Jennifer Keehbauch, M.D. ’92 is director of research and continuing medical education, associate director of family medicine residency and director of women’s health fellowship at Florida Hospital. Photo by Jesse S. Jones

More than 20 years later, Jennifer Keehbauch, M.D., clearly recalls the experience that ignited her passion to care for the medically underserved.

She was a third-year UF College of Medicine student, accompanying
Louis Kuritzky, M.D., an assistant professor in the family medicine program, on a visit to a rural Alachua County clinic, and one of his patients didn’t have money for the medicine he prescribed.

“So he just reached into his wallet and handed her money for her prescription,” recalled Keehbauch, a 1992 graduate of the UF College of Medicine.

It was compassionate physicians like Kuritsky who inspired Keehbauch to found the Community After Hours Clinic for the Uninsured at Florida Hospital in Orlando.

“This is our 10th year,” said Keehbauch, the clinic’s medical director and a family physician at Florida Hospital. “We’ve seen more than 25,000 patients.”

Expanded this year to include specialty services, the clinic primarily cares for working, uninsured adults. It serves patients on evenings and weekends and occupies space at the hospital’s employee clinic.

Keehbauch also is a leader in research and medical education at Florida Hospital, where she is the director of research and continuing medical education, associate director of family medicine residency and director of women’s health fellowship.

Her own research focuses on women’s health, along with pediatric obesity and improving care using electronic medical records.

“I like learning new things and tackling new initiatives,” she said.

A mother of three, Keehbauch learned how to juggle her career and a family early on. She started medical school five months pregnant and her daughter Caitlin was born a day before Thanksgiving. “I showed up pregnant and I tried to hide it,” she recalled of her first day of medical school.

Her husband worked in Orlando four days a week, so Keehbauch, who resumed school in January, often managed medical school and parenthood alone.

“It teaches you balance right off the bat,” she said.

To help pay for medical school, Keehbauch joined the U.S. Air Force. She spent three years practicing at an air force base in South Carolina, an experience that led her to change her specialty from obstetrics/gynecology to family medicine.

“I fell in love with family medicine in the U.S. Air Force,” Keehbauch said. “You took care of whole families in the military.”

She completed her family medicine residency at Florida Hospital Orlando in 1999 and was hired as faculty. She also completed a fellowship in underserved medicine at the University of California, San Diego.

Keehbauch has cared for underserved populations internationally as well participating in several mission trips to Mexico as part of the Cervical Cancer Project International Foundation. Mexico has high death rates from cervical cancer because of poor access to screening.

“My passion is local mission, but an international mission is a very life-changing experience,” she said.

Kuritzky, Keehbauch’s former professor, said he was not aware of Keehbauch’s accomplishments or the impact he’d made on her.

“But,” he said, “that is very gratifying to hear.”

Faculty members hope to teach students not only concrete knowledge and skills, but humanitarianism as well, he said.

In Keehbauch’s case, those lessons certainly stuck. She won the 2011 Central Florida Humanitarian Award for her work locally and abroad and was named the Florida Academy of Family Physicians’ Family Physician of the Year 2007. As secretary/ treasurer of the Florida Academy of Family Physicians, she is slated to become president of the state organization in 2014.

Still, she said she is proudest of founding the clinic.

“The needs are great,” Keehbauch said. “My goal is to try to inspire more folks as they go up through their medical training to continue in this area.”

More than 360 members from the classes of 1962, 1967, 1972, 1977, 1982, 1987, 1992, 1997, 2002 and 2007 and their guests attended the weekend-long event. The class of 1962 celebrated their 50th reunion, while the class of 1987 reunited for their 25th anniversary. Check out photos from the weekend’s events on your UF College of Medicine Alumni Facebook page. See anyone you know? Tag your friends and classmates!

By Christopher Bilowich

As corporate medical director for Solar Turbines Inc. and regional medical director for Caterpillar Inc., she cares for thousands of workers scattered around the globe in 30 countries

“I consider nearly 8,000 employees worldwide, as my patients,” said Baytop, who is based in San Diego. “If something happens and there is a medical emergency, I’m the first person who’s called to help.”

Despite the sleepless nights and other challenges, the 1976 UF College of Medicine graduate loves her job. She has traveled to almost every continent and works with medical teams globally to transport and care for her patients.

“I always wanted to travel, but I never imagined traveling this way,” said Baytop.

The Jacksonville native didn’t anticipate a career in corporate medicine. She earned an undergraduate degree in pharmacy at Florida A&M University, then later decided to apply to medical school.

Dr. Baytop with three of her four grandchildren— Aryanna, Jazmon Rose, and Malcolm-Allen Baytop. Photo provided by R. Donna Baytop.

Her first two years as a UF College of Medicine student were anything but easy.

“Our first child was born just a few months before I started medical school, and my husband was sent overseas at the same time,” Baytop recalled.

Baytop’s husband Allen was stationed in Germany for two years with the U.S. Army. Meanwhile, Baytop had to adjust to the busy life of a medical student, while essentially serving as a single mother to her baby daughter, Chanza. Friends helped but she remembered cold mornings when her car wouldn’t start and she couldn’t get her daughter to daycare before class.

“I used to have to take her to class. I’d sit way in the back and hope she didn’t cry,” Baytop remembered.  “So that was very tough.”

After her graduation from medical school, Baytop completed her residency in urban family medicine at the University of Connecticut.

She accepted a job in employee health services with Connecticut General Life Insurance Company, which is now known as CIGNA. Within 18 months, she was the acting medical director.

She was later recruited as medical director at Solar Turbines in California. She has worked for the company, a subsidiary of Caterpillar Inc., and one of the world’s leading manufacturers of industrial gas turbines, for more than 27 years.

Dr. Baytop leaves her hotel in Buenos Aires, Argentina to visit the Centro de Diagnostico Dr. Enrique Rossi. Outside of her work, Baytop, who is a solo soprano, has also traveled with her Catholic church’s choir and sang in concert for the Pope in Rome in 2008. Photo provided by Baytop

She manages three onsite occupational medical clinics caring for employees in California and Texas, plus designs emergency response plans using a worldwide emergency medical network. When an employee is injured, she is notified and she finds the nearest center of excellence, oversees the transport of her patient and communicates with the physician to follow her patient’s progress. Her main responsibility is to coordinate the highest degree of care possible.

For example, an employee from the company’s Swiss office, was injured while in Istanbul. Baytop had him airlifted to a hospital in Zurich with one of the best burn units in the world.

Baytop also assists the company’s employees living in countries with limited health care resources. One of her cases involved an Angolan employee that needed to be airlifted to a country with special newborn intensive care and a higher level of maternal care than was available in Angola.

During the 2009 H1N1 flu pandemic, Baytop also was part of a team that successfully designed a fully automated telephonic and computerized workplace “gate screening entry” process for thousands of the company’s employees.

One of the perks of working in private industry is to be able to provide her patients with the best care possible and access to top-notch medical resources without a lot of bureaucracy and red tape. She said she’s pleased to be part of an organization that wants the best possible medical care for its employees worldwide.

Dr. Baytop stands in Innsbruck, Austria, after a visit to select a preferred provider in Riazzino, Switzerland. Photo provided by Baytop

“That is the upside of what I do,” Baytop said.  “I really get to see how well we can practice medicine, including preventive medicine, without third-party payors and interruptions.”

Her connections to UF have also helped her treat her patients. She recalled calling Hal G. Bingham, M.D., who was medical director of Shands at UF’s Burn Intensive Care Unit, about a case.

“I picked up the phone and he remembered me,” said Baytop. “That was 15 years later and he made himself available to me.”

Established in 1895, the NMA provides support for 30,000 African American physicians and their patients. The annual convention offers educational sessions and exhibits that foster professional development while the gathering gives UF COM graduates the opportunity to reconnect. This year, graduates celebrated the first anniversary of the establishment of the Willie Sanders Scholarship. Medical alumni affairs staff shared with attendees the good news that the scholarship has reached endowment status! See more photos of your fellow alumni at the Gator Gathering event here.

Members of the UF College of Medicine’s class of 2016 became the first to receive new electronic stethoscopes, made possible by an anonymous donor. (From left) Judy Ashouri, Luther St. James, Terrell Martin, Samyr Elbadri and Samantha Baer pose with their new stethoscopes around their necks. Photo by Maria Belen Farias

Karyn Grimm Herndon, M.D. ’86, remembers sitting exactly where her son Carl Herndon sits. As a member of the UF College of Medicine’s class of 2016, Carl experiences the same anxiety and excitement his mother felt 30 years ago at the beginning of her journey to becoming a physician.

“It’s indescribable and I’m so proud of him,” said Herndon, an assistant professor of clinical obstetrics and gynecology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. “He always called me a Gator doc and now we can share that experience.”

But some parts of Carl Herndon’s orientation activities differed from his mother’s.

On Aug. 3, the UF College of Medicine became the first medical school in the world to present its students with new electronic stethoscopes from 3G Littman, made possible by an anonymous donor.

“These are top-of-the-line stethoscopes,” said Maureen Novak, M.D., associate dean for medical education and vice chair of education in the department of pediatrics.

Each stethoscope came with a special message in honor of the donor’s uncle, Ludwig Salamon, who was forced to leave his native Hungary for Italy to study medicine. Salamon, whose name is engraved on each stethoscope, died in 1920 after contracting tuberculosis from a patient with whom he played chess.

“The gift of these stethoscopes is a tribute to the great medical advances of the past century that has allowed all of us to live in a time where tuberculosis and many other diseases are no longer death sentences,” the message read. “In addition, these should serve to empower each one of you to speak out against injustice and inequality.”

First-year medical student Kelley Naus tests out her new electronic stethoscope on classmate Saharsh Patel. The new stethoscopes feature high-tech capabilities such as ambient noise reduction and Bluetooth. Photo by Maria Belen Farias

The electronic stethoscopes feature ambient noise reduction technology, which enables students to hear amplified sounds from the heart and lungs. Also, students can listen and record what they hear, as well as their own commentary, and transfer the sounds via Bluetooth to a computer for further study.

“I never expected to be a part of the first group of people to use this high-tech stethoscope,” said Jaimee Castillo, a first-year medical student who earned her undergraduate degree from UF, as she and her classmates enthusiastically tested out their brand new stethoscopes, listening to each other’s heartbeats. “It’s an honor to be able to train with such an innovative equipment.”

Herndon is excited for her son who’s worked hard to get into UF, which was his first choice. His class will be the first class to fully experience the college’s new curriculum changes, which include more small-group and active learning, and early exposure to patients and clinical training.

“It’s remarkable to see such a cutting-edge technology being incorporated into medical education at UF,” she said. “I know he will have a great experience here.”

Each foundation committed $250,000 toward the 18-bed inpatient unit that serves approximately 14 pediatric patients a day. UF physicians and Shands nurses at the facility care for an estimated 288 patients annually.

“When a parent learns that their child has cancer, their world is changed forever,” said Scott A. Rivkees, M.D., Nemours eminent scholar, professor and chair, department of pediatrics at the College of Medicine. “Through the wonderful support of The NASCAR Foundation, we help brighten the lives of the families touched by this tough disease and other immunodeficiencies. We are grateful for our fantastic partnership with The NASCAR Foundation, which touches children’s lives every day throughout the state of Florida.”

The new unit, which is now fully operational, allows young patients to have easier access to their primary care physicians during treatments at the facility. The UF division of hematology/oncology at Shands Hospital for Children at UF sees nearly 100 new cancer patients per year, with a significant number participating in clinical trials.

Among the direct benefits, the donation has helped fund the construction of an inpatient unit that allows more efficient treatment and communication among staff, patients and their families. The gift has also assisted in the funding for training for a specialized corps of pediatric oncology nurses dedicated to the unit.

“The NASCAR Foundation is proud to continue making a difference in the lives of children with cancer and critical diseases,” said Betty Jane France, The NASCAR Foundation Chairwoman. “We can see the direct impact this contribution is making to Shands Hospital for Children at UF and are delighted to know we are helping improve the quality of care through this donation, from providing a cleaner and safer environment for children to delivering specialized nursing and promising new medications and treatments.”

The V Foundation, a charitable organization dedicated to saving lives by helping to find a cure for cancer, has a well-established record of supporting cancer research.

For more information please visit NASCAR.COM/foundation or www.UFandShands.org.

Do you have a memorable photo from your med school days? If so, email it to drgator@health.ufl.edu, or upload it to our Facebook page by July 25. Voting will take place July 30 – Aug. 4. The photo with most “likes” will win a tailgate basket, including two complimentary tickets to the tailgate event on Oct. 20.