About Us
The Department of Pediatrics was established in 1972 under the leadership of Lewis A. Barness, MD, one of the outstanding academic pediatricians of his generation. Dr. Barness recruited exceptional clinicians and investigators and was instrumental in developing comprehensive child health services in the Tampa Bay area. The current chairman, Robert M. Nelson, MD, MS, has led the department during a period of extensive expansion of its clinical and research facilities and remarkable achievements in research.
USF Pediatrics offers residency programs in pediatrics and internal medicine & pediatrics, and fellowship programs in neonatology, allergy/immunology, endocrinology, diabetes and metabolism and general academic pediatrics. Residents and fellows in these programs receive training at the Department’s two hospital partners – Tampa General Hospital and All Children's Hospital in St. Petersburg. The new state-of-the-art All Children’s Hospital will open in January, 2010. Tampa General Hospital recently opened a Pediatric Emergency Care Center and a Women's Center, and will open a new 85 bed neonatal intensive care unit in 2010 thanks to a generous gift from the Pamela and Les Muma family. Additional facilities where USF Pediatricians practice and teach include the USF Health South Tampa Center for Advanced Health Care adjacent to Tampa General Hospital, and the Carol and Frank Morsani Center for Advanced Healthcare located on USF’s main campus; these centers opened in 2007 and 2008, respectively. The Department of Pediatrics has 11 endowed chairs, 8 of which were made possible by funding from the All Children’s Hospital foundation and State of Florida matching funds.
- The Lewis A. Barness Chair in Pediatrics – Chair of Pediatrics
- John & Aliese Price Professor and Chair in Pediatrics – Bernard Pollara, MD
- The Andrew & Ann Hines Chair in Pediatrics – Gary Litman, PhD
- The Robert A. Good Endowed Chair in Immunology – John Sleasman, MD
- The Mason Endowed Chair in Cardiology – Kersti Linask, PhD
- The ACH/USF Chair – Career Development in Immunology – John Cannon, PhD and Donna Eason, PhD
- The Pamela and Leslie Muma Chair in Neonatology – Lewis Rubin, MD
- The Maurice A. and Thelma P. Rothman Chair of Developmental Pediatrics – Tanya Murphy, MD, MS
- The Andrews/Daicoff Chair of Pediatric Cardiology – under recruitment
- The Guild Chair of Pediatric Health Services Outcome – under recruitment
- The Wal-Mart/Sam's Club Chair in Pediatric Oncology – under recruitment
A premier pediatric research facility located on the All Children's Hospital campus was funded by generous donations from the All Children's Hospital Foundation and matching state funds. The USF/All Children’s Hospital Children’s Research Institute is the location for innovative research programs in molecular genetics, allergy/immunology, cardiology and neonatology. The Department ranks among the top in the nation in NIH research funding of academic pediatric departments; the Division of Bioinformatics and Biostatistics was recently awarded $169 million – the largest grant USF has ever received.
It is a very exciting time to be part of USF Health Pediatrics!
Robert M. Nelson, Jr., M.D., M.S.
Professor & Chair
Department of Pediatrics