L to R: USF President Judy Genshaft with award winner Dr. Eric Buhi of the USF College of Public Health, Dr. Dwayne Smith, senior vice provost for faculty affairs, and Dr. Paul R. Sanberg, vice president for research & innovation.

Two USF Health faculty members were among nine recipients of the university’s 2012 Faculty Outstanding Research Achievement Awards.

Eric Buhi, PhD, of the College of Public Health, and John Carter, MD, of the Morsani College of Medicine, joined awardees honored at an Oct. 4 awards luncheon hosted by the USF Office of Research and Innovation.

The annual awards both celebrate USF faculty members for publications, awards and grants exemplifying their outstanding scholarship and research and underscore the professional recognition that they attracted the previous calendar year from national and international peers. The USF System Research Council selects awardees based on an open competition.

Dr. Buhi, an associate professor of community and family health in the College of Public Health, directs the college’s Collaborative for Research Understanding Sexual Health.  He was recognized for his work that earned him national recognition, as well as the 2011 Darroch Award for Excellence in Sexual and Reproductive Health Research from the Guttmacher Institute.

According to the Guttmacher Institute award announcement: “Dr. Buhi’s innovative research focuses on the impact of technology and social media on the sexual health and experiences of adolescents and young adults. Dr. Buhi has published on the accuracy of sexual health resources online, abstinence-only education programs and the dynamics of sexual exchange in a college setting. His work has led to new understanding of how the Internet and social media affect both risk and protective behaviors among young people.”

L to R: USF President Judy Genshaft with award winner Dr. John Carter of the Morsani College of Medicine and Dr. Dwayne Smith, senior vice provost for faculty affairs.

Dr. Carter is an associate professor and director of the Division of Rheumatology in the Department of Internal Medicine.  He was recognized for publications in the peer-reviewed journals Arthritis and Rheumatism and the Annals of Internal Medicine.

His study titled “Combination Antimicrobial Therapy as a Treatment for Chlamydia-Induced Reactive Arthritis,” was published May 2010 in Arthritis and Rheumatism, the most prestigious rheumatology journal with an impact factor of 8.435.  The article was considered so significant that it was accompanied by an editorial praising the study.

– Photos by Aimee Blodgett, USF Communications & Marketing