Composed by Leah Craig, Michelle Jackson, Rachel Sale, Ronnie Lovler, Victor Gonzalez, Yesi Sevilla
Meet Rodger D.
Powell, M.D.
Meet Rodger D. 
Powell is known for his sense of humor and love of horses. He has lived in Gainesville since the 1970s while still on active reserve with the military. Gainesville has changed in the past four decades, but Powell’s love of the city remains. However, he and his wife, Katie, prefer living in the more rural area of town where they enjoy spending time with their three horses as well as their three grown daughters.
Undergraduate Degree: University of South Florida, 1971
Medical School: University of Florida College of Medicine, 1978
Residency: Orthopaedic Surgery, University of Florida College of Medicine
Fellowship: Hand Surgery, Indiana Center of Surgery and Rehabilitation of the Hand
Board Certifications: Orthopaedic Surgery, American Board of
Orthopaedic Surgery; Certificate of Added Qualifications in Hand Surgery
Main Focus: Hand and Wrist Surgery, Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, Cubital Tunnel Syndrome, Finger Joint Replacement Surgery
Website: www.toi-health.com
“Although healthcare is changing and evolving, one thing that remains the same is the satisfaction of correcting a patient’s problem and improving their quality of life.”
Meet John C.
Stevenson, M.D.
Stevenson has been a Gainesville resident since 1997 and considers himself a “family man.” He enjoys spending most of his time with his wife and four children: 2-year-old twin boys, and two girls, one who is in middle school and the other who is in college at Auburn. Active in a variety of sports, Stevenson’s main hobby is cycling, and he tries to ride a few times a week between juggling an active family life and working countless hours on life-changing procedures.
Undergraduate Degree: Oberlin College, 1982
Medical School: University of Glasgow, Glasgow, Scotland, 1987
Residency: Neurosurgery, Duke University Medical Center
Fellowship: Fellow, Royal College of Surgeons, England
Board Certification: Neurosurgery, American Board of Neurological Surgery, Diplomate
Main Focus: Spine surgery, from minimally invasive procedures to complex cases involving degenerative tumors and cancer of the spine
Website: www.nfrmc.com/neuroscience
“Every day that I come to work is a personal joy. Changing people’s lives feels good.”
Meet John J.
Sassano, M.D.
Meet John J.
When he is not helping patients manage their pain, Sassano enjoys photography, especially nature photography. He also heads out to Saint Augustine, particularly in the off-season, to unwind and enjoy the peacefulness of the city.
Medical School: University of Connecticut School of Medicine, 1976
Residency: General Surgery, University of Vermont; Anesthesiology, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center
Fellowships: Critical Care Medicine, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center; Pain Fellowships, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and Texas Tech University
Board Certification: Pain Management, American Board of Anesthesiology
Other Experience: Served as director of cardiovascular anesthesiology at Presbyterian University Hospital in Pittsburgh; Former medical director of the Division of Pain Management at UF Health Shands
Notable Achievement: Invented The Venous Rapid Infusion System, which transfuses blood automatically and more efficiently than the manual method and is used today in medical facilities around the world and with deployed medical personnel
Website: www.level1painmanagement.com
“Success was considered a pulse. Then, in 1985, I broke my neck skiing. I became a patient myself, spent years in terrible pain. It’s like I had an epiphany, and realized having a pulse wasn’t enough. I started measuring success in my patients by their quality of life, not just life itself.”
Meet Lois R. Ellis,
Ph.D., MSN, ARNP
Meet Lois R. Ellis,
When not in the classroom or teaching lab, Ellis’s “favorite escape” is reading romance novels. She also enjoys taking walks with her husband, John, whom she met her sophomore year in college, and their dog, Max. The couple has two adult children. Ellis is a breast cancer survivor, and she completed her dissertation on symptoms clusters among women with breast cancer.
Undergraduate Degree: B.S.N., University of Florida, 1972
Graduate Degrees: M.S.N., ARNP, Specialty in Women’s and Infants’ Health, University of Florida, 1984; Ph.D., Nursing, University of Florida, 2013
Other Experience: Has worked as a nurse and ARNP in various fields,
including cardiology/telemetry, dialysis, pediatrics, and women’s healthcare. Helped open North Florida Regional Hospital in 1973. Started teaching at Santa Fe College in 1987 as adjunct and became the director of thenursing program in 2007.
Website: www.sfcollege.edu
“I really do like the fact that I can impact in my small way the nurses of the future. And also as I am aging, I know we need really good nurses out there caring for everyone. We need nurses to care.”
Meet Mark Ignatz, M.D.
Meet Mark Ignatz, M.D.
Outside of work Ignatz is active with the Christian Medical and Dental Association where he mentors a current medical student, showing him what characteristics are needed to be a good doctor. Like many specialties, being a neonatologist requires a great deal of sensitivity as you interact with parents and try to help them cope during a difficult waiting period. “Taking care of the baby can sometimes be the easiest part,” he says. On his weeks off (he works every other week), Ignatz spends time with his wife and children, travels and plays golf. “We love going to the beach, taking trips to Disney or going out of town with friends.
Undergraduate Degree: B.S., Physics, Florida State University, 1996
Medical School: University of Florida College of Medicine, 2000
Residency: Pediatrics, UF Health Shands Hospital, 2000-2003
Fellowship: Neonatology, UF Health Shands Hospital, 2003-2006
Board Certifications: General Pediatrics; Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine; American Board of Pediatrics
Other Experience: Six years in the level three NICU at Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital, Albany, Ga.
Website: www.northfloridababy.com
“I have always been drawn to babies, and one of the things I love most about my specialty is the fact that my patients are so innocent. They didn’t ask to be born prematurely. I find great satisfaction in helping them.”
Meet Fernando Petry,
D.O., MBA
Meet Fernando Petry,
Petry spends as much time as he can with his children. He attributes this to his experiences working in hospice. He knows that life is unexpected and treats every day as a gift. Petry likes to cherish the moments he has as much as possible.
Undergraduate Degree: Biology, Rutgers University
Medical School: Nova-Southeastern College of Osteopathic Medicine
Internship: Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Washington, D.C.
Board Certification: Family Medicine
Graduate Degree: MBA, Healthcare Administration, University of Miami
Other Experience: General medical officer, United State Army, Fort Stewart, Ga.; emergency physician, family physician, hospitalist and medical director for hospice organizations; regional hospitalist director at the St. Lucie Medical Center at Raulerson Hospital in Port St. Lucie, Fla.; assistant clinical professor, Florida State University Medical School, 2004-2010
Website: www.havenhospice.org
“What kept drawing me back to hospice work was the fact that patients felt abandoned right at they point when they needed physicians the most – after curative treatments were not the best option. In family medicine, we treat people from cradle to grave. We receive a lot of training in obstetrics but we don’t receive a lot of training regarding end-of-life and palliative care.”
Meet Mark Tulli, M.D.
Originally from Hershey, Pa., he refers to his hometown as “Chocolatetown, USA.” Tulli has been married to his wife, Jennifer, for 14 years and has been calling Gainesville home for over seven years after moving here from Boston along with their daughter, Alden, and son, Gabe. Tulli loves to play golf, travel and learn about wine.
Medical School: Pennsylvania State University, 1999
Residency: Pennsylvania State University, 2002
Fellowship: Pennsylvania State University, 2005 and Brigham & Women’s Hospital, 2006 Specialty Board Certifications: Cardiovascular Disease, Interventional Cardio, Internal Medicine
Main Focus: Outpatient and inpatient general cardiology and interventional cardiology. Also serves as the director of evaluation and management of patients at CVI and interventional cardiology at NFRMC
Website: www.nfrmc.com/heart
“My most gratifying work is taking the sickest near-death cardiology patients into the NFRMC Catherization Lab and performing a procedure to open their blocked artery. I am helping that patient walk out of the hospital to continue to live life!”
Meet Scott Koppel, DPM
Meet Scott Koppel, DPM
Koppel, who hails from New York, loves Florida weather and takes advantage of it whenever he can. He and his wife of 20 years, Sonia, and their two children, Ryan, 14, and Stephanie, 12, like spending time together doing outdoor activities. He and his son are certified divers, and they dove together in the Cayman Islands this summer. Koppel also is passionate about fitness and enjoys training and working hard at a “box” gym several times a week.
Undergraduate Degree: B.S., Biology, University of Maryland, 1988
Medical School: Pennsylvania College of Podiatric Medicine, 1993
Rotating Podiatric Residency: Cooper Hospital/University Medical Center, Camden, New Jersey, 1994
Rotating Podiatric Residency: Beth Israel Hospital, Passaic, New Jersey, 1995
Other Certifications and Honors: Board Member, Florida Board of Podiatric Medicine since 2010; Former President, North Central Component of the Florida Podiatric Medical Association, 2008-2010; Fellow, American College of Foot and Ankle Surgeons
Notable Breakthrough: First in Gainesville to use VNUS Closure (2005), which uses microwave energy to treat leg pain and swelling, among other ailments associated with venous insufficiency
Website: www.gainesvillefootdoc.com, www.advancedvenoussolutions.com
“I strive to create a patient-focused practice. People come in and they have a lot of questions, so I try to give them as much time as I possibly can. From the time they walk in to the time they leave, I want them to feel like they received individual and personal attention from their doctor.”
Meet Jonathan R.
Pritt, M.D.
Meet Jonathan R.
Jon is a sports aficionado. Fortunately, he and his wife, Lindsay, have enough children to make up a sports team. Spending time with Lindsay and their five kids is a priority, and Jon ensures that they have family time as much as possible, just as his father taught him by example. In high school, Jon played football, baseball and basketball. Today, sports still reign supreme in the Pritt household, although now it’s the children who are dabbling in a variety of activities that surely keep him and Lindsay constantly busy, and very happy.
Undergraduate Degree: University of Florida, 2001
Medical School: University of Florida College of Medicine, 2006
Residency: Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn.
Fellowship: Sports Medicine, Steadman Hawkins Clinic of the Carolinas, S.C.
Board Certification: Orthopaedic Surgery, Fellowship Trained, Board Eligible
Main Focus: Orthopaedic Surgery, Sports Medicine, Arthroscopic Surgery, Joint Replacement and Reconstruction
Website: www.toi-health.com
“My dad is a family physician, and he went to medical school late in life. He’s always been a person I’ve looked up to, and certainly my gateway to medicine.”