USF Health celebrates Chalsty Pediatric Clinic expansion with $1 million family gift

The USF Health Morsani College of Medicine recently held a ribbon-cutting ceremony to showcase the newly renovated Chalsty Pediatric Clinic at the Curran Children's Medical Services building, made possible thanks to a generous $1 million gift by Jill Chalsty and her late husband, John Chalsty.

Jill and John Chalsty have a long history of giving to charitable causes and are staunch supporters of childhood health and education, having founded the Community for Education Foundation and its Overcoming Obstacles Life Skills Education program. This gift to USF Health will help meet a critical need for pediatric specialty care in Tampa Bay and make a lasting impact on the community by expanding care for the region's most vulnerable children.

"We are deeply grateful to Jill Chalsty and her late husband, John, for their generosity in making the renovation and expansion of the Chalsty Pediatric Clinic possible," said Charles J. Lockwood, MD, MHCM, executive vice president of USF Health and dean of the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine. "This new clinic helps supply us with the resources to offer our youngest patients what we do best: providing innovative, multidisciplinary care, even for patients with the most complex illnesses."

With 35 physicians across 11 specialties, the USF Health Chalsty Pediatric Clinic offers comprehensive, team-based care to thousands of patients each year. Many of these children are underserved and have complex medical conditions, including sickle cell disease, cancer, chronic kidney disease, cystic fibrosis, epilepsy and various rare disorders. Pediatricians at the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine work closely with social workers, dietitians and other therapists to provide holistic support for these young patients.

The renovated state-of-the art facility boasts 10 additional exam rooms and new multidisciplinary workspaces for specialty teams, allowing USF Health to improve timely access to specialized care for countless patients in need.

"The Chalsty Pediatric Clinic is set to become a vital hub for multidisciplinary care, dedicated to improving outcomes for our most vulnerable patients," said Patricia Emmanuel, MD, the Lewis A. Barness Endowed Chair of the Department of Pediatrics for the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine. "This development represents a significant step forward in delivering comprehensive and effective health-care solutions within our community."

In addition to the USF Health Chalsty Pediatric Clinic, the Chalsty family also made a generous donation supporting the USF Health School of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Sciences for classroom equipment and renovations for the simulation lab, now named the Chalsty Rehabilitation Experiential Learning Laboratory. In addition, the Chalstys made a gift to the USF Center for Advanced Medical Learning and Simulation (CAMLS) for their CAMLS without Walls program and help operate the CAMLS Mobile Simulation Vehicle.

For more photos of the ribbon-cutting, click here.