June 2025 | Vanessa Caceres
Executive Director, Norman Fixel Institute for Neurological Diseases, University of Florida Health, GainesvilleOkun arrived at UF from Atlanta’s Emory University in 2002 and co-founded UF’s movement disorders program. In 2011, the school opened its Center for Movement Disorders and Neurorestoration on a floor of the Orthopedics and Sports Medicine building before forming the Fixel Institute in 2019.
- EDUCATION : Florida State University (“undergrad, where I wanted to be a history teacher”); University of Florida (MD); University of Florida (neurology residency); Emory University (fellowships)
- FIXEL’S PURPOSE : “We see Fixel as the destination for folks with Alzheimer’s and dementias, Parkinson’s and movement disorders, ALS and concussion. This includes care, research and training. I believe the patient is the sun, and we orbit around the patients and families.”
- HOBBIES: “Creative writing, bocce and currently trying to attend an MLB baseball game at every stadium in the country with my daughter.”
ACQUISITIONS
- Dun & Bradstreet of Jacksonville will be acquired by Clearlake Capital, a Santa Monica, Calif., private equity fund. The $7.7-billion deal is expected to be completed in the third quarter of this year. Upon completion, the currently public company will go private.
BANKING
- Jacksonville-based EverBank has completed its acquisition of Sterling Bank and Trust. EverBank acquired 25 Sterling Banks in the Los Angeles and San Francisco areas as well as a branch in New York. The acquisition included an estimated $900 million in loans and $2 billion in deposits.
- Wells Fargo has laid off 90 employees in Jacksonville. Last year, the bank announced the layoff of another 74 workers in the city.
FUNDING
- JAX Chamber has started a program called Access to Capital to provide small-business loans. The loans are offered as part of JAX Bridges, the chamber’s educational program. Initially, loans up to $100,000 will be available.
EXPANSION
- The Ponte Vedra Inn & Club of Ponte Vedra Beach will add a $44-million, 94,000-sq.-ft. surf club as part of a renovation throughout the property. Ponte Vedra Inn & Club is owned by Jacksonville’s Gate Petroleum.
HEALTHCARE
- Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine has purchased a $5.22-million site on the Jacksonville University campus for its new medical school. The program is expected to start classes in the fall of next year. LECOM at Jacksonville University will be part of a JU Medical Mall.
- UF Health Jacksonville is the second hospital in the U.S. and the first in the Southeast to use the AMDS Hybrid Prosthesis, a device that helps surgeons to better treat blood vessel tears and avoid complications when performing DeBakey Type 1 acute type A aortic dissection.
- HCA Healthcare has opened a 11,000-sq.-ft. emergency center in Yulee. It includes 10 private rooms, a trauma bay and imaging services.
ENTERTAINMENT
- The Jacksonville Symphony received its largest single gift, $15 million, from an anonymous donor. The gift will help support its approximately $1.3-million yearly endowment, which funds performances and music education.
EVENTS
- The St. Augustine City Commission voted to remove five days from its popular Nights of Lights holiday event. Local residents have expressed concern about ongoing traffic from the event. Nights of Lights will take place Nov. 15 to Jan. 11 this upcoming holiday season.
MOVES
- Architecture and construction firm Haskell will move from Jacksonville’s Northbank area to the Southbank by early 2026. The move will help the company continue to expand its workforce. Employees will work in another area temporarily until the space is ready. The company will receive $4.25 million in city incentives for their expanded space on the Southbank.
- Citizens Property Insurance will move from its downtown Jacksonville office to the former Florida Coastal School of Law building, located in the Southside neighborhood. The offices should be ready by January.
- The Northeast Florida Builders Association is moving to a location it purchased for $3.9 million. The two-story, 43,024-sq.-ft. building also will be home to its Workforce Education Center. The updated building should be ready by next spring.
- The nonprofit food distribution organization Epic-Cure has found a home in Palatka. The organization was told last year that it had to move from its former Palatka location. It did so and raised $100,000 toward moving costs.
Robo Nurses
A new Jacksonville firm called Curabotics will focus on boosting health care by combining AI, automation and robotics. Curabotics, from Chang Robotics, says that its technological offerings will help address labor shortages and burnout.
Among the company’s products are nurse-assist robots, a robotic pharmacy, an automated hospital warehouse, robotic surgery equipment and mobile imaging devices. The nurse-assist robots, for example, can automate the delivery of medications, supplies and linens.
In Chang’s own pilot study at an unidentified U.S. hospital, use of multiple robotic functions led to a time savings of 40%. Nurse-assist robots led to a 15% reduction in nurse workload.
Michael Chang and Kate McAfoose are the co-founders of Curabotics. Riyad Twahir is the managing director. Chang Robotics, a robotics firm, was founded in 2017.
Power Beaming
The space firm Star Catcher of Jacksonville has completed its first demonstration of its power-beaming technology. The demonstration took place at EverBank Stadium, during which the company’s energy transmission system collected and transmitted concentrated solar energy over 100 meters to multiple satellite solar arrays.
The success of the demonstration validates a core capability needed to build its Star Catcher Network, which will be a space-based energy grid to give on-demand power to satellites and space stations. Its next demonstration will be a larger-scale test at Space Florida’s Launch and Landing Facility.
Port of Call
JAXPORT has expanded vehicle Berth 22 at its Blount Island Marine Terminal to help accommodate more vehicle vessel calls. Berth 22 can now accommodate vehicle vessels about 750 feet in overall length. The port is building a new vehicle berth at Blount Island that should be ready by early 2027. The berth projects are a $60-million investment.