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Dr. Deborah German, founding dean of the University of Central Florida College of Medicine and vice president for health affairs, at the\u00a0College of Medicine\u2019s 14th\u00a0White Coat Ceremony in July 2022. She\u00a0conducts the students’ first class of medical school, \u201cThe Good Doctor \u2013 A UCF Tradition,\u201d which has been\u00a0a tradition since 2009.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Courtesy of Global Village Publishing<\/p>\n
Founding dean of the UCF College of Medicine and Vice President for Health Affairs Dr. Deborah German will be stepping down from her role at the university following a 20-year tenure, according to an announcement Wednesday.<\/p>\n
UCF plans to conduct a national search for her successor.<\/p>\n
In the meantime, German will remain in her current roles. Following that transition, she will serve as a senior adviser for the president and provost of health affairs for one year.\u00a0<\/p>\n
German began as the only faculty member in the UCF College of Medicine in December 2006. She had the goal of making it an academic foundation for a growing medical hub in Central Florida, UCF President Alexander Cartwright said in a press release.\u00a0<\/p>\n
After two decades of leadership,\u00a0German built the college from an idea into a\u00a0research-intensive medical school. Today,\u00a0100% of its students<\/a>\u00a0are involved in research, from aerospace medicine to improving public health.<\/p>\n As of May 2023, the college has graduated 1,000 physicians<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cBecause she dared, the UCF College of Medicine is now an engine of talent, research, and impact that is shaping healthcare for generations,\u201d Cartwright said.<\/p>\n Originally from Rhode Island, German earned a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Boston University, a doctor of medicine from Harvard, completed an internal medicine residency at the University of Rochester and a rheumatic and genetic diseases fellowship at Duke University.<\/p>\n When founding the school, German secured more than $6.5 million to fully fund the inaugural doctor of medicine class in 2009, marking the first time in U.S. history an entire medical school class received full four-year scholarships, Cartwright said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Since 2009, German has conducted medical students’ first class at their White Coat Ceremony, titled\u00a0\u201cThe Good Doctor \u2014 A UCF Tradition.\u201d\u00a0In this class, she asks students to think of someone they love and name the qualities they\u2019d want in that person\u2019s doctor. As they respond, Dr. German writes each trait on a blackboard that is displayed in the medical school atrium all year.<\/p>\n Dr. Deborah German, founding dean of the UCF College of Medicine and vice president for health affairs, honored with the Florida Woman of the Year award in 2023. German announced Wednesday that she would be stepping down from her role within the university.<\/p>\n Courtesy of College of Medicine<\/p>\n To expand graduate medical education, Cartwright said German partnered with HCA Healthcare and the Orlando VA Medical Center, growing residency and fellowship programs from 17 residents in 2014 to more than 720 physicians training across Florida in various specialties. German’s guidance brought the UCF College of Medicine 2025 graduates to\u00a0a 100% residency match rate<\/a>.<\/p>\n Under Germany’s leadership, the UCF Academic Health Sciences Center was created, uniting the UCF College of Medicine, Nursing, Health Professions and Sciences and UCF Health Student Health Services.<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p>\n