A message from Development and Alumni Affairs

PHHP is pleased to welcome Tom Goodwin, your new Director of Advancement

Tom GoodwinDear PHHP Family,

I’m Tom Goodwin, a Double Gator, and the new Director of Advancement for the College of Public Health and Health Professions. I’ll share a bit about myself in a moment but, before I do, there’s something more important.

Thank you — each and every one of you — for being part of the PHHP community. You all are so very important and your work matters so very much. I’m not a health care or public health professional, but my life and family have been touched by your industry, and I care a great deal about your work. That’s true, whether you’re in the field, a researcher, or a PHHP graduate or friend who simply has a love for promoting health.

In PHHP, we have eight departments. On the surface, we seem really diverse, but we know we have unifying goals. We want people to be healthy and happy. We want people to have better lives and, by supporting those goals in our different ways, we know we are making the world a better place.

I join PHHP from the private sector, where I’ve worked in law, technology and consulting. And, like many of you, my personal experiences and passions brought me to this stage in my professional life. I’ve joined UF Advancement to make a difference, particularly in the College of Public Health and Health Professions. As a professional, I’ll probably never get the opportunity to directly help resolve a health crisis. But, through our programs at PHHP, our researchers and professors, and you, our graduates and friends, I can play a part in changing lives, both individually and on a societal scale.

And that’s what I’m here to do. By serving you, I can accomplish more. Through our college, we can make things better. And, while PHHP has always mattered, we’ve never mattered more, in our lifetimes, than we do today. COVID-19 has shaken the world. PHHP professionals are both the first line of defense and the path toward recovery after this health crisis. We are the ones to prevent the next pandemic. We are the ones to help people regain their health and happiness after this one.

We’ve been working tirelessly on the COVID-19 pandemic. If you’d like to learn more about what PHHP is doing about COVID-19, read more in this issue of PHHP News.

Some of us have been fortunate to weather this crisis well, and for those who have, you may be wondering how you can help. PHHP’s work on the pandemic has been ongoing. We’ve been teaching students remotely, but we’re still teaching to UF’s top-quality standard. While some research has been disrupted, other research has been accelerated. Even though the world seems to have stopped, your college has continued to work relentlessly. If you, as many do, want and are able to financially support that research and our students, please click here to learn how you can help. If you can’t support directly but want to send words of encouragement to our faculty and students, they’d love to hear from you.

Thank you all for being part of PHHP! If I can be of any assistance, or if you just want to chat, please do give me a call at 352-273-6540 or send me an email at TomGoodwin@phhp.ufl.edu. I look forward to meeting you.

With passionate commitment,

Tom