TAMPA, FL (Dec. 8, 2011) — The University of South Florida has renamed its medical college the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine in honor of the philanthropic commitment of Frank and Carol Morsani. In total, the Morsanis have given $37 million to USF Health and a total of $43 million to the university.

Today, the Morsanis are announcing a new gift of $20 million to USF Health, the
largest individual donation ever received by the university, to reach the total of $37 million.

USF President Judy Genshaft and the USF Board of Trustees renamed the college at a meeting this morning.

One of the nation’s most successful automobile dealers, Frank Morsani has become a community leader in the Tampa Bay region and is the former chairman of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Donations by the couple have helped build major institutions in Tampa. As a result of their total giving to USF, and the exciting opportunity of the new gift, the university is honoring them by renaming its medical college.

The gift will create a dramatic new education center at USF Health, focusing on new ways to teach the team-based care of the future. The new Morsani College of Medicine building will host a true teaching clinic for patients and students, including the student-run free community clinic. It will allow students in medicine, nursing, pharmacy, public health and physical therapy to learn together in interprofessional teams, with a special focus on personalized medicine.

In addition, the Morsanis believe so strongly in the ideas being pursued at USF that they are setting up an institute named for the current CEO of USF Health, and dean of the Morsani College of Medicine, Stephen K. Klasko, MD, MBA. The Stephen K. Klasko Institute for an Optimistic Future in Healthcare will drive many of USF Health’s new strategic initiatives.

“What Steve Klasko has done is become an incubator of ideas,” Frank Morsani said. “He wants to change the course of American healthcare, and he’s doing it right here. We’ve seen what he’s done, and we believe the future can be shaped now.”

The Morsanis’ generosity creates a historic opportunity for USF Health, Dr. Klasko said.

“Carol and Frank Morsani embody the values that make Tampa Bay and, indeed, this country great,” Dr. Klasko said. “They have understood the importance of family, friends, integrity and entrepreneurship and we could not be more proud that every graduate will now bear the Morsani name on their diploma. Having two people that I respect as much as anyone in the world invest in the future of USF Health is both humbling and incredibly exciting.”

The Morsanis have now contributed a total of $43,325,388 to USF, with $37,403,860 of that amount going to USF Health. Frank Morsani has been chair of the USF Foundation, Inc, and a reason for the success of USF’s ongoing comprehensive campaign. Carol Morsani founded USF’s Women in Leadership in Philanthropy, an initiative that brings women leaders into positions to have an impact with their giving.

“We are so fortunate to have philanthropists like Carol and Frank Morsani,” said Joel Momberg, CEO of the USF Foundation and senior vice president of university advancement. “They not only make gifts … they make investments. The passion and the love they have for what we can accomplish and what we can become reflects in their generosity. To paraphrase our capital campaign slogan: The Morsanis are truly Unstoppable!”

As a result of the gift, USF will construct a new Morsani College of Medicine building located on the western edge of the USF campus, at the southeast corner of Bruce B Downs Blvd and Holly Drive. It will be built on the site of the former USF medical clinic.

Features of the six-story center will include:

• A new Center for Advanced Clinical Learning, where students from all disciplines will learn the best techniques of patient care together, using both standardized patients, advanced patient simulators, and real patients.

• Creation of a new teaching clinic that will be a national model for free community care in a dynamic learning environment. This will enhance access to healthcare, enable us to expand our community impact and leverage the fine work of the BRIDGE Healthcare Clinic, founded by USF Health student volunteers.

• New state-of-the-art classrooms, lecture halls and learning spaces for students.

• Headquarters and offices for the Morsani College of Medicine and many of its faculty.

• Headquarters for the Stephen K. Klasko Institute for an Optimistic Future for Healthcare.

USF Health is already known for innovative education programs that are changing how health professionals learn. Those programs include:

• SELECT, a new MD program that educates future physician leaders. The first SELECT students arrived on campus this fall and were chosen partly based upon assessments of their emotional intelligence.

• CAMLS, the Center for Advanced Medical Learning and Simulation, now under construction in downtown Tampa. At the $30 million CAMLS complex, health professionals from across the country will learn advanced surgical techniques, using the latest robotic and other medical devices, in an environment that emphasizes team training.

USF Health also stresses health care that puts the patient at the center of the clinical experience. At USF Health’s two new medical centers, the Carol and Frank Morsani Center for Advanced HealthCare and the South Tampa Center for Advanced HealthCare, patients are able to experience “one-stop shopping.” The centers will model the future of healthcare – customized to each patient’s molecular profile, while meeting family and psychological needs at the same time.

Building the new center and creating new learning pathways there will create dynamic changes for USF Health and, ultimately, for the future of medical education, Dr. Klasko said.

“Our vision for the Morsani College of Medicine could not be more clear or dramatic,” he said. “We intend to be the leaders of the revolution that will transform the future of health care education and health care delivery… Not by changing the existing reality, but by creating a new model that makes the old model obsolete.”

 – USF Health –

USF Health’s mission is to envision and implement the future of health. It is the partnership of the University of South Florida Morsani College of Medicine, the College of Nursing, the College of Public Health, the College of Pharmacy, the School of Biomedical Sciences and the School of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Sciences; and the USF Physician’s Group. USF is a global research university ranked 34th in federal research expenditures for public universities.

Media contacts:
Lisa Greene, (813) 974-4312 or lgreene@health.usf.edu
Anne DeLotto Baier, (813) 974-3300 or abaier@health.usf.edu