EDITOR’S NOTE: UF COLLEGE OF MEDICINE DEAN MICHAEL L. GOOD, M.D., BID FAREWELL TO HIS COLLEAGUES AND THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA COMMUNITY WITH A HEARTFELT LETTER ON JULY 3.

Dear Friends,

I write to share news that later this fall, Danette and I will move to Salt Lake City, Utah, where I will join the faculty of the University of Utah as senior vice president for Health Sciences, dean of the School of Medicine and chief executive officer of University of Utah Health.

Transitions are bittersweet. The University of Florida and Gainesville have shaped our lives for over 34 years since we arrived here in the summer of 1984 to begin training in anesthesiology. We take so many wonderful memories with us. We have had the opportunity to connect with so many gifted and compassionate individuals, working together every day to improve the lives of patients, students, communities and one another.

During the past 10 years while serving as your dean, we have advanced excellence in each of our missions. Because of your tremendous compassion, skill and expertise, patients and their families drive by and fly over other health care providers to receive care from you at UF Health. Clinical growth has been robust, with ambulatory practice visits, hospital admissions, surgical procedures and emergency department visits all increasing 70 percent or more. Significant improvements have been achieved in quality of care and patient safety. Over the past decade, we have built and activated many new primary care offices, multispecialty care centers, freestanding emergency rooms and hospital bed towers. Our second Springhill facility has opened its doors; new clinical space at the Oaks Mall and a new facility for Movement Disorders are coming in 2019.

Together in 2016, we celebrated the 60th anniversary of the founding of the UF College of Medicine and memorialized our impressive legacy of innovation and collaboration in a commemorative history book. I now look forward to using that volume to help me remember all the wonderful people who have blessed our lives and the many shared experiences of the past three and a half decades.

I know this announcement comes at a time when many of you are concerned about the path forward, as decisions now need to be made about two pivotal senior leadership roles. Together we have accomplished so much. Yet I am truly confident you will achieve even more in the months and years ahead. Our shared values and vision — hardwired into who we are here at UF Health — will endure and will propel this fine academic health center forward anew. The momentum you’ve built will continue because of your lasting commitment to our patients, our students and each other, and because this great university, which recognizes the importance of our missions and respects what we’ve collectively accomplished, will ensure it does.

For each of us, the path of life takes many twists and turns, some anticipated, some not. It is always difficult to select a new trail when the current one has been so reliable and fulfilling. But personal and professional growth are often found on new trails, and so from time to time, it is important to avail oneself of a new opportunity. As we embark on our new journey to the west, we take with us our many Florida friendships and fond memories of the special people that make the University of Florida a very special place. There is much we will miss, but never forget.

— Mike and Danette Good