When Dr. Scott A. Rivkees joins the UF and Shands family, he won't do it alone.
Multiple National Institutes of Health grants, continuous funding from NIH institutes and international recognition as a pediatric expert are among the assets that Rivkees will bring with him.
In January, Rivkees will replace Dr. Richard Bucciarelli as the head of the UF College of Medicine pediatrics department and as the physician leader at Shands Hospital for Children.
Rivkees is a member of the Yale University School of Medicine staff and sees patients at a private practice. He will take more of a leadership role with UF and Shands.
"One part I'm very excited about is being able to apply academic growth and development and to grow the research base more broadly than I do now," he said.
Rivkees graduated from Rutgers University and the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey. He also held a faculty position at Harvard Medical School while receiving his postdoctoral training there and at Massachusetts General Hospital. He is board-certified in pediatrics and pediatric endocrinology.
Perhaps best known for his 2009 discovery of an adverse effect caused by a popular medication for Graves' disease, Rivkees focuses mostly on researching the effects of medications on the mother and fetus during pregnancy.
Rivkees is also the editor-in-chief of the International Journal of Pediatric Endocrinology.
Rivkees noted that medicine is constantly changing and has global impacts.
"In many places, medication is met with dismay," he said. "I was extraordinarily impressed by the leadership of UF and their commitment to make medicine grow."
