2025
Jana Sacco, MD
Assistant Professor & Associate Program Director, Department of Surgery
Dr. Jana Sacco as a Clinical Assistant Professor and Associate Program Director, has demonstrated exceptional leadership skills and a passion for education. Her dedication to mentoring and inspiring future physicians is evident in her work, and she has been recognized nationally for her outstanding contributions to the field.
I would like to highlight her achievements, including receiving the Best Video Presentation at the EHS Congress and the B. Todd Heniford Fellowship Award. Her commitment to excellence and her ability to provide high-quality clinical care, teach, and excel in research have made her a valuable member of our division. Dr. Sacco’s leadership roles in the American Hernia Society, including being a Member of the Self-Assessment Program Task Force and Co-Chair of the Education Committee, demonstrate her commitment to advancing the field and inspiring others.
Swati Sharma, MD
Assistant Professor & Program Director, Diagnostic Radiology Residency, Department of Radiology
Dr. Swati Sharma is an exceptional early-career faculty member whose dedication to clinical excellence, education, and advocacy has made a profound impact at UF College of Medicine – Jacksonville. A board-certified radiologist and breast imaging specialist, she also brings unique dual training in family medicine. Dr. Sharma is recognized for her outstanding teaching, having received the “Golden Stethoscope” award twice. Her leadership roles include Associate Program Director for the Radiology Residency and Chief of Education in the Breast Imaging Division. She is a prolific contributor to research and a strong advocate for breast health education, community outreach, and health equity. As a member of the WIMS executive committee, she continues to inspire and empower women in medicine.
2024
Jessica Huston, Pharm.D
Assistant Professor, College of Pharmacy
Dr. Huston serves as the campus coordinator for 2PD skills labs, is co-director of the first-year Principles of Patient Centered Care course and provides lectures and instruction in other courses in the curriculum. Additionally, she is the chair of the College of Pharmacy Admissions committee, current President of Duval County Pharmacy Association, and advisor for student organizations on the Jacksonville and Orlando campuses. On top of this, she has 29 publications and presented dozens of state and national presentations in her very short career that began in 2021. She is on track to be one of the most prolific faculty members on our campus which helps put a spotlight on UF Health Jacksonville, specifically. Her nominators all noted her obvious competence and skills in her lab but most distinctly appreciate her mentorship and teaching capabilities. She encourages autonomy and innovation and seeks active feedback from students on how to improve the program. Her second year skills lab used to be one of the most daunting experiences in their curriculum. However, colleagues comment that since Dr. Huston has taken over, students are evidently more engaged with a more significant drive to succeed and learn. Additionally, Dr. Huston developed and maintained a Research Portal. Through this portal, she identifies research opportunities for students and connects them with investigators and projects to gain experience in the area. Students have gained internship experience and written papers as a result of these research portal matches. This has allowed students at our distance campus the same opportunities afforded to our Gainesville students. We are excited what Jessica will continue to bring to our institution and find her to be overwhelmingly appropriate as the recipient for this year’s WIMS Early Career Faculty Award.
2023
Rachel Carpenter, MD
Assistant Professor, Department Psychiatry
2023 Awardee – Women in Medicine and Science Early Career Faculty Award
•Nominated twice, by Psychiatry Chair, APD, and Resident
•Completed Psychiatry residency at UF Jacksonville in 2022, where she was a chief resident. Awards include the Outstanding Resident Educator award, Psychiatry Resident of the Year, and was nominated for the prestigious Leon Haley Jr. MD Leadership Award for Inclusive Excellence.
•National Work: Postpartum Support International organization (PSI), which is dedicated to helping families suffering from postpartum mental health. She completed a Perinatal Mood and Anxiety Disorder training with PSI.
2022
Rana Alissa, MD
Associate Professor, Department of Pediatrics Division of Neonatology Specialty
2022 Awardee – Women in Medicine and Science Early Career Faculty Award
“Dr. Alissa serves as a consultant for risk management and provides her assistance to the risk management department with respect to complications/complaints regarding neonatal circumcisions. Applying her clinical insight, she has been able to reduce neonatal transfer from newborn nursery to intensive care unit from 35% to 12% through three different projects now published in peer reviewed journals.”
“As well, she led introduction of donor milk bank in order to fill the gaps for those nursing mothers whose babies needed more milk then they were producing. She was able to increase breast feeding rates at NICU upon discharge of babies by 4-fold.”
“She is so dedicated to patient care that she created an excellent professional quality “Instructional Video for Newborn Care” for parents both in English and in Spanish that is used by the entire department as well as neonatologists throughout Jacksonville.”
“In order to facilitate availability of vaccines to all children including those residing in hard to reach and poor communities, this nominee has been engaged in patient advocacy. She was granted a scholarship award by AAP to fulfill this objective. She and her group met virtually with our congressmen and women and made oral presentations. A bill has been introduced to achieve this objective but it has yet to pass through the congress and the senate.”
“Ever since she joined as a faculty member about 8 years ago, she has received 14 teaching awards! (5 exemplary teacher awards by the University of Florida College of Medicine – Jacksonville, and 8 Student Teacher Apple awards.”
“For excellence in research she received the “Beal’s Award for best original Research” for the entire North East Florida region, where all clinical, surgical, and non-clinical departments compete (including faculty members from the University of Florida College of Medicine – Jacksonville, Mayo Clinic, and Nemours Children’s Clinic, Jacksonville).”
“As if this wasn’t enough, Dr. Alissa is completing a three year fellowship in medical informatics. She is an advanced level epic builder Therefore, her contribution to creating patient-care 5 templates within the division of neonatology and outside the department have contributed significantly to overall clinical efficiency and to patient-safety.”