return home to Palm Beach Gardens where his postoperative care continued under Narendran.

More than two years later, Feldman credits his health to the expertise of his physicians at Tampa General, good fortune, and a positive attitude.

—Rob Lucarelli

FINDING FREEDOM

Deep brain stimulation transformed Wayne MacLaughlin’s life

When Wayne MacLaughlin was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease at age 47, he tried to carry on as if all were normal. “I basically ignored it for eight years,” he said. “Then one week, I kind of fell off a cliff.” His wife recalled the heartbreak: “You picture growing older together—traveling, enjoying life—and it felt like that was being taken away.”

(DBS)—a pacemaker-like device implanted in the brain. “We’re essentially using electricity, the brain’s own language, to help regulate movement,” Bezchlibnyk explained.

SusanandCarlFeldman

Those dreams were restored after MacLaughlin’s neurologist referred him to Dr. Yarema Bezchlibnyk, a neurosurgeon at Tampa General and assistant professor of neurosurgery at the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine. Bezchlibnyk recommended deep brain stimulation

“Three weeks after the first surgery, we had a tablet, and my technician basically could read my brain waves and make decisions about how to turn the DBS implant on,” MacLaughlin said. “When she did, all the stiffness in my extremities just went away. It was absolutely incredible.”

The MacLaughlins’ experience highlights the power of academic medicine—where research and patient care intersect. “The quality of care through USF and Tampa General is excellent,” MacLaughlin said. “They gave me my life back.”

—Laura Cavender

Dawn and Wayne MacLaughlin

GOURMET HOSPITAL TRAY

A Michelin-rated chef helps Tampa General Hospital blend nutrition, room-service hospitality, and healing

BY MAGGIE GAHAN | RECIPES BY CHEF GEOFFREY ZAKARIAN

Chef Geoffrey Zakarian and Dr. Tanuja

A double board-certified physician in family medicine and integrative medicine,

worked with physicians, nurses, and dietitians to align menu offerings with patient care plans and support healing through nutrition.

Tampa General Hospital and award-winning celebrity chef Geoffrey Zakarian teamed up to transform hospital food into a prescription for flavor. With a “food as medicine” approach, innovators from both organizations have redefined the age-old standard.

“Through my years of experience in the food service industry, I’ve seen the role that nutritious food plays in our overall well-being,” said Zakarian, an Iron Chef and acclaimed Michelin-rated restaurateur. “I’m excited to lend my culinary expertise to improve the health and wellness of patients at Tampa General Hospital while elevating the patient experience during their stay at the hospital.”

The menu is modeled after the Mediterranean diet, focused on nourishing, wholesome, and low-inflammatory ingredients. Taste testers have raved about the flavor, quality, and value of the new menu.

Donna Tope, vice president of operations at Tampa General, worked with Zakarian, clinicians, and hospital staff to reinvent both the menu and to introduce a new room-service-style ordering system. Patients now can get fresh, warm food when they want it.

“We want our patients eating good, wholesome food,” Tope said. “And we want them to enjoy the food they're eating while they’re in our hospital, so that it helps them to feel better, get better, and be a complement to the work that our physicians, nurses, and all of our care providers are doing for them on the clinical side.”

The new menu and delivery model will aim to increase operational efficiencies, enabling Tampa General to enhance the patient experience with minimal financial impact. Both enhancements are planned for a future launch for patients at the Davis Islands campus.

Sharma.

Sharma

(SERVES 2 TO 4)

Bistro Hanger Steak with Caramelized Shallots and Lemon Parsley Gremolata

INGREDIENTS

FOR THE STEAK

1 hanger steak, about 1¾ lbs.

(Ask the butcher to remove the center sinew.)

Kosher salt, to taste

Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

2 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil

Flaky salt, for serving, optional

FOR THE CARAMELIZED SHALLOTS

8 shallots, cut in half through the root, skins left on

2 tsp. extra virgin olive oil, plus more for finishing

1 tsp. fresh thyme leaves

INSTRUCTIONS

Kosher salt, to taste

Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

FOR THE GREMOLATA

½ cup chopped fresh parsley

1 small lemon, zested

1 clove garlic, grated

Lemon extra virgin olive oil, as needed

Kosher salt, to taste

HELPFUL TOOLS

Sheet pan

Cast iron pan or heavy skillet

Meat thermometer

Steak: Season the steak well with salt and pepper. Drizzle the steak with the olive oil and rub to distribute evenly. Wrap in plastic and let marinate in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours or up to overnight. Take the steak out of the fridge 1 hour before cooking.

Caramelized shallots: Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Toss the shallots with the olive oil and thyme, then season with salt and pepper. Lay the shallots on a sheet pan, cut side down. Roast until the shallots are very tender, about 25 minutes. Set aside.

Gremolata: Combine all ingredients in a small bowl. Add enough olive oil so that you can drizzle the mixture over the steak. Taste for salt and set aside until ready to serve.

«

When you are ready to cook the steak, heat a large cast iron pan or heavy skillet over mediumhigh heat. Add the steak and cook, turning once, until the internal temperature reads 125 degrees for medium rare, 5 to 6 minutes per side. Take the steak out of the pan and let rest on a cutting board for 10 minutes. Serve with shallots and gremolata.

Vegetable Chili

(SERVES 6)

INGREDIENTS

1 tbsp. olive oil

1 yellow onion, chopped

2 red bell peppers, diced

Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

1 28-oz. can crushed tomatoes (fire-roasted is great)

1 4-oz. can mild green chiles

1 medium to large sweet potato, peeled and cut into ½-inch cubes

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 tbsp. tomato paste

2 ½ tbsp. mild chili powder

1 tbsp. cumin

½ tsp. dried oregano

½ tsp. garlic powder

½ tsp. paprika

1 cup vegetarian broth (or water, plus more if it needs more liquid)

2 15-oz. cans black beans, rinsed and drained

1 heaping cup frozen sweet corn

TO GARNISH

INSTRUCTIONS

«

Heat a large pot over medium-high heat and add olive oil. Add onion, red bell pepper, cubed sweet potatoes, and green chiles; sauté for 5-7 minutes, stirring frequently. Add garlic and tomato paste and sauté for 1 minute more.

¼ tsp. cayenne pepper

Kosher salt, to taste

Tortilla chips

Lime wedge Avocado

Cilantro

Greek full-fat yogurt

Next, add in chili powder, cumin, oregano, garlic powder, paprika, cayenne pepper, salt, and black pepper; stir for about 30 seconds. Finally, add in crushed tomatoes, broth/ water, black beans, and corn. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 30-45 minutes, or until the chili thickens and the flavors come together. Taste and adjust seasonings and salt as necessary. Garnish with your favorite toppings.

Pan-Seared Snapper with

Salsa Verde and Lemon (SERVES

2)

INGREDIENTS

FOR THE SNAPPER

2 6-oz. skin-on, boneless red snapper fillets

1 tbs. extra virgin olive oil

3 garlic cloves, roughly chopped

¼ cup capers

¼ cup snipped chives

INSTRUCTIONS

Kosher salt, to taste

Fresh cracked black pepper

Lemons, cut into cheeks, set aside for plating

FOR THE SALSA VERDE

(Makes just over ½ quart)

4 oil-packed anchovy fillets

½ cup chopped basil

½ cup chopped cilantro

¾ cup chopped flat-leaf parsley

¾ cup chopped mint

1 habanero, minced (optional)

1 cup extra virgin olive oil

2 tsp. honey

Kosher salt, to taste

Snapper: Pat flesh and skin side dry. Season both sides with salt and pepper. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a nonstick skillet over high heat until just smoking. Add snapper fillet to skillet, skin side down, and press down gently on fillets with a spatula to prevent skin from shrinking. Cook until skin is darkened and crisp, about 5 minutes. Turn and cook until fish is just barely cooked through, about 5 minutes longer. You can check

by inserting a cake tester into the thickest part of the flesh; it should slide easily through fillet and come out warm after 5 seconds.

Salsa Verde: In a food processor, pulse the anchovies, garlic, and capers until finely chopped. Add all the remaining ingredients and pulse to combine. Season with salt. Set aside. Taste for salt right before serving.

Magic Chocolate Mousse

INGREDIENTS

1 ripe avocado, peeled, cored, and diced

2 small ripe bananas, peeled and sliced ¼ cup unsweetened cocoa powder

2 tsp. pure maple syrup Kosher salt, a pinch Fresh raspberries, for garnish

Mini 70-72 percent dark chocolate chips,

(SERVES 6) « for garnish

INSTRUCTIONS

Place avocado, bananas, unsweetened cocoa powder, maple syrup, and salt into a blender or food processor. Process on high speed for 1 minute or until smooth and creamy. Transfer into piping bags and chill for at least 32 hours. Pipe into four glass jars. Top with fresh raspberries and a sprinkle of dark chocolate chips and serve.

Heart of the Matter

Level up your wellness endeavors with these tech-forward products that promote a healthier heart and a happier you

Strike Up the Band

Easier to wear than a chest monitor strap, the Coros Heart Rate Monitor ($79) is a soft fabric band that you adjust by sliding the buckle until it feels snug around your arm. The Coros delivers over 38 hours of accurate heart rate monitoring to track your workouts and is compatible with any Bluetooth heart rate-enabled device. And, thanks to its lowprofile, the Coros will not snag on clothing or gym equipment. (coros.com)

Walk This Way

BY LIZA GRANT SMITH

Without Missing a Beat

Heartbeat insight is at your fingertips with the KardiaMobile 6L Max ($228), a medical-grade personal EKG. Using six leads (with electrodes for fingers or thumbs and one for contact to skin on the left leg) means six times more heart data. And, thanks to clinically validated EKG technology, the KardiaMobile offers more arrhythmia detections than any smartwatch. One year of KardiaCare is included, and you can also have your EKG remotely reviewed by a board-certified cardiologist and receive a report in 24 hours or less. (kardia.com)

Ringing in Success

Created in Finland, the Oura 4 Ring ($349-$499 based on material) is a personal wellness statistician worn on your finger. Sensors collect round-the-clock data on 20-plus biometrics, including blood oxygen, heart rate and variability, respiratory rate, sleep duration/stages, and stress levels throughout the day and night. Data is sent to the app, which generates personalized scores, identifies trends and patterns, and provides recommendations for improved sleep, activity levels, and overall well-being. (ouraring.com) )

Pacer (free to download) is a top-rated, free walking app for iPhone and Android that allows users to track their steps, distance, pace, and calories burned, and calculate walking weight loss without buying any gear. Map your walks with GPS, explore local parks, or embark on global virtual adventure challenges where you stroll, run, or bike a required distance to earn medals of completion. Set daily step goals (or allow Pacer’s AI to set one for you) to hold yourself accountable for moving every day. (mypacer.com)

Give Me Five

Designed for kids ages 5 to 15, the Biggerfive Vigor 2 L Kids Fitness Tracker Watch ($46) focuses on all-day (and night) activity by counting your child’s steps, distance, calories burned, and activity minutes. The tracker— which boasts up to seven days of battery life—supports 10-plus activity modes (walking, running, basketball, and dancing) and goes with them to the pool or beach, thanks to its waterproof rating. A colorful silicone strap and virtual badges make the Vigor 2 L an engaging way for kids to build good workout habits. (biggerfive.com)

The

Beauty Sleep Go2sleep 3 ($129) by Sleepon is revolutionizing sleep tracking with its level of technology and overall ease of use. The device, which contains sensors to monitor health metrics, is housed in a comfortable, silicone-covered ring and weighs 6 grams, about the same as a nickel. Leave it in the magnetic charger on your bedside table during the day and then slip it on when it’s time for bed. It will continuously measure your heart rate and blood oxygen in real time as you slumber. Receive detailed sleep reports in PDF or Excel formats with analysis using a professional sleep questionnaire. (sleepon.us)

Artist’s Rendering