- Faculty News
ORLANDO, March 4, 2010 — At a recent “President’s Focus on Excellence” breakfast, UCF President John Hitt told audience members, “If you want to build a great university, you need shared governance.” That shared governance came to fruition recently at the College of Medicine, where faculty elected their first Faculty Council Executive Committee, the first such college leadership group on campus.
Through its executive committee leaders, the Faculty Council will make recommendations to Dean Deborah German on subjects ranging from curriculum to committee assignments. Executive team members will also serve on the college’s Medical School Enterprise, one of three entities that advise the Dean on administrative matters.
The council is comprised of all College of Medicine faculty members. The executive committee, which is elected to represent the faculty, includes the president, vice president, secretary and immediate past president. In the recent elections, faculty members elected David Balkwill, professor of microbiology, as their president. Annette Khaled, associate professor at the college’s Burnett School of Biomedical Sciences, was elected vice president. The council’s new secretary is Dorilyn Hitchcock, assistant professor and program director for the Medical Laboratory Sciences Program.
Balkwill received his Ph.D. in microbiology from Pennsylvania State University and before coming to UCF had an outstanding career at Florida State University’s College of Medicine. He received the Carski Foundation Distinguished Teaching Award from the American Society of Microbiology and in 1999, was named FSU’s Distinguished Research Professor. Balkwill’s research has focused on the ecology of bacteria living in deep-earth environments and the threat of environmental contaminants to human health.
Khaled’s focus is on biomedical sciences, modeling and simulation. Her team is investigating what triggers cell death with a goal of developing a therapy to kill off cancer cells or protect healthy cells from a cancerous attack. She received her Ph.D. from the University of Florida and then worked at the National Cancer Institute-Frederick. She earned a CAREER Development Award from the NCI before joining UCF in 2002. The National Institutes of Health funds Khaled’s research at UCF, most recently with a $1 million grant.
Hitchcock received her M.S. degree in Medical Technology from Northeastern University. She has served as director of the Medical Laboratory Sciences Program since 1989. Her teaching emphasis is on hematology, microscopy, laboratory management, education and clinical chemistry. She also works part-time at the Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution Biomedical Marine Research Division, where she is researching potential pharmaceutical products from marine microorganisms.